Welcome to author Pam Hillman! She has some great history and pictures to share with us. Be sure to check out her books- I've thoroughly enjoyed each one I've read and can't wait to read more!
Sometimes
you live within a few miles of something that impacted your community—or the
world—and don't even know the significance of it. You might not even know it exists.
This happened to me this last year. I was introduced to the Soulé Steam Feed
Works, which is about fifty miles from me in Meridian, MS.
A nameplate for the lumber stacker manufactured in 1897. Samuel Frazier in The
Evergreen Bride would have given his eye teeth for one of these.
Soulé
focused on servicing the lumber industry from 1892 until the mid-1950s. And
since I was writing two novellas set in Mississippi in the 1890s focused on the
steam-powered logging industry, I found the entire place fascinating. The
founder of Soulé Steam Feed Works, George W. Soulé, patented more than 20 items
during his lifetime. Some of Soulé's most notable products were rotary steam
engines, lumber stackers, mechanical log turners, and a cotton seed huller.
Soulé's steam engines are still in operation today, deep in the forests of
India and Australia.
Technology students from MCC demonstrate the antique equipment in the machine
shop. The Soulé Steam Works Machine shop contains an operating 120' (that's
FOOT) line shaft with original belt-driven equipment that dates from the turn
of the 20th century.
I signed
books at the Soulé Live Steam Festival on October 31-November 1, 2014 and
enjoyed the experience tremendously. Approximately 2000 people tour the
restored buildings and watch the steam engines belch out steam, while
reminiscing about the industrial revolution each year at the festival.
Several steam engines doing their "stuff" at the entrance of the Mississippi
Industrial Heritage Museum where the festival was held. The lattice truss frame
sign was completed in 2013.
Given
the nature of this event, many of the attendees were male. Late on the first
day, one of the museum volunteers and a steam engine enthusiast who'd just
arrived hurried into the area where I’d set up my table next to the welcome
desk. Both men looked like two kids on Christmas morning. The enthusiast had
brought a steam whistle that was so large he hadn't been able to build up
enough steam to blow it. They made plans to connect it to a bigger steam engine
so they could try it out.
Manual Underwood typewriter. One of the curators at the museum gave me a
private tour a couple of months ago, and she said that Mr. Soulé kept
everything, so a lot of the antiques are literally pieces that were used in the
daily operations of the business. The vault even has copies of receipts and
payroll records from the 1890s and early 1900s.
Periodically,
a loud blast could be heard throughout the whole facility. I later found out
that it was a steam whistle (equipped with a safety valve, of course) with a
rope pull that kids could pull to make the blast. No wonder we were treated to
the whistle multiple times throughout the two-day event!
I
didn't get as many photos as I would have liked since I was signing books, but
I hope to be back in November 2015. There were so many people I would have
loved to interview for future blog posts.
This is the brick-paved alley between two of the buildings that are part of the
museum complex. The ambiance between the buildings with the steam billowing out
of the pipes was an interesting experience. The museum staff and volunteers
have done an amazing job restoring the buildings and the steam engines.
Hope
you enjoyed this trip down memory lane. I’d love for you to check out my
stories set in this era.
Annabelle's plans for a white
Christmas in The Evergreen Bride (12 Brides of Christmas) involve a trip
to Illinois to visit her relatives, in particular her cousin Lucy Denson, a
dainty petite city gal.
The
Lumberjack's Bride
(12 Brides of Summer) returns to the same heart of the Mississippi pine belt 18
months later. Many of the characters return in the sequel when the family
sawmill and logging operation has expanded. They need additional help and ask
for business assistance from Lucy’s father, and he moves the family to
Mississippi. The pretty young woman soon catches the eye of Eli, a rough-and-tumble
Mississippi lumberjack in an earth-shattering meeting deep in the forest.
Pam is
also excited to share news of her latest full-length novel, STEALING JAKE. When
Livy O’Brien spies a young boy jostling a man walking along the boardwalk, she
recognizes the act for what it is. After all, she used to be known as
Light-Fingered Livy. But that was before she put her past behind her and moved
to the growing town of Chestnut, Illinois, where she’s helping to run an
orphanage. Now she’ll do almost anything to protect the street kids like
herself.
Sheriff’s
deputy Jake Russell had no idea what he was in for when he ran into
Livy―literally while chasing down a pickpocket. With a rash of robberies and a
growing number of street kids in town―as well as a loan on the family farm that
needs to be paid off―Jake doesn’t have time to pursue a girl. Still, he can’t
seem to get Livy out of his mind. He wants to get to know her better . . . but
Livy isn’t willing to trust any man, especially not a lawman.
