Yamhill County Historical Society

John D. Tessman bought the #1 1/2 DeLoach sawmill in 1920. It had been through a fire so John had to restore it to useable condition. The manufacture date at DeLoach Mill Mfg. Co. in Birmingham, Alabama, was between 1900 and 1905. The patent date was 1890. Mr. Tessman set the sawmill up at his father-in-law’s Beringer farm at Gibbs on Chehalem Mountain northeast of Newberg, Oregon. The Tessmans and Beringers powered the mill with a steam engine and sawed lumber from timber on their hillside farm. They built outbuildings and sawed for neighbors as well. It 1937 the mill was moved to John and Bertha (Beringer) Tessman’s farm adjacent to the Beringers, where they milled lumber for their home and outbuildings. At this location the 48-inch blade was powered by a 1928 Packard engine and later on by a WWII surplus Cadillac tank engine. It was last used on the farm in 1954.

On the wish list for the Yamhill County Historical Society was a vintage sawmill. In 2007 the children of John and Bertha responded with the offer of theirs. The sawmill was disassembled, and wooden parts replaced, volunteers on the Historical Society grounds. A great part of the restoration job was done by the Tessman brothers, Alan and Dean, and by Chuck Kadell and Donnie King, plus other helping hands. By 2009 the mill was ready to operate. The dedication by the Tessman family took place at the 2009 Harvest Fest event. The power for the mill is a 43hp 1946 John Deere model W engine donated by the Bob Scharf family. The mill can handle up to a 28-inch diameter log, up to 16 feet long. Resulting lumber is used for projects within the Heritage Center. Slab wood is burned in the fire box of the steam tractor for its power, the excess sold for firewood, with funds returned to the mill’s treasury. The sawmill chairman and head sawyer in the beginning was Jerry Tessman, who was grandson of John D. Tessman. Today the sawmill chairman and head sawyer is Doc Green. Given new life as a teaching tool, the mill proves a popular attraction at events. A better second life for it cannot be imagined.