I've alway been fascinated with logging, lumber mills and railroads. Below is a free ebook from Google I downloaded and read. It's excellent in its detail about logging and saw milling the pine forests in California. It was written by the Swift Berry, Forest Examiner, for the US Department of Agriculture in 1917. While it describes a specific region, its information applies to almost any area.
It has four parts, the Introduction, details about the region's pine forests. Part II is about the logging of that era, the crews, duties, tools and methods to get the logs out of the forest, from horses to steam donkey engines. This part also describes the construction and cost of logging railroads. Part III is the Manufacturing of the lumber. Almost all you ever wanted to know about saw mills, from small circular saw mills to large mills with double band saws. Part IV covers General Cost Factors that summaries the individual costs of the previous chapters that determines the total cost of an operation.
1917 is an interesting period when logging and saw milling began using modern equipment in the woods and mill. I think you'll enjoy it if you're interested in this topic. And it free.
http://books.google.com/books/...html?id=knkDAAAAYAAJ
Paul S
