Saw Mill Hill
Written in 1984 by Carolyn Adriaansen
Are you one of those folks that has always wondered what the sturdy, tall cement post, across from the entrance of Cemetery Drive on North Main Street, represents?
Pete Moose tells me that in 1912 the first piece of trial concrete, state road in Wayne County was put in. This was begun at Warner Road and ran to Cemetery Drive in Marion. This stretch ran just 3 miles and the 7 ft. cement markers were placed on either end when the project was finished by the builders, Barnes and Chambers Company of Rochester.
This project began on April 1, 1912, and continued
until the middle of November - 6 days a week, from 7 in the morning till 6 p.m., with men
using their own teams of horses for $4.50 a day. It took an hour to get to and from the
job with no traveling time allotments in those days.
The hill, on part of which the Upper Corners Cemetery still stands, was actually moved away. This was accomplished by men, two teams of horses, and a slip scraper that reed the top of this hill and placed it at the bottom.
This was called "Saw Mill Hill" and at the time the cement road was begun there were still logs there but, the mill had been torn down. There, also, was an 8 foot board fence that ran from the top to the bottom of the hill, along the west side, to catch the snow during the winter months.
It would be hard to count the hundreds of times that the men, with their team and scraper and its quarter of a yard of dirt, went up and down that hill. This work was very tiring for both men and their animals. After many repetitious days, the men were able to send the unattended team with its load of dirt, down the hill where another man would dump its contents, turn the team around and send it back up for still another load.
The two team drivers for the entire project at the north end of North Main Street were Pete Moose, who was about 17 years old at the time, and Jim Boekhout who was just a little older. Jim lived on what is still the Boekhout Farm on Williamson Road and Pete lived on Warner Road hill in what is now the Stryker property.
Other equipment used besides horsedrawn slip scraper was a steam roller run by Old Alex, a cement mixer and a large water tank, all owned by Chambers.
A big, two-story wood building, known at the hotel, was built to house the 50-60 big, burly, imported "foreigners" that worked on the road. This building stood next to the cemetery where the Oscar Roegiers home now stands.
To put in the part of the road from the "Curtis" Upper Corners to Cemetery Drive took about a week or 10 days, pouring first one side and then the other. During the hot summer weather, water had to be sprinkled on the newly poured cement, soaking it to keep it from drying out too fast and cracking. This water was drawn from the hydrant from the town reservoir and was transported in a big 1,000 gallon tank drawn by the team of Peter J. Moose.
The foundation or base of the road was reinforced with heavy duty mesh, wire screen, at the size of a pencil. When the road was completed, its concrete measured 6" thick. Every shovel of gravel for this road came from Morrison's Gravel Hole, east off North Main Street and had to be shoveled entirely by hand on to the wagon before it was dumped off in its proper place. This was accomplished with special short handled pointed shovels.
"Jim Boekhout and I walked up and down that hill so many times that we got so tired that we sat and ate our dinner on top of the hill and I told Jim if I lived long enough and retire I would build a house on that hill to remember what Jim and Pete did with this hill- so I did just that 30 years ago and still live there on Saw Mill Hill, March 2, 1984 with my wife and dog, Mike." - P.J. Moose.
(Pete bought land on the west side of North Main Street, from his father, Marinus Moose. This ran from the family farm to Asa Russell's property on Route 21. The first thing he said he did was to take the fence down and arrange for building lots. The board from this fence were used for the roof of the present garage of Mr. and Mrs. P.J. Moose when they built their home in January 1953.)
The State Road
from the Marion Enterprise.
May 3, 1912 - Geo. W. Chambers of Rochester will build the road from Marion 199-100 mile North. He got the job at $22,492.80 this being the lowest bid. There were six bids received.
May 17, 1912 - Marinus Moose has bought a horse of C.H. Lookup and expects to work on the State Road. He now has an excellent heavy team for the purpose.
May 17, 1912 - Work was commenced on the State road Tuesday. The contractor has a large force and all the machinery for doing quick work. A barge canal might be constructed from Marion to Williamson with the outfit. A car load of material came over the N&M. A temporary building has been erected, two miles north to lodge the workmen on the job.
June 7, 1912 - If you want to go to Williamson take the west highway. The contractor owns the main line for the present.
June 7, 1912 - The contractor for the State Road improvement has the work well under way. The concrete mixer was placed on the job Tuesday and is putting down about 100 feet of road daily. It will require about 20 car loads of cement to complete the job. A larger force will soon be put on the job and the work rushed forward.
June 14, 1912 - There are few more teams wanted on the State Road construction. Farmers can make more in a few weeks than their corn crop is worth, at the wages paid.
June 21, 1912 - Highway work progressing.
June 21, 1912 - Another car of cement has arrived for the highway improvement. The work has been somewhat delayed on account of lacking this material.
July 19, 1912 - The State Road improvement north of the village was half completed Monday.
July 26, 1912 - The concrete road which the state is building north of this village will be the first of its kind put down in the state.
August 5, 1912 - The State Road repairs were held up by the breakage of an engine.
September 27, 1912 - All are proud of the new State Road just completed.
September 27, 1912 - Asphalt finish is being laid on the State improved road north of the village. This is said to be the first road of the kind completed in the State and will be an experiment.
October 18, 1912 - The State Road is much appreciated by those drawing produce to market.
December 6, 1912 - State highways are appreciated in this time of mud.
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