Every village had its own sawmill. These provided the people of the town with rough-cut lumber. This would be used in a variety of ways. Certain trades, such as the cabinet maker, would get the wood from the sawmill. Construction of houses also used milled lumber. The South Amana sawmill was located south of Butch's across Highway 6. I figure the date of establishment to be in the early 1860s. Prior to this, lumber was shipped in from a society sawmill in Keeneburg, Ontario. This went by train to Iowa City and then by wagon from there the last 17 or so miles to South Amana. Other villages also sent wood to South.
Trees were harvested from the surrounding timber areas. Walnut, oak, and pine were some of the more common woods used in the Amanas. A Tannewald (literally, tree world) was planted in Upper South Amana. This is simply a pine forest. It was one of the treasures of South Amana to me growing up. It was planted by George Heinemann in 1898. Last year's storm destroyed a lot of its century old trees and most of its beauty. Pine trees also used to line the road going from South to Upper South.
Another wood-related task was to furnish enough wood to heat all the buildings. This was no little task! My oma informed me that the society provided two wagon loads of wood per room for normal use. I would assume that kitchens used more than this. This is why it was necessary to have an attached woodshed on your house. My oma also stated that her family, while growing up, got an extra load of stumps because her father assisted in the cutting.
This building is no longer standing. In fact, it has been over 110 years since it was. On August 21, 1888, the South Amana sawmill burned to the ground.
When my oma's husband was alive, wood was still a prevalent heating source. Every fall, wood would have to be stocked in the woodshed. One day while Henry was splitting wood with a maul, his young son ventured out to see what was going on. He asked his father (in German, of course!) "What are you doing with that big axe?" His father replied, "Its not an axe, its a maul and I am splitting wood." "That's an axe!" exclaimed his son. "No, its called a maul." said his father. The boy stood and looked awhile longer and made the same deduction. "I said its a maul, now that's what it is!" stated a patient, yet exasperated father. The son looked a while more then said, "Du bist ein vogel!" Which loosely translates "Your crazy!" and then walked off.
Looking at sawmill from Upper South Amana. Note the windmill and tall smokestack. Picture courtesy of the Amana Heritage Society.