[TheForge] OT....story of Ketchikan

Fri May 9 13:32:01 2003

You might enjoy this Jerry. A friend of mine was an opthamologist in Ketchikan for about 8 years. He decided to move back to Anchorage about 2 years ago. We were vistiting at my brothers' home there and he told me about Ketchikan over pizza. Said if you liked bears, it was the place to be!<p>
He was divorced for years and found it difficult to meet mutually compatible females while there, and that is what pushed him back to the city. He said to me, "Do you know the standard introduction line to women in Ketchikan?" I thought for a second and then replied I didn't have a clue.<p>
He chortled and said, "Hey, nice tooth.">p?
I rolled.

 --- On Fri 05/09, Darrell < [email protected] > wrote:
From: Darrell [mailto: [email protected]]
To: [email protected]
Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 10:12:14 -0700
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Line Shaft Driven Factories

Jerry,<br>If you take the ferry from Ketchikan to Hollis after you pass Kasan the<br>ferry makes about a 90 deg left turn heading to Hollis. About half way<br>between that turn and Hollis on the right side of the channel there was a<br>large building. This was about 1980.<br><br>Darrell<br><br>http://www.machinemaster.com<br>----- Original Message -----<br>From: "Jerry Frost" <[email protected]><br>To: <[email protected]><br>Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 10:38 PM<br>Subject: Re: [TheForge] Line Shaft Driven Factories<br><br><br>> I spent quite a bit of time on Prince of Wales Island a few years back and<br>> though I asked, nobody told me about such a shop.<br>><br>> Do you have more specifics on the shop's location? It's mostly just<br>> curiosity now as I don't expect to ever get back there but nothing's<br>> impossible.<br>><br>> There used to be a line shop in Seward AK. the Seward Machine Shop. I<br>> happened to be doing a job in the locale and heard the shop e
 quipment and<br>> tools were for sale and soon to be auctioned. I looked up the fellow<br>> handling the estate and got to take a tour.<br>><br>> It was a very complete shop started in the late oughts or early teens. It<br>> stayed in the family till the old man died, his kids had no interest in it<br>> so it got sold off. The old man built about half the equipment himself<br>> seeing as Alaska was so remote at the time. He had a number of steam tools<br>> converted to compressed air and a home made pneumatic car lift to name a<br>> few.<br>><br>> Anyway, what really got my attention was the smithy, I ended up taking<br>home<br>> about 500 lbs of various tools, mostly set hammers and tongs. The one<br>thing<br>> I wish I could've taken but had no place to put it was a 1,200+lb anvil,<br>> Fisher as I recall. The other real roadblock to taking it home was the<br>> charming way the old man had built his shop, it started small and he kept<br>> adding on. No biggy except the onl
 y way out was across a turn of the<br>century<br>> wooden floor over a full basement, running through a maze of . . . stuff.<br>> One piece of stuff being a dump truck.<br>><br>> Yeah, there was a dump truck parked on a wooden floor over the basement.<br>> (one of the basements actually) I thought that was scary enough but AFTER<br>he<br>> showed me the basement(s) we climbed up on the mezanine and I discovered<br>it<br>> was full of scrap steel.<br>><br>> Frosty<br>> ------------------------<br>> If it ain't forged<br>> it ain't real.<br>> Wrought iron is.<br>> The FrostWorks<br>><br>> Meadow Lakes, AK.<br>><br>><br>> ----- Original Message -----<br>> From: "Darrell" <[email protected]><br>> To: <[email protected]><br>> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 3:59 PM<br>> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Line Shaft Driven Factories<br>><br>><br>> > There was a nice shop on the bay on the way to Hollis Alaska on Prince<br>of<br>> > Wales Island.<br>> > It had about an 8" dia wate
 r line from a creek up the mountain that ran<br>> > everything by hydro power. Even had a small generator for lights. All of<br>> the<br>> > equipment was line shaft driven. It was a boat shop.<br>> > Darrell<br>> ><br>> > http://www.machinemaster.com<br>> > ----- Original Message -----<br>> > From: "RIES NIEMI" <[email protected]><br>> > To: <[email protected]><br>> > Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2003 3:26 PM<br>> > Subject: [TheForge] Line Shaft Driven Factories<br>> ><br>> ><br>> > > Snohomish Ironworks is an intact line shaft driven shop- its not<br>exactly<br>> a<br>> > > factory- the grandson, who runs it now, is more of a fabricator, and<br>> down<br>> > > the middle bay he has a large hydraulic ironworker and a couple of mig<br>> > > machines, which is mostly what he uses. On either side there are line<br>> > > shafts, and nothing has been touched or even cleaned up since at least<br>> the<br>> > > 40's, so there are operating lathes, drills, mills and a big plane
 r<br>off<br>> > the<br>> > > line shaft.<br>> > ><br>> > > But even in the Northwest, its not very unique- I recently sold a line<br>> > shaft<br>> > > lathe, and in the process ended up finding out about 3 or 4 other line<br>> > shaft<br>> > > shops around here. Most of them are not job shops, they are specific<br>> > > craftsmen who use them for their work, but my guess would be that<br>there<br>> > are<br>> > > at least 100 shops as complete as Snohomish Ironworks around the<br>> country.<br>> > ><br>> > > _______________________________________________<br>> > > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge<br>> > > theforge mail list group photo site is<br>> > > http://www.photoaccess.com<br>> > > Login:  [email protected]<br>> > > password:  anvil<br>> > > ___________<br>> > ><br>> > ><br>> ><br>> > _______________________________________________<br>> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge<br>> > theforge mail list group photo site is<br>> 
 > http://www.photoaccess.com<br>> > Login:  [email protected]<br>> > password:  anvil<br>> > ___________<br>> ><br>> ><br>> ><br>><br>> _______________________________________________<br>> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge<br>> theforge mail list group photo site is<br>> http://www.photoaccess.com<br>> Login:  [email protected]<br>> password:  anvil<br>> ___________<br>><br>><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge<br>theforge mail list group photo site is<br>http://www.photoaccess.com<br>Login:  [email protected]<br>password:  anvil<br>___________<br><br><br>

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