Pennsylvania Game News - June 2010 - 18

the still was loaded with wood, the box was filled with water and the top secured. After making sure it was water tight, a fire was built under the still. The fire was not allowed to get

The condensed milky white vapor that came out the bottom of the tube was collected in a glass jug and called “low wine.”
too hot because the water in the still had to be kept below the boiling point. If the water was allowed to boil, the oil would seal inside the wood. As the vapor rose from the bubbling water, the birch oil was carried along with it. This vapor was carried through a copper coil through a tank of cold water. The condensed milky white vapor that came out the bottom of the tube was collected in a glass jug and called “low wine.” The pure oil of birch, which was heavier than the water, would sink to the bottom of the jug. When separated, the low wine was put back into the still for the next charge to try and remove any birch oil that it might contain. The still had to be operated for about 48 hours to produce any oil. After the still cooked for two days, it was emptied. New birch branches and bark were placed inside, and the process would begin anew, with the cooked wood becoming firewood for the next batch. Two men were required to run a still, with one cutting and skidding the trees to the still and the other to cut the trees into 6-foot lengths, cut
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and tie the bundles of the branches and to operate the still itself. It took a week to get a gallon of birch oil. Eventually, Grant’s asthma symptoms disappeared, most likely from breathing in the steam produced by the still. Skip, remembers spending many summers in the woods, helping his dad operate the stills. Although the stills were operated year-round, June and July were the best producing months. During those months, the birch bark was easily peeled, and the whole family became bark peelers. At that time only the bark and the smaller twigs were put into the still. This enabled Grant to load more into the still, which increased the amount of oil produced. The peeled tree trunk was then sold as pulpwood. During June and July, the still produced one and a half gallons of oil, compared to a gallon of oil in the winter months. In the early 1950s, Grant sold his birch oil for eight dollars a pound to Snow’s Furrier in Williamsport. A gallon jug would hold 11 pounds of oil. Most of the oil was then shipped to New York City and sold to

The still had to be operated for about 48 hours to produce any oil.
storekeepers and druggists for flavoring drugs, medicines and candy. Later, Grant sold his birch oil to Dee Cloos in Keeneyville, and the price went up to nine dollars per gallon. Today, old medicine bottles can be found with labels denoting that flavoring from birch oil was used to improve the taste. One day while in Scotch Pine Hollow, searching for a new stand of black birch trees, Grant was stricken with a heart attack. He was alone and many miles from the road. The pain was so bad that Grant was unable to walk, but after many agonizing hours, he crawled to his
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Pennsylvania Game News - June 2010

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