Big Logging Wheels Fund Drive

The Oakland Township Historical Society (OTHS) is conducting a drive to raise funds to repair and rebuild the Big Red Logging Wheels in front of the Paint Creek Cider Mill in the hamlet of Goodison in Oakland Township.

The funds raised will be donated to the Oakland Township Historic District Commission (HDC) on June 30 to support the efforts of the HDC to repair and rebuild the wheels. They have been researching wheelwrights to complete the work.

Bill Kroger, OTHS President said “The Historical Society will match the first $5,000 donated to the fund.”

The logging wheels have been a fixture at the Paint Creek Cider Mill for decades going back to Dale O. Miller’s (Rochester Gear Works) ownership in the mid-1940s. The wheels’ history dates to an 1875 invention by Silas C Overpack, from Manistee, Michigan, at the request from local farmers to help transport timbers. While these wheels were restored in 2006 by members of OTHS, various wood rot patches, a broken tongue in 2019, and a rotten axel in 2021 required repair. The continuous decay and wood rot will eventually result in their loss to the community forever if action is not taken.

The HDC has determined that a complete rebuild is required and has located a company that can do the job. The OTHS members intends to collect enough to make it possible for the HDC to complete the job and save this symbol of the Township’s history for future generations.

Here’s the online donation link, as well as donations may be sent to OTHS 384 W. Predmore Rd., Oakland, MI 48363. Please write ‘Logging Wheels’ on the check.

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