The Shannon County Film Digitization Project -- Camera Roll 268

http://dp.la/api/items/52e7e23fb749a02b71d89e9551e045d7

The Shannon County Film Digitization Project -- Camera Roll 268

Moore, Robert

1978-11-30

Camera roll 268 is one of three rolls (267, 268, 269) that show Willie Piatt and two of his sons, Edward and Kenny, working together in the timber skidding, cutting, and splitting oak logs into stave bolts. Missouri has long had a thriving barrel stave industry that relies on an abundance of white oak and the skills of timber workers like the Piatts, and the demand for their product is word wide. The stave bolts in these rolls likely ended up as whiskey barrels in Kentucky or Tennessee or Scotland. They may even have had a second life as wine barrels in France and other parts of Europe. The first part of roll 268 was filmed during the Piatt's lunch break begun in roll 267 and captures conversation about work, hunting, and various other subjects. The second part of the roll shows Willie using a measuring stick and chainsaw to mark and cut logs into stave-length segments (approximately 39 inches). The shorter segments must then be split, loaded onto their truck, and taken to the stave mill. The Piatts took their stave bolts to a stave mill in Bunker, Missouri. Although delivery to the mill was not filmed, Camera Roll 253 of this collection shows Willie and Kenny working at that mill splitting logs. The Piatts were a close-knit clan that worked hard, hunted often, enjoyed life, and loved humor. For more of the Piatt family in other contexts see rolls 215-219, rolls 248b-249, and rolls 321-327. Part of the raw footage recorded in 1978-1979 for 1981 documentary motion pictures "Shannon County: Home" and "Shannon County: Hearts of the Children." Executive producer, Robert Flanders

producer/director, Robert Moore

camera, Jon Else

sound, Nelson Stoll.

Mills and mill-work

Logging

Shannon County (Mo.)

Missouri Hub

http://digitalcollections.missouristate.edu/cdm/ref/collection/SCF/id/316

Missouri Hub

Mills and mill-work

Logging

Shannon County (Mo.)