Battle of Quebec (1775)
The Battle of Quebec was fought on December 31, 1775, between American Continental Army forces and the British defenders of Quebec City early in the American Revolutionary War. The battle was the first major defeat of the war for the Americans, it came with heavy losses. General Richard Montgomery was killed, Benedict Arnold was wounded, Daniel Morgan and more than 400 men were taken prisoner; the city's garrison, a motley assortment of regular troops and militia led by Quebec's provincial governor, General Guy Carleton, suffered a small number of casualties. Montgomery's army had captured Montreal on November 13, early in December they joined a force led by Arnold, whose men had made an arduous trek through the wilderness of northern New England. Governor Carleton had escaped from Montreal to Quebec, the Americans' next objective, last-minute reinforcements arrived to bolster the city's limited defenses before the attacking force's arrival. Concerned that expiring enlistments would reduce his force, Montgomery made the end-of-year attack in a blinding snowstorm to conceal his army's movements.
The plan was for separate forces led by Montgomery and Arnold to converge in the lower city before scaling the walls protecting the upper city. Montgomery's force turned back after he was killed by cannon fire early in the battle, but Arnold's force penetrated further into the lower city. Arnold was injured early in the attack, Morgan led the assault in his place before he became trapped in the lower city and was forced to surrender. Arnold and the Americans maintained an ineffectual blockade of the city until spring, when British reinforcements arrived. Shortly after the American Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, a small enterprising force led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold captured the key Fort Ticonderoga on May 10. Arnold followed up the capture with a raid on Fort Saint-Jean not far from Montreal, alarming the British leadership there; these actions stimulated both British and rebel leaders to consider the possibility of an invasion of the Province of Quebec by the rebellious forces of the Second Continental Congress, Quebec's governor, General Guy Carleton, began mobilizing the provincial defenses.
The British forces in Canada consisted of three regiments, with the 8th Regiment holding various forts around the Great Lakes and the 7th and 26th regiments guarding the St. Lawrence river valley. Apart from these regiments, the only forces available to the Crown were about 15,000 men of the militia and the 8,500 or so warriors from the various Indian tribes in the northern district of the Department of Indian Affairs; the Canadien militia and many of the Indian tribes were regarded as lukewarm in their loyalty to the Crown. Both the Americans and the British misunderstood the nature of Canadien society; the feudal nature of Canadien society with the seigneurs and the Catholic Church owning the land led the British to assume the habitants – as the tenant farmers who made up the vast majority of Quebec's population were known – would deferentially obey their social superiors while the Americans believed that the habitants would welcome them as liberators from their feudal society. In fact, the habitants, despite being tenant farmers, tended to display many of the same traits displayed by the farmers in the 13 colonies who owned their land, being described variously as individualistic and spirited together with a tendency to be rude and disrespectful of authority figures if their actions were seen as unjust.
Most of the habitants wanted to be neutral in the struggle between Congress vs. the Crown, just wanting to live their lives in peace. Carleton's romanticized view of Canadien society led him to exaggerate the willingness of the habitants to obey the seigneurs as he failed to understand that the habitants would only fight for a cause that they saw as being in their own interests. A large number of the Canadiens still clung to the hope that one day Louis XVI would reclaim his kingdom's lost colony of New France, but until they wanted to be left alone; the memory of Pontiac's War in 1763 had made most of the Indians living in the Ohio River valley, the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River valley distrustful of all whites, most of the Indians in the region had no desire to fight for either Congress or the Crown. Only the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, living in their homeland of Kaniekeh were regarded as willing to fight for the Crown, then some of the Six Nations like the Oneida and the Tuscarora were negotiating with the Americans.
The Catholic Haudenosaunee living outside of Montreal—the so-called Seven Nations of Canada—were traditionally allies of the French and their loyalty to the British Crown was felt to be shallow. Both Arnold and Allen argued to Congress that the British forces holding Canada were weak, that the Canadiens would welcome the Americans as liberators and an invasion would require only 2, 000 men. Taking Canada would eliminate any possibility of the British using it as a base to invade New England and New York. After first rejecting the idea of an attack on Quebec, the Congress authorized the Continental Army's commander of its Northern Department, Major General Philip Schuyler, to invade the province if he felt it necessary. On 27 June 1775 approval for an invasion of Canada was given to Schuyler; as part of an American propaganda offensive, letters from Congress and the New York Provincial Assembly were circulated throughout the province, promising liberation from their oppressive government. Benedict Arnold, passed over for command of the expedition, convinced General George Washington to authorize a second expedition through the wilderness of what is now the state of Maine directly
Humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters. Precipitation is distributed throughout the year; the definition of this climate regarding temperature is as follows: the mean temperature of the coldest month must be below −3 °C and there must be at least four months whose mean temperatures are at or above 10 °C. In addition, the location in question must not be arid; the Dfb and Dsb subtypes are known as hemiboreal. Humid continental climates are found between latitudes 40° N and 60° N, within the central and northeastern portions of North America and Asia, they are much less found in the Southern Hemisphere due to the larger ocean area at that latitude and the consequent greater maritime moderation. In the Northern Hemisphere some of the humid continental climates in Scandinavia, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland are maritime-influenced, with cool summers and winters being just below the freezing mark.
More extreme humid continental climates found in northeast China, southern Siberia, the Canadian Prairies, the Great Lakes region of the American Midwest and Central Canada combine hotter summer maxima and colder winters than the marine-based variety. Using the Köppen climate classification, a climate is classified as humid continental when the temperature of the coldest month is below −3 °C and there must be at least four months whose mean temperatures are at or above 10 °C; these temperatures were not arbitrary. In Europe, the −3 °C average temperature isotherm was near the southern extent of winter snowpack; the 10 °C average temperature was found to be the minimum temperature necessary for tree growth. Wide temperature ranges are common within this climate zone. Second letter in the classification symbol defines seasonal rainfall as follows: s: A dry summer—the driest summer month has less than 40 millimetres of rainfall and has less than 1⁄3 the precipitation of the wettest winter month, w: A dry winter—the driest winter month has less than one‑tenth of the precipitation found in the wettest summer month, f: Without dry season—does not meet either of the alternative specifications.while the third letter denotes the extent of summer heat: a: Hot summer, warmest month averages at least 22 °C, b: Warm summer, warmest month averages below 22 °C and at least four months averages above 10 °C.
Within North America, moisture within this climate regime is supplied by the Gulf of Mexico and adjacent western subtropical Atlantic. Precipitation is well distributed year-round in many areas with this climate, while others may see a marked reduction in wintry precipitation, which increases the chances of a wintertime drought. Snowfall occurs in all areas with a humid continental climate and in many such places is more common than rain during the height of winter. In places with sufficient wintertime precipitation, the snow cover is deep. Most summer rainfall occurs during thunderstorms, in North America and Asia an tropical system. Though humidity levels are high in locations with humid continental climates, the "humid" designation means that the climate is not dry enough to be classified as semi-arid or arid. By definition, forests thrive within this climate. Biomes within this climate regime include temperate woodlands, temperate grasslands, temperate deciduous, temperate evergreen forests, coniferous forests.
Within wetter areas, spruce, pine and oak can be found. Fall foliage is noted during the autumn. A hot summer version of a continental climate features an average temperature of at least 22 °C in its warmest month. Since these regimes are limited to the Northern Hemisphere, the warmest month is July or August. For example, Chicago has average July afternoon temperatures near 29 °C, while average January afternoon temperature are near −1 °C. Frost free periods last 4–6 months within this climate regime. Within North America, this climate includes small areas of central and southeast Canada, portions of the central and eastern United States from the 100th meridian eastward to the Atlantic. Precipitation is less seasonally uniform in the west; the western states of the central United States have thermal regimes which fit the Dfa climate type, but are quite dry, are grouped with the steppe climates. In the Eastern Hemisphere, this climate regime is found within interior Eurasia, east-central Asia, parts of India.
Within Europe, the Dfa climate type is present near the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, the Southern Federal District of Russia, southern Moldova, parts of southern Romania, Bulgaria, but tends to be drier and can be semi-arid in these places. In East Asia, this climate exhibits a monsoonal tendency with much higher precipitation in summer than in winter, due the effects of the strong Siberian High much colder winter temperatures than similar latitudes around the world, however with lower snowfall, the exception being western Japan with its heavy snowfall. Tōhoku, between Tokyo and Hokkaidō and Wester
Franklin County, Maine
Franklin County is a county located in the state of Maine, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 30,768, making it the second-least populous county in Maine, its county seat is Farmington. The county was named for Benjamin Franklin. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,743 square miles, of which 1,697 square miles is land and 47 square miles is water. Somerset County, Maine – northeast Kennebec County, Maine – southeast Androscoggin County, Maine – south Oxford County, Maine – southwest Le Granit Regional County Municipality, Quebec – northwest As of 2015 the largest self-reported ancestry groups in Franklin County, Maine are: As of the census of 2000, there were 29,467 people, 11,806 households, 7,744 families residing in the county; the population density was 17 people per square mile. There were 19,159 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 97.96% White, 0.24% Black or African American, 0.37% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.17% from other races, 0.81% from two or more races.
0.54% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 26.3% were of English, 13.8% United States or American, 12.2% French, 9.2% Irish, 7.9% French Canadian, 5.3% Scottish ancestry according to Census 2000. 95.7% spoke English and 2.9% French as their first language. There were 11,806 households out of which 29.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.40% were married couples living together, 9.20% had a female householder with no husband present, 34.40% were non-families. 25.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.50% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.88. In the county, the population was spread out with 23.50% under the age of 18, 11.10% from 18 to 24, 26.40% from 25 to 44, 24.80% from 45 to 64, 14.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 93.40 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.20 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $31,459, the median income for a family was $37,863. Males had a median income of $30,475 versus $20,442 for females; the per capita income for the county was $15,796. About 10.70% of families and 14.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.90% of those under age 18 and 9.50% of those age 65 or over. As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 30,768 people, 13,000 households, 8,129 families residing in the county; the population density was 18.1 inhabitants per square mile. There were 21,709 housing units at an average density of 12.8 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 97.3% white, 0.4% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 0.2% black or African American, 0.2% from other races, 1.4% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.0% of the population. In terms of ancestry, 23.3% were English, 14.2% were Irish, 7.7% were French Canadian, 7.5% were German, 6.4% were Scottish, 5.0% were American.
Of the 13,000 households, 26.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.6% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 37.5% were non-families, 28.9% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.76. The median age was 43.4 years. The median income for a household in the county was $39,831 and the median income for a family was $48,634. Males had a median income of $38,563 versus $30,024 for females; the per capita income for the county was $20,838. About 10.2% of families and 15.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.2% of those under age 18 and 8.8% of those age 65 or over. Franklin County is governed by a three-member county commission. Commissioners meet at 10am on the first and third Monday of each month and are elected in the November general election, serving four year terms; the three commissioners are:District One: Gary McGrane District Two: Charles Webster District Three: Clyde Barker Commissioner Charles Webster was appointed by Governor Paul LePage in 2015 to serve out the rest of Fred Hardy's term, who died on July 4.
Webster and Barker are members of the Republican Party, while McGrane belongs to the Democratic Party. Franklin County belongs to Maine Prosecutorial District Four, composed of Franklin and Androscoggin Counties; the current district attorney is Andrew S. Robinson, of Wilton, elected to his first term in 2014; the deputy district attorney is James A. Andrews, appointed to that post by Robinson in 2015; the current county treasurer is Pamela Prodan. She was elected to that position in 2014 and will serve a four term through December 2018. Prodan succeed Mary Frank; the duties of county treasurer include, overseeing fiscal accounting matters, including paying bills, collecting amounts owed the County, reserve/investment accounts, maintaining the County's financial records and other matters related to the County's finances. Only five municipalities in Franklin County have their own police department; the Franklin County S
Gristmill
A gristmill grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to the building that holds it; the Greek geographer Strabo reports in his Geography a water-powered grain-mill to have existed near the palace of king Mithradates VI Eupator at Cabira, Asia Minor, before 71 BC. The early mills had horizontal paddle wheels, an arrangement which became known as the "Norse wheel", as many were found in Scandinavia; the paddle wheel was attached to a shaft which was, in turn, attached to the centre of the millstone called the "runner stone". The turning force produced by the water on the paddles was transferred directly to the runner stone, causing it to grind against a stationary "bed", a stone of a similar size and shape; this simple arrangement required no gears, but had the disadvantage that the speed of rotation of the stone was dependent on the volume and flow of water available and was, only suitable for use in mountainous regions with fast-flowing streams. This dependence on the volume and speed of flow of the water meant that the speed of rotation of the stone was variable and the optimum grinding speed could not always be maintained.
Vertical wheels were in use in the Roman Empire by the end of the first century BC, these were described by Vitruvius. The peak of Roman technology is the Barbegal aqueduct and mill where water with a 19-metre fall drove sixteen water wheels, giving a grinding capacity estimated at 2.4 to 3.2 tonnes per hour. Water mills seem to have remained in use during the post-Roman period, by 1000 AD, mills in Europe were more than a few miles apart. In England, the Domesday survey of 1086 gives a precise count of England's water-powered flour mills: there were 5,624, or about one for every 300 inhabitants, this was typical throughout western and southern Europe. From this time onward, water wheels began to be used for purposes other than grist milling. In England, the number of mills in operation followed population growth, peaked at around 17,000 by 1300. Limited extant examples of gristmills can be found in Europe from the High Middle Ages. An extant well-preserved waterwheel and gristmill on the Ebro River in Spain is associated with the Real Monasterio de Nuestra Senora de Rueda, built by the Cistercian monks in 1202.
The Cistercians were known for their use of this technology in Western Europe in the period 1100 to 1350. Geared gristmills were built in the medieval Near East and North Africa, which were used for grinding grain and other seeds to produce meals. Gristmills in the Islamic world were powered by both wind; the first wind-powered gristmills were built in the 9th and 10th centuries in what are now Afghanistan and Iran. Although the terms "gristmill" or "corn mill" can refer to any mill that grinds grain, the terms were used for a local mill where farmers brought their own grain and received back ground meal or flour, minus a percentage called the "miller's toll." Early mills were always built and supported by farming communities and the miller received the "miller's toll" in lieu of wages. Most towns and villages had their own mill so that local farmers could transport their grain there to be milled; these communities were dependent on their local mill. Classical mill designs are water-powered, though some are powered by the wind or by livestock.
In a watermill a sluice gate is opened to allow water to flow onto, or under, a water wheel to make it turn. In most watermills the water wheel was mounted vertically, i.e. edge-on, in the water, but in some cases horizontally. Designs incorporated horizontal steel or cast iron turbines and these were sometimes refitted into the old wheel mills. In most wheel-driven mills, a large gear-wheel called the pit wheel is mounted on the same axle as the water wheel and this drives a smaller gear-wheel, the wallower, on a main driveshaft running vertically from the bottom to the top of the building; this system of gearing ensures that the main shaft turns faster than the water wheel, which rotates at around 10 rpm. The millstones themselves turn at around 120 rpm, they are laid one on top of the other. The bottom stone, called the bed, is fixed to the floor, while the top stone, the runner, is mounted on a separate spindle, driven by the main shaft. A wheel called the stone nut connects the runner's spindle to the main shaft, this can be moved out of the way to disconnect the stone and stop it turning, leaving the main shaft turning to drive other machinery.
This might include driving a mechanical sieve to refine the flour, or turning a wooden drum to wind up a chain used to hoist sacks of grain to the top of the mill house. The distance between the stones can be varied to produce the grade of flour required; the grain is lifted in sacks onto the sack floor at the top of the mill on the hoist. The sacks are emptied into bins, where the grain falls down through a hopper to the millstones on the stone floor below; the flow of grain is regulated by shaking it in a sloping trough from which it falls into a hole in the center of the runner stone. The milled grain is collected as it emerges through the grooves in the runner stone from the outer rim of the stones and is fed down a chute to be collected in sacks on the ground or meal floor. A similar process is used for grains such as wheat to make flour, for maize to make corn meal. In order to prevent the vibrations of the mill machinery from shaking the building apart, a gristmill will have at least two separate foundations.
America
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold was an American military officer who served as a general during the American Revolutionary War, fighting for the American Continental Army before defecting to the British in 1780. George Washington had given him his fullest trust and placed him in command of the fortifications at West Point, New York. Arnold planned to surrender the fort to British forces, but the plot was discovered in September 1780 and he fled to the British, his name became a byword in the United States for treason and betrayal because he led the British army in battle against the men whom he had once commanded. Arnold was born in the Connecticut Colony and was a merchant operating ships on the Atlantic Ocean when the war began in 1775, he joined the growing army outside Boston and distinguished himself through acts of intelligence and bravery. His actions included the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, defensive and delaying tactics at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in 1776 which allowed American forces time to prepare New York's defenses, the Battle of Ridgefield, operations in relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix, key actions during the pivotal Battles of Saratoga in 1777, in which he suffered leg injuries that halted his combat career for several years.
Arnold claimed that he was passed over for promotion by the Continental Congress, while other officers obtained credit for some of his accomplishments. Others in his military and political circles brought charges against him of corruption or other malfeasance, but most he was acquitted in formal inquiries. Congress investigated his accounts and concluded that he was indebted to Congress, he borrowed to maintain a lavish lifestyle. Arnold mingled with Loyalist sympathizers in Philadelphia and married into one such family by marrying Peggy Shippen, she was a close friend of British Major John André and kept in contact with him when he became head of the British espionage system in New York. Many historians point to her as facilitating Arnold's plans to switch sides; the British promised £ 20,000 for the capture of a major American stronghold. His scheme was to surrender the fort to the British, but it was exposed in September 1780 when Patriot militia captured André carrying papers which revealed the plot.
Arnold escaped and André was hanged. Arnold received a commission as a brigadier general in the British Army, an annual pension of £360, a lump sum of over £6,000, he led British forces on raids in Virginia, they burned much of New London, Connecticut to the ground and slaughtered surrendering forces after the Battle of Groton Heights—just a few miles downriver from the town where he had grown up. In the winter of 1782, he and Peggy moved to England, he was well received by King George III and the Tories but frowned upon by the Whigs and most Army officers. In 1787, he moved to Canada to a merchant business with his sons Henry, he was unpopular there and returned to London permanently in 1791. Benedict Arnold was born a British subject, the second of six children of Benedict Arnold and Hannah Waterman King in Norwich, Connecticut Colony on January 14, 1741, he was named after his great-grandfather Benedict Arnold, an early governor of the Colony of Rhode Island, as were his father and grandfather and an older brother who died in infancy.
Only he and his sister Hannah survived to adulthood. His siblings were, in order of birth: Benedict, Mary and Elizabeth. Arnold was a descendant of John Lothropp through his maternal grandmother, an ancestor of six presidents. Arnold's father was a successful businessman, the family moved in the upper levels of Norwich society, he was enrolled in a private school in nearby Canterbury, Connecticut when he was 10, with the expectation that he would attend Yale University. However, the deaths of his siblings two years may have contributed to a decline in the family fortunes, since his father took up drinking. By the time that he was 14, there was no money for private education, his father's alcoholism and ill health kept him from training Arnold in the family mercantile business, but his mother's family connections secured an apprenticeship for him with her cousins Daniel and Joshua Lathrop, who operated a successful apothecary and general merchandise trade in Norwich. His apprenticeship with the Lathrops lasted seven years.
Arnold was close to his mother, who died in 1759. His father's alcoholism worsened after her death, the youth took on the responsibility of supporting his father and younger sister, his father was arrested on several occasions for public drunkenness, was refused communion by his church, died in 1761. In 1755, Arnold was attracted by the sound of a drummer and attempted to enlist in the provincial militia for service in the French and Indian War, but his mother refused permission. In 1757 when he was 16, he did enlist in the Connecticut militia, which marched off toward Albany, New York and Lake George; the French had besieged Fort William Henry in northeastern New York, their Indian allies had committed atrocities after their victory. Word of the siege's disastrous outcome led the company to turn around, Arnold served for only 13 days. A accepted story that he deserted from militia service in
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is applied to living organisms, most of the time to humans, it is a key geographical term. In simple terms population density refers to the number of people living in an area per kilometer square. Population density is population divided by total land water volume, as appropriate. Low densities may lead to further reduced fertility; this is called the Allee effect after the scientist. Examples of the causes in low population densities include: Increased problems with locating sexual mates Increased inbreeding For humans, population density is the number of people per unit of area quoted per square kilometer or square mile; this may be calculated for a county, country, another territory or the entire world. The world's population is around 7,500,000,000 and Earth's total area is 510,000,000 square kilometers. Therefore, the worldwide human population density is around 7,500,000,000 ÷ 510,000,000 = 14.7 per km2. If only the Earth's land area of 150,000,000 km2 is taken into account human population density is 50 per km2.
This includes all continental and island land area, including Antarctica. If Antarctica is excluded population density rises to over 55 people per km2. However, over half of the Earth's land mass consists of areas inhospitable to human habitation, such as deserts and high mountains, population tends to cluster around seaports and fresh-water sources. Thus, this number by itself does not give any helpful measurement of human population density. Several of the most densely populated territories in the world are city-states and dependencies; these territories have a small area and a high urbanization level, with an economically specialized city population drawing on rural resources outside the area, illustrating the difference between high population density and overpopulation The potential to maintain the agricultural aspects of deserts is limited as there is not enough precipitation to support a sustainable land. The population in these areas are low. Therefore, cities in the Middle East, such as Dubai, have been increasing in population and infrastructure growth at a fast pace.
Cities with high population densities are, by some, considered to be overpopulated, though this will depend on factors like quality of housing and infrastructure and access to resources. Most of the most densely populated cities are in Southeast Asia, though Cairo and Lagos in Africa fall into this category. City population and area are, however dependent on the definition of "urban area" used: densities are invariably higher for the central city area than when suburban settlements and the intervening rural areas are included, as in the areas of agglomeration or metropolitan area, the latter sometimes including neighboring cities. For instance, Milwaukee has a greater population density when just the inner city is measured, the surrounding suburbs excluded. In comparison, based on a world population of seven billion, the world's inhabitants, as a loose crowd taking up ten square feet per person, would occupy a space a little larger than Delaware's land area; the Gaza Strip has a population density of 5,046 pop/km.
Although arithmetic density is the most common way of measuring population density, several other methods have been developed to provide a more accurate measure of population density over a specific area. Arithmetic density: The total number of people / area of land Physiological density: The total population / area of arable land Agricultural density: The total rural population / area of arable land Residential density: The number of people living in an urban area / area of residential land Urban density: The number of people inhabiting an urban area / total area of urban land Ecological optimum: The density of population that can be supported by the natural resources Demography Human geography Idealized population Optimum population Population genetics Population health Population momentum Population pyramid Rural transport problem Small population size Distance sampling List of population concern organizations List of countries by population density List of cities by population density List of city districts by population density List of English districts by population density List of European cities proper by population density List of United States cities by population density List of islands by population density List of U.
S. states by population density List of Australian suburbs by population density Selected Current and Historic City, Ward & Neighborhood Density Duncan Smith / UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. "World Population Density". Exploratory map shows data from the Global Human Settlement Layer produced by the European Commission JRC and the CIESIN Columbia University
Sawmill
A sawmill or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern saw mills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes; the "portable" saw mill is iconic and of simple operation—the logs lay flat on a steel bed and the motorized saw cuts the log horizontally along the length of the bed, by the operator manually pushing the saw. The most basic kind of saw mill consists of a chainsaw and a customized jig, with similar horizontal operation. Before the invention of the sawmill, boards were made in various manual ways, either rived and planed, hewn, or more hand sawn by two men with a whipsaw, one above and another in a saw pit below; the earliest known mechanical mill is the Hierapolis sawmill, a Roman water-powered stone mill at Hierapolis, Asia Minor dating back to the 3rd century AD. Other water-powered mills followed and by the 11th century they were widespread in Spain and North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, in the next few centuries, spread across Europe.
The circular motion of the wheel was converted to a reciprocating motion at the saw blade. Only the saw was powered, the logs had to be loaded and moved by hand. An early improvement was the development of a movable carriage water powered, to move the log through the saw blade. By the time of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, the circular saw blade had been invented, with the development of steam power in the 19th century, a much greater degree of mechanisation was possible. Scrap lumber from the mill provided a source of fuel for firing the boiler; the arrival of railroads meant that logs could be transported to mills rather than mills being built besides navigable waterways. By 1900, the largest sawmill in the world was operated by the Atlantic Lumber Company in Georgetown, South Carolina, using logs floated down the Pee Dee River from the Appalachian Mountains. In the 20th century the introduction of electricity and high technology furthered this process, now most sawmills are massive and expensive facilities in which most aspects of the work is computerized.
Besides the sawn timber, use is made of all the by-products including sawdust, bark and wood pellets, creating a diverse offering of forest products. A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago. After trees are selected for harvest, the next step in logging is felling the trees, bucking them to length. Branches are cut off the trunk; this is known as limbing. Logs are taken by rail or a log drive to the sawmill. Logs are scaled either upon arrival at the mill. Debarking removes bark from the logs. Decking is the process for sorting the logs by species and end use. A sawyer uses a head saw to break the log into flitches. Depending upon the species and quality of the log, the cants will either be further broken down by a resaw or a gang edger into multiple flitches and/or boards. Edging will trim off all irregular edges leaving four-sided lumber. Trimming squares the ends at typical lumber lengths. Drying removes occurring moisture from the lumber; this can be done with kilns or air-dried.
Planing smooths the surface of the lumber leaving a uniform thickness. Shipping transports the finished lumber to market; the Hierapolis sawmill, a water-powered stone saw mill at Hierapolis, Asia Minor, dating to the second half of the 3rd century, is the earliest known sawmill. It incorporates a crank and connecting rod mechanism. Water-powered stone sawmills working with cranks and connecting rods, but without gear train, are archaeologically attested for the 6th century at the Byzantine cities Gerasa and Ephesus; the earliest literary reference to a working sawmill comes from a Roman poet, who wrote a topographical poem about the river Moselle in Germany in the late 4th century AD. At one point in the poem he describes the shrieking sound of a watermill cutting marble. Marble sawmills seem to be indicated by the Christian saint Gregory of Nyssa from Anatolia around 370/390 AD, demonstrating a diversified use of water-power in many parts of the Roman Empire. By the 11th century, hydropowered sawmills were in widespread use in the medieval Islamic world, from Islamic Spain and North Africa in the west to Central Asia in the east.
Sawmills became widespread in medieval Europe, as one was sketched by Villard de Honnecourt in c. 1250. They are claimed to have been introduced to Madeira following its discovery in c. 1420 and spread in Europe in the 16th century. Prior to the invention of the sawmill, boards were rived and planed, or more sawn by two men with a whipsaw, using saddleblocks to hold the log, a saw pit for the pitman who worked below. Sawing was slow, required strong and hearty men; the topsawer had to be the stronger of the two because the saw was pulled in turn by each man, the lower had the advantage of gravity. The topsawyer had to guide the saw so that the board was of thickness; this was done by following a chalkline. Early sawmills adapted the whipsaw to mechanical power driven by a water wheel to speed up the process; the circular motion of the wheel was changed to back-and-forth motion of the saw blade by a connecting rod known as a pitman arm. Only the saw was powered, the logs had to be lo
