Strong, a Mussul Unsquit village

Employees of the C.V. Starbird sawmill. Clinton V. Starbird (1858-1915) pictured here front/center in vest, coat and hat, produced long and short lumber, hardwood flooring, lathe and turning-mill square stock, with corn boxes and salt boxes taking a good percentage of the saw production.

The Starbird family operated sawmills in and around Strong for 106 years (1870-1976).

Amos D. Starbird and his wife, Mary Jane Gilkey, operated a lumber mill at Starbird Corner in Freeman from 1870 until 1887 when they sold the business to their son, Clinton V. Starbird. Clinton continued the business there for one year, moving it to Strong in 1888, where he secured proximity to a rail line. Fire destroyed that mill in 1900, so he rebuilt larger and better. He operated this mill until his death in 1915, when his wife, Flora A. Kilkenny, and son, Raymond Starbird took over.

Four Starbird generations had been involved in the operation of lumber mills at this location when sold in 1977.

Looking north past the Bradford L. Beal home, through the mill yard of C. V. Starbird lumber mill, the train of the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad follows the rails south toward the station.

Though very convenient to have rail service running through the mill yard, employees often had to drop what they were doing to run trackside to extinguish small blazes caused by sparks from the boiler or wheels of the "Iron Horse."

Starbird Lumber Co. sawed, planed and trimmed the "shook" (materials) to produce apple boxes in their box shop in Strong. When the demand increased they also contracted teens and retired folks to assemble boxes at their home shops. Bundles of "shook" and kegs of nails were delivered to the home shops. The home workers could work at their own pace and make a few extra dollars. Thousands of apple boxes were assembled in the community.

"Shook" consisted of the pre-assembled end pieces, as well as the sides and the bottom. All of the pieces needed to be nailed together square and true.

C. Virgil Starbird, left, smiles beside this load of logs brought to the sawmill by his driver, Andy Pratt.

Saw operator, Charles E. Chick, runs a log through the main saw at Starbird Lumber Co.

Long lumber of all dimensions was produced at Starbird Lumber Co. in Strong, including timbers, framing, finish, flooring, sheathing and siding.

A Red-E-Bilt Camp is being lifted by two forklifts while a log truck is positioned beneath. The forklift on the left is operated by Harrison Starbird, on the right is Charles Lisherness. Virgil Starbird is supervising the operation. Leslie Pinkham was driving the log truck.

Red-E-Bilt Camps were constructed in the carpenter shop at Starbird Lumber Company in the late 1950s through the 1970s. They were framed atop oak "skids", sheathed with cedar log-siding, and roofed with asphalt shingles. A small pine kitchen-type cabinet was the only interior amenity. The camp was delivered to the purchaser's site, set-up and leveled.