Strange Question.

[hosman321]

I'm trying to find info on this company but am not having much luck. The only lumber company info I can find that uses the name "Hammerschmith" is mentioned on this page. About 3/4 of the way down the page in 1896. Any ideas of how I can find more info on this company? I think the company on that page is a different company though cause it's not in Washington State. Thanks for any advice!
http://www.trainweb.org/foothill/txtrosm.html

In case you are wondering why, here's the story...

Last summer, my cousin gave us a truckload of wood pieces to burn. He doesn't have a burn pit and we do. We unloaded it all into our backyard and it's just been rotting in a pile. We never burned much. Well, today we decided to actually clean up the area and get rid of a lot of the wood. Some of it is pieces of an old picket fence. It's beautifully shabby with it's chippy paint and I just can't burn it. Not without knowing how old it is. My cousin's house was built in 1922. I think this picket fence was original to the house. But I can't ask him until tomorrow. I just want to know if it's 20 years old or 100 years old, ya know? So, I'm trying to find this company. The piece with the company stamp is pretty gross and I was gonna toss it until I saw the stamp. I know this isn't worth anything and I am just going to use it for decorating but pieces of history end of being lost for that very reason. People think it's garbage and should just be burned!

[hosman321]

http://www.trainnet.org/Libraries/Lib002/WASHLOG1.TXT
Under "H" I found Hammerschmith & Sons. But I think those dates are just the dates the train hauled lumber here. I think the Company is in California, as stated in the first link.

[hosman321]

Ok, this is from my area. When I type in "w hammerschmith lumber" into yahoo, the first link that pops up seems like a match. But I can't find it on the page. Grrr

I found it on the page finally. Just a W Hammerschmith that was in a class there. Dangit.

[cogar]

What is the 1st letter of the “brand” stamp on the left side - ?IB

I have never seen a piece of lumber marked like that

HAMMERSCHMITH …… STAND ……. W(hite) CEDAR

With my imagination running wild, maybe that “?IB” is the Timber Company logo. And in that a “track of timber” is called a “stand”, maybe the name Hammerschmith is the name of the track of timber from whence that white cedar was cut.

[hosman321]

It's some kind of funky symbol rather than a letter, I am also guessing it's the company's logo.
There is a small "W" next to cedar. Thank you for pointing out that it's for white cedar.
Thanks for putting effort into such an unimportant little thing! But seemingly insignificant items like this help me learn how to do research on companies and how to determine the age of everyday vintage items. I call items like this "learning tools." I appreciate it. Now if I could only find a site that has old lumber company logos.

[sapphire]

hosman give this a shot.......appears to relate to the Pacific Northwest area.

Ignore the 'blank' page and scroll to the next. Page 459  (Time, Tide and Timber)

http://books.google.com/books?id=LpqaAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA458&lpg=PA458&dq=hammerschmith+lumber&source=bl&ots=9Ovyj3IBWt&sig=Qp8LJk0kq2gexXAmheXsOYW0Ink&hl=en&ei=-i9ITOSrKuK0nAel_6X5DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=hammerschmith%20lumber&f=false


In the yellow 'Results' line <Previous Next>  View All.......click on View All, it will give all the hits for Hammerschmith and on page 308 you can scroll up and down through the other pages and get a fair bit of info.

[sapphire]

Somewhere in here you will find this.......

"William N. Hammerschmith, hired by McCormick in 1926 and "

http://www.dahp.wa.gov/gis/pdfs/747.pdf

Not near enough caffeine in me to get through it yet!  



WHOOT !!  Page 22, paragraph 3

Are we getting closer??

[sapphire]

Another angle......

"L Hammerschmith & Sons            Yelm           5       1g      1926-1932"

http://www.trainnet.org/Libraries/Lib002/WASHLOG1.TXT

Might be more likely where the company name is Hammerschmith, rather than McCormick

still looking

[hosman321]

Geeze Sapphire, you are a whiz. I've been searching for hours! So, I'm thinking my little picket fence is 1920's-30's. Probably was put up by the proud owners of a brand new house. Pretty sad because it was in five or six 15 foot sections last summer but he cut it to bits to burn. Would have been really cool yard art or as art in my aviary room. Oh well. I'll salvage the little pieces for decoration.
Thanks for helping with dating, gives me good research practice!

[sapphire]

Paragraph 5 under Logging Takes Off

http://www.yelmhistoryproject.com/?p=1403

Despite such setbacks Yelm had entered the lumber age. In the Oregon and Washington Gazetteer and Business Directory, between 1908 and 1932, the following timber related enterprises were listed for the Yelm area: Corbet and Moore, saw mill; Fox and Garstand, sawmill; G. E. Goodard, sawmill; Hammerschmith and Sons, lumber; W. S. Kelter, sawmill; George Lochead, sawmill; McKenna Lumber Company; Mosman Brothers, sawmill; Neat Brothers (Clifford and Roy Neat were killed in a donkey engine accident in 1917 in Kalama, brother Winston was injured), sawmill; Robinson Lumber Company, sawmill; Type Y Shingle Company; and Lee Vale, sawmill.

[sapphire]

Don't you DARE paint that !!!
 

[hosman321]

How did I miss that section?
I emailed that yelm history project a couple hours ago to see if they knew anything. Hopefully they'll write back, maybe I'll get a little history lesson about my area.

[hosman321]

I love the chippy paint on them! No painting!

[hosman321]

I love how that section says they were "killed in a donkey engine accident." LOL
Times sure have changed!

[sapphire]

I love how that section says they were "killed in a donkey engine accident." LOL
Times sure have changed!

Having a dad who was logging in the 20's the term is at least familiar, but I can imagine the images it conjures up for the 'younger generation'