[Packard guy]

My family used to summer in a cabin right on the water at lake Wentworth, renting from Ms. Mildred Beach. Lots of fond memories of our months at the cabin.

I have always been fascinated by mechanical things, so about 1966 my dad took my brother and I to visit the Excelsior mill. If I remember correctly, the water wheel was an undershot spoon type, and it was still working when we visited, powering everything in the mill. The factory consisted of hundreds of special wood slicers that literally sliced long tiny strips of wood that naturally curled as they were peeled away [excelsior]. Each slicer was driven off a wide leather belt & pulley system running across the ceiling.

I have vivid memories of an elderly man attending to the slicers. As each machine was finished with a 2' log, it needed to be replaced with a new one. That involved throwing a lever to disconnect the pulley drive, and quickly removing what was left of the log. He then stuck a new log in it's place before starting the slicer again. I will never forget looking at this man's hands and noting a lack of fingers, he was probably missing a couple on each hand.

The remnants of wood were kept to fuel the big steam furnace in the winter. I have no memory of the steam engine, and as I love seeing them, it's likely we never went to that building. I remember being told the only electricity in use at that time was for the rows of bare light bulbs hanging from the rafters, and the only reason for the electricity install was during world war 2, so they could run night time shifts.