NON-FICTION

Logging Towboats and Boom Jumpers
The Story of O.A. Harkness
Logging "Admiral" and Mechanical "Wizzard"

by Roger Allen Moody
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​                  READ GEORGE SMITH'S REVIEW
Logging ‟Admiral” and Mechanical ‟Wizzard:” Orris Albert “O. A.” Harkness, describes and traces the fascinating career of a true mechanical genius. From 1903 to 1951, Harkness contributed significantly to the success of the Penobscot Log Driving Company and the Great Northern Paper Company in Maine’s Penobscot River timberlands by utilizing the developing technologies of the times to move logs efficiently to paper mills. His career began with designing and constructing several diesel powered log boom tow boats and included designing dozens of diesel “boom jumpers,” to which were added a complex 3000' tramway, steam and gasoline powered Lombard log haulers, a specialized railroad, sophisticated pulpwood conveyors, and crawler tractors, all to move harvested logs to and along the waters of the East and West Branches of the Penobscot River, first to sawmills and then to paper mills. Through his great personal energy, inventiveness, creativity, ability to keep complicated machinery and mechanical systems in operation, and his intelligence in understanding the Company’s competitive position and how to further it, emerges a fascinating narrative. The book includes many photographs of the time, as it explores logging in the Penobscot and Allagash watersheds. Written for those who are intrigued by history, it also contains expansive historical information about the many aspects of logging in the first half of the 20th century.

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“A fascinating account of O.A. Harkness helping Great Northern become the largest paper mill in the world by building a specialized inland navy to move logs to the mill. He also operated an innovative logging tramway, a fleet of Lombard log haulers, and a landlocked wilderness railroad to move logs from the Saint John watershed to the Penobscot. The ghost train locomotives still remain in the woods. Many rare historic photos and blueprints enhance the book.”
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          --  Herbert Crosby, Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering Technology at the University of Maine, and Board Chair of the Maine Forest and Logging Museum.
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Roger Moody
      Roger Moody graduated from Camden High School in 1961, from the University of Maine with a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Government in 1965, and then served two years of active duty as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps. In 1969, he received a Master of Public Administration degree from The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, where his concentration was in the Metropolitan Studies Program.
His long-term public service career has included the administrative assignments in State of Connecticut’s Department of Community Affairs, and in the Town of East Hartford, Connecticut. He has served as municipal manager for the City of Ellsworth, Maine, and for the Town of Camden, Maine, and as School Department Business Manager for the City of Bangor, Maine. He was elected to two terms as Knox County Commissioner, 2008-12 and 2013-16.