Bertolet Sawmill

In the late eighteen century, Daniel Bertolet built a saw mill which is located at the 400 Daniel Boone Road near Birdsboro, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Then the mill was transferred to to the Homestead from the Oley Valley in 1970. This is one of a few water powered, vertical-blade sawmills in the United States and it is the oldest sawmill in North America. The mill has been in operation for over 170 year and have been passed down from generation to generation. Israel Bertolet is the fifth in succession.

In addition, the Daniel Boone Homestead is a museum, the birthplace of the famed frontiersman, born in 1734. It is owned by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and it is run by the Friends of the Daniel Boone Homestead. Fundraising event are held to help keep it running such as beer festival and golf game. The Daniel Boone Homestead opened for the 2022 season, Saturdays and Sundays 10 AM to 4 PM with guided tours. For the sawmill operation, there is no admission fee, but ordinary admission is charged for the historic area and Boone house tours.

Before the twentieth century, logging and lumbering operations were hand-operated which makes the job harder for the sawyers man. However, things significantly improved as time went on. Two techniques were employed to cut the woods. First, they dug a pit and placing one man inside, with another man watching from above on a surface attached to the log. Another technique was to place two men across each other at the end of a long saw. Both techniques were hard and dangerous because the man in the pit can get sawdust in his eyes, nose, mouth and clothes. Structures with water-powered machinery were used as logging and lumbering industry grew.

The water-powered machinery were used to produced lumber for the neighborhoods and were operated by the farmers who had rivers on their properties. "Water power was the first common form, usually used to turn a mechanical wheel of one variety or another." Sawmills played a major role in the lumber and logging industry. On average hand sawyers used to produce a dozen board per day, in contrast, with the invention of the sawmill they were able to produce 1,000 feet of pine per day. Water was a major source of power during the late eighteen century. Due to the high demand of lumber and logging, the size of sawmills had increased. "Water powered mills ultimately paved the way for demonstrating the benefits of machinery and mechanical power"(Orth and Shaner)."

Due to a rise in the need of logging and sawmills, farmers left farming to work in the woods business. America was a big consumer of woods, and woods were used to support daily living. They used about 30 to 40 cord of woods, to cook their meals and they used it as a source of heat. They also used woods to build houses and to make furniture. Lumbermen were always looking for improvement, therefore they used railroads to facilitate the transport of logs to sawmills.

In addition, steam power and railroads were used to transport and speed the selling of lumber to regional centers and urban market. Also, the first commercial steam operating in the United States was imported from England to Pennsylvania. At that time, Pennsylvania had many resources that could sustain the d such as coal, iron, oil and timber. Railroads had changed how lumber was produced. Railroads provided an opportunity for the lumbermen to do more business abroad without being worried about their logs being lost.

1- https://www.engr.psu.edu/mtah/articles/colonial_wood_water.htm

2- Orth, Richard L.T.. Shaner, Richard H.. Oley Valey Heritage The Federal Years. Edition 1776-1862. Volume 49. 2. Ephrata, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania German Society, 2015.

3- Ostman, Ronald E. Littell, Harry. Wood Hicks and Bark Peelers. Reading, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania State University Press, 1763.

4- Herman, Holly. "Daniel Boone Homestead gets a little help from its friends." TCA Regional News, Oct 16, 2015. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/daniel-boone-homestead-gets-little-help-friends/docview/1722365586/se-2.