The Archaeology of Industrial Process

CNEHA Annual Conference Trenton NJ October 22, 2005

Lauren Cook Senior Archaeologist Boston Affiliates

Industrial Process
 Sequence of Operations  Raw Materials Become Finished Product  Uses Technology Tools & Machinery  Uses power  Uses personnel

Modeling Process
Power

Personnel

Technology

Raw Material

Process
Product

Profit

Process
 Process and Technology are not the same  Process tends to be conservative  Process is traditional, based on solutions that have

always worked  Processes tend to change when the raw materials or the desired finished product change

Technology
 Technology can be innovative  Technology usually changes within the framework

of process, in order to more efficiently accomplish the process  Technology can change without any fundamental changes in the basic process

Lumbering
Felling Bucking Driving (Transport) Sawing

Stacking (Curing)

Sticking (Curing)

Market
Fire wood

Market
Lumber

Woolen Manufacturing
Wool Sorting Scouring Picking

Warping

Spinning

Roving

Carding

Weaving

Fulling

Dying

Napping

Woolen Cloth

Pressing

Shearing

Granite Quarrying
Quarrying Hoisting Finishing Transport Dumping Grout

Market
Monuments Building Stone Breakwaters

Granite Quarrying
Quarrying Hoisting Finishing Transport Dumping Grout

Market
Monuments Building Stone Breakwaters

Quarrying

Quarrying

Power Drills, 1870s (Steam, Pneumatic)

Quarrying

Hoisting

Holmes Derrick Adoniram Holmes, 1826 Patterned after ships mast

Finishing

Architectural stone was worked with hand tools, either at the quarry or at the building site

Finishing

After 1876: -Monuments & Building Veneers

Transport

Interpretation Late 19th-century -Quarries get deeper -More features near rim Operators were chasing the best stone

Granite Quarrying
Quarrying Hoisting Cutting & Polishing Transport Dumping Grout

Market
Monuments Building Stone Breakwaters

Lumbering
Felling Bucking Driving (Transport) Sawing

Stacking (Curing)

Sticking (Curing)

Market
Fire wood

Market
Lumber

Unnamed Tributary Heathcote Branch Brook South Brunswick Twp, Middlesex County, NJ

Unidentified Sawmill Unnamed Tributary Heathcote Branch Brook

Unidentified Sawmill Unnamed Tributary Heathcote Branch Brook

Sawmill, Chester Co, PA

Canoe River Saw Mill Norton, MA

Mendham Reservoir Dam Randolph Twp., Morris Co., NJ

Mendham Reservoir Dam Randolph Twp., Morris Co.

M o nt hly St ream F lo w: N . B r. R arit an R iver

90

80

70

60

50 Str eam Fl ow (cf s) 40

30

20

10

0 Januar y Febr uar y M ar ch A pr i l M ay June Jul y A ugust September October November December

Lumbering
Felling Bucking Driving (Transport) Sawing

Stacking (Curing)

Sticking (Curing)

Market
Fire wood

Market
Lumber

Lumbering

Felling Bucking Driving Sawing Sticking

Market
Lumber

Stacking

Market
Fire wood

Lumbering
Winter
Felling Bucking Driving Sawing Sticking

Market
Lumber

Stacking

Market
Fire wood

Lumbering
Winter
Felling Bucking Driving Sawing Sticking

Spring

Market
Lumber

Stacking

Market
Fire wood

Lumbering
Winter
Felling Bucking Driving Sawing Sticking

Spring

Summer Fall

Market
Lumber

Stacking

Market
Fire wood

Lumbering
Winter
Felling Bucking Driving Sawing Sticking

Spring

Summer Fall

Winter

Market
Lumber

Stacking

Market
Fire wood

Trenton Falls Hydro Facility, Oneida Co., NY

Ichabod T. Williams Sawmill Perth Amboy, NJ, built 1922

Power

Technology

Personnel

Process
Product

Raw Material

Profit

Personnel

Unidentified Quarry Crew, Quincy, MA, c. 1900

Questions?

Lauren Cook, RPA Senior Archaeologist Boston Affiliates