Bloomsbury Rescue Squad

Linda Merwarth McFadden has contacted me about joining our group. Apparently she has not done that yet. She wanted to discuss the beginnings of the Rescue Squad. I did find a webpage on the history and hope she will add what she knows to this information back here after everyone reads the page posted by the squad at:http://www.bloomsburyrescue.com/History.html

Pencil Manufacturing

I presume that most of the Bloomsbury kids got to tour the pencil factory at some time or another. In case you have forgotten what you saw, this may refresh your memories. I have an educational sample box from the Joseph Dixon Company in Jersey City, NJ and I photo'd the samples to show how pencils are made. The first shot shows the cedar slat stages and the 2nd shot shows the stages of the individual pencils after they are cut apart from the slats. There is also a scanned document that I included here that is related to handwriting and pencil and hand sizes, which is interesting.
I know this isn't Koh-I-Noor, but it's the best I can do. ;-)

Timberlines: L&C Hardmuth - Koh-I-Noor: A Diamond in the Rough

Timberlines: L&C Hardmuth - Koh-I-Noor: A Diamond in the Rough

Thanks for that wonderful story, Linda! Spaying and neutering were practically unknown to us back then. How kind your family was to care for them that way. It warms my heart.

My niece in California had taken stray cats off the street and gotten them "fixed" at a local vet clinic that offered a $15 or $20 special for strays. ...I suspect a few were not strays, though:\

Salt mines

I do not know anything about the mines on Bloomsbury Mountain, but my mother used to talk about her brother working in a salt mine somewhere between Oxford and Wharton.

Just curious: is the "Pencil Factory" still operating in Bloomsbury?

Working the mines

I have no idea what these guys are mining, but these 2 shots are from postcards of Bloomsbury that my grandmother collected. Imagine working in those clothes... suit and tie??

CRRNJ Fuel Stop

"Cutting wood for the Central RR of NJ at Bloomsbury." The horse is walking on a treadmill which powers the saw that cuts the wood. I wonder how much these guys got paid? And which unlucky horse got to walk and go nowhere?