Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Ted Meredith – Timber Merchant

April 15, 2010 by  
Filed under Bygones

Before the rise of the ubiquitous pine forests, and the advent of power, the timber trade thought in terms of large trees of Oak, Elm and Beach – and for power they relied on horses.

It was a grand sight to see four or five huge trees laying along a timber carriage, this was a long flat conveyance, the front part worked on the same principal as an articulated vehicle of today, sometimes 70 or 80 feet long, and being pulled along by horses, often as many as 7 pairs, with a single leader in front, a total of 15 horses, adding another 50 or 60 feet to it’s length. As they approached you could hear the creek of the wheels, the plodding horses, and always the voice of Ted, as he talked his team to work. Ted Meredith was a timber man whose skill in handling a team was exceptional, no reins, no whip, just his voice to navigate his team through the narrowest of spaces, and acute angles.

A character to be remembered, I believe his descendants are in business today.

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