This nine-foot band saw was among the largest log saws ever used in the sawmill industry. It weighed over 38,000 pounds and had a blade more than 56 feet long. It cut Douglas Fir and Ponderosa Pine logs up to ten feet in diameter and fifty-six feet in length, and the lumber from one of these giant logs was enough to build two houses of about 1,500 square feet. Manufactured by the Filer & Stowell Company in 1900, it was put into service by the Champion Lumber Company in Martel, California, where for 70 years it cut lumber that was loaded onto trucks and trains and shipped into California's growing housing market. It was retired in 1992 when the mill was rebuilt to cut smaller logs, but despite its age it remained in sound working condition. Conley Ware and Peter J. French later hand built the structural platform and reassembled this iron giant in Laguna Beach, California, in April 2005 as a tribute to the pioneers of the lumber industry and to the tradesmen who live and work there.
