The Sawmill

A personal highlight of my work with Red Wing Heritage came last fall in the form of an unnamed boot. Leading up to the season launch, the Heritage product team invested heavily in the development of a men’s boot that was set to become the cornerstone of the season. The design was dialed, but the new style still needed a name and positioning. 

The boot was built as a throwback to old school winter work boots with lined leather, a rugged outsole, and gunmetal hardware. While I was staring at my living room wall waiting for the right name to slap me across the face, it nearly did. My gaze settled on a framed photo of my great-grandfather Ted Sawle’s mill, and my eyes lit up. Sawmill. That had the ring of a proper, Northwoods-inspired boot. After reviewing dozens of other name options, the brand was on board, and the Sawmill went to production in Red Wing, about 200 miles from where Ted Sawle worked as a miller in Ridgeway, Wisconsin for 60 years. 

I met my great-grandfather a few times when I was young and heard plenty of stories from family. Once the Sawmill became a reality, I was curious to learn more about the man who worked the mill into his 90s and lived to be 103. So, I dug into historical records to see what I could find. 

In the mid 1970s, Ted Sawle began work to restore his mill, which he originally built in the early 30s. The traditional, wooden wheel-powered grist mill known as Hyde’s Mill was already a historic landmark in the area, and Ted hoped that it would continue to stand as a tribute to a bygone era. The State of Wisconsin, however, deemed that the creek the mill was built on was a navigable waterway and attempted to block the restoration in court. Below is an excerpt from the opinion issued by the judge presiding over the case: 

“Mr. Sawle was described in this hearing as a ‘19th century man’ with a dream of restoring an era that lives only in the dim memories of a few survivors of a time long past. A crass materialist may consider Sawle a ‘Man from La Mancha’ with an impossible dream, tilting at water mills rather than windmills. We do not so view him. Yes, Mr. Sawle, contrary to the cynical opinion and view held by some, the Department of Natural Resources does have a soul.”

The renovation went forward, and the mill still stands in Ridgeway, Wisconsin.

“I figure I put in about 30 years of farming, about 30 years logging and saw milling, and 30 at the grist mill… I just kind of enjoyed things.” -Ted Sawle