The West Coast Logging Legacy

the logging has been a major part of the West Coast historical legacy since the late 19th century and the industry has contributed to the success and prosperity of many communities in Oregon Washington State and British Columbia at the heart of the whole operation were the legendary Lumberjacks they were men who harvested trees by cutting them down with axes or crosscut saws in those early years before the arrival of modern equipment logging was a physically demanding job that required a combination of brute strength stamina and technique the word lumberjack is rarely used these days and has been replaced by the term faller or logger although logging was usually an exclusive male domain many women known as lumber jill's worked in the industry during World War two when there was a shortage of manpower the lumber gels depicted here worked in the Queen Charlotte Islands and took over all aspects of logging related operations with considerable success you throughout the West Coast Lumberjacks usually lived in logging camps and in British Columbia one of the first camps was established at college and lake on Vancouver Island in 1885 the camps consisted of bunk houses for single men and in some camps family houses were erected to accommodate men and their wives and children most camps had a cook house with a kitchen and dining hall and a Queen's palace as it was called for single female cook House workers after a hard day's work in the forest a comfortable camp good food and plenty of it kept Lumberjacks happy cooks were an important component in logging camps and first-rate cooks could attract and keep the best workers No logging camps usually had a blacksmith shop where Smithy's repaired and manufactured equipment some of the most important employees that camp were the saw filers these skilled tradesmen made sure Lumberjacks started work every morning with well tuned equipment lumber caps were usually racially segregated the Chinese Japanese and Sikh workers had their own bunk houses and cook houses friendships were not unheard of between the ethnic groups but they were rare in some of the camps one event that brought the workers together was Chinese New Year this annual banquet full of good cheer and bottles of whiskey at every table ensured that everyone had a good time unlike coal mining camps and factory communities logging camps were not permanent fixtures when the area near the camp had been cleared of its log able trees the camp would be dismantled and hauled to a new location later when railways arrived each building was actually a modified railcar that remained on the tracks temporary walkways and steps were placed outside so that people could get in and out of the buildings wages were low in the logging industry and working conditions were often dangerous with a high rate of injuries and fatalities one of the models in the woods was be quick or be did um did broken did broke so I've nothing to lose by the wide world before me to live where I choose I'm at home in the wild woods wherever I be though dead broke no dead broken adler's free sit by my fire and my back II I flow I need not the cold winds cross swords then I think on the past I can't see unfold though I worked like a horse to get an air made my soul when my prospects were blinded they stopped on my job and no armistead hard time you're the cleaned out and fizzled I'd be not despair there's a land far from this one I soon shall be there and Providence leaves me my hands in my health the skedaddle er may yet win both honor and we're broke I'm dead broke so on nothing to lose I the wide world before me to live where eyes you home in live woods wherever I don't ed broke the dead broke skied and blurs logging had a unique division of labour and was based on the various tasks each person in the operation was required to perform the fallers job was to cut the tree down and control where it fell once it was down the Bucer cut the tree into sections the faller and the Bucer used two different types of saws especially designed for each operation in order to stay supported higher up on the tree where it was easier to cut the fallers use spring boards which also gave them extra leverage because they moved up and down with the weight of their bodies fallers cut notches into the base of trees and attach boards on which they would perch fallers often worked in pairs an experienced pair could fall a three-foot tree in 15 minutes and a 9-foot douglas-fir in 4 hours it was the faller who usually yelled out timber after a tree was cut and came crashing to the forest floor ballers and buckers usually attached a bottle filled with kerosene to the tree they were cutting the kerosene acted as a lubricant to ensure the saw pass through the wood smoothly without getting stuck each night the saws would be taken to the filers in the camp who would sharpen them loggers were often superstitious and would only take their saw to a favorite filer in the late 19th century logging technology was in its infancy and the industry was dependent on ground lead yarding this was a slow process whereby logs were dragged horizontally out of the forest on skid roads by draft animals like horses or oxen the logs were then placed in rivers or flume channels for further transportation horse-driven logging wheels were also used to raise logs off the ground so they could be more easily moved and were less prone to jamming the constraints of this process typically limited logging to the vicinity of usable waterways one of the biggest breakthroughs in the logging industry was the arrival of steamed donkeys they were used to haul logs by means of a series of steel cables wound around spools on the donkey decks steamed donkeys were the first form of mechanization and soon became standard equipment in most logging operations on the west coast the donkeys rested on wooden skids and came in many sizes and shapes but they were cumbersome consisting of a boiler and steam engine they were hauled by horses or dragged around logging sites by using their own power and a system of winches some steam donkeys called walking Dudley's were used for unloading logs and they were propelled on wheels and traveled on Rails a combination that did not always have the best results once the trees around rivers were harvested railroads were used to reach further into logging sites eventually railroads became the principal method for transporting logs steamed donkeys were stationed by the tracks and they reached out with long winch lines to drag the logs to the landing where they were loaded onto real cars you various types of steam-powered locomotives including the climax and shame models were used in logging operations the che locomotive was originally invented by Ephraim Shay but underwent many modifications over the years it was capable of delivering equal torque directly to wheels on both sides of the engine at the same time this overcame the dynamic force of the common rod engine whose normal piston strokes jerked the engine side to side on each stroke delivering excessive force to the rails especially on the curves the Shay was also popular because it provided power to each wheel through a crankshaft Shay locomotives could be found throughout the West Coast because they're unique gearing system provided pulling power on steeper inclines safety was not always a priority during many logging operations besides the inherent dangers of felling trees railway mishaps were not uncommon with boiler explosions and derailments being the main culprits in general logging was one of the most dangerous undertakings both in the force and on the rails claiming thousands annually and injuring untold more you logging has been an important part of the history of Squamish dating back to the late 19th century early settlers in the Squamish Valley like Charles Schoonover and Harry Judd logged to clear the land and used the wood for buildings and fences the traditional log cabin was one of the mainstays throughout the area during this early period at the start of the 20th century Squamish was slowly being transformed from a farming to a resource-based community in 1907 the house sound in Pemberton Valley Railway moved logs for the northern MacKinnon logging company near masters landing unfortunately a company fire in 1913 resulted in the loss of MacKinnon's business and he left Squamish soon after around the same time the Yap timber company began logging operations around the chica area and eventually hooked up with the Pacific Great Eastern Railway to haul logs another logging operation was undertaken by Alan and Charles barber who had the first steam donkey in the area al barber was also partners with chief August Jack Al would bring the logs through Bracken Dale on skid roads and then August Jack would drive them down the river and place them in booms in the Squamish Harbor unfortunately the barber brothers lost their steam donkey in a poker game but their logging operation continued well into the 1930s eventually large-scale logging got underway with the arrival of railroads in 1912 the Pacific Great Eastern Railway began construction of a railroad from Squamish to Pemberton which was completed a year later to attract investors they started calling the downtown area of Squamish Newport few people like the new name and by 1914 it had reverted back to Squamish arrived from Scholl mich a name the Squamish nation had given the area bracken Dale pioneer Harry Judd started the first taxi service in Squamish and transported loggers to and from camps in the valley most of alle cliff and the Squamish Highlands were still heavily forested in the early part of the century and an American logging firm Marilyn ring started operations in 1926 east of the Squamish River in valley cliff with a steam engine salvaged from Norton McKinnon's Company Maryland ring continued laying down track from what is now the log down south of the stahma's reserve to valley cliff and across the maam qualm River the company then expanded their lines accessing Edith Lake and cat Lake which is so named because Marylin ring brought in a caterpillar Tractor to log around the lake around the time of the first world war high-lead yarding was introduced and replaced ground lead yarding high lead yarding was a major breakthrough because now cut logs were raised and transported to a landing by cables suspended from spar trees the cables were powered by steam donkeys with the logs partially or completely raised it was much easier to move them out of the forest highly blogging created a number of specialized jobs such as whistle Punk chaser and high rigger the whistle Punk's job was to sound a whistle as a signal to the yarder operator controlling the movement of logs in the air and on the ground and act as a safety lookout whistle punks had to be alert and think fast because the safety of others depended on them the whistle Punk was often a youth possibly a new camp member or sometimes a disabled logger whistle punks jerked the whistle wire running from the logging site to the donkey and a combination of long or short blasts based on the Moores code the high rigor also known as a tree topper used ropes or cables and iron climbing hooks attached to his boots to ascend a tall tree in the landing area he would climb the tree chopping off limbs as he ascended chop off the top of the tree and then attached pulleys and rigging so the tree could be used to transport logs into the landing you choker setters attach steel cables to the log so they could be hauled to the landing by the yarder the order was responsible for moving the logs from the site where they were cut to a transportation point where they would be hauled away for processing once the logs were at the landing the chases removed the cables and readied the wood for loading choker setters and chasers were often entry-level positions on logging crews with the arrival of high lead yarding spar trees were essential to the operation so if a spar tree was not readily available one would be raised where it was needed it this spar tree raising took place during the 1940s on the west side of the Squamish river in Bracken Dale you by the end of the 1930s the limitations of railway logging were becoming more evident not only were tracks expensive to build but they could only access gentle forest slopes with the arrival of the internal combustion engine logging became more mechanized tractors with cat tracks could reach deeper into the forest by cutting new roads and they could haul logs from previously inaccessible sites you another major breakthrough in the logging industry was the arrival of the arch many styles and shapes of arches have been used to assist in moving logs the track darts shown here is a classic though arches with rubber tyres were often used with smaller bulldozers the arch provided two distinct benefits first by raising the logs they could be freed from hang-ups and obstacles like stumps for example that might be in the wave secondly logs drag a lot easier if they are partially lifted off the ground trucks with rubber tires eventually eliminated the need for railways at logging sites one of the major legacies of the logging industry are the roads which opened up new terrain around existing communities many have been incorporated into the road systems throughout the west coast in the late 1930s and throughout the 40s especially after the Second World War logging was becoming the main economic engine in Squamish in order to expand their business and open new steeper areas to harvesting Maryland ring introduced truck logging at the south end of Bromley the company left Squamish in 1940 but by then many of the workers remained and joined new logging companies among the other logging companies operating in Squamish during the 40s and 50s were Empire Mills Squamish Mills Chris Nygaard and CRB logging in 1944 Dennis de Becque and his partner John Bronson set up a sawmill at the southwest end of Broome lake and by 1950 they had moved the operation to Alice Lake house sound timber was also active around Brahm Lake as the demand for timber resources increased worldwide large firms like Macmillan Bloedel and Empire Mills which eventually became inner for began to log the ash Louella Howe and upper Squamish valleys you Oh falling trees was hard work and time-consuming so various machines were devised to make the process easier like this steam-powered saw or this early gasoline driven reciprocating saw none of these contraptions were very effective and they were eventually replaced by the gas-powered chainsaw in 1929 German mechanical engineer Andrea Steele patented the first gasoline-powered chainsaw these devices took much of the back-breaking labor out of tree falling and made logging faster and more efficient another breakthrough was the chipper chain invented by Joseph Beauford Cox in Portland Oregon in 1947 his innovation greatly improved the cutting efficiency of chainsaws and reduced the amount of sharpening required as the years passed chainsaws went through various modifications both in size and shape with some proving to be more efficient than others in the 1950s rail and highway links from Squamish to the Lower Mainland were constructed giving the community access to new markets by the 1960s and 70s the forestry industry and Squamish was booming and there was a ready supply of jobs for local residents like Al Harry see when I first started getting into logging I worked at the mill and I work as a cleanup crew and most disparate that Saturdays Friday Saturday and that was just for young guys like high school kids that wanted down work and so but after that and I want to work on is for the logging industry but it was on the blooming ground I'll read on the water my dad taught me that job those jobs at that time you know you start off the bottom and do a lot of running around which was good I mean I wasn't shaped in I could run fast and I had good balance so I was really good on above we almost got killed a couple of times or falling trees and jackknives and branches coming down off of the trees composing all the times I got hit by a log written head across the I hear again about nineteen stitches in an spins inside my eye and seventeen outside by remember that part that was got hit by a log guys and a skidder what my fault too I guess it wasn't my fault though from a strong pine but I had my share of injuries jobs and em days they were diamond up you could finish one job and some people come announcer you could work for them you know if you're good at what you did jobs always told you I had no problem of getting work anywhere other companies would come and ask me if I want to go work for them and I work for CRB mcenroe weld wood who's got that hallory you know by birth wide it wasn't and one one I'd go work at another one and the money was good up to the day that I got hurt from lugging manana boons and I get I had a job that it wasn't even my job I was working on dry land sort and now I'm just I was just hired to work on a boon but I trying to help everybody out and I've been hurt that was the end of my logging career we're going to booms are on I got hurt hello falling operations were carried out on dry land from the very earliest times to the present logging remains a marine dependent industry rivers lakes or larger bodies of water are never far away one ready source of timber lies below the water were large quantities of pre-cut logs known as dead heads can be retrieved trees that have been submerged by flooding also await harvest lake and river water is often too cold and too deficient in oxygen for decay organisms to survive some underwater logs were sunk or otherwise lost during log drives on rivers but the majority came from forests submerged during the building of dams in British Columbia about 20 million trees are underwater to harvest these logs Triton logging a BC firm has developed the sawfish a remotely piloted submarine that utilizes a long electric power chainsaw the sawfish is six feet high nearly twelve feet long and six feet wide it weighs 7,000 700 pounds the craft is tethered to a cable carrying electric power video feeds and control circuits the solar system and eight onboard video cameras allow the sub to move underwater without touching the lake floor staying off the bottom reduces the amount of silt that gets suspended in the water the operator works in a control booth on a barge directing the robot to the base of a standing tree a hydraulically powered grapple grabs the tree and the sub screws a large air bladder to the trunk and inflates it after the soft layer saws the trunk with its 40 horsepower electric chainsaw the bladder lifts the tree to the surface workers then remove the bladder and the trees limbs in three hours the sawfish can cut 37 trees the logs are then sent to a conventional lumber mill for processing by the late 20th century a variety of highly efficient forestry harvesting machines like this feller buncher further revolutionized logging a feller buncher is either rubber-tired or track with the power plant operator enclosure and an articulating extendable arm onto which a felling head is attached the felling head consists of grappling devices and either a disc saw or a chainsaw the operator moves the Machine into position in front of a tree and maneuvers the felling head to the tree trunk the grappling devices wrap around the tree and the saw cuts the tree from the stump the machine then takes the severed vertical tree and lowers it into a horizontal position onto a pile on the ground with the arrival of trucks and heavy machinery logging companies could reach farther into forests and up mountains than ever before logging companies operated on the land and underwater but there were still many areas that were not easily accessible and could only be reached by helicopter the access problem was solved in 1971 when the first heli log trial was completed by ok lifts limited using a sikorsky s-58 ok lifts limited was a division of Okanagan helicopters the predecessor of Canadian helicopters corporation a second successful trial was conducted in 1974 Pella for Canada corporation is a heli-logging pioneer in 1978 hella for at least a heavy-lift Boeing 107 helicopter 2 log mountain slopes along the inlets of British Columbia since that initial trial the 107 has logged continuously with an annual production of over 200,000 cubic meters the birth of heli-logging has revolutionized the industry it has changed logging from a ground-based operation to one that has escaped its terrestrial boundaries and it has opened up previously inaccessible territory today there are in excess of 40 helicopters in British Columbia dedicated to logging operations extracting more than 3 million cubic meters of timber annually helicopter logging is being used increasingly as a response to the growing environmental controversy relating to traditional logging methods on a helicopter site the timber is fallen in the conventional manner but instead of being transported to the landing with a log skidder or a yarder the logs are hooked to a skyhook hanging beneath the helicopter and flown to the landing this minimizes ground disturbance you logging industry has been under considerable pressure in the past two decades because of forestry practices like clear-cutting that have been unsustainable and environmentally damaging various organizations and individuals have been actively involved in changing how the industry operates with a greater emphasis being placed on treating forests as a renewable resource Steve miles is one of the principles of CRB logging which has been active in the Pemberton Squamish corridor since 1954 and is one of the few remaining forestry companies still operating in the Squamish area I'm quite concerned these days because it seems like people don't really care much or it's up here to care that the forest industry survives in our area and it is very important because it is one of the few things we have here is British Columbians that is sustainable there we practice reforestation as opposed to deforestation like other parts of the earth - and it is one of the few things that we have as a society that should maintain our lifestyle similar to what we had in the past and hopefully give us a stronger one in the future but if we don't continue to to practice forestry and logging and we plant it I got a feeling that we're going to have a real problem in the future with infrastructure I believe we should definitely consider forestry as a big part of our past a strong part of our present it should be a huge part of our future and please support forestry it is a renewable resource it will give us our livelihood it is still the biggest industry in British Columbia the history of logging on the west coast has been the story of innovation and invention of advances in technique and equipment the industry has sustained many small communities throughout the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia it has generated legends and vivid stories about the exploits of Lumberjacks and high riggers and it has spawned celebrations like the annual loggers sports festival in Squamish but the heart of this industry has always being the men and women who toiled in the forests lived and worked in the logging camps and laboured in the mills this presentation has been dedicated to their memory time whispers some you're gone so very down there so Mary with some it was fun mr. logic whispers some one so very very clear you you

Channel: Cognocentrics

Views: 509,577

Rating: 4.7897868 out of 5

Keywords: Squamish, Historical, Society

Id: vFoqbU5XKL4

Length: 48min 47sec (2927 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 18 2012