A piece of wood from the original Rutledge New Salem Mill Dam. Section of board measures 18.5 x 9.5 and shows the original saw blade cuts and hand-hewed markings. Piece was originally obtained by William Boeker, who worked on the restoration of the mill, who passed the board on to a Lincoln collector in the 1940s. A note of provenance from Boeker is tied to the top edge of the boards, and reads: “This slab was sawed from a hewed log that was removed from the old dam at New Salem. The dam was built in 1829 by James Rutledge and it was on this dam that Lincoln’s flatboat lodged on his trip to New Orleans in 1832.” Also included is a copy of a Herbert George photo captioned “Excavating party at Rutledge Cameron Mill—New Salem, Illinois,” which shows the footings and site location of the board. RR Auction COA.
