| Sawmill relics in Northern Bothnia |
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Pohjois-Pohjanmaa, the region so far at the Northern border of our expedition range has a long coast line. The sea has provided good transportation channel for sawmills. Therefore, there have been several quite large scale units in the area. We checked relics of three vanished sawmills, all by the sea within 50 km range.
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#1: Halosenniemi, Haukipudas. |
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This sawmill operated only less than 30 years. Rauma Wood company started sawing here in 1923, and in 1951 the owner (then Rauma-Repola) demolished the buildings apart from this smoke stack. It still stands in full height and relatively good conditioned in the middle of guarded bush. |
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Concrete machine foundations surrounded by branch woods have gathered moss during over a half of a century without use. |
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#2: A. Santaholma Oy, Haukipudas. |
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This sawmill was one of three sawmills in the region owned by family company A. Santaholma, which continued independent sawmilling to the end of 20th century. This mill in Haukipudas wasn't the last one in operation, though. |
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Rare coloured bricks are the speciality of this stack. This shot was taken in the year 2000, when we bypassed the sight, but didn't have time to check it. |
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All that's left for the new millennium is the smoke stack and some wooden dock structures remotely reminding of wood transportation. The sawmill area has recently been built full of condos. |
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#3: Kestilä, Ii. |
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Last but not least is a target that was factually Finland's first steam sawmill! In 1858, when liberated trade law facilitated developing steam sawmills to Finland's autonomy, they still preferred to mason the smoke stacks square. |
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Because the stack is really not just another stack, it has been turned to official memorial. This plate, attached in 1959 tells about the history and has a roughly drawn map of the area in 1880's. |
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It's a great thing that they understood to preserve this smoke stack when the sawmill was demolished. However, in present state it could use some plastering and painting. |
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A bit off topic; this cable drum in a small booth near the smoke stack could be related to the sawmill, if it wasn't for the fact that sawmilling here was ceased in 1910! Well, actually it is atleast indirectly related to the subject. After the Finland's first steam sawmill vanished, the yard has been used for log sorting. |
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