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
Municipal corporation
To cities, towns, charter townships and boroughs. The term can be used to describe municipally owned corporations. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which they are located; this event is marked by the award or declaration of a municipal charter. A city charter or town charter or municipal charter is a legal document establishing a municipality, such as a city or town. In Canada, charters are granted by provincial authorities; the Corporation of Chennai is the oldest Municipal Corporation in the world after UK. The title "corporation" was used in boroughs from soon after the Norman conquest until the Local Government Act 2001. Under the 2001 act, county boroughs were renamed "cities" and their corporations became "city councils". After the Partition of Ireland, the corporations in the Irish Free State were Dublin, Cork and Waterford and Drogheda, Sligo and Wexford. Dún Laoghaire gained borough status in 1930 as “The Corporation of Dun Laoghaire".
Galway's borough status, lost in 1840, was restored in 1937. The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 allowed municipal corporations to be established within the new Provinces of New Zealand; the term fell out of favour following the abolition of the Provinces in 1876. In the United States, such municipal corporations are established by charters that are granted either directly by a state legislature by means of local legislation, or indirectly under a general municipal corporation law after the proposed charter has passed a referendum vote of the affected population. Under the enterprise meaning of the term, municipal corporations are "organisations with independent corporate status, managed by an executive board appointed by local government officials, with majority public ownership"; some MOCs rely on revenue from user fees, distinguishing them from agencies and special districts funded through taxation, although this is not always the case. Municipal corporation follows a process of externalization that requires new skills and orientations from the respective local governments, follow common changes in the institutional landscape of public services.
They are argued to be more efficient than bureaucracy but have higher failure rates because of their legal and managerial autonomy. Unincorporated area German town law Municipal incorporationA Brief Summary of Municipal Incorporation Procedures by State - University of Georgia Characteristics and State Requirements for Incorporated Places - United States CensusMunicipal disincorporation / dissolutionDissolving Cities - University of California, Berkeley Municipal Disincorporation in California - California City Finance
Area code 603
Area code 603 is the sole area code for the U. S. state of New Hampshire in the North American Numbering Plan. It was created as one of the original 86 numbering plan areas in October 1947; as of April 2011, area code 603 was nearing exhaustion and a second area code for New Hampshire was expected to be activated by 2013. Rather than a split, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission recommended that it be implemented as a statewide overlay plan; as a result of changes in allocation policies and a reclamation of a large block of allocated telephone numbers, including number pooling, the exhaustion time frame has been moved to at least 2032. Since New Hampshire has only one area code, callers in the state can reach any other telephone within the numbering plan area by seven-digit dialing. NANPA Area Code Map of New Hampshire List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 603 Area Code December 2010 newspaper article about then-uncertain future of 603
Chesham, New Hampshire
Chesham is an unincorporated community within the town of Harrisville in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. Part of the village is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Chesham Village District, while the southernmost portions are included in the Pottersville District listed on the National Register. Chesham began as a nucleus of agricultural development in the early 19th century; this included the construction of the depot, the adaptation by George Bemis of his property as a livery stable. The area was given its name by George Chase, a summer visitor whose nearby estate in Dublin was called Chesham; the area's economic activity began to subside after the end of railroad service in 1936. Chesham has an elementary school called Wells Memorial School, it has about 55 pupils up to grade 6. The Community Church of Harrisville and Chesham was formed from Chesham Baptist Church and Harrisville Congregational Church. Chesham Baptist Church dates back to 1785; the church building was built in 1797, re-modeled in 1830, again re-modeled in 1844.
The historic district consists of a stretch of Chesham Road, extending eastward from its junction with Roxbury and Silver Lake Roads. The junction is one of the village's central points, where the railroad station and a surviving store building are located, as is the temple-fronted Greek Revival house of George Bemis. There are six houses in the district, ranging in style from the Greek Revival to the Colonial Revival. National Register of Historic Places listings in Cheshire County, New Hampshire
Nubanusit Brook
Nubanusit Brook is a 14.3-mile-long stream located in southern New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Contoocook River, part of the Merrimack River watershed. Nubanusit Brook begins at the outlet of Nubanusit Lake in New Hampshire; the brook flows south into Harrisville, interrupted by Harrisville Pond and Skatutakee Lake flows east to the MacDowell Reservoir in Peterborough. The brook turns south, passes the village of West Peterborough, reaches the Contoocook River after passing through Peterborough village. Nubanusit Brook was important to the establishment and development of Harrisville and Peterborough because many dams were built along it to provide water power to mills; these included substantial textile mills in Harrisville, West Peterborough, Peterborough, as well as smaller mills along the brook's course. List of rivers of New Hampshire New Hampshire GRANIT geographic information system: 1:25,000-scale digital hydrographic data derived from U. S. Geological Survey topographic maps
Hancock, New Hampshire
Hancock is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,654 at the 2010 census. Hancock is home to the Welch Family Farm Forest; the main village of the town, where 204 people resided at the 2010 census, is defined as the Hancock census-designated place, is located at the junction of New Hampshire routes 123 and 137. Hancock started as an unidentified settlement on the Contoocook River, in lands known as "Society Land" or "Cumberland", reserved for the proprietors of the lands which became New Hampshire. First settled in 1764, the town was set off from Peterborough and incorporated in 1779, named "Hancock" in honor of John Hancock. A landowner of 1,875 acres in the community, Hancock was the first governor of the state of Massachusetts, president of the Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence; every building on Main Street in downtown Hancock is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Hancock Village Historic District.
Hancock's Meetinghouse is home to Paul Revere's #236 bell, which chimes on the hour and night. The town does not have paved sidewalks. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 31.2 square miles, of which 30.0 sq mi are land and 1.2 sq mi are water, comprising 4.00% of the town. Hancock is drained by the Contoocook River. Powder Mill Pond is in the east, Nubanusit Lake is on the western border. Skatutakee Mountain, the highest point in Hancock, has an elevation of 2,002 feet above sea level. Hancock lies within the Merrimack River watershed; as of the census of 2010, there were 1,654 people, 724 households, 484 families residing in the town. There were 864 housing units, of which 140, or 16.2%, were vacant. 91 of the vacant units were for seasonal or recreational use. The racial makeup of the town was 97.4% white, 0.4% African American, 0.1% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 0.2% some other race, 1.1% from two or more races. 1.0% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the 724 households, 23.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.6% were headed by married couples living together, 6.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.1% were non-families. 27.6% of all households were made up of individuals, 13.1% were someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26, the average family size was 2.71. In the town, 17.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 6.0% were from 18 to 24, 15.9% from 25 to 44, 37.9% from 45 to 64, 22.2% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 50.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.8 males. For the period 2011-2015, the estimated median annual income for a household was $77,788, the median income for a family was $89,773. Male full-time workers had a median income of $61,944 versus $47,604 for females; the per capita income for the town was $45,544. 4.6% of the population and 3.3% of families were below the poverty line.
5.2% of the population under the age of 18 and 2.8% of those 65 or older were living in poverty. Hancock is part of SAU #1, a school district that includes 9 towns, better known as the Contoocook Valley Regional School District. Students from Hancock attend the following schools: Elementary: Hancock Elementary School, located in Hancock Middle: Great Brook School, located in Antrim High: ConVal Regional High School, located in Peterborough Hancock Historical Society Museum Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope A. A. Ames, corrupt former mayor of Minneapolis and fugitive from justice. Arrested at the house of Rev. C. H. Chapin in Hancock in February 1903. Oren B. Cheney, Free Baptist preacher, founder of Bates College Person C. Cheney, US senator Wayne Green, publisher Joseph Grew, US ambassador to Japan, Denmark and Switzerland Howard Mansfield, author Charles E. Merrill Jr. educator, founded the Commonwealth School Jay Pierrepont Moffat, US ambassador to Canada Jay Pierrepont Moffat, Jr. US ambassador to Chad Sy Montgomery, adventurer Lilla Cabot Perry, artist Wallace Tripp, illustrator Elizabeth Yates and historian Town of Hancock official website Hancock Historical Society Various town records 1749-1883 online at Fold3.com New Hampshire Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau Profile
Board of selectmen
The board of selectmen or select board is the executive arm of the government of New England towns in the United States. The board consists of three or five members, with or without staggered terms. Three is the most common number, historically. In some places, a first selectman is appointed to head the board by election. In most New England towns, the adult voting population gathered annually in a town meeting to act as the local legislature, approving budgets and laws. Day-to-day operations were left to individual oversight, but when towns became too large for individuals to handle such work loads, they would elect an executive board of select men to run things for them; these men had charge of the day-to-day operations. However, the larger towns grew, the more power would be distributed among other elected boards, such as fire wardens and police departments. For example, population increases led to the need for actual police departments, of which selectmen became the commissioners; the advent of tarred roads and automobile traffic led to a need for full-time highway maintainers and plowmen, leaving selectmen to serve as Supervisors of Streets and Ways.
The function of the board of selectmen differs from state to state, can differ within a given state depending on the type of governance under which a town operates. Selectmen always serve part-time, with a token or no salary, it is the chief executive branch of local government in the open town meeting form of government. The basic function consists of calling town meetings, proposing budgets to Town Meeting, setting public policy, calling elections, setting certain fees, overseeing certain volunteer and appointed bodies, creating basic regulations. In larger towns, the selectmen's daily administrative duties are delegated to a full-time town administrator or town manager. In some towns, the board of selectmen retains the historic name. In some places, such as Connecticut, the board is headed by a first selectman, who has served as the chief administrative officer of the town and may be elected separately from the rest of the board. In New Hampshire cities, a "selectman" is an elected position, responsible for organizing elections for local and federal offices.
Three selectmen, a moderator, a clerk are elected in each city ward. A rare use of the term outside New England is in Georgetown, where the town governing body is called the Board of Selectmen; the first selectman is the head of the board of selectmen in some New England towns. The first selectman was the one who received the largest number of votes during municipal elections or at a town meeting. Most towns, have chosen to elect the first selectman in a separate election, much like a mayor. While the principle remains the same in most towns, the function has evolved differently. Traditionally, the first selectman acts as chief administrative officer; as with all politicians in New England, it was a part-time position. Most modern towns that have part-time first selectmen limit their function to chairing the board of selectmen and performing certain ceremonial duties. Actual administration of the town is handled by the town manager. In other towns, the first selectman acts as CEO of the town, much like a mayor, alone or in conjunction with a town manager who acts as a chief administrative officer.
In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the presiding selectman is called the chairman and is chosen annually by his or her fellow selectmen. In Connecticut, the first selectman is the chief executive and administrative officer of most towns with the Selectmen-Town Meeting form of government; some towns, such as Woodbridge, elect their first selectmen to be the chief administrative officer of the town though the position is technically part-time. The first selectman is a voting member of the board of selectmen and can cast a tie-breaking vote in the board of finance. In other towns, the position is full-time. In towns such as Beacon Falls, Bethany and Simsbury, the losing first selectman candidate can earn a seat on the board of selectmen, depending on the number of votes he or she garners. Alderman de Tocqueville, Democracy in America: the Henry Reeve text as revised by Francis Bowen, now further corrected and edited with introduction, editorial notes, bibliography by Phillips Bradley, Chapter V: Spirit of the townships of New England.
Fairlee, J. A. Local government in counties and villages, Chap. 8 Murphy, R. E. "Town Structure and Urban Concepts in New England", The Professional Geographer 16, 1. Garland, J. S. New England town law: a digest of statutes and decisions concerning towns and town officers, pp. 1–83. Green, A. New England's gift to the nation—the township.: An oration, Parker, J. The origin and influence of the towns of New England: a paper read before the Massachusetts Historical Society, December 14, 1865, Whiting, S; the Connecticut town-officer, Part I: The powers and duties of towns, as set forth in the statutes of Connecticut, which are recited, pp. 7–97 Zimmerman, Joseph F. "The New England Town Meeting: Democracy in Action" Praeger Publishers, 1999
Harrisville
