Previous to 1887 there was not a Band Mill in existence for sawing logs that fully met the wishes of lumbermen engaged in large operations, although quite a number of such machines were then at work with varying success in mills owned by men who felt encouraged to try them. The builders of saw mill machinery were then studiously endeavoring to produce a Band Mill that would perform the full duty of making straight lumber and plenty of it, and a number of them had already devoted several years of hard work upon them. They appeared to know what the trouble was, but were greatly at a loss to know precisely how to correct it. The story of the trouble briefly told is as follows: A band saw runs on its wheels just the same as a belt runs on pulleys. The saw, just the same as a belt, has a tight side and also a slack side. The tight side is on the log side and the slack side is opposite on the back side; and if for any reason the saw should slip on the lower or driving wheel, then in that case the momentum of the upper wheel would carry the slack over to the front or log side, and a snake or crook in the lumber would be the result. This was generally understood to be the trouble and various expedients, some of which were very amusing, were adopted (as hereinafter shown) by machinery builders, only to be discarded later as band mill construction developed. [Illustration: THE HOFFMAN BAND SAW MILL Built by J. R. Hoffman & Co., Fort Wayne, Ind., and advertised in the NORTHWESTERN LUMBERMAN May 9, 1885] The first Band Mill to attract the attention of mill men was in operation at Fort Wayne, Ind., in a saw mill operated by the Hoffman Bros. They had used one for several years, and the writer visited their mill in 1885. They were then buying large first clear logs up in Michigan and sawing them into stuff for pigeon holes and other cabinet stock. The wheels were of wood five feet in diameter, with rubber faces and iron spoke centers. Both wheels were alike. They used a saw five inches wide, which they procured in France, claiming that no saw makers in this country knew how to make a band saw, and they probably did not; but their operations attracted so much attention that they commenced to build and market Band Mills of the same character as the one in use by themselves, and they did sell quite a number of them. The iron work shown is mounted on a wooden post, and while this mill is insignificant when compared to our modern mills, it nevertheless made a serious impression upon the men who inspected it at work. J. J. Kennedy of Rib Lake, Wis., had one of them, and was the first man to employ a Prescott Steam Feed to operate its carriage, which he did under the protest of Hoffman’s expert who did not believe it could be used; but really it materially increased the cut of the little Hoffman mill. [Illustration: Second Band Saw Mill of J. R. Hoffman & Co.]