Ted Jewkes Anderson

A Wood Yard Memory by Margaret Anderson Behling, daughter Dad and mom lived in Orem, Utah and dad needed something to do, I guess, so he started building a wood pile. It was kind of sad, actually, because in the years before, he had grown and cultivated a wonderful vegetable garden in this spot. But, they had a installed a wood stove in their front room and during the winter, dad kept it stoked up so much that mom had the doors and windows open because it got so hot in the house. He needed a place to stockpile the volume of wood he needed, so he picked this area at the side of his house. At the time, Orem was in the stage of development of housing and subdivisions. Orem was known in the area for its fruit production...apples, pears, peaches, cherries, and so, there was hundreds of trees that were not needed. Dad met the owners of the orchards and the developers and made arrangements to clear the orchards of the fruit trees so the houses could be built. Eventually, this wood pile, which was located at the side yard of their home in Orem, near 8th north and 5th E. got too high and no more wood could be stacked there. People were asking for and buying cords of fruit wood from him and so, he found another location on Geneva road about 5 th N., and started a wood business there. He, along with my brothers, Mel and David, and his brother, Ben pooled their talents and muscles and built a prosperous wood business. Grandkids old enough also helped. They sold wood by the cord to individuals for personal use, restaurants, for that smoked apple wood flavor, and eventually they contracted with 7-11 convenience stores in the area and sold wholesale wood bundles to them. The bundles amounted to about 4 to 5 logs which were split into pieces that people could use for fireplaces, etc. The bundles were wrapped in plastic and had a handle stapled to the bundle for convenience in carrying it. They were sold for approximately $2.50 per bundle. This group of entrepreneurs would cut down the trees with chain saws and haul the wood to the wood yard where it would be processed into firewood piece sizes. David, built a log splitter which would split the logs into 4 to 5 pieces once they had been cut to desired length. It was quite the invention. I can't do justice to describing it, but it was built from remnants of an old salvaged garbage truck and it had a hydraulic mechanism that powered the splitting of the log once it was put in place. They also built a conveyer belt to convey the cut logs along to be packaged or stacked for delivery. They also had a weighing station which would weigh truck loads of wood which was sold to individuals for their use. The entire process from start to finish was quite a job. The business was so profitable that dad retired from his job with Orem City and focused his efforts on running the wood business. Dad was in his late 50's when this all started. But he loved being and working outside and this was really a dream job for him.