Logging old growth in the 1920's film.

[Rusty Heap]

Cool Video, errr Film, of logging in the 1920's.


https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=637605900842781

[Sooner or later]

Damn, better be a real MAN to.do those jobs.

[Eric Hahl]

Neat stuff!

[Shaun @ Tru6]

That's what built this country.

[Superman]

I'm familiar with that work. Enough to go to college instead. It would have been cool to see a little footage of those v-shaped log flumes. Basically, an elevated bobsled course for logs.

[pwd72s]

Glad I was able to see that. Don't do facebook, so there are videos posted I can't watch. Yep, the days of Donkey engines, springboards, crosscut saws (known as 'misery whips'), and still topping trees to use as spar poles. When hunting, I'd often come across old springboard stumps, and rotting logs laid to be used as platforms for the Donkey (steam) engines. Wasn't shown, but back then flumes often used to get the logs to a river, where they'd be tied into rafts, floated downstream to the mill. That happened mostly in the Coast range. lots of creeks to feed the flumes.

I did notice one job that I did when much younger was pretty much the same as then. Pulling green chain in the mill.

The whole operation is much safer these days, but logger is still the most dangerous occupation in the USA, with the highest %age of fatalities. Always tough and in shape, even today's loggers.

Back in the early 60's there was a tale of when a group of Gypsy Jokers rode into Cascadia, Oregon and ordered a group of loggers out of the local tavern. It didn't turn out well for the biker gang. The Bikers were allowed to leave...but with the warning that if they came back there were lots of places to hide bodies in the area. Far as I know, the bikers didn't come back.

[masraum]

I suspect those guys could tie most of us up like a pretzel.

[fintstone]

My father and I cut trees like that when I was young (using a crosscut and axe). We drug the logs down out of the woods with a mule. Then we split the logs with a massive hammer and wedge to make fence posts. Of course, then we sharpened the posts and drove them into the ground as fenceposts before stringing barbed wire. We cut the closest trees so that we did not move them as far (usually only a few hundred yards). We only used locust trees as they were very hard wood and were virtually impervious to insect damage and rot, even in the ground.

I have never seen such big trees though...as our area (Appalachia) had been logged before. Probably more than once. Those we cut were big for our area. The crosscut saw they used in the video is a lot longer too (ours was the same but would have been too short for that tree).

We also cut poplar and oak for firewood and sawed it up the same way but split it with an axe. I can remember one of my aunts (a big woman...bigger than her husband who was a war hero in WW2 and fought both in Europe and the Pacific) splitting firewood with a big axe one handed. She was like a machine. Move the block of wood into position with the left hand and split it with her right. She was fearsome (passed away last week in her 90s) and had bulging biceps from chopping wood and plowing (when I was young). She had done it her entire life.

She split enough wood to heat their home and cook on (they had a wood cookstove) ...at least into her 70s (and worked in the fields much of the day in the summer raising all their food (kids helped some when they were older). I guess she got used to doing that work like many rural women in that era that had husbands away at war (all the brothers left to fight about the same time, her husband was the oldest...born in 1912). When he returned, life had changed, and he worked in the city and had a long commute. Like most people in the area, he left for work before daylight and returned after dark....and could only help out on weekends. Tough life.

[GH85Carrera]

I remember seeing a video a long time ago of some oversized arm wrestling contest going into a logging hangout bar. A bunch of scrawny little guys just embarrassed and humiliated the "professional" arm wrestlers. They never went back there. There is strong men, and then there are loggers.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I remember seeing a video a long time ago of some oversized arm wrestling contest going into a logging hangout bar. A bunch of scrawny little guys just embarrassed and humiliated the "professional" arm wrestlers. They never went back there. There is strong men, and then there are loggers.

Running up and down steep brush covered hills, carrying and using things like chain saws and heavy cables...if it doesn't kill you, it will definitely put you in shape!

[HardDrive]

4-5 generation back, my relatives were miners. A tough lot to be sure.

[Norm K]

Some of those trees had almost certainly been around since the Dark Ages.

_

[Mike Andrew]

I often dine at The Longbranch in Minong, WI when I am at my place fishing. Lots of photos from late 19th & early 20th century loggers harvesting Great White Pine. Big azz trees, to be sure.

The U.P. was also harvested heavily from about 1880 to 1920. Mainly by hand and steam. All dragged and floated to the lakes and then wherever. Huge amounts went to rebuild Chicago after the great fire of 1871. Put a lot of Scandinavians to work and established many towns that are no more. Not many stands of these trees left unfortunately.

"Daylight In The Swamp" provides a good look into late 19th century logging.

Guys with bid cahones for sure with no fear of hard work

[flatbutt]

For two seasons I harvested my own firewood. I cut the standing tress, sliced up the trunk and limbs, dragged it out to the truck , brought it home, split and stacked it. Obviously, nothing YUGE the largest being 20ish inches at the base.

Two seasons, that was it. Sure, I was fit but that was hard hard work. I then had a guy deliver logs to me that I could cut and split at home.

[GH85Carrera]

When I moved into a house that had a fireplace, I knew I was a pyromaniac and was going to enjoy a fireplace. I owned only a 914 at the time so firewood had to be delivered.

One of my neighbors cut down trees and brush to help clear lots before landscaping area back yards. He brought home one hunk of tree. Green wood, over three feet in diameter, just small enough two men to pickup and move around. I used it as my chopping block. He would bring some wood over and I could work off some anger by chopping wood. That was fun for 5 minutes, and soon became work. I told him no more wood that can't be used in a fireplace when delivered.

After a few years of drying I tried to split that one piece of wood. It became a personal challenge to beat that thing into submission and reduce it to ash. I was 100% certain I did not ever want to chop wood to stay warm, and I preferred natural gas for heat.

I have not swung my axe in many years. I keep it for the zombie apocalypse.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Norm K

Some of those trees had almost certainly been around since the Dark Ages.

_

yup, longer than that even for some

I went to college with some guys that were lumberjacks in the summer. A lot of suck in that job, really dangerous to boot.