Art Martin: Will the Real Logger Please Stand Up

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[sedanman]

To Art Martin, Thank you for providing such wonderful pictures. I can only imagine how tough the job was that the early loggers did to provide the lumber to build America. The pile of 2 million railroad ties is staggering.

To Doug Babcock, Thank you for lending your effort to post these pictures, over the weekend I'm going to file all of them on a disc.

 

[Marky Mark]

Here's a few I like

this is a fav

 

[Dennis]

After spending an hour or so downloading pictures...cause I still have *gulp* ...dialup...I am still amazed at what kind of men these guys are...I cannot fathom any five persons today doing what one of these loggers did...crazy....

The only thing I saw that hasnt changed....was that Skookum Block weighing 150lbs....our highleaders here still use them....except they are Ropemasters now or Opsals...still weigh that much...and around 2000.00 cdn ea. oh yeah...and guys dont pack them into trees anymore...we use excavators for a back spar...

Art...simply amazing pics...its so good to see someone realize then, what these pictures mean now...and to keep them and share them....Thank you!!!

Doug...I saw that...

 

[Art Martin]

Thanks Doug, for the great job you are doing on the pictures that I sent you. I know all the other viewers are also appreciative of your efforts to provide the quality that we are seeing of these old pictures that reflect a part of history, along with the hardships, that occured many years ago. Only a small persentage of these beautiful giant Redwoods still exist in state parks and are protected by buffer zones.
The huge Redwoods that are around 21 feet in diameter started as a seedling around 190 A.D.

I got the following dates from a cross section that is displayed in front of the Georgia Pacific Corp. mill in Fort Bragg, California. The mill there started in 1885 and cut it's last log on August 15, 2002 when it shut down it's operations.

311 christianity was recognized when the tree was only a foot or so in diameter.
395 Roman empire devided, it was then about 2 foot in diameter.
982 Holy Roman empire restored, 6 1/2 feet in diameter.
1295 Marco Polo returned to Venice, 12 feet in diameter.
1492 Columbus discovered America, 14 feet in diameter.
1776 Declaration of Indendence, 16 feet in diameter.
1943 The tree that I got the dates from was cut down, 21 feet in diameter.

Art Martin

 

[treeclimber165]

Just bumping this up so it doesn't get lost. For those of you who haven't had time to browse through all the pics, they are fascinating! Thanks, Art and Doug! :angel:

 

[Art Martin]

The steam engine locomotive made its appearance in the logging industry on the California coast in 1875. The first locomotives were manufactured by Alexander Duncan in San Francisco. They were known as "Mrs. Duncan's tea kettle." After the "Tea Kettle" became an important mode of transportation, many other steam locomotive builders sprang up in the San Francisco area. Some lumber companies even made locomotives in their machine shops to their own specifications. Also there were many different styles and sizes of these locomotives. There were also many variations to the gauges of the railroads. One of the widest gauge railroads, 68 1/2 inches, was built by the Gualala Mill Company. This unusual, wide gauge was originally built to accommodate space for a team of horses to pull the flat cars, which at that time were run on wooden rails. When they converted to steam engines and steel rails, they still maintained that wide gauge. The wide gauge apparently didn't help the engine from turning bottom up as depicted in the picture posted as train seven page 5. These different gauge railroads were only used by lumber companies in their own system. When the main railroad lines were later brought to these remote areas, and connected to the inner-state railroads, companies had to convert their engines and branch lines to standard gauge railroad specifications in order to utilize the inner-state systems. There is a long history of the railroads in the Northwest and much has been written by historians and much information can be obtained from railroad buffs. The railroad that still operates out of my home town of Fort Bragg, California is the California Western Railroad. This railroad was originally used to haul lumber from Fort Bragg to Willits, a town about 35 miles away. With the advent of the diesel trucks, the railroad gradually lost its commercial value. Today, the company operates the famous "Skunk" train year around for tourists, who enjoy the 35 miles scenic route through the redwoods. Originally, the "Skunk" was a yellow one-car passager vehicle (similar to a street car) that brought supplies, mail and passengers to the remote settlements along its route. It got its name due to the foul smell of the diesel smoke that remained long after it had passed by.

Art Martin

 

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