Route 66 in the News
Historic Wheels Find New Home
2004-10-25 20:25:56
Despite a cold Tuesday morning in downtown Flagstaff, community members gathered had a warm feeling in their hearts as they gathered to dedicate two huge and historic logging wheels that have found a new home next to the train station.
Logging wheels were an Integral part of the early lumber Industry in northern Arizona. Originally designed in 1870 in Michigan, they were used by a local farmer to help him clear his land. When logging operations began in early 1880s, they became a vital part of the process. The wheels, originally pulled by horses, were used into the early 1900s and were even pulled by early steam tractors.
"This is part of a set of two that sat on each side of Old Route 66," said Joe Meehan Jr., director of the Pioneer Museum. "This one sat on the right side. The Pioneer Museum has the other. They started going on a 45-degree angle. They were braced up, but they still leaned."
In 2003, a restoration project was begun to restore them to their original condition. Craftsmen at the Hansen Wheel and Wagon Co. in South Dakota were able to use measurements and photos of the wheels to reconstruct the set, using the original iron parts.
Mike Covalt of the Sunrise Rotary Club suggested to the 10 other members that they take on the wheel restoration on as a club project.
"The wheel is the symbol of Rotary," he said. "The logging wheels -- it was a good fit."
The club raised more than $14,000 through raffles, anonymous donations and selling beer at demolition derbies.
"I think it's a wonderful community project, taking a look at our origins and reminding us of all the folk that preceded us," said Paul Babbitt, District 1 county supervisor, who attended the ceremony.
The wheels sit on a special concrete platform, next to a faux cement tree stump.
"Reading what it took to get one log to the mill, one can see Flagstaff emerge log by log out of the surrounding forest," said city councilman Al White. "You can imagine the labor and time it took to accomplish the work."
The project was funded and sponsored by Flagstaff Sunrise Rotary Club, Arizona Historical Society, Northern Arizona Pioneers' Historical Society, Coconino County and the City of Flagstaff.
~Betsy Bruner, Arizona Daily Sun
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