From Stump to Ship (1930)
A record of Maine's long-log lumber trade: crews fell spruce with axe and crosscut saw, haul it out by horse and sled, drive the logs down ice-choked rivers to the mills at Machias, and load finished lumber aboard coastal schooners bound for New York.
Shot by lumberman Alfred Ames and rediscovered and restored decades later by Northeast Historic Film, From Stump to Ship preserves a vanished way of working the Maine woods; it was named to the National Film Registry in 2002.
Background
From Stump to Ship was shot in 1930 by Alfred K. Ames, a Maine lumberman, and documents the long-log lumber trade in the state’s woods. The film was rediscovered and restored decades later by Northeast Historic Film, a Maine organization that preserves regional film. It was named to the National Film Registry, recognizing it as a significant record of a vanishing industry. It was made at a time when logging still relied on horses, hand tools, and river driving.
What to watch for
The film is a record of the work itself. Watch the crews felling spruce with axe and crosscut saw, and the horse and sled hauling that brings the timber out of the woods. The river drives, in which logs move down ice-choked rivers toward the mills at Machias, show the labor and danger of the trade. The final stage, loading finished lumber onto coastal schooners bound for New York, completes the sequence. The film’s value lies in its detail: viewers can see the tools, methods, and pace of the work as it was done before mechanized logging.
