Places Visited: Kentucky: Locust Grove in Louisville Indiana: The Forest Discovery Center in Starlight, Indiana; Huber's Family Farm & Restaurant, Starlight, Indiana; KOA in Clarksville, Howard's Steamboat Museum & Mansion, Jeffersonville
We had another exciting day planned. Our first stop was a winner. Although not a highly advertised entertainment venue it was excellent. Instead of heading into Louisville we ventured around 15-miles northwest into Indiana to "The Forest Discovery Center" 533 Louis Smith Road, Starlight, Indiana; 812-923-1590. The only information we had on this place was a two sentence blurb in a tourist information pamphlet. We took a chance and headed out into the country, into farmland. Out of nowhere on this country road we looked up and there in front of us was this huge building covering more than 22-acres. This building is home to Koetter Woodworking's. It consisted of a rough mill, where we watched logs become trim and molding, without a speck of saw dust wasted. This huge enterprise is privately owned by Tom & Mary Frances Koetter. In addition to a plant tour which was awesome we walked through an indoor diorama depicting a forest to get us acclimated to the sustainable forest idea. By the time we exited this exhibit we had been thoroughly indoctrinated about hardwood trees and their ecosystem. This diorama was nothing short of outstanding. After that diorama we went upstairs to continue the Forest Discovery. The learning process continued. One exhibit fully explained the different ways logs are sawed to achieve the most quality boards. When we were on the plant tour we could see the different ways logs had been cut. A short video explained what each machine would be doing on our plant tour. I watched this video several times so that I would fully understand what I was going to see when taking the self guided tour through this HUGE plant. I say self guided tour because that is what it is. They have constructed skyways or walkways suspended from the overhead. You can follow the arrows on the walkway and read printed information at each processing station. You can stay as long as you want watching each process or just wander around on this labyrinth of skyways. It was HOT on this skyway so Joyce hurried through and back into the air conditioned Discovery Center. I didn't blame her, it was really hot. Local weather reports said that temperatures were in the 90s and hotter than they had seen in the area in over two years. Joyce may have hid in the Discovery Center but I wandered around on the skyway thoroughly soaking up what was going on down on the manufacturing floor. Fresh cut logs are debarked then run through a saw that reduces the log to rough cut boards. The rough cut boards are stacked on specialized pallets. These special pallets are approximately 12' long by 4' wide. Workers placed 1" slats across the 4' length of the pallet then put a layer of those freshly cut 12' long boards on top of those 1" slats. Then they put down more of those 1" slats and another layer of the fresh cut boards. They continued this process until the load of fresh cut lumber on the pallet was about 5' high. These pallets now fully loaded with fresh cut lumber were transported by big forklifts to the kilns where the boards are dried. The 1" slats between each layer of boards allow air to flow around and through the stack of wood during the drying process in the kiln. The Discovery Center stressed that NOTHING from the log that enters the plant is wasted. They use wood chips to power electric generators for the plant with excess generating capacity being sold to the local utility. Heat from the electric generating process is used to heat the kiln that dries the fresh cut lumber as well as providing comfort heat in the plant during the winter. Saw dust in the plant is minimal because huge vacuums remove virtually all saw dust. The saw dust from the vacuum system is continuously removed and deposited on a conveyor belt system that moves throughout the facility. In addition to saw dust the plant generates a considerable quantity of wood chips. These chips are also transported to the generators on another set of conveyor belts. Back in the plant, the pallets of boards exiting the drying process are delivered to conveyor systems that mechanically tilt the pallet full of boards spilling the top layer of boards on the wide conveyor system. The conveyor system was moving these boards toward a plainer. In rapid fashion huge plains were making smooth boards out of the rough cut boards. The planed boards are rapidly transported on a continuous conveyor system to the rip saws. In this process cameras feed information to a computer that decides how best to cut this board. Depending on where each particular cut of board comes off the log it may be 8" wide to 20" wide (at least that is the sizes I was seeing on my visit). Boards could be used to produce anything from ¼ round up to lumber used for doors and such. As the cameras and computer quickly determine the best way to cut the board it decides where it should be cut. I was mesmerized by this process. Some boards heading into the ripping saws appeared to be 12" to 15" wide. That board may just be cut down both sides thus creating one large board 12' long by 12" wide. However, if the cameras detect a flaw in the board it may be cut into an 8" wide board and a 4" board, or it could be cut into two 6" boards then again it may be cut into 12 one-inch wide boards. How many blades rip the board depends on what those cameras see. Twelve foot boards ranging from 1" wide to 12" wide were exiting those rip saws in rapid fashion. Conveyors were delivering those various width boards to a series of inspectors who manned the conveyors pulling each board off the conveyor and inspected for knots and other defects. These inspectors put a florescent mark on both sides of each defect before releasing the board on another conveyor. This process was the most labor intensive and was the bottleneck of the operation while I was in the plant. The plane and ripping lines would have to be shut down every 10 to 15 minutes so the inspecting team could work down the backlog. I suspect some inspectors may have been on vacation today or called in sick. Those marked boards zipped along a conveyor belt and into a chop saw that made a chop cut everywhere those inspectors had made a mark. In this process most of those 12' boards are reduced into several pieces. Any piece 7' long or longer is graded as a select board and will be used in woodwork that will be stained or varnished. No knots or blemishes are in these boards. The pieces smaller than 7' were routed to a process where finger cuts were made in each end of the board then in a twinkling of an eye the finger cuts were glued together. In a nanosecond the glue has dried. Seriously, the gluing machine is slapping together those pieces of wood so fast that a single piece board consisting of short pieces of glued boards exits the machine at a rate of what appeared to be about 1' a second. Like I said that machine was rapidly gluing those pieces together. Another machine was chopping this glued board into what looked to be 10' or 12' pieces. These boards would be used to make molding that would be painted so the glued finger splices would not be visible. I only watched this process while the machine was gluing what appeared to be 4" wide pieces of lumber. I am sure that within a short time the process would start gluing 2" wide pieces or one" wide pieces, it was just too hot for me to wait around for that switchover. At this point I had seen the process that turned a log into finished lumber. The processes were incredible. They were utilizing as much of the log as possible. Remember how that cut saw was cutting out the imperfections and knots? Well those pieces of the board fall onto a conveyor belt leading to a massive wood chipper. Remember how the cameras looked at the board and determined how best to cut the board? One thing that the computer has to do is make both side straight and parallel with the other side. In doing this whatever piece of wood is on the outside becomes scrap that ends up on a conveyor belt headed to that huge chipper. An incredible amount of shavings are being produced in the planning process. These shavings and the output of that huge chipping machine are being transported on a single conveyor belt to the electric generating facility. Nothing is being wasted. On another set of skyways I watched as the "finished" boards were being fed into routers and converted into all kinds of molding. Door molding, window molding, and picture frames, decorative pieces of all descriptions were being produced from these boards. Everything from ¼ round to decorative chair rail was being produced. All the shavings and saw dust was being transported on conveyor belts to the electric generating plant. Although I did not see it they make doors and turn pieces on lathes like the pieces that go in a banister. Back in the air conditioning of the Discovery Center we watched a series of videos showing the manufacturing process of making bats, pencils, houses and paper. These informative videos gave us a tour of those manufacturing plants. Joyce enjoyed this place almost as much as I did. She just concentrated on the Discovery Center while I concentrated on the processes of planning, sawing, ripping, grading, chipping and molding. Each of these processes utilized high-tech computerized equipment. It was amazing watching the entire log being utilized including the dust.
One of the things I always like is the rings of a tree trunk with the memorable years marked. See if you enjoy this as much as I did.
This is one of the best, if not the best factory tour we have experienced. I would say it is the number one thing I would suggest for anyone visiting Louisville. It was 2PM, we had been in here much longer that anticipated. It was past time for lunch. Joyce was being a good trooper but now it was her turn to lead. We were headed to Joe Huber's Family Farm & Restaurant only a few miles from the Discovery Center. Joe Huber's place is a highly advertised business. They sell fresh produce, as well as operate a restaurant. They also take you into their fields to pick fresh black berries, blue berries, peaches and apples. They have vineyards and operate their own winery. They have an ice cream shop that makes its own ice cream with fresh fruit from the farm. Area Amish families market their cheese and butter product in Joe Huber's dairy store. They even have a what-not store with all kinds of "stuff" produced by the local Amish community and others. The Huber family raises about 40 varieties of day lilies in huge beds. They put you on a covered wagon pulled by a tractor and tour guests through the lily beds. These lilies are for sale. All you have to do is say the word and one of the workers will dig up your chosen clump of lilies. People were buying clumps of these beautiful lilies like they were the newest rage. The restaurant was wonderful. It really was. Everything they have on the menu more or less comes from the farm, especially the great variety of vegetables. Their fresh green-beans, corn on the cob, lima beans, baked sweet potato, salad fixings, and apple sauce were simply delightful. We ate more than I care to admit then filled up a to-go container. We will eat good at least one other day. This had been a good day and we were tired. It was hot, hot, hot, unbelievably hot. We decide to head back to the motorhome and relax while cooling off. We had thought about taking a dinner cruise on the Ohio but decided that we were just too exhausted to enjoy it. As it turns out that was a good decision. When we turned on the TV to watch the national news we were bombarded with severe weather warnings. A line of strong thunderstorms was heading toward Louisville. Straight line winds in the thunderstorms were exceeding 70-mph and tornadoes were being reported. To make a long story short, as predicted that line of thunderstorms did descend upon us. It was every bit as bad as the weather people were predicting. When it went through everything went dark just like a very dark night. We had severe winds for 15 or 20 minutes that rocked the motorhome as much as I wanted to be rocked. Weather people at the TV station went crazy. They discontinued regular programming for most of the night like they do in Florida during a hurricane. For several hours all they did was talk about this storm. It seems that it is the worst storm that has come through this area in memory. Trees were down throughout the area, power lines were down, 80,000 were without power in Louisville alone. The 11:00 local news finally said that it was the worst weather since a tornado hit the area over 30-years ago in the 70s. The 11:00 news was reporting 50 to 200 trees down in the Louisville metro area. The power company was saying that it may be a week before power is returned to everyone. Trees and limbs fell on numerous homes and cars. People were calling in and telling their story. Joyce and I were getting a kick out of all this excitement. Not out of sitting through the 15-minutes of severe winds that rocked the motorhome but the reaction of everyone in the area to their 15-minutes of 75mph wind. Once you have hunkered down while a hurricane buffets you hour after hour with winds over 100mph you just do not get that excited about 15-minutes of 75mph wind. These people are mortified that power lines were down, that people didn't have electricity or that up to 200 trees may be down in the city. All I can say is "they ain't seen nothing"! Oh well, it was exciting riding this out in our motorhome. You folks out there that have ridden out a direct hit from a real hurricane will fully understand how uneventful 15-minutes of 75-mph wind was. Wednesday
July 14, 2004
Joyce had another interesting day planned for us. Our first was the 1894 late-Victorian Mansion built by a Steamboat builder. The mansion is now the Howard Steamboat Museum showcasing a large collection of steamboat memorabilia, models, tools, artifacts, documents, photos, paintings, and half breadth models from the Great Steamboat Era, as well as many of the houses original furnishings and family possessions. The Howard Shipyard, on the banks of the Ohio in Jeffersonville, Indiana, was owned by 3 generations of Howards from1834 until 1941. In 1941 the US Navy purchased the shipyard then the "largest inland shipyard" for the purpose of constructing LSTs (Landing Ship Tanks), sub chasers, and other ocean-going vessels for WWII. The old Howard's shipyard is now Jeff Boat manufacturing barges and river vessels.
Steamboats were grand vessels. Woodworkers of the highest caliber, cabinet makers, were the craftsmen doing the construction of these steamboats. During the winter when shipbuilding was slow the Howard family would have his cabinet makers make intricate wood items for the mansion. These highly skilled cabinet makers constructed some of the most intricate, detailed work imaginable on door frames window frames cabinet faces, in short in every place imaginable.
Logs were floated down the river to the shipyard where the lumberyard would saw the logs into planks from which every thing on the steamboats was constructed. Rumor has it that the very best logs and boards were saved for Howard's home. From the looks of the wood that rumor was spot on.
Our next stop was Locust Grove over in Louisville. Locust Grove was the final home of George Rogers Clark the famous Revolutionary War General. It wasn't actually his home but the home of his sister. He suffered a serious accident and moved to Locust Grove to spend his final years. Locust Grove is a 1790 brick 2-story Georgian Plantation home. General George Rogers Clark's cabin where he was living when he suffered his accident was across the river. General Clark's cabin and the Locust Grove Mansion are at opposite ends of the economic spectrum. The Clark family entertained many dignitaries as well as presidents at Locust Grove. Zachary Taylor had a plantation next door; Thomas Jefferson visited in their home. Lewis & Clark spent time there on their return trip. John James Audubon spent time there. There were others but they don't come to mind at the moment. When we arrived at Locust Grove a sign said "Locust Grove Closed Today". We knew some things were closed because of the storm yesterday. Since this was our last day in Louisville we decided to park the car and see what we could see walking around. It just so happened that as we were walking around a docent that was picking up branches on the grounds stopped to talk with us. She decided that we were such nice people that she would take us on a personal tour of Locust Grove while she took a break from picking up branches. In this case perseverance paid off for us……..or it might have been just dumb luck. This nice young lady gave us a free tour of Locust Grove answering all our questions and providing more of her own. They say even a blind hog finds an acorn every now and again, it was my turn today.
The last thing on our agenda was to get a picture of the 2nd largest clock in the world. This clock is on the Colgate manufacturing plant building in Clarksville, Indiana a few blocks from the KOA we are staying in. The largest clock is supposed to be on a Colgate building somewhere else.
With two
good tours behind us today we headed back to the motorhome to take care of laundry
and other drudgeries. We are headed to Land Between the Lakes near Paducah, Kentucky
tomorrow. Mike & Joyce Hendrix
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