William
Dukes (Quitman, Georgia)
William Dukes and his brother
keep alive the tradition of syrup making at Thanksgiving
that they inherited from
their father, Mr. Charles Dukes (deceased). Although I did
not meet Mr. Dukes, I was lucky enough to pass time with
Mrs. Dukes, who showed me around (and gave me a bottle of
excellent syrup!).
Slide
1 shows the syrup shed, with the furnace and kettle on
the left side. The mill, also under the shed, is not
visible in this view.
Mrs.
Dukes (Slide
2) and her daughter stand under the shed while Mrs.
Dukes explains the syrup-making operation. Visiting
syrup-making sites would seem to be a benign endeavor, but
that dog (and two twins) did not embrace my presence with
undiluted pleasure (regrets to the Queen for that bit of
plagiarism). Usually, I own one or two big dogs (German
shepherds or akitas), and I know enough to give a large
strange dog the space he deserves. . . .but sorry to say,
I misjudged how much space was needed at one point. I was
glad to retire with only a warning.
A cane wagon (Slide
3) delivers the cane directly to a rack in front of
the mill.
Pressing the cane falls to a
Golden New Model horizontal power mill (Slide
4). I was stymied: the model number of the mill must
have worn away, although I found all the other usual
castings (patents and so forth).
A
sufficient reason to post this site is the kettle mount (Slide
5). Many syrup makers squeeze extra capacity from each’s
respective kettle by mounting an external rim or by
building to the flange of the kettle with metal or
concrete. This one, however, exceeds all others that I
have seen.
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