Alan Skeoch

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  • EPISODE 286MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION THE JOHN CALDER SAW MILL, BELLWOOD, ONTRIO


    EPISODE  286    MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION        THE JOHN CALDER SAWMILL,  BELLWOOD, ONTARIO

    alan skeoch
    March  2021




    “Alan, if you ever need some logs cut into planks, bring them up to the farm.”

    John did not have to ask twice.  On week ends i began moving my Massey Harris beams
    from Toronto to Bellwood.   And then the nice part happened.  I spent several days
    helping John convert old factory posts  into nice white pine planks which we then
    fed into his planer.  

    Saw dust and wood chips  peppered the air and on some days the wood chip shower
    was interspersed with snow flakes.  It was  ‘the best of times’.  Unforgettable. 

    Especially when the milling was halted for a few hours so the lambing could be assisted if
    a ewe needed help getting the little lamb into the open air.  Then there was  milking time
    which took precedence over everything.  The Holstein herd had to be milked on s
    a regular schedule.   The Calder/Townsend herd bellowed at milking time.  Painfull.  Could
    not be delayed.  Seven days a week job.   Imagine trying to tend a flock of sheep, a dairy herd and a saw mill
    all on the same day.

    John had his flock of sheep.  Eleanor had her herd of cattle.  There lives were contained within that framework
    from which there was no desire to escape. Morning, day, and night labour.   No time to waste?  Not quite true for there were 
    hours in the daytime when the saw mill could be put into operation.   Those were my moments.



    Some Massey Harris beams ready for the saw mill after we made sure there
    wer no nails.   Jus one nail could damage the saw blade.   Most small saw mills
    will not accept used wood beams…nor will they accept logs from city trees
    lest there be a fence bolt or worse buried in the log.






    The wood grain streaks, along with blemishes from long gone branching points, made the southern pitch
    pine planks, in my mind, an imaginary terrain of farm fields freshly furrowed but interrupted by granite 
    boulders pushed down here by glaciers that towered above the land pushed and pushing those stones.  



    John had other jobs than mine such as this gargantuan piece.  John was  not a man to waste things.   Even the towering skeletal
    dead elms on his farm were worth salvaging.   Once put through his saw mill the spoliated elm planks had a beauty all their own.
    John used these planks with their ghostly markings to clothe the interior walls of the stone house he had almost completed.









    I am not sure why John is threatening to eat here.  





    END:  THE JOHN CALDER SAW MILL, BELLWOOD, ONTARIO.

    NEXT:   EPISODE 287:   WHAT THE CALDER FAMILY WERE DOING OTHER THAN SAWING WOOD

    alan skeoch
    March 2021

    SAMPLES OF WOOD QUILTS MADE FROM WOOD SCRAPS

    Post Script   Just a couple of my Wooden Quilts to remind readers that there
    was an end use of some of this rescued lumber.  Small bits and pieces captured
    my imagination so often.  It began with a crumpled sections of snow fence on Uncle 
    Norman’s farm.  Each piece of distressed lath looked like a dark and foreboding
    sky.   A little polishing with the belt sander and shaping with the band saw and… ‘Presto’… the 
    busted  snow fence pieces became something real.


    I made this one in remembrance of an attack on John Calder’s sheep by ‘pet’ dogs…story 
    coming in an Episode




    These large pictures now hang above fireplace at home and on wall at farm


    This is an old school near Thornbury… enclosed in a white pine forest.

  • MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION ANCIENT TIMBER RESCUE…JOHN CALDER SAWMILL

    EPISODE 285    MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION    ANCIENT TIMBER RESCUE…JOHN CALDER SAWMILL


    Alan skeoch
    march 16, 2021


    From this jumble of broken dreams…timbers were rescued.




    then put through John Calder’s saw mill and planer



    To become white pine planks from ancient trees…almost free of knots.

    THIS IS THE STORY OF THE RESCUE OF MASSEY HARRIS  FERGUSON WHITE  PINE BEAMS.

    alan skeoch
    March 15, 2021.

    The Massey Ferguson  factories were built in the late 19th century.  Red bricks turned black by the soot of untold numbers
    of coal fired steam engines,  White pine timbers bashed  snd  beaten by cast iron parts carts.   Southern pitch pine
    flooring so tough they were hardly scarred.   I found them 40 years ago when the factory was being demolished. 
    A rescue seemed necessary.  You can be the judge of that.

    Those  wood construction materials were almost overlooked while I was retrieving factory pieces such as the Iron Working machine
    or the the wheeled cast iron parts carts.   So much wood.  Piled and shattered by the excavators and bull dozers.   What a waste.
    I rescued a cross section of the wood…some white pine timbers…some pitch pine floor boards.  Then cleaned them at home
    pulled out an spikes…tested the pieces with my belt sander. They were beautiful.   So  the wood rescue began.




    ALL the Massey Harris factory carts were abandoned and damn difficult to rescue like
    this beauty angled for a fall.  Sadly it was lost,  But several were saved. and  rolled
    up planks into the back  of the truck



    The Massey Ferguson factory floors were held up by hundreds of white pine
    beams…12 x 12 inches wide, perhaps 12 feet long.



    Problem getting these beams  after the building was knocked down.  How  to get
    the beam out from under all the broken pieces.  Think about it.





    How?   Not so easy.  Imagine a gigantic game of ‘pick up sticks’.  Dislodging one beam in a pile of beams might cause
    an avalanche.  To avoid that I used a heavy rope attached to the ball Hitch on the back of my truck.  Tie the rope to the
    selected beam…drive forward to get the beast into a level place for loading.  Watch out for spikes that could blow a
    tire or puncture my hand.    I think one tire got punctured and CAA was called.  Fixed in not time.  Not sure that happened
    on the Massey site.  It has happened often.

    First rescue was the big 12 x 12 white pine beams used to support all the floors in the buildings. Most were about 12 feet long
    and could slide in my van with a little effort.  Truck could take six with ease if back doors were open and the extended beams
    were flagged with a red warning sign.   I got pile of these beams.  Then about halfway through the demolition some other
    guy got the same idea on a bigger scale.   He brought in a flat back truck and had the beams loaded by a  crane.   Glad
    to see him.  I stopped my beam rescue about then as I had more than enough stacked at home in the laneway.


    Eventually someone else got the idea and the rescue of the beams was done
    on a larger scale.



    The southern pitch pine planks were totally ignored and there were hundreds of them.   Most had big spikes in them
    with points obvious.   The wood grain once cleaned was marvellous.  So I continued fishing for lumber but it was a
    little more difficult because the spikes were like fish hooks.  Trying to get one plank brought a whole bunch.    These were
    not small planks…4 inches thick, 8 to 10 inches wide…heavy and long.   Such a waste to see these planks
    ground to splinters and hauled to some disposal site.  I managed to get several van loads of them and now
    our cellar has pitch pine walls.  Wish I had rescued more but there was no time and too much  danger even when
    using a long rope and the truck hitch.  Somebody had to tie the plank which  meant getting a little to close to
    the piles of planks dumped by the excavator.   




    You my begin to wonder wha I would want with this beaten up lumber.  See
    the final entry…the Wooden Folk Art piece
    Why would  I be stupid enough to do  this?

    Because John Calder, my cousin Eleanor’s husband  had just finished assembling a saw mill on their farm.  John was
    a brilliant man.  I miss him as do all that knew him.   He bought or was given a saw mill that had been taken apart some years
    earlier and left in pile of rusting parts.  In the pile was an immense cast iron planing machine still intact.  So John spent
    months reassembling the mill beside his barn located between Fergus and Bellwood in Wellington County.   This was
    not an easy task.  But John had time and he had the skills that I will never have.  

    TO BE CONTINUED IN EPISODE 286    THE JOHN CALDER SAWMILL, BELWOOD, ONTARIO

    P.S/

    Might interest you to know what I made with some of the bits and pieces
    of Massey Ferguson wood waste.   Sample below, story is coming.I loved using distressed
    wood pieces to work into a picture.   The backboard of this piece has been pecked by a thousand
    chickens.  The piece has No Name…that is your task.


  • EPISODE 284 PART TWO: PARKDALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE PICTURES OF THE PAST MARCH 15, 2021




    EPISODE 284   PART TWO     PICTURES OF PARKDALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE  …MOSTLY OF CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION IN 1989


    “Listen up kids,  I bet Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau would come to Parkdale if you

    send him an invite.  He would not listen  to me but he sure would listen to you.”

    So my Grade 10 kids send an invite and sure as  god made little green apples, the
    Prime Minister arrived.  His sniffer dog came the day before PM Trudeau…then the
    RCMP undercover guys, then the entourage.  One of our girls at Parkdale broke through the 
    security detail and grabbed  Trudeau in a bear hug giving him a big kiss.  He smiled.





    NOTE:   PART TWO PICTURES  OF  PARKDALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE STUDENTS
    AND  STAFF.   (A continuation of Part One )  

    alan skeoch
    march 15, 2021




  • EPISODE 284 MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION: PARKDALE C.I. STAFF AND STUDENTS MAKE A FILM SET COME ALIVE (PART ONE)

    NOTE:  THIS story can stand alone.  One year Around 1980 a whole movie
    set from the demolition of Massey Ferguson was moved to our
    high school auditorium.  Play Chuck Berry’s SCHOOL DAYS while
    reading below.  I mean it.  Get the recording going…



    EPISODE 284   MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION:   PARKDALE COLLEGIATE  INSTITUTE BEOMES A FILM SET


    alan skeoch
    March 2021




    About the time the Massey Ferguson factory was being demolished, our high school, Parkdale Collegiate was a big
    part of my life.   One day I brought the two together…the demolition site on King Street West and PCI on Jameson
    Avenue

    If life is to be enjoyable then laughter is a key element.  At PCI we tried to mix the good times with the rigour of
    academia.   Successfully done I feel.   

    One day while rummaging through the wreckage at the Massey Ferguson factory
    I noticed  a film crew doing the same thing.  Rummaging. They even made the wreckage look worse by having graffiti artists spray
    symbols all over the bricks.  I think it was supposed to be the wreckage of  New  York City after some disaster.
    Bottom line is that when the film was finished and the set was piled with the trash I moved in with my truck and loaded up all the discarded props  and
    set material.  Garish signs with big dollops of paint over and under.  A  real mess.  Looked terrific.  Drove the stuff to Parkdale 
    and staff and  student remodelled  our auditorium into a rock and roll music hall in New York City.  Some of the staff and
    students were already rehearsing “School Days”,  that fever pitched song promoted by Jerry Lee Lewis I think.  No, it was Chuck Berry.
     Mary Hunter, staff member, had been a cheerleader in the past and gave leadership not that much was necessary.  The school was exploding with anticipation


    Up in the mornin’ and out to school
    The teacher is teachin’ the Golden Rule
    American history and practical math
    You study’ em hard and hopin’ to pass
    Workin’ your fingers right down to the bone
    And the guy behind you won’t leave you alone

    Ring ring goes the bell
    The cook in the lunchroom’s ready to sell
    You’re lucky if you can find a seat
    You’re fortunate if you have time to eat
    Back in the classroom open you books
    Gee but the teacher don’t know
    How mean she looks


    We dressed ourselves up as outlandishly as possible for our annual rock
    and roll assembly.  We did this often each year but that one year was really special because the set design was
    perfect.   About mid way through our preparations there was a visit by a young man.  “It’s about the movie set.”
    He  had planned to pick it up as well.  In other words he knew it was junk.  But good  junk.  “Yes, come into
    the auditorium and take a look.”  He was impressed.  “Do you suppose I could have the New  York subway signs
    when your show is over?”   “Sure, take what you want.”   The  music  of Chuck Berry was busting up the the
    speakers.   Everybody gyrating even if not on stage.   This was one grand  use for a discarded movie set.

    The pictures of staff and students above and below will give you an idea.  With all he feverish energy that only
    teen agers can inject.  Sorry, not true.   i meant to say all the feverish energy that only teen-agers and their teacher 
    could inject.

    NOTE:  This is only Part One:  The pictures are from various rock snd roll shows.  And from the Parkdale Centennial celebration.  


    ENOUGH SAID…TOO MANY WORDS WOULD SPOIL THE IMPACT

    alan skeoch
    March 15, 2021


    alan skeoch
    March 15, 2021


    Up in the mornin’ and out to school
    The teacher is teachin’ the Golden Rule
    American history and practical math
    You study’ em hard and hopin’ to pass
    Workin’ your fingers right down to the bone
    And the guy behind you won’t leave you alone

    Ring ring goes the bell
    The cook in the lunchroom’s ready to sell
    You’re lucky if you can find a seat
    You’re fortunate if you have time to eat
    Back in the classroom open you books
    Gee but the teacher don’t know
    How mean she looks

    Soon as three o’clock rolls around
    You finally lay your burden down
    Close up your books, get out of your seat

    Down the halls and into the street
    Up to the corner and ’round the bend
    Right to the juke joint you go in

    Drop the coin right into the slot
    You gotta hear something that’s really hot

    With the one you love you’re makin’ romance
    All day long you been
    Wantin’ to dance
    Feelin’ the music from head to toe
    ‘Round and ’round and ’round you go

    Drop the coin right into the slot
    You gotta hear something that’s really hot

    With the one you love you’re makin’ romance
    All day long you been
    Wantin’ to dance
    Feelin’ the music from head to toe
    ‘Round and ’round and ’round you go

    Hail, hail rock’n’roll
    Deliver me from the days of old
    Long live rock’n’roll
    The beat of the drum is loud and bold
    Rock rock rock’n’roll
    The feelin’ is there body and soul

  • EPISODE 282 MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLTION GETTING THE IRON WORKER MACHINE…NEAR DEATH EVENT…GLAD POLICE ARRIVED

    EPISODE 282   MASSEY FERGUSON DEMOLITION     THE IRON WORKER MACHINE….NEAR DEATH EVENT…GLAD POLICE ARRIVED

    alan skeoch
    March 2021


    THIS WAS MY GOOD FRIEND BILL PARSONS.  WE SHARED A LOT OF GOOD TIMES.  THIS WAS ONE OF OUR BEST.

    Most of the Massey Ferguson buildings were stripped bare.  Hundreds of machines gone God knows where.
    But I found one machine that had been judged worthless and left behind for the demolition crew.
    Who would possibly ever want a lever action ‘iron cutting machine’?  Obsolete remains of 19th century
    manufacturing.   Who would want it?   Well, I wanted it.  Never heard of such a machine that could  cut
    iron or steel just by use of he human hand and a long lever.

    Extricating the machine turned out to be quite an event.  Exciting in the extreme.  Even a member
    of the Toronto Police force and his cautionary black and white car with flashing lights got into 
    the adventure.



    This was not an easy job.  The iron worker was located on the third floor of the old paint shop building.
    How the hell would I get it down to ground level.  The machine must have weighed 300 pounds or more.
    This required thought.  And help.  So I called up my good friend Bill Parsons.  A man who loved
    outdoor bizarre adventure.  

    “Bill, can you help me move a machine out of the Massey demolition site?”
    Bill Parsons already knew about my rescue missions as he had received
    some of those pitch pine planks.
    “Sure, When?”
    “I think Sunday morning  is best.  Most people will be at church or asleep.”
    “What will we need?”
    “Just a  long piece of heavy rope…40 or 50 feet long.”
    “Got it right here.”


    The foreman and his boss found my presence amusing.  

    I had already got permission … first to get the machine which was junk to him and
    second to be on the demolition site on Sunday when no men would be working.

    We took my truck right up to the doomed building. Climbed up the stairs to he
    third  floor and then did something I should never have done.
    Best understood  in numbered stages.


    This was the building.  We knocked out one  of the third floor windows.


    1) We used our hammers to smash the glass window and sash.  No one
    seemed to have heard the glass shattering.
    2) We manhandled the iron worker over to the window.
    3) We tied the rope to the machine.
    4) We walked the rope back to a vertical ceiling support beam.
    5) Looped the rope around the beam.
    6) then went back to the window and managed to lift the
    iron worker onto the ledge.  It Teetered there…unstable\
    7) “Now, Bill,you go back and hold the rope.   When you
    are ready give me a signal.”
    8) Bill signalled.  Then I pushed the Iron worker
    off the smashed window ledge.  It dropped like a wrecking ball.
    9) Bill took off like he had been shot from a cannon.
    10) I got to the rope just in time.  We were holding
    the rope … the iron worker was dangling between the second
    and third floor.  Heavy…but manageable.

    REVIEW THE STEPS.
    We looped the rope around the distant beam, then Bill held the rope while I pushed the iron worker out
    the window.   That was  a deadfall drop of about five feet before the slack was taken up.  Imagine.
    Dropping a 200 to 300 lump of iron in a free fall for several feet.  Bad business.  I got back
    just in time.  WE stopped the drop but could not move. Then help arrived…in uniform.
    Police.







    About this time the police arrived.  One policeman.  He
    wondered  what the hell we were doing.

    11) “Glad you got here.  Grab the rope.   We can all slowly lower
    the machine to the ground without smashing it.  I have permission..
    take my licence…whatever you want.  But grab the rope.

    And he did.   We gingerly lowered the iron worker to the ground
    and tipped it into my truck.  The adventure was over.


    The paint shop on the second floor should have given us second thoughts.  Looked like splattered blood.

    We survived. Note to worried readers.  Do not get too agitated.  If we failed all that would happen would happen only to the iron worker…it would be
    smashed below.  We had an emergency plan.
    “Bill, if things go wrong, let go of the rope.”

    Once loaded in the truck we felt the adventure was over.
    But not quite.

    “Do you fellows know why smoke is coming out of
    that chimney?”  And the cop joined to the sky where the
    tall chimney ended.  Sure enough…smoke.
    We were not alone.

    “We have no idea.”
    “Well, I better check that out as well.”
    “Thanks for the help officer.”
    “Our motto is We Serve…or something like that.”
    (I Think he thought we were a brick short of a load…nuts in other words.)

    The foreman told me on Monday that some enterprising thief
    had cut loose all the copper electrical wire he could  find…
    a great roll was made.  Then he burned off the insulated 
    covering in the furnace before getting on the King Street
    car and riding to a scrap yard downtown.  He got away.

    “He could have killed himself had one of the lines been alive.”

    Now it is year 2021…decades later. Guess what?  I cannot find where
    I put the iron worker.  Somewhere in a fence row at the farm.  Sinking.

    THE END













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