RANGELEY – On Oct. 18, the students of the Rangeley Lakes Regional School Alternative Education class, called “The Naturals,” participated in a three and a half hour program at the Rangeley Lakes Region Logging Museum.
The venture was a collaboration between Jeanette Jacobs, the alternative education teacher, and logging museum President Ron Haines. The program was created as an immersion field trip, meant to excite the students learning about the history of the Rangeley Lakes region.
Students participated in activities that taught them about logging “in the old days” and learned how to use tools of the same era in the competition field area. Throughout the day, students got a chance to actually use a wooden framed buck saw, cut a four foot piece of pulp, spend some working time with a pulp or scratch hook to stack pulp, getting leverage with a kantdog to roll a log, using an incline plane and balance points to move a full size 10-inch by 10-inch, 16 foot beam from the ground to the top of a four-foot pile, splitting hard wood, stove size, with the maul, seeing the proper way to notch (also the unsafe way) to fell a standing tree and also getting a chance to “power up” to modern times with a real high performance chain saw.
Inside the museum, the students got to hear about the men and women of the woods of Rangeley in the 1920s, a time when men worked as well as lived in logging camps. They heard about the habits and difficulties that these woodsmen faced, as well as the “goings on” back on the farm where their families wintered. Their simple but difficult lives were reflected in the clothing these men wore and had to care for each night back at the camp. As students toured the museum, they saw the tools that the hands of these men used in the woods, cutting ice in the winter and farming in the summer.
“I did not know that the [loggers had] bosses,” student Morgan Delay said. ” So, that was pretty interesting to learn about… it was also cool to see what the chef cooked on that little stove for about 10 people. That’s amazing!”
“The Naturals” also got a chance to see how a block and tackle pulley system could be used to lift heavy objects. One of the twin props, weighing about 100 lbs., (of the famous steam boat, “The Alligator” which burnt when it was being moved overland from Umbagog Lake to Lower Richardson) was lifted with one hand with the help of the mechanical aid. Nothing much was said about the nearly 100 vintage power saws (some not even chain type) as just seeing this collection in one place was a lesson. The progression of moving timber and pulp from the horse and dray days, to steam locomotive, then to river drives were part of what the students could better understand through the awesome visuals of the 19 Alden Grant paintings.
As far as the RLRLM is concerned, this was a great step forward in getting appropriate use of the museum. The museum wants a solid connection and open door relationship with our schools, both in Rangeley and other Maine towns. The museum invites other educators to consider what RLRLM might have to offer in the way of resources, information, and activities.
“Thank you for showing us around the museum,” student Devon Clark said. “You did a great job to be patient with us.”
The museum also hopes to incorporate other activities, some already in the works, that will benefit the educational growth of participating students as well as the museum itself.
Article Written by Jeanette Jacobs and Ron Haines.
