Toccoa Territory

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Normally, this is a good time of year to go up into the mountains along the Blue Ridge Escarpment, but it has been raining a lot and I didn't think it would be enjoyable or especially safe to navigate the twisty roads with all of the potential hazards they might contain. 

So I took a really easy route to a place I have been before to view some new-to-me sights.  

I have been to Toccoa Georgia three times before, and there are a lot of neat things to visit there, including a mountain that I climbed, and some military history, and a large railroad trestle, and a pretty waterfall.

This time around, I take a route to get there that I have not been on before.  Still not really exciting, but different. 

Almost into Georgia, but on the east side of the river that separates it from South Carolina, I have to cross the railroad tracks.  When I get to that point, I find this underpass.

One lane.  Have to be careful here. 

A little further on, I run across a lonely church building.  There is no sign identifying it on the road, and the parking lot is empty.  I stop to see it.

The sign by the door says it is St. John's Anglican Chapel.

It looks old, but there is a new foundation under parts of it, and a lot of the exterior has been stuccoed over. 

I see another door around to the side, so I take a picture through the glass.

It is clean, orderly, and well kept inside.  I wonder when it is used. 

I notice a small outbuilding near the back.

I think I could use that about now.

Alas, it is not to be.

Locked out! 

They apparently have running water inside, though.  Clever -- and high-tech -- setup, indeed.

I make other arrangements and head on my way to see some other new stuff. 

Just into Toccoa I spot a gift shop with a large painted rock in front of it.  I stop and go in to see about the rock.  The Dream Givers Art Gallery is run by a friendly woman, Dianne Lawson, and sells all manner of knicknacks, jewelry, artwork, and other neat things all made within about a 60-mile radius of Toccoa.  The shop is located in an inviting 1930's bungalow with plenty of hardwood floors, and craftsman-style details. 

I look over the wares, but I am more interested in the big rock outside, so I ask her why it is there. That is a bit of an odd question, and she pauses a second before answering. She says it is important to her that people not forget about our American heritage and history, especially the sacrifices made by our uniformed military servicemen for our freedom.

 
I can't agree more, as evidenced by some of my previous posts on this blog:

Motorcycles and Freedom
Memorial Day
Thanksgiving Day
Freedom is Never Free! -- Rally to Ridgecrest, 2011

The painting on the rock includes an eagle and some parachutists. These are references to the Screaming Eagles, the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment trained at Camp Toccoa. (The mascot of Toccoa Falls College is also an eagle.)

The rock has the words to the first verse of the patriotic song "America the Beautiful," by Katharine Bates. The words of that song are worth reviewing. Not many people know them today. I have put into bold typeface some particularly significant thoughts, important in 1913 when they were written, as they are now.

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

Patriotic, yes, but filled with references to God who has blessed this land beyond measure.

Ms. Lawson asks me about my background.  I tell her that I am an engineer by training.  She says she has been married to one for a lot of years, and she understands.  She emphasizes peculiarly the word "understands."   [Hmmmm.  I wonder what she mans by that.  I have always thought of myself as perfectly normal, and it is the rest of the world of non-engineers who are a little "off."  I may have to think about this some more.]

After I leave the gift shop, I continue on to the Trestle Falls subdivision (at Pushpin B on the map that opens in this link) where there is an overlook (at Pushpin C) for the North Broad Trestle, also known as the Wells Viaduct.  The same tracks that go over that underpass I saw earlier go over this trestle.  I set up my camera on a tripod and wait for a train to pass over it.  A few minutes go by, but do not hear any trains approaching.  Disappointing, so I put on my helmet and gloves to head on my way to find something else new.  

I have recently read a book called R.G. LeTourneau: Mover of Men and Mountains.  It is an autobiography written by a fellow who had grand thoughts about large machinery, including earthmoving equipment and offshore drilling platforms.  He went broke several times in his lifetime, but became very successful later on.  He was a man who was shy and backward in public, but he was quite a devout Christian, and overcame his lack of self confidence to become an inspirational speaker across the country and around the world.  

In the middle of his life, he made the decision to give 90% of his income and 90% of his company's profits to God for His use.  Remember that the Bible requires us to tithe 10% of our income.  This guy tithed 10% and gave a further offering of 80%!  People ridiculed him, said he was odd doing anything like that, and would never make a go of it financially.  Nevertheless, Mr. LeTourneau received spiritual and physical rewards of many times the amount he gave during his lifetime.  

By the way, you don't give to get from God or from others, because sometimes it doesn't work out like that during our earthly lives.  We will certainly be rewarded for storing up treasure in heaven, though. 

Mr. LeTourneau, who lived between 1888 and 1969, was at one point a motorcycle rider, mostly because he could not afford a motor car.  That was back in the early days of motorcycle design.  He learned how to take the bike apart and managed to get it back together a number of times, and it provided a practical schooling in mechanics that helped with his success later on.  

He received more than 300 patents in his lifetime.  His company pioneered electric motor power of large equipment, including wheel drives that eliminated all mechanical connection to the prime mover.  He strived for larger and larger capacity and capability in his machines, recognizing that the more work a man could do with the help of machines, the higher the standard of living would be for all.  His company was the first to use rubber tires for off-road heavy equipment use. 

LeTourneau equipment enabled the Allied forces to build and repair roads and airstrips rapidly, giving Allied forces an advantage that shortened World War II. 

There are several books available describing his company's equipment:

• R. G. LeTourneau Heavy Equipment: The Mechanical Drive Era (1921-1953)
• R. G. LeTourneau Heavy Equipment: The Electric-Drive Era, 1953-1970
• Modern LeTourneau Earthmoving Equipment: 1968 - Present

Mr. LeTourneau established technical education courses for his workers, to help them better themselves and thus become more valuable to the company.  He later learned of the Toccoa Falls Institute, later Toccoa Falls College, a Christian school where young people could study and work at the same time to help pay for their schooling.  He was impressed by the character of the students from there, so he decided to build a manufacturing plant in Toccoa. 


At that time, Toccoa was a back woods place with no industry, no skilled labor, no church buildings, no dairies, hardly anything.  His business advisors said he was crazy, wanting to build a facility there; that the effort would be too costly to pay off.  Not deterred, he brought in skilled laborers from his other plants to build a new one, built housing for workers, added churches, shops, and other infrastructure. 
 
In fact, he invented steel prefabricated houses, and later concrete houses cast complete "as though laid by a giant hen," according to his book.   


What a benefit and blessing it was to a community when a modern industry brings these things in!  Their entire standard of living increased dramatically.  

The manufacturing plant he erected in Toccoa was the first manufacturing plant built from prefabricated sheet metal panels.  This technique is one based on one of Mr. LeTourneau's many patents, and allowed large buildings to be constructed without major structural steel.  

The steel panels are built like this, taken from that patent:  

I go looking for some of these buildings, and come across the "Famous LeTourneau Hanger" at Toccoa Airport, known as LeTourneau Field. 

 

This building is constructed entirely using the prefabricated insulated steel panels, and each seam is fully welded, making a sound structure.  Here is a photo of the wall panels, with a sliding door to the right, built the same way.

An interior view:

The airplane hanger is currently occupied by Corben Sport Planes/Ace Aircraft Company.  They make kits for homebuilt small aircraft called the Baby Ace and Junior Ace.  

I boldly venture into the hanger and into a lighted office in the back.  There I find the current owner of Corben, Mr. Bill Wood and his wife Veda.  I think they are a bit surprised to see me in my riding suit, helmet in hand, but they quickly warm up as I ask them a few questions about the hanger and about their business. 

The plane designs go back to the 1920s.  Mr. Wood bought the company in 1998, and runs not only the homebuilt (actually better referred to as experimental) plane business, but also Foothills Aviation, for the sale of avionics equipment, maintenance, structural modifications, and inspection services. 

Mrs. Wood insists that I look at a few videos on her computer, but surprisingly, not any showing their airplanes.  She wants me to see the short takeoff and landing (STOL) experimental light plane manufactured by Just Aircraft, located about half way between here and home, in Walhalla South Carolina.  (I have yet to visit there, but it is on my list of things to do.) 

They tell me about the airfield, created by Mr. LeTourneau so he wouldn't have to land his plane on the road -- and for the good of the community.  Two large hills were leveled to make the area flat enough for the runway. 

I ask to snap Mr. and Mrs. Wood's picture, and they move closer to one another for the shot. 

Do you notice in the background those skinny drawers to the left of Mr. Wood in the picture?  Do you young whippersnapper engineers know what’s in them?  I’ll bet not. 

The large, flat drawers are used to store engineering drawings, something not many newly-minted engineers know about, what with CAD systems and the wide-format printers of today.  Back then, the original was drawn with pencil, or sometimes with ink on thin, high-quality paper called vellum, or with “plastic” lead on almost-clear polyester film often known by one of its trade names, Mylar. 

 

Then, a blueline machine (or in even older days, a blueprint machine) was used to shine light through the drawing and onto a sensitized roll of paper whose image was developed by ammonia fumes.  Cleans your sinuses while you wait!  Now you know.

The Woods are gracious hosts and bid me farewell, inviting me to return at any time.

I take a shot of one of the many planes on the way out of the hanger. 

Neat experience.

The trip home is along US-123, a good road, but not very interesting.  It is quick to use, though, to get back.

Only 176 miles today along this route, but it has been an interesting day of discovery. 

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