Piatt Family Skidding, Cutting, Splitting Logs - Part 1 - Shannon County Film Digitization Project

Camera roll 267 is one of three rolls (267, 268, 269) that show Willie Piatt and two of his sons, Edward and Kenny, working together in the timber skidding, cutting, and splitting oak logs into stave bolts. Missouri has long had a thriving barrel stave industry that relies on an abundance of white oak and the skills of timber workers like the Piatts. Demand for its product is world-wide. Stave bolts cut by the Piatts likely became whiskey barrels bound for Kentucky, Tennessee or Scotland, before ending up as wine barrels in France and other parts of Europe. Roll 267 begins with various shots of Edward using a front loader to stack logs onto his truck. These include wide shots that show Willie and Kenny in the background carrying stave bolts to a second truck. Six minutes into the roll, there is a long sequence showing Edward using a large mechanical skidder to drag a load of logs up a hill. The last part of the roll shows Willie, Edward, and Kenny sitting together on a log eating lunch and talking. The Piatts were a close-knit clan that worked hard, hunted often, enjoyed life, and loved humor. For more of the Piatt family in other contexts see rolls 215-219, rolls 248b-249, and rolls 321-327. For more on stave bolts, see roll 253 which shows Willie and Kenny working at a stave mill in Bunker, Shannon County, Missouri. Footage shot on November 30, 1978.

Part of the raw footage recorded 1978-1979 for the 1981 documentary motion pictures "Shannon County: Home" and "Shannon County: Hearts of the Children." Located in Special Collections, Meyer Library, Missouri State University.

For more information on the Shannon County Film Digitization Project: http://purl.missouristate.edu/library...