WOODWRIGHT

• Cabinet maker—one who builds cabinets.
• Carpenter—modern term for one who works with wood.
• Coopersmith--maker of barrels and buckets.
• Furniture maker—one who builds furnisher
• Sawyer—one who saws wood
• Ship builder—one who builds ships. This originally was with mortis and tendon.
• Timber Framer—one who uses mortis and tendon to construct a building with timbers.
• Turner—one who turns wood on a lathe
• Wainwright—one who builds wagons
• Wheelwright—one who builds wheels

Most emigrants had basic knowledge of home construction, and fundamental furniture building. This was necessary as the emigrants only brought very limit furniture with them. On arrival in the Pacific Northwest they were able to build basic homes and primitive furniture.

The emigrants relied on sawyers to provide dimensional lumber, turners to turn columns for porches, timber framers to build barns, carpenters and cabinet makers to build permanent homes.

The woodwright only brought the basic tools west. In order to bring additional tools he had to make some tough decisions.

• Did he have the resources to box the additional tools and send them to New York and have them shipped around South America (prior to 1850). After 1850 the ships would land a Panama the cargo was carried by river boat and mules to the Pacific Ocean.. From there they would go to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). From the Sandwich Islands the next stop was San Francisco and until late 1850’s Than headed north and across the Columbia River bar to Portland, Or.. After late 1850 freight wagons would haul freight north to the Willamette Valley (Oregon).
• The second choice was to bring along additional wagons. It was best to have a son the teamster on the additional wagons as hired teamsters were known to quit along the trail before reaching Oregon

The handles were taken out of all but those tools that were expected to be used on the trail. This was to reduce the weight and space taken in the wagon. Also Ash and Hickory trees were readily available when they left their homes. But on arrival to the Oregon, these trees were not available and fir and alder had to be substituted.

Wooden articles that the emigrant made on reaching Oregon were; dough troughs, spoons, dippers, bowls. These were to replace those either left behind or lost on the trail.

The early emigrants’ tools were all hand tools. It would not be until 1850 when tools with mechanical advantage would signal the start of the Industrial Revolution.