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Image and Text: Spruce Mill
Transcript
DESCRIBING: A black and white photograph of the Vancouver Barracks Spruce Mill.
SYNOPSIS: A black and white photograph of the Vancouver Barracks Spruce Mill as it appeared in 1918. The mill complex includes a railroad line, industrial buildings, and rows of white canvas tents. Vancouver Barracks can be seen in the distance. The photograph has a label written on it that reads "A Section of the World's Largest Spruce 'Cut-Up' Plant, Vancouver Barracks, Wash. 1918" and a signature and logo for the photographer, Marcell. The weather appears foggy.
IN-DEPTH DESCRIPTION: The photograph is panoramic. In the 10 to 11 o'clock position of the photograph, eight white two- and three-story buildings of Vancouver Barracks can be seen in the distance, with evergreen trees just barely visible behind. In the foreground is a block of 36 white canvas tents in three rows, bordered by paths made of wooden planks. The tents are square with partial walls and come to a tall peak in the center with a canvas doorway on one side, leading out to a wooden plank pathway. There are some simple, one-story wooden buildings among the tents. To the left of this block of tents, in the 10 o'clock position, is a tall, square, two-story building with a covered porch. A single tall evergreen tree nearby separates the block of tents from the more permanent buildings of Vancouver Barracks behind.
In the 12 o'clock position is a long warehouse, painted white with a dark roof. It is positioned in the photograph at an angle, with one end and one side visible. The warehouse has small, square windows along its side and chimneys along the peak of its gabled roof. Six rows of white square canvas tents extend in rows at a 45 degree angle from the camera in sets of six tents per row. Among the tents are three long buildings with roofs made of wooden slats and small windows along their sides. These buildings are raised from the ground with wooden beams. Wooden pathways connect the tents and buildings to keep workers at the mill off of the muddy ground below.
In the 1 o'clock position is a set of two railroad tracks with two trains sitting on them. A road runs along the left side of the railroad tracks. This road is lined by utility poles connected by power lines. A car driving on this road appears as a blur in this photograph. To the left of the railroad line are two cranes used for lifting cargo and stacks of wood and supplies. A railroad crossing can be seen along the lower edge of the photograph, with gates to stop traffic when trains pass.
Beyond the railroad track are a row of white, long, industrial mill buildings with barn-style roofs. Five smokestacks rise out of these industrial buildings. Smoke or steam rises from the buildings beyond it. In the hazy background is a flat landscape and the Columbia River.
In the 2 o'clock position, at the far right of the photograph, are a collection of one-story administrative buildings.
CAPTION: Spruce Mill workers lived in tents beside the mill where they turned trees into lumber for planes. This push for wood in the first world war revolutionized the lumber industry.
CREDIT: Library of Congress/Edward F. Marcell
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