Most people don’t realize this but early automobiles needed wood almost as much as they needed steel and rubber. Body panels were mounted on wooden frames, and there’s a reason why there are things called floorboards, dashboards, and footboards. A typical Model T was said to consume about 100 board/feet of lumber. Under Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company was about as vertically integrated as companies could be. He didn’t just own steel mills, he owned iron mines for the ore to make steel. He set up his version of utopia, a company town called Fordlândia, to grow rubber in Brazil. It’s not surprising, then, that Ford also grew and milled his own wood, eventually owning about a half million acres of forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, along with a couple of industrial scale lumber mills and a factory in Iron Mountain for processing the lumber into wood parts for his cars, bodies for “woodie” station wagons, and eventually military gliders during World War II. That factory was also where what we now know as Kingsford charcoal briquets originated as part of Henry’s zeal to recover just about everything they could from the wood waste.
Thank you Ronnie. Now I have more museums to visit. Would love to see the gliders.
Also never really thought about why they were called floor boards and dash boards. Figured it was just a holdover from wagons but this makes more sense. Really Model A’s are wonderful evidenced by how many are still running and the number of enthusiasts.
Alberta, MI is one of those places I drive by all the time but know little about and only see at roughly 60 mph. There is a lake across the highway with "Ford" written in their distinctive script at the little park. It makes more sense to me why it's there now.
So far as Henry Ford goes, was he one of the members of the Huron Mt Club? (I'm pretty sure he was) I don't know about the history of that place, but it is exclusive and they let NO ONE in their boundaries, which is a shame because I'd love to see Canyon Lake someday.
Ford Motor Company still owns land in Marquette County. It would not surprise me in the least to learn they own more land elsewhere.
Great read, Ronnie. I had no clue about that.
Thank you Ronnie. Now I have more museums to visit. Would love to see the gliders.
Also never really thought about why they were called floor boards and dash boards. Figured it was just a holdover from wagons but this makes more sense. Really Model A’s are wonderful evidenced by how many are still running and the number of enthusiasts.
Alberta, MI is one of those places I drive by all the time but know little about and only see at roughly 60 mph. There is a lake across the highway with "Ford" written in their distinctive script at the little park. It makes more sense to me why it's there now.
So far as Henry Ford goes, was he one of the members of the Huron Mt Club? (I'm pretty sure he was) I don't know about the history of that place, but it is exclusive and they let NO ONE in their boundaries, which is a shame because I'd love to see Canyon Lake someday.
Ford Motor Company still owns land in Marquette County. It would not surprise me in the least to learn they own more land elsewhere.
Amazing and I should go look at this .
-Nate