[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello I'm Alan Merrill Alaskan lager and resident of these logging camps for nearly 20 years in this film I'm going to show you logging from the stump to the water a very high productive and dangerous industry I'm also going to try and accurately give you an insight into life in a logging camp a life esteemed by some as a very good life and by others as comparable to being stationed overseas or locked behind prison bars drawing a paycheck so why don't you come with me now as I join these loggers and families and we'll find out why there isn't time to take you to every logging camp in Alaska this is a big country and there are many camps I've been to nearly every logging camp in Southeast some are larger some smaller some older and others newer but the life of the Laskin logger is the same this camp is located on Long Island 60 miles west of Ketchikan at the mouth of Dickson entrance it's owned by cluck 1 Forest Products a native corporation this is Mary Lou my wife working in the camp office [Music] yeah okay real good thank you [Music] here comes a new hire a choker setter this will give us the opportunity to film someone's first initial arrival in a logging camp or at least this camp later on we'll take you to the bunkhouse cookhouse and see what it's like for the single logger married man or married men living away from his family in the bunkhouse my personal feelings about living in a bunkhouse after I got married and had a family was just a little bit better than starving to death now I did spend a couple of years in the bunkhouse before I got married that wasn't too bad for a social reject the company cleans your rooms makes your beds and all I had to do for myself was the laundry some folks come via timba [Music] I've been to nearly every [Music] show the dough again the bond at this outfit three beyond the but I might I [Music] where's the cookhouse [Music] [Music] snake funders moe wavin chat is it's right next door they're the cookhouse is the first long building out that you want to know about when you got down on the dock for our safety program here we feel is as good it's not probably the best that there is in southeastern Alaska was in the morning a group from 4:30 to 6:00 you should be ready to go to work at such a quarter to 6:00 in the morning and you report to Brian Brown the bad side rock from Long Island and he'll assign you to a logging crew run yep in the morning there's any other questions you've got stopped by the office any evening after you get off work and everyone glad to answer for you super good anything else you need to know you know infect you to work hard eat well and work safe and you do those things and we hope you'll enjoy working at Long Island and that we enjoy I have again thanks a lot of coming out Mike thank you for the job there are two ways to set up housing for a logging camp one is the floating camp where housing is on log floats they can be easily move from one job site to another the other way is on land cost over a million dollars for the initial setup of camp he carved it out of the wilderness without roads part stores or telephones it's only temporary when the timber is gone the camp site will be given back to the forest [Music] all transportation to a logging camp is by air or water only you will fly by a small float plane from a southeast Alaskan town these towns are also isolated from any connecting road system to the outside and are also accessible only by air or water [Music] you will fly over a maze of islands water mountains and old-growth timber as far as the eye can see this island were crossing now is Prince of Wales the nation's third largest island 132 miles long Thorne Bay once the world's largest logging camps is located on this island southeast Alaska's rich in timber Fish and Game and rain after we work in the rain we will take you with us as we catch fish we will shoot wolf deer and climb to the top of one of these snow-capped mountains and more this country had a larger population in the early 1900's than it does today the residents were miners commercial fishermen fur trappers in the native alaskan indian their lives are still evident today by gravestone markers totem poles artifacts mining equipment left behind old ghost towns and villages that divorced has reclaimed [Music] this area is part of Tongass National Forest 16 million acres of which Congress has placed 5.4 million acres in 14 units as wilderness that will never be logged Long Island is a home to about 200 people loggers and their families and loggers living in the bunk houses whose families reside in the lower 48 or elsewhere in Alaska [Music] yes book house wouldn't you the Newman's yeah right here's the bathroom here for you guys your room Carl I got a new roommate for you the grater operator this is a new rig and raft will be your room white your tartar oh please Lisa and usually with you this is a nice room here as you can see it's well taken care of and my wife is the one that takes care of this bunkhouse well the camp manager gave you some of the camp rules yeah but you drink a lot urinate that bit that's terminus the rules I have a few of my own son I'd go to bed early I take naps on Sunday I get up at 3 in the morning and you get up when I get up and yet don't whatever you do the best part of living in the bunkhouse is getting paid and eating in the cook house I never did get tired of that cost the company about fifty dollars a day for housing and food per man most camps charge around ten dollars a day to the bunkhouse logger this camp then refunds a half of that ten dollars to every employee that stays until the end of season so for five dollars a day covers all your cost of living since there's no stars no bars no place to spend your money a man can save everything he makes they call rig and men Riggin rats or animals this is John each has meat raw like an animal but if you look hard enough you can find a little human in each of them that's what we need out here the beer have the cook Shack matter that have held the heads of the beer okay all logging camps feed good you will eat better in a logging camp than you can anyplace in any restaurant in the world I've noticed over the years that the turnover rate for cooks is very high they usually don't last very long either they work themselves to death working 16 hours a day seven days a week or they serve one bad meal and the crew runs them off male Nichols is the head cook at Long Island he's been here a long time two years now secret for survival is he's never turned out a bad meal and if he did no one would tell him so he's a black belt in karate and carries a sword wherever he goes and he makes sure everyone knows that before they eat the beginning of another workday this is the road crew going to work they're working on two islands Long Island and Dahl Island Dahl islands a three-mile boat right away it's the some of the toughest Road building I've seen steady drill and shoot [Music] [Music] road-building is a preliminary physical step for logging Timbers cut on it right away 2:35 backhoes used to clear and shape the ground for subgrade Terra 988 running loaders loading this dump truck from a pit that the road builders have shot today they're working in on a sort yard third off area across the bay in the center of camera is a future rock source for the roads it's been loaded with 30,000 pounds of powder and will yield 20,000 yards of rock watch out for flying rocks sometimes they travel a long ways this is bud Kelly buds the road boss bugs attitude for work is put out or get out everybody that puts out likes working for bud everybody that doesn't get out bud treats his crew fairly and they work hard for him he's a commie G going man that never raises his voice but then when you're six foot six in the way 260 pounds is Bud does you don't have to raise your voice you ever been around an old timber trimer any period of time don't take it all to figure him out and to know he's one of Timber here are some of the largest in Alaska some of these trees are worth over fifty thousand dollars running two hundred dollars per lineal foot Long Island employs up to thirty cutters and they all have many years of experience timber falling is the highest paying job these men make two hundred is six hundred dollars a day they get paid by the bushel board feet that is they get paid for the amount of timber they fall each day it's also the most dangerous job in the logging industry these cutters normally single jack that is they work alone with in sight or hearing distance another cutter they are dependent solely upon themselves skills and experience to fall in buck to timber safely sometimes under adverse conditions when rain snow ice steep ground rock cliffs and rotten overripe timber at times they need ropes to get to and away from their trees this job not only demands physical strength but metal strength as well it's like putting a crossword puzzle together it takes a lot of thinking and planning every tree has its proper place in time to be cut [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this big spruce was 15 foot diameter on the stump and had over 45,000 board feet in it [Applause] [Music] cool box bring me the gas but timber cutter is thinking about his job every minute every second of every day how to get the job done safely how to get the maximum recovery and save from each tree and at the same time get production which is what his paycheck is based on unlike many hourly jobs the hours go by very quickly for timber faller if your board wants some excitement or your workday seems to be just slowly dragging by join the ranks of a timber faller a lifetime will only seem half as long and it could be [Music] [Music] [Music] get back in your bed bull buck [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] any harder pull down the yarder please give me some slack on Astro line I've been sittin in chokers for these lamebrain jokers and under stuff already quit I've been here six weeks working hard for these geeks and night give me [Music] only some slack on that line I'm so tired of digging holes on this rig this is the Riggin crew they get the logs from the stumps to the road to be a logger you have to be smart to get production and stay alive these men are tough as nails and hard as rocks from years of running up and down these Alaskan mountains pulling on the haywire and plain stickball the friend told me once hard to college varsity football players to set chokers form on the Riggin these young fellows couldn't keep up the pace the old loggers were running one quit after two hours the other lasted two days they both left thinking that loggers were some kind of superhumans [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] thought the book was a done sander told him so once but I found out the good man schemes at hard old the bender was a title contender turned out to be in essence this is hooked under her Burton he's a boss or this logging side herb can do all the jobs in the woods from falling timber to running any piece of equipment he and do them all well herbs gonna rig this tree to increase his lift and logging production well herb was up the tree a squall blew in and it's blowing 20 miles an hour now weather changes rapidly up here [Music] we all threatened to quit if just one of us gets it done I can't believe we're still that guy on the loader dick Thomas he's never hit anyone watches out for everyone these Goods and safe I'm tired of these beggars with [Music] the stroller and it's coming the season when I don't need a reason [Music] now I'm not one to cry and I can tell you if I have any luck I'll be on that last truck down now up by the road the trees are really thick and it looked like I'd be getting done pretty quick ever so often there's a trucker go by didn't seem to bother him but I don't know why there was folios Kenton were than a short log or two you said they're waiting for old oil to get through it just when Nick finished his second load I crashed a baker home sad the road they were standing there a John Locke truck drivers new tailing big stories and swearing that's true but when the limbs quit fallen in the dust settle down I didn't see anyone standing around [Applause] a friend of mine went into a doctor for a brain transplant doc only had two brains left one was a truck drivers brain $400,000 the other was a lawyer brain for only $5,000 well my friend asked the doc why the truck drivers brain was so expensive and the doc says why it's brand new it's never been used well I don't know if that's true or not but it's not true at these truck drivers they're thinking all the time that's Bill Ernie okey jack Kermit Bob and Vince they're different than most truck drivers they wash their truck once a year don't talk on the radio very much they watch out for the bull buck another pickup traffic I probably owe my life to him many times over another thing that's different about them is they stop for the danger fall our working signs they watch out for falling trees and fallers [Applause] [Music] TRUCKING is a dangerous job that i certainly wouldn't want I'd rather take my chances wrestling with an old grizzly bear than drive a log truck some of the conditions up here in southeast Alaska may be the worst in the industry there are off highway trucks hauling 35 tons or more down 20% grades and ice snow and and with mechanical failures yes sir we have a lot of confidence in these truck drivers and even the Ravens trust them [Applause] old male the cook he thinks we really like his cookies he bakes 50 pounds a day I don't know anyone that's eating more than one we're just scared to tell him so here's where his cookies go watch this Raven as he takes one of Mel's cookies out of this truck drivers hand [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] laug buckers trim lemon sometimes Reebok the logs to upgrade their values they're scaled by Bureau scalars and sorted by grades and value branded banded and bundled and placed in the water after the bundles are placed in the water the boom boat operators will put these bundles in log holding rafts where they will be held until a ship comes in that's dawn huddle and his dog a 17 year old Norwegian L count that's in very good shape that would be equal 219 in human years that's what exercise will do for us Robin stickler the other boom boat operator also has a dog a four year old black lab they use these dogs to do their thinking and planning for them that's why I have a dog and if the company finds that out we're gonna lose our job security well these logs are loaded into ships and sold in Japan or other Pacific Rim countries this ship is being loaded by West Coast stevedores they load ships throughout Alaska and this type of weather follows them notice the rain and wind this is a typical day in southeast Alaska we get a hundred and eighty inches of rain a year that's why this country country remains the last frontier if it wasn't for this type of weather southeast would look like Southern California it would be concrete and people everywhere this is Vern Ali and Jeff Johnson company engineer and timber Cruiser these men build the foundation of any logging companies profits or losses that is if they make poor estimates of timber value and or poor logging road layout a company would lose their profits or worse now Jeff and Vern they don't make poor estimates or decisions they've made this company millions of dollars and they're rewarded every two weeks with a paycheck even though Vern and Jeff both have college education it hasn't hurt them a bit they both still have good common sense and practical ideas now that comes from years of experience and with the combination of experience and education it makes these men very good at the job they do Vern last winter a lot of people said you were going to die the fact is you look like you were gonna die and you're at death's door all your hair fell out you lost a lot of weight some of the doctors said you were gonna die your whole body was filled with cancer everywhere except the brain in the bones you want to talk to us about that yeah I want to talk about that most people who had bothers them to talk about being ill but I had a miraculous recovery and I'm proud of that I don't take any credit for it all the credit goes to God but I want to say that I had cancer that kills most people it's called lymphoma and a lot of people in camp and all around southeast and some people as far away as Virginia and North Carolina prayed for me and the first the doctor gave me the chemotherapy the next day I woke up as if I was healed and well my wife and I he worked together then and we claimed the healing in the hospital and we were sure that we've been healed I've been healed and as time went on I was cured of the cancer but I got a hepatitis B virus and it caused me to become yellow looking in the face and and swell up and weak and everything and then that was a test of my faith because it seemed like I'd lost the healing and the doctor couldn't understand what was wrong with me because he knew that the cancer was gone but yet I kept getting sicker and sicker and he never thought that I might have hepatitis B so I was through a time of trial there but thank God I recovered from it no I give all the credit to the Lord for me recovering from that cancer and from the hepatitis which had a stronger effect you know it was a more more trouble than the cancer really as far as pain and discomfort are concerned and I got over that in March of this year and started working again with Jeff and and other engineers for the company in various locations and now this is September I've gone six months and and as far as I can tell I have recovered all my strength and mental power it's the only problem I have is we guys the basic reason why I got the cancer was because when I was young man I was an alcoholic from the time I was 14 till the time I was 38 I drank every day perhaps some cases all day and some days are lost forever and for my memory because of the alcohol and the doctor thinks that my liver was damaged considerably by that and that's where the cancer began originated consequently when I quit drinking I still had the residue of the alcoholism you and it's caught up with me later in cancer so if anyone out there drinks consider what a can duty in later years I'm 44 years old and I've been through a lot that I wouldn't have gone through if I'd have stayed away from the booze Koster divorce - doesn't it burn that's right we were divorced for a year and a half because I was an alcoholic and was not a good husband and father and my wife had to live without me because she couldn't live with me she took me back when I promised not to drink again and I lived up to my promise I haven't had a drink since March 13 1983 did you quit drinking burn got down on my knees and prayed to God he took the alcohol away from me I had to ask him for it because I couldn't do it on my own I was a total alcoholic and totally you know a slave to alcoholism and it's impossible to quit doing anything that you're a slave to without his help and he took it away from me just like that overnight and just like he cured that can it's a real strong feeling a sense of peace and recognition of his glory you know this this timber stand here is a sign of his work and I get to be in these trees these stands of timber every day [Music] timber is a renewable resource it's like growing grass / hey you cut it down and it grows back second-growth timber can yield up to five times the volume per acres old-growth timber this is a view of second-growth timber this area was logged by blackie Neely an old a-frame logger back in the 1950s and it's like hey if it's not harvested at rot decays falls over and becomes of no value the second growth comes back as an even stan growth of timber if it was not harvested the same process would still take place but much slower hundreds of years slower there would not be a forest of healthy timber of an even age it would be a mixture of young trees and old trees which are dead and dying in rotten timber which is evident in Alaska today this big spruce looks good on the outside but it's a rotten call of no value to anyone in a few years the wind would blow it over watch as these two timber fallers fall this tree you will see there is no merge wood at all in this giant spruce but are you rotting on the stump wasn't it's your way pletely hollow this is a close-up view of the second growth we just looked at and even healthy stand of timber for the future Jeff tell us a little bit about your job my job here entails pretty much just going out ahead of the roads that are logging roads I go also gotta make sure I flag out all the Eagle trees there's a lot of environmentally in sensitive areas up here are a lot of fish streams and Eagle trees and they all have to be protected and that's part of my job is to to find all them and make sure that we don't damage him during the logging Southeast Alaska has the largest population of bald eagles in the world about 10,000 Eagles live in southeast Alaska alone an Eagles Nest has found everyone 2/4 miles per shoreline on the average Alaska had a bounty on eagles from 1917 to 1952 resulting in over 10,000 Eagles killed when the bounty ended it was $2.00 per bird penalties now range up to $10,000 fine and two years in jail for killing an eagle loggers spent a lot of time and energy and dollars to protect the Eagle Fish and Game in the environment logging will increase the deer population due to increased food supply created by logging the first year we started logging on this island in a full day of hunting I would see from five to zero deer a day now after eight years of logging the deer population has increased dramatically even though the logger harvest deer for meat supply and the bag limit is a generous four bucks per hunter the deer have increased on some days I've counted as many as 50 different deer the deers biggest enemy is a wolf I would guess that only 1% of Alaska ever gets hunted but the wolf is hunting all of Alaska every day year around I've seen the wolf come through and clean out the fawn population for miles another support and backbone of any logging company is a shop crew mechanics these are the men that keeps equipment going these men are experts at fixing the impossible improvising and are very creative thinkers when you're many miles and sometimes days are weeks away from needed part they can make something that will work they have all the tools needed to get any job done they even have bigger hammers this is Andy Johnson Andy is a shop foreman he has many responsibilities along with a lot of paperwork if the shop crew has a very difficult or technical job they call for Andy's expertise looks like he got the job done as I said earlier were isolated from any connecting road system were dependent upon boats and airplanes for our supplies and weather good enough to boat and fly in equipment or large items are transported by barges usually have a barge every month or two groceries in mail and smaller items are brought by airplane for 35 cents per pound or for a parcel post rate you find out how many pounds you eat a year when you start paying the bill on the freight if you wanted to go to town it's only a 40-minute flight and good weather and 120 dollars for a family of four that's 500 dollars just for transportation we don't go very often about twice a year one lady told me she hadn't been to town for two years when she decides she wants to go to town there's no guarantee she's going to get there when we go is dependent upon the weather we can make our plans and schedules for work play and travel but it's the weather that has the final say whether we do these things or not [Music] southeast Alaska is a country that teaches patience for the outdoors person pilot or boater they must have a healthy respect and patience for southeast weather they have to learn to come and go as the weather dictates if they don't they will learn and may be too late the weather always wins there's a lot of good bush pilots up here in Alaska there are some old ones and a few bald ones but there are no old bold pilots this is pilot Jim Hall flying the airplane Jim's been flying up here in Alaska for about 25 years he knows what to do and does it I've always felt safe flying with Jim and he's got eyes like an eagle he will spot more game than anyone I've ever been around for every moose or mountain goat I might spot Jim will spot 10 socially and weather observations going on Southeast Alaska Giovanni the big killer up here in this country is not the automobile it's the weather hypothermia plane crashes boating accidents Alaska has 28 times the national average in boating fatalities my wife and I went bear hunting in our boat it took us 15 minutes to get to the island we wanted to hunt the weather was clear and sunny but a few hours later a storm hit we found a semi protected Bay and tied up to wait out the storm we waited three days for the storm to pass and 13 fishing boats went down in that storm [Music] we've been out in logging camps when no planes could come in for weeks because of weather no mail no groceries here the kids are coming back in their boat from an outing on Dahl Island there's no doctor no hospital and minimum medicine and a logging camp if you get sick or injured you will be transported to town for medical attention as this logger is this can take from 35 minutes to several days depending upon the weather and the transportation available Mike Kirchner and Anita hall are EMTs emergency medical technicians they have been trained in stabilization and transporting victims of trauma they are the closest personnel we have to a doctor Mike and Anita both have full-time employment yet they are on call 24 hours a day they donate a lot of their time taking care of the community sick and injured brushing up and practicing their skills sometimes they are faced with enormous responsibilities and decisions well I'm gonna go call a doctor and get some advice so you know CPR okay you can take over there and you're in charge if he needs it this is the school at Long Island named after John Green the first camp manager John logged up here for about 35 years before he died he and his wife Pauline loved Southeast Alaska and loved children there are about 30 students attending school this year grades 1 through 12 3 teachers and 3 teacher aides for 30 students lots of special attention and no one goes through this school unnoticed this is a very nice school building some logging camp schools have been one room for grades 1 to 12 or home correspondence where there were no school well what did you shoot shoot some salmon no I shot some grass good girl you're gonna be a hunter like your dad in a trapper and a fisherwoman yeah I got a big halibut once a guy lost it Big Red's never like this mama now there's some minuses about raising a child in a logging camp but the pluses definitely outweigh the minuses now with nearly 20 years of camp living I've never seen the child raised in logging camp turn out bad a little later I will tell you what I contribute this to the school has all the modern conveniences the state oil revenue dollars have purchased all events learning books aids computers etc education is advanced my son visit some schools down south last winter and he said academically they were all behind the John Green school here at camp said one school was staying out of its science textbook he had two years ago the minuses is there are no inner school sports it would cost about $1500 to fly a basketball team to the next nearest school there's no ground flat enough for a football baseball field so some kids grow up not learning these games some also grow up not learning how to swim even though they live near or on the water that water doesn't get warm enough to swim in except for a few days a year that's warm enough for kids but not adults another - I sometimes hear about is the lack of social life for teenagers there are eight students in the high school student body five boys and three girls that's a bitter racial than he had last year when there was only one girl and all the boys love to Marcie now earlier I stated I've never seen a child raised in the logging camp turned out bad I contribute a lot of that to attitude these kids their home their school their play their work area their lives are all confined to one small area they have to learn to get along at a very young age there's no hiding their true identity or character they have to learn at a young age to forgive forget and accept each other as they are on a question near the teen junior high group filled out I noticed that none of these kids were concerned with peer pressure they will tell each other almost everything about themselves with no embarrassment they will tell each other their school grades or if they get an F on a test anything they've had to learn to accept each other for what they are they don't try to make others think they are something they're not this attitude has resulted resulted in them feeling good about themselves each other and would make them adaptable to any society another contribute is that families have time to be family parents spend time with their children only the last few years that we've been in a camp with telephone and television take those away in the automobile and put a family into isolation that family relationship will either get better or they'll move out [Music] [Applause] calling deer is an effective method of putting meat in the freezer my wife says it's a man's world for outdoor recreation up here no shopping malls theaters are going out for dinner many of these ladies have joined that man's world the problem with having these ladies in the man's world is they sometimes outdo us as Linda bright Hoff has done here with this 175 pound halibut ja and my wife by killing 15 bucks and roll with one shot each now our daughter is taking after mother she's killed her last seven bucks with one shot each and has her name in the world's record boone and crockett book I wish they would just go back to cooking sewing and those things that women are supposed to do this young lady is hunting a log Dover area the favorite habitat for these deer are in the logged over areas where the new food supply is coming up they eat sleep and bed down in these areas the stumps and slash from the logging make it more difficult for the wolf to catch them they have a better chance for survival out here than in their natural habitat sharla is calling this buck in close to the road the new trees coming up boom she got him one shot today Charlotte's hunting with her brother and her 70 year old grandpa that is up here visiting from the lower 48 these girls are getting ready to go to a costume party they're showing you the trap that they used to make their money with takes two girls and the man to set that trap they thought if they took their Levi's off in rubber boots no one would recognize them most of the kids in camp trapped during the winter months school is out six weeks during the winter in six weeks during the summer they trap mink beaver wolf and Martin this is a Marten it's the most desirable and profitable catch last year the kids average 275 dollars per Marten they're abundant in Alaska Canada Russia but scarce in most the world demand always exceeds his supply the kids were three and five years old when they started trapping they had six traps at urine made $300 each now they're running over 200 traps and $5,000 on a real good month they're setting a Wolf Trap now these wolves are very intelligent usually more intelligent than the kids it's their college money it's saved and invested teaches them to work in money management it's a lot of work in long hours they use the short daylight hours running the trapline in pouring rain snow ice and wind then spend long hours skinning and preparing for the next day we're very fortunate to have Frank Norton this Login camp Frank is a timber cutter and a fourth degree black belt instructor in karate and judo Frank is a born-again Christian and he teaches love patience and forgiveness along with karate Frank loves kids and he donates a lot of his time to the kids in this logging camp here Frank is teaching Charlotte pressure point her brother makes a good guinea pig well she doesn't get it quite right so Frank's going to demonstrate watch this pain [Music] contains today solve their problems Deanna very good Ron so you have won in series two Bible for answers all the answers are in the Bible you could even you could pray about it - very good we're impressed you need to stand physical and spiritual shape because if you don't you'll get sick and weak Bible says stand on the truth and the truth will set you free that's very good very true anything you'd like to add shake cookies now you just seen the teen and Bible group discussing how they should handle their problems different people do different things on their day off we enjoy climbing the mountains above Timberline in search of mountain goats or deer today we're going after deer other people may choose fishing or beach combing or reading a book or seeing how much Oly they could guzzle down or something else [Music] we're nearing good deer country now Lynne's blowing on the deer call while we take a break and catch our breath while we were watching this dull a 4.4 cat horn buck came in behind us and while I tried to get the camera on them they took off I found it's a lot harder to shoot a deer with a camera than with a gun usually takes three to five hours to climb to the top of one of these mountains I've been climbing these mountains in Southeast nearly 20 years and don't remember ever seeing another deer hunter today we've seen another deer hunter and killed him we'll show you that a little bit later notice our boat in the background it's that little white spot and we're only halfway to the top we can shoot deer at near camp or on the road but this is a lot more fun this beautiful country up here builds beautiful family relationships and memories mom didn't come today she said something about aches and pains and 40 we haven't seen many dear some days we see 20 30 bucks and have gotten something that made the record book today it looks like ghost city wolf tracks are everywhere [Music] there's a wolf we got home that evening I told Lin's mother that we had seen another deer hunter hunting our Mountain and Lin killed him her jaw dropped tomorrow and her face turned white as a sheet of paper she hasn't seen the humor in that statement yet [Music] [Music] here comes Lin carrying his wolf notice all the mosquitos they're living up to their Alaska reputation Lin has a buck coming to his deer colony showing his dog where he's out told Lin we're gonna have to shoot something up here mom's gonna think we have girlfriends last weekend we got rained and fogged out visibility was near zero came home empty-handed the weekend before the kids only one to shoot boone and crockett bucks and we didn't see any this buck he's seen us and he knows that he's been fooled he won't come any closer we'll need to make a long shot on him I finish school sir man still [Music] it's a great you don't we can die [Music] but I died [Music] in Brno [Music] out it's been expanded baby Oh [Music] you need some way [Music] just in your time [Music] being stuck in if you don't [Music] well let's go visit the ladies in camp and find out how they get their groceries grocery order when you first come and they got a written order and we make suggestions on it and then they send out whatever they want to that's how you get your brush there's nowhere to go we don't have anywhere to drive or anything you probably think it's really boring here they just think it's just really strange for us to come all the way out in the middle of nowhere and live like this well I know five boys and it's a full-time job since there's no shopping malls of course we have to order through catalogs and being out here is we're all lonely so we everybody lives for mail so the only way to get mail is to send something out and ordering is the only way to do it so we we order through catalogs and catalogs and catalogs of clothes and everybody loves to get catalogs everybody lives for the new sale book for JCPenney no mail we haven't had mail for three days now well it's so foggy out even the seagulls are well I wouldn't even mind getting a bill the fishing is great if you like to fish the countryside's free to if you spend the season up there it seems to me now I've got [Music] it's me down [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's the end of another workday these men are the cream of the crop and they're looking for a few more good men if you qualify you just may want to try the life of Alaskan logger [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so you jump pretty good wedge it upside down Lani this film is dedicated in memory of Lani Surat who tragically lost his life in a logging accident last week Lani was a longtime veteran timber faller with 25 years experience one of the best in the profession in the five years Lani worked in this camp he set a record for safety in attendance he went years without losing a single day for injury or sickness he was a high production cutter with a great attitude we're going to miss Lani in the Surat family to his wife and children I hope this video will keep the memories alive of the good times we shared in this logging camp our God shall love the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] that family Allen's married to Darlene and has two daughters Amanda and Teresa Allen and Lonnie Charette were cutting partners and friends for years they split their wages that is whatever Allen made he did one half to Lonnie Surratt and whatever Lonnie made he gave one half to Al these cutters had a close bond between them when we went to work that morning it was just like any other morning we talked about the normal things when we got to work the last thing I remember was Lonnie saying I'll see you at dinnertime 20 minutes later he was gone someday we're all going to leave this world some earlier in life others later a long life isn't very long compared to eternity we'll all live for eternity either in heaven or in hell this body dies but our spirit lives forever we need to be ready for our eternal destination eternity with Jesus Christ is a free gift we only need to accept this gift by faith by believing that Christ is the son of God that we are sinners and the Christ died for the forgiveness of our sins God wants us to give control of our lives to him he will do the changing don't wait until you're good enough to be called a child of God because you never will be Christ through the power of His Holy Spirit will change your life you will experience a peace that the Bible says exceeds all man's understanding a peace of joy love and purpose in this life that will never be found from drugs alcohol or any other means you will have a friend in Christ that will communicate and direct you through this life he will never leave or forget you the plan of salvation is so simple that even the wisest of men sometimes can't recognize it as the Bible says in John 3:16 for God so loved the world he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life maybe as you heard us talk about fellow employee and longtime friend Lonnie Surat how he told his partner I will see you at noon in 20 minutes later met with a fatal accident and went out into eternity perhaps suddenly you were made aware of your need to know Christ for the first time or to rededicate your life to Christ there may be someone here or near that can help you in that decision if not I would be glad to share with you how I came to know Christ and how you can also you can write to me Alan Merrill through family outdoors post office box one to five one eight Salem Oregon zip code 9 7 3 0 9 I hope to hear of your decision or at least meet you in eternity work safe live safe and god bless you
