Arnold
Brogdon (Nashville, Georgia)
Arnold Brogdon is enough to
convince you that syrup makers are interesting folks.
Although he is outfitted to make syrup/blend commercially,
as he did in the past, he only does it on a hobby basis
now. He has a large poultry operation and, when I visited,
his spare time was spent building his house. For most folks, building a
house means hiring an architect and a contractor. For
Arnold, it means taking a chain saw to the woods and
dragging the logs out to a sawmill set up on site. It
seems that he recognizes just about every board, some of
which have had previous relationships in other buildings
Arnold owns.
Visiting Arnold was a great deal
of fun, which I owe to my late mother's brother, Herbert
Watson, and his daughter-in-law, Joanna. Arnold's
operation is the epitome of a family farm, where he works
with his wife, Janie, a high-school classmate of mine, and
their son.
Chattanooga No.92, perhaps the largest mill I have seen
on an individual's private operation, is the center of
Arnold's operation (Slides 1,
2,
and 3). Winston Brogdon provides perspective.
This mill is coupled to a pto, which runs a pneumatic
tire, similar to the Alton Rowan mill.
Slides 4
and 5
show the inside of Arnold's syrup shed. The juice moves from
the Chattanooga mill to a large storage tank by the two
kettles. After the syrup is cooked off, it is taken to a
stainless steel bottling tank in an adjacent room.
Slides 6
and 7
are a motorized Chattanooga No.44, which is not being used.
Slides 8
and 9
are a mill made by Geo. L. Squier of Buffalo, NY.
Squier made a number of mills (see Ken's
Catalog Pages), but this one had no further
identifying marks on it. This mill has style, as you note
from the uprights. Unfortunately, Arnold had no interest
in parting with it.
Slides 10
and 11
are of two-roller mill marked VMC # 0, Valdosta, Georgia.
Arnold stands by the mill for perspective. This mill is
almost identical to the QFM # 14, made in Quitman,
Georgia, which is perhaps 15 miles from Valdosta.
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