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NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017
NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017 3
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NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017
American LoggersFire Suppression Unique fire suppression systems could save your business – and your life. BY MATT CHABE
Most logging business owners can tell you, the threat of an equipment fire is all too real. Besides the obvious dangers to health and safety, equipment fire can impact your entire business. If one piece of equipment goes down, all the others depending on it will go idle as well. For very large companies who have backup equipment, it may not be as much of an issue, said Craig Bassingthwaite, the Chief O perations O fficer at American Loggers Fire Suppression, a Bangor, Maine-based business that sells and installs fire suppression systems. For companies
with smaller operating budgets, however, it could spell disaster. American Loggers Fire Suppression offers a unique fire suppression system. While most systems use powder to interrupt the elements necessary for fire, American Loggers’ system uses water mist. Bassingthwaite said this provides a unique advantage over powder-based systems— namely, it reduces the possibility of the fire reigniting. In addition, it’s environmentally friendly and it’s safe and nontoxic to occupants. The physical system, produced in Sweden and called Fogmaker, is fairly
new to the U.S. but has a great track record internationally, said Bassingthwaite. It takes a cubic inch of liquid and turns it into a cubic foot of high-pressure water mist. While the discharge of many powder systems will last 10 to 2 0 seconds, said Bassingthwaite, Fogmaker discharges from 4 5 seconds to about a minute and 2 0 seconds. Fogmaker’s longer discharge time is important, said Bassingthwaite. Like powder, the mist system is automatically discharged when fire is detected. But unlike powder, the longer discharge and patented nozzle release ensures that all hard-to-reach surfaces of the
engine and electrical areas are covered. O nce the mist system is executed, temperatures in excess of 1,2 00 degrees are minimized in just seconds. This surface cooling prevents the fire from reigniting and bursting back into flame even when diesel or hydraulic fluid continues to spill. “I’ve been in [ insurance] claims for 2 0 years and dealing with forestry claims for about 15 ,” he said, “and the biggest thing that I’ve seen over the years is that most fire suppression systems are able to put out a fire initially, but then seconds to minutes later there’s a re-flash. The powder has kind of dissipated, the metals
NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017 5
are still hot, the debris that was burning is still hot. It re-flashes, and now there’s nothing else to put out the fire.” Major insurance providers, including American Loggers Insurance Program and Acadia Insurance, grant benefits to loggers using fire suppression systems, said Bassingthwaite: “It’s mandatory in some situations [ depending on the provider] ,” he said, “but the insurance rates are also better with installed automatic fire suppression in most cases.” Installation is quick and easy, depending on the size of the equipment and the amount of suppression required. “It’s a pre-engineered system that
Fogmaker has developed, and we install it based on our knowledge and expertise of the specific piece of equipment and the areas that should be protected,” said Bassingthwaite. “The most important thing for us is to make sure that we do our best to stop fires from happening,” said Bassingthwaite. “There’s no system out there that can guarantee it will put out every fire, but with Fogmaker, you have the best fighting chance because it cools, it chokes and does things that the other systems just don’t do. No system is foolproof, but this one has the newest technology and the best components to protect your investment.
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NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017
Mechanized logging operations training program begins June 19 COURTESY OF PROFESSIONAL LOGGING CONTRACTORS OF MAINE
Maine’s first post-secondary training program for future operators of mechanized logging equipment is launching this summer, thanks to a partnership between three Maine community colleges, the Professional Logging Contractors (P LC) of Maine, and industry partners. The 12 -week certificate program will begin J une 19 in Millinocket and rotate to other locations around the state as each class completes it. The supervised training will be hands-on, putting students in modern equipment, in the woods, under actual logging conditions to better prepare them for good paying careers in the logging industry. “This program is critical to the future of Maine’s logging industry and it is equally critical to let young people know that despite the transition of the forest products industry, there is in fact a
future for this industry,” said PLC Executive Director Dana Doran. “Most skilled equipment operators are now at or nearing retirement age, and there is a shortage of skilled operators even despite the market retractions that have taken place recently.” The new program will work in tandem with the state’s current vocational training system and is expected to draw many of its students from within the logging industry itself as well as from Maine’s four high school vocational logging programs. For the first time, logging operators will be trained similarly to other advanced trade occupations with a high school and postsecondary approach. The training will give students a broad overview of the most common mechanical systems found in modern timber
harvesting equipment and an understanding of the variables of timber growth, tree species and markets. It will also include a strong emphasis on safety. About 95 percent of logging in Maine now relies on mechanized equipment, including feller bunchers and harvesters, delimbers, grapple skidders, and forwarders. It generally takes at least a year of training and experience before an operator becomes skilled enough to run this equipment safely and efficiently. The cost for companies to train these operators themselves is approximately $100,000 each. It was for this reason that the PLC partnered with the Maine Community College System and industry to create the program. It has been jointly developed by the PLC and Northern Maine Community College ( NMCC) , Eastern Maine Commu-
nity College ( EMCC) , and Washington County Community College ( WCCC) with generous support from M i l t o n CAT/ CAT Forest Products, Nortrax Inc./ J ohn Deere, and other industry partners. For more information, contact Leah Buck, Assistant Dean of Continuing Education at NMCC, at ( 2 07 ) -7 6 8 -2 7 6 8 or visit nmcc.edu.
NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017 7
N ortheast’s Premier Logging E x p o C oming To Bangor BYJULIA BAYLY
The northeast’s largest forest products equipment show is coming to Bangor, and it’s going to have something for everyone in the logging or forestry industry. The 2 017 Northeastern Forest Products Equipment Expo ( also referred to as the “Logging Expo” or “Loggers Expo”) will be held at Cross Insurance Center in Bangor May 19-2 0. Doors open at 9 a.m. both days. “The Bangor Logging Expo is among the top 100 largest expositions in the United
States,” said J oseph Phaneuf, executive director of the Northeast Loggers’ Association based in O ld Forge, New Y ork. “Firewood processors and splitters, wood chippers and grinders, portable sawmills— it’s all here in addition to an amazing array of trucks and trailers for hauling wood and wood products.” The annual expo, which alternates between Bangor in odd years and Vermont in even years, typically features close to 2 5 0 exhibitors and attracts up to 7 ,000 visitors. “The expo attracts exhibitors of in-wood logging equipment as well as wood processing equipment of all sizes and price ranges,” Phaneuf said. “The expo [ also] attracts people in the forest products industry as well as those who are just interested in large equipment.” Phaneuf said a number of retailers will be on hand offering deals on small tools and equipment in addition to exhibitors
Event is biennial hit within the industry
interested in helping people who heat their homes with wood. The Loggers Expo has become the place where serious business can be carried out between buyers and sellers of forest industry equipment, supplies and services and will include a mix of indoor and outdoor live demonstrations and static displays. “This expo is very much a marketplace of equipment, services and supplies,” Phaneuf said. “We hope that people come to take advantage of the price-competitive atmosphere we’ve created. In addition, it’s a great place to see what’s new in the industry [ because] equipment manufacturers are constantly improving their machines, making them more efficient and ergonomic.” That’s important in an industry that has evolved and seen a lot of changes since the days when wood was hauled out of the Maine forests by horses or on the river in annual drives. According to Phaneuf, it is the goal of the Northeast Loggers’ Association, through
the expo, to provide a place and time for loggers, sawmill operators and foresters to get together under one roof. “We strive to bring them together with the manufacturers and dealers of equipment that can help make their jobs safer and more productive,” he said. The Northeast Loggers’ Association represents more than 2 ,000 members of the northeast and lake states’ logging, sawmilling and forest products community. Phaneuf said they are thrilled to be back in Bangor. “Bangor has been an enthusiastic host of the Loggers Expo since the early ‘ 8 0s and we really feel welcome here,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to bring the Loggers Expo and the forest products industry back to Bangor and its renovated and revitalized downtown facilities.” More information on the expo, including exhibitor registration can be found online at www.nefpexpo.net
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NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017
2017 Bangor ME Exhibitor List Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc.
Space Concourse 114
2017 Bangor ME Exhibitor List
INDEX Space
Canadian Chains
O utside K2 1-2 2 Concourse 107
2017 Bangor ME Exhibitor List Diamond Saw Works
Space Arena 4 3 0
2017 Bangor ME Exhibitor List Hale Trailer
Space O utside D14 & 16
Aftermarket Parts, Inc.
Arena 5 4 0
Caribou Software
Diesel Fuel Systems, Inc.
Arena 4 18 -4 19
Airgas USA LLC
Arena 5 2 8
Caterpillar Forest Products O utside Log Loading Competition
Discount Hydraulic Hose
Arena 5 2 1
CBI -a Terex Brand
Dysarts Lubricants
O utside K7 -10
Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc.
Concourse 12 4
E.J . Prescott, Inc.
Concourse 103
Heavy Machines, Inc.
O utside H15 -2 2
Alliance Tire Americas, Inc. AM Machinery, Inc.
O utside Y 3 -4 O utside D5 & 7
CDL USA
American Loggers Ins. & Fire Suppression O utside F8 -10
Cemar Electro
American Lumber & Pallet
Chadwick-BaR oss
Anderson Equipment Co. Arbortech Tools USA Corp. Atlantic Hardchrome Automation, Inc. Bailey’s, Inc. Baker Products Bandit Industries Bangor Tire Company
Arena 4 5 2 O utside G9-16
O utside X 5 Concourse 111-112 Arena 4 4 2
Arena 5 3 3
Hews Company LLC
Enovative Technologies
Arena 5 2 3
Hogan Tyres, Inc.
Arena 5 2 4 -5 2 5
Les Equipement Marquis, Inc.
Cleereman Industries
Concourse 117
F.A. Peabody
Arena 4 2 4
Columbia Forest Products
Arena 5 2 9
Farm Credit East
Component R epair & Supply LLC
Arena 4 3 2
Fecon
O utside K2 3 -2 6
Hultdins, Inc.
O utside M5 -6
Arena 4 4 7
Forest Management Accounting
Concourse 106
O utside Y 8 ,10,12 O utside X 6 O utside X 2 -3 Arena 5 4 4 -5 4 5
Comstock Logging Supplies, Inc. Cord Master Intl, Inc.
O utside Z 1-4
Arena 5 14 -5 15
Hydraulic Hose & Assembly
Arena 4 2 0-4 2 1
Arena 5 17
Irving Blending & Packaging
Arena 4 3 3 -4 3 4
Irving Woodlands
O utside D1& 3
Forestry Suppliers
Cowie’s Equipment Ltd.
Arena 4 4 1
Frank Martin Sons, Inc.
Craig Manufacturing Ltd. CR D Metalworks
O utside T
Fuel O x
Bell’s Machining, Welding, Hydraulics
O utside B3 -7
Cross Insurance Agency
Arena 5 3 8
GB Equipements, Inc.
Best-Way Wood Heat, Inc.
O utside F11
Crown R oyal Stoves/ Greentech Mfg.
Arena 5 2 0 O utside Q 5 -6
Crushing Mechanics Cummings & Bricker, Inc. Daigle & Houghton, Inc.
Built-R ite Mfg.
O utside O 15 -16
Dale A. Thomas & Sons, Inc.
Caldwells Auto, LLC
Concourse 12 1
Darling’s Bangor Ford
Caluwe, Inc.
Arena 5 3 5
Dennison Lubricants
Concourse 110 O utside Z 5 O utside G5 -8 O utside O 1 O utside B2 1-2 3 Arena 5 11
O utside N12 & 14
Hydraulic Connections
O utside R 1-2
O utside Q 7 -10
Hud-Son Forest Equipment
O utside F15 Arena 5 4 2 -5 4 3
Arena 4 5 0
Arena 5 02
O utside R 3 -4
Arena 4 3 5 -4 3 7
The Hope Group
Foresty Safety Products
Cousineau Forest Products
O utside H11& 13
Arena 4 14
HO P Sales & Service
Arena 7 02
CJ Logging
Concourse 116
O utside Y 7 ,9,11
O utside P5 -6
O utside F2
O utside M1-4
Brute Force Manufacturing, LLC
O utside Z 7
Engine Distributors, Inc.
Bangor Truck & Trailer Sales, Inc.
Blockbuster, Inc.
O utside Y 1
O utside H1-10
Barry Equipment Co., Inc.
Biomass Engineering & Equipment
Hallco Industries, Inc. Halverson Wood Products
Freightliner of Maine
George Kahler Sales
Arena 6 01-6 02 O utside K11-2 0 Arena 5 3 4 O utside H12 & 14 O utside F16 -17
J ackman Equipment J M Champeau J S Logging Parts & Supplies J S Woodhouse Co., Inc.
O utside L11-18 Arena 4 2 6 Arena 4 16 O utside O 7 -10
GH Berlin-Windward Petroleum
Arena 5 3 0-5 3 1
Katahdin Fire Co.
O utside F12 -14
GPS Fleet Consulting
Concourse 102
Ken’s Truck R epair, Inc.
O utside B19-2 0 O utside B10-11
Granite State Cover & Canvas
Arena 4 11
Kiln Direct
Grinder Wear Parts/ Apollo Equipment
Arena 4 2 2
Kimball Midwest
Arena 5 3 6
The Knife Source
Haix North America Hakmet
SERIOUS TRUCKS FOR SERIOUS WORK
Western Star 4700 Tractor Daigle & Houghton, Inc. has 4 generations of experience serving the logging industry and will strive to be your leader in service.
O utside J 15 -2 2
Labonville, Inc.
Arena 5 4 1 Arena 5 03 -5 04 Arena 4 12
A Fam Family mily Ow mily Owned Business Since 1951
International HX520
571 COLD BROOK RD, HERMON, ME 571 557 71 CO CCOLD OLLD DB BROOK RO R OO OK K RD, RD, D, WWW.DAIGLEANDHOUGHTON.COM 888-329-4950 HERMON, HE H ER RM M MON ON O N, M MEE 8888-329-4950 88 888-332299--44995500
Isuzu NPR Dump
130 MARKET ST, FORT KENT, ME 800-638-8666
NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017 9
2017 Bangor ME Exhibitor List LandMark Spatial Solutions
Space Concourse 115
Lindsco
Arena 4 17
Little Mule Equipment
O utside Y 5 -6
Log Max Forestry, Inc.
Arena 5 08 -5 09
Lucky’s Trailer Sales
O utside G1-4
INDEX
2017 Bangor ME Exhibitor List
Space
NH Bragg & Sons
O utside N1-10
No. Atlantic Power Products
Arena 4 13
2017 Bangor ME Exhibitor List R & L Logging, LLC R D Faulkner
Northeast Ctr O ccupational Health & Safety Concourse 101
R itchie Bros. Auctioneers
Northeast Implement
O utside F2 0
R oll R ite, LLC
Northeast Stihl
O utside F3 -4
R otobec
Space Arena 4 08 Arena 5 4 6 -5 4 7 Arena 4 3 9 O utside D13 & 15 O utside N15 -18
Lumbermen’s Equipment Digest
Concourse 109
Northern Logger/ Northeastern Loggers’ Assn Concourse 2 01
R otochopper, Inc.
O utside X 1
Maine Commercial Tire
Arena 5 18 -5 19
No. Eastern Lumber Manufacturers Assn
Arena 5 3 9
S& W Publishing
Arena 4 3 8
Nortrax, Inc.
O utside A
Salsco, Inc.
Maine Financial Group
Arena 4 2 5
Maine O xy Maine Trailer, Inc
O utside F2 2 -2 5 Arena 4 04 -4 05 / O utside P3 -4
Maine Tree Farm Committee Mainly Custom, LLC
Arena 4 5 1 O utside F1
O ESCO , Inc.
O utside P1
O utside F7
Metsa Machines, LLC
O utside R 5 -6
Pete’s Equipment Sales & R entals, Inc.
Milton CAT
O utside K1-6
Picken’s Farm Equipment Pierce Pacific Mfg. Pilkemaster PR O PAC Industries, Ltd.
O utside M7 -8
O utside Q 1-4 O utside O 11-14 Arena 5 12 -5 13 O utside Z 6 Arena 7 03 -7 04
Soleno Steven Willand, Inc.
Arena 5 10 Arena 4 4 8 -4 4 9
O utside Y 13 -14
Suffolk Saw of New England
Concourse 119
Whited Truck Center
TAX US IT TB Equipment Thompson School-University of NH
Arena 5 3 7
O utside L1-10
Windy R idge Corp.
O utside N11& 13
Wood Beaver
Concourse 104
Woodcracker
Arena 5 01& 5 16 O utside D6 & 8 Arena 7 01
Timberline Magazine/ Pallet Enterprise Concourse 12 2
Wood-Mizer
Timberwolf Mfg. Corp.
Y ork Portable Machine Tools
Tire Chains R equired
O utside S
O utside B2 4 -2 7
TMS Machinery Sales
Concourse 2 02
Traction Heavy Duty
Q uality Saw & Supply
Concourse 12 3
Transaxle, LLC
Arena 4 4 3 -4 4 4
Truck Buyers Guide
Concourse 12 5
O utside B8 -9
WD Matthews
O utside M9-12
Q uality Craft Tools R & D Welding
O utside F18 -19
O utside B12 -13
Q uadco
O utside R 7 -8
Arena 4 01-4 03
Waratah
Western Trailers
Arena 4 09-4 10 O utside B14 -18
O utside R ow C
Concourse 12 0
NAPA Auto Parts
New England Sawmill Services
O utside D10& 12
Stripper Delimbers
Professional Logging Contractors of ME
New England Kenworth
Varney GMC
West Mount, Inc.
O utside D2 & 4 O utside F6
O utside F5
O utside F2 1
Multitek Nelson Tractor, Ltd.
Arena 5 2 6
Simply Computing
Arena 5 05
US Pride Products
Wallingfords
Peavey Mfg. Co.
Arena 4 3 1
US Blades
Concourse 118
O utside X 8
MPG Lubricants
Arena 4 15
Simple Tire
Payeur
O utside L19-2 2
Arena 4 2 3
United Insurance
Concourse 108
O utside D9& 11
Morin Diesel
United Country Lifestyle Properties of ME
Nyle Systems
Melton Industries
Arena 5 4 8
Concourse 105
Vermeer Northeast
O lofsfors, Inc.
Mobilier R ustique, Inc.
U-C Coatings, LLC
Concourse 113
O utside M13 -18 Arena 4 4 0
Arena 4 06 -4 07
Sandri Energy
O utside J 1-10
Arena 5 2 7
TST Hydraulics
O utside J 11-14
O ’Connor Motor Co.
Space
Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands
Norwood Sawmills USA
Manac Mercier Wood Flooring
O utside O 3 -6
2017 Bangor ME Exhibitor List
Arena 4 2 7 -4 2 9 Arena 5 2 2 Arena 5 06 -5 07
Arena 4 4 5 -4 4 6 / O utside P7 -12 Arena 5 3 2
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NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017
NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017 11
OUTSIDE
for fo r outdoor outd ou tdoo o r Equip oo p
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NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017
J ohn Cassidy, Thomas Coe, J oseph Bass and Frederick Hill had two things in common in 192 0. They had all been multimillionaire Bangor lumbermen – also known as lumber barons or lumber kings. They had all died within the last three years, spreading their tremendous wealth over Bangor for generations to come. In December 192 0, after the last of them had died, the Associated Press produced a short report that appeared in newspapers across the country. The huge estates of these four men “calls renewed attention to this little city of 2 5 ,000 population as the home of Maine lumber kings,” the report noted. The adventurous entrepreneurs who had built Bangor in the 19th century with reckless land speculation, legendary logging exploits, and a multitude of sawmills and other investments were now either dead or old men with big bank accounts. The Q ueen City was no longer “the lumber capital of the world.” By 1913 , the amount of “long lumber” shipped from the Port of Bangor was little more than a third of what it had been at its peak in 18 7 2 . When they died, these lumber barons received lengthy obituaries in the city’s two daily newspapers. Besides their many accomplishments during the age of
A Look Back At The Millionaire ‘Lumber Kings’ Of Bangor BY WAYNE E. REILLY
unbridled capitalism, the contents of their wills were reported in great detail so readers could learn who would benefit and, even more exciting, whether a sensational court fight might erupt among the heirs. Because of the generous largesse of many of these men, Bangor boasted a richer cultural life than one would expect in a city of only 2 5 ,000. At the same time, its needy folks could expect to be cared for, at least minimally, by the city’s many charitable organizations in this era before the state and federal governments took over the job. R ank ordering them by wealth, the Associated Press started with J ohn Cassidy, perhaps the least likely member of the group, “who came from Ireland with a pack on his back.” It was estimated Cassidy had left $8 million, “believed to be the largest fortune ever accumulated in Maine.” ( A dollar then would be worth a great deal more today.) When Cassidy died in 1918 at age 7 5 , he was described as one of the largest
individual timberland owners in eastern Maine and one of its leading bankers by the Bangor newspapers. A store clerk who had attended Bangor schools, Cassidy began acquiring woodlands at age 2 7 . The store, located on Broad Street, specialized in supplies for woods operations. Cassidy not only learned the value of groceries, but of remote properties as well. Before his career was over he had started his own store, acquired 2 3 5 ,4 2 9 acres of timberland, sailing ship interests, an iron mine at Katahdin Iron Works, a sawmill in Stillwater, and the presidency of the Eastern Trust and Banking Co., an institution he helped found. A large owner of city real estate, Cassidy even owned the six-story Eastern Trust bank building built after the Great Fire of 1911 at Kenduskeag Bridge on State Street. Cassidy, along with Coe and Bass, was one of the top 10 property taxpayers in the city, according to the
Bangor Daily News on O ct. 11, 1912 . When he died, Cassidy left his huge estate to his family. “There are no public bequests,” the Bangor Daily Commercial said April 3 , 1918 . No two people could have had more divergent backgrounds than Cassidy, a self-made man, and Dr. Thomas Upham Coe, the scion of a privileged family. Coe was second on the Associated Press’ list of recently deceased Bangor lumber barons in terms of the value of his estate. Educated at Bowdoin College in Brunswick and at medical schools in Philadelphia and Paris, Coe returned to Bangor to practice for 15 years. Then he retired to manage the thousands of acres of timberlands he had inherited from his father, Ebenezer, among the area’s earliest lumbermen. At the death of his brother, also named Ebenezer, Thomas inherited even more wild lands along with interest in dams, farms, a sawmill and other related properties, according to an analysis of family papers on file at the University of Maine in O rono. His holdings included land in the Allagash region as well as along the route of the failed European and North American R ailroad of which Coe had been a director.
See Lumber Kings, Page 14
NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017 13
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NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017
Lumber Kings from Page12
Lumber Kings from Page12 Coe was the city’s top property taxpayer in 1912 . In recent years he had financed the construction and renovation of several major business buildings on Main, Columbia and other Bangor streets. He had been active on the boards of many businesses such as the Merrill Trust Co. and public institutions such as the Bangor Public Library. When the Bangor O pera House burned in 1914 , the newspapers speculated that it would be rapidly rebuilt with all the latest theater improvements because wealthy Coe was its principal owner. Such was not the case, however. When he died in 192 0 at his summer house at Kineo, Coe’s estate was said in the Bangor newspapers to be worth between $6 million and $8 million.
Proving him to be a philanthropist, it included public bequests amounting to $3 5 9,000 including $15 0,000 to Bowdoin College and $100,000 to the University of Maine as well as smaller amounts to various Bangor charitable institutions such as the Eastern Maine General Hospital, the Bangor homes for aged men and women and the Bangor Fuel Society, according to the Bangor Daily News on Aug. 6 , 192 0. The third man on the Associated Press list was J oseph P. Bass, who is best remembered today as the publisher of the Bangor Daily Commercial, his soapbox for Democratic Party ideals as well as his personal business interests. Starting out as a clerk and later proprietor of dry goods stores in
Massachusetts and Bangor, Bass “engaged quite extensively in buying and selling timber lands and city real estate” beginning in 18 7 0, according to a biographical essay in fellow Bangorean Louis C. Hatch’s fivevolume “Maine: A History.” A scathing profile of Bass written by William R . Pattangall, another Maine journalist and politician, portrays him as a money-obsessed social climber who “married so profitably [ Mary March, the daughter of a prominent Bangor family] , that he was able to give up the dry goods store and go into the real estate business. In the course of this latter business, he became the owner of sufficient timberland as to make him rich.” Since Bass is not here to defend himself, I will delve no further into Pattangall’s entertaining excoriation.
Bass was involved in politics, serving as Bangor’s mayor and a state legislator. As a publisher, he was a feisty, dogged proponent of such causes as the repeal of prohibition and lower taxes. He owned a summer cottage at Bar Harbor, his newspaper devoting a good deal of space to news of that town, in his unsuccessful efforts to rise up to the starry realm of the “Sunday paper aristocracy” who summered there, Pattangall wrote. Bass left an estate of $3 million, according to the Associated Press. At his death in 1919 at age 8 3 , he made a number of public bequests including $2 5 ,000 to Eastern Maine General Hospital and “a liberal annuity” to the Bangor Children’s Home. He gave
NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017 15
Maplewood Park to Bangor, to be named Bass Park. Today, it is the site of a huge fiberglass statue of Paul Bunyan, a fitting tribute to Bass and his colleagues. While Bass was loud and flamboyant, the fourth man on the Associate Press list of dead lumber kings, Frederick Willard Hill, lived a quiet existence in hotel rooms instead of the standard baron’s mansion. Hill was “remarkably retiring,” a colleague said. “Few people really knew him,” one business associate said after his death. “He had but a limited number of close friends.” Like Coe, Hill was the son of a privileged family. Educated in Bangor schools and Westbrook Seminary, he gave up the study of law for a business career, going into business in New
Brunswick. In 18 7 2 , he traveled to Michigan where his father, R oderick, had extensive timberlands “and for the next 15 years he made many and extended Western trips.” In 1907 , he became president of the Tracadie Lumber Co. in New Brunswick with large timberland holdings in the region. He also had interests at Katahdin Iron Works, where he and an associate produced “superior quality charcoal iron admirably adapted for car wheels,” according to Edward M. Blanding, his biographer. Hill also was prominent in Bangor financial circles, where he was chairman of the board of Eastern Trust and Banking Company. He was also president of the Kenduskeag National
Bank and vice chairman of the Kenduskeag Trust Company. When in Bangor, Hill lived in the Penobscot Exchange between 18 7 5 and 18 7 8 and then in the Bangor House until his death in 192 0. In 1909, he married Marianne Egery Hersey, who had connections with several other wealthy Bangor families. The Hills also had summer cottages in O wls Head and Camden. Hill left an estate that exceeded $2 .5 million. His most noteworthy bequest was $5 2 5 ,000 to the University of Maine, the largest gift ever received by the university at the time. R emarkably, Hill had no connection to the university. The only restriction was that the money could not be used for the construction of buildings. Many other institutions also
benefited, other large gifts going to Eastern Maine General Hospital and the Bangor Public Library. The Hills’ most notable presence today in Bangor ( besides the plates in many books at the library) is a large, cylindrical mausoleum in Mount Hope Cemetery made of Vermont granite and marble with large windows by Tiffany’s Studio in New Y ork City. Eight-foot bronze doors protect the entrance. Wayne E. Reilly’s column on Bangor a century ago appears in the Bangor Daily News every other Monday. His latest book, Hidden History of Bangor: From Lumbering Days to the Progressive Era, is available where books are sold. This article originally appeared in the Bangor Daily News, March 12, 2017.
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NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017
NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017 17
Why Maine Needs To Train The Next Generation of Loggers BY DANA DORAN
Maine’s professional loggers are facing the toughest pulpwood and biomass markets in decades, so it may come as a surprise when veteran loggers say their industry desperately needs to train a new generation of mechanized logging equipment operators for the future. If the logging industry is getting smaller due to difficult times, why train more operators? Simple: Most skilled operators are now at or nearing retirement age. Even if the industry contracts significantly, there will soon be a shortage of them. An article that ran in the Bangor Daily News on Dec. 1 about the forces pulling apart the lives of Maine loggers revealed a poor outlook for Maine’s dwindling percentage of old-style chainsaw and cable skidder loggers, but did not address the outlook for Maine’s professional loggers who are fully mechanized and who comprise the majority of logging contractors in Maine. While they, too, face challenges, their future is far brighter if the steps recommended by veteran loggers are followed. I asked Steve Hanington, president of a forest management and timber harvesting company in Macwahoc Plantation called Hanington Brothers Inc., about his outlook. “At some point there’s going to be this huge drop-off of experienced and trained loggers that are very cost-effective for the industry. They’re going to disappear, and if we don’t have a program in place to fill that demand, when it happens, we’re going to be in a lot worse shape than what is being predicted right now,” he said. He’s also a board member of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine. Training Nearly all logging operations in Maine -90 percent -- are now mechanized, according to a recent economic impact study conducted by the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, the University of Maine and Farm Credit East. Mechanized equipment includes feller bunchers, harvesters, and other highly sophisticated and expensive logging machines. Without mechanization, the industry cannot fulfill market demand. A return to a largely conventional industry could lead to increased risk and injury rates.
It generally takes at least a year of training and experience before an operator becomes skilled enough to run this equipment safely and efficiently. And the cost for companies to train these operators themselves is approximately $100,000 each in the first year, which is unsustainable. That is why the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine has partnered with the Maine Community College System to create Maine’s first mechanized logger training certificate program, which is scheduled to begin operating this year and move to new locations around the state each semester. This new program will create the state’s first pathway approach for training new operators, and it will work in tandem with the state’s current vocational training system. For the first time, logging operators will be trained similarly to other advanced trade occupations with a high school and postsecondary approach. Logger Gary Voisine of Voisine Bros. Inc. of Fort Kent, also a board member of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, told me the graduates of the program will be vital for replacing retiring operators, and will come to companies with enough skills to greatly reduce the time it will take to bring them up to speed as operators. “It’s going to save us a lot of money in the long run,” Voisine said. Markets Having the next generation of operators is only the first step in preparing the industry for the future. Every Maine logger will tell you the biggest crisis right now is the lack of markets. To properly manage forests, they need to be able to cut not only the large, high-quality trees suitable for lumber, but also to selectively weed out lower-quality trees to allow new and better growth. To conduct this type of silviculture requires markets for low-value limbs, tops, chips and timber. Therefore, the recent closures and slowdowns at the Maine biomass electric plants and pulp and paper mills that consume large quantities of this wood fiber have been crippling for the logging industry. Planning There are no quick and easy solutions to improve those pulp and biomass markets,
but that brings up the other thing Maine loggers need most for the future: active planning of a strategy and a business climate to ensure not only the health of their industry, but the entire forest products industry in Maine. This has never been done. Now, for the first time, a comprehensive strategy for the state’s forest products industry is in the early stages of development through the efforts of a federal Economic Development Assessment Team task force. At the same time, a special Commission to Study the Economic, Environmental and Energy Benefits of the Maine Biomass Industry established by the Legislature has been exploring a wide range of opportunities and strategies for the state’s biomass market. The commission has now submitted a report to the Legislature outlining recommendations for encouraging and expanding the market. Meanwhile, the Maine Forest Service is in the process of hiring a temporary point person – or a firm – to find ways to strengthen and expand Maine’s forest economy. Support These efforts will take time, and none are silver bullets, but taken together they can be important to revitalizing the forest products economy in Maine. To work, they will need the support of the state’s government,
industries and residents. In addition to planning, easing of tax and regulatory burdens may be required along with changes in existing laws and rules. To succeed, Maine needs to be ready to do more than talk and plan, but to act.
Much of the responsibility for combining these efforts into a workable and comprehensive strategy will lie with state lawmakers, and their commitment to the task will be essential for success. Given a chance, there is little doubt that Maine loggers and the entire forest products value chain can flourish tomorrow if we take the right steps today. Dana Doran is the executive director of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine. This article originally appeared in the Bangor Daily News, January 25, 2017.
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NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017
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NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017 19
MASTER LOGGER Specializing in environmentally friendly cut to length logging
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NORTHEASTERN FOREST PRODUCTS EQUIPMENT EXPO • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • May 12, 2017