WOW....these guys had a lot of work in the day

[pioneerguy600]

Well said. There wasn't much glory to logging in those days. It was a job...if you stayed alive and shrugged off your injuries.

That`s right, I don`t much remember the glory parts. Getting the wood out of the woods to the mill was mostly hard physical work done in the winter months, the cold, wet and slippery ground claimed many injuries with men falling, slipping under logs or loads, runaway sleds loaded very heavily on steep grades, men,horses or oxen all piled up in a mangled mess, loads falling through the ice, men and animals lost in the cold water. The log drives down the rivers claimed many or injuries were rampant. Once the wood was at the mill or boomed up and ready to load on the ships it could still kill or maime many during sawing or loading. I personaly knew 2 men that were killed in the mills when a carriage jumped the tracks or a log jammed on the rotary.Steam explosions around the mills or that run the capstans and cranes killed or scalded many around these parts. Often a family that lost a working father was left destitute, only the little charity the others could afford in the community prevented them from starving. Due to me watching and working alongside men who could and did work with serious injuries just because they had to strengthened me and my resolve was to never miss work if I could barely walk, that is why I have not missed a days work in my time due to injury or sickness.Yes I have been seriously hurt, more than once, I have worked with broken bones and serious cuts, brusing and even spinal fluid dripping from my nose for days, all that did was make me stronger in my resolve to not give in and keep going til I no longer can.

 

[Sheldon Cooper]

You are correct. Most manual labor jobs are filled by Mexicans in my area. The wages are not very good so the gringos pass up the jobs and collect benefits paid by men and women willing to work. Just look in any restaurant kitchen, even Chinese restaurants. I guess it is just the times we live in.

Where I live immigration is a big thing. I worked with Filipino people and they are damn hard workers. They will do any job for less money then any white guy would. They are very productive people and I welcome them to my country.:msp_thumbup:

 

[Sheldon Cooper]

You are not seeing the injuries, the deaths. No benefits, get hurt or killed and a collection might be taken up for you. The movie was filmed on sunny days. You aren't seeing the wet cold, guys horking up lugies, etc.

Live in a logging community and you'll notice a lot of limping men--or worse, a guy who spent all day wandering up and down the highway because he had a brain injury and it made him walk back and forth.
Guy with arms that don't bend right or are permanently bent.

Nope, I don't believe it was glorious. I believe it was a job--a way to make a living if you had the stamina and could stay healthy. A career for the lucky ones.

Don't get hurt.

I am part of generation x and seeing what people went through back then is rather inspiring. Makes you feel rather stupid if you have to call in sick at work sometimes when you see what these people went through. That was a great movie.:msp_thumbup::msp_thumbup:

 

[Bushmans]

The video is pretty neat! I believe the glory is in the ability to perform such massive work with such minimal tools.
How many of us would attempt a feat like that with an axe?
It is a wonderful testament to the dedication of the human spirit to endure, accomplish and overcome!
Oh and don't ever arm wrestle one of those guys!:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[procarbine2k1]

Got lost in that video for a little while. Thanks for the post!

 

[rwoods]

Logger12345, thanks for posting this gem.

:msp_smile:

I believe these videos have great value to those who pay attention. As some have said, for most these weren't the glory days that we romanticize them to be. Unspoiled natural resources and great moments in human history that we'll never experience, for sure. But also times of great hardships. As a child, almost every cattlemen I knew had been seriously injured by a cow or horse or both, but that was nothing compared to the loggers. I saw more maimed men at the sawmill we frequented than any place I had ever been - men missing an arm, a leg or an eye. No telling how many had been killed. Sadly, so dangerous was the work and so poor the economics that the generations in my family before me that worked in these occupations worked as hard to insure that their sons and grandsons would not pursue such work. These were the two generations that had experienced World War II. Despite the hardships and dangers, I don't remember any whining from them. If they had any one failing, it was their reluctance (maybe inability) to share the horrors of war - something we civilians only get a glimpse. I degress ... .

I'm glad that there are many here who care enough to attempt to put things in proper perspective for the good of us all. In particular, my hat is off to SlowP and Gologit. My hat is off to Sheldon Cooper as well; he see the true value here. I'm glad also to see that there are plenty of younger guys here that know the value of hard work and personal integrity; there are goof offs and bums in every generation - we have in some ways just made it easier to be one.

To quote the sarge on Hills Street Blues - Be careful out there. Ron

 

[ChainsawmanXX]

This is right, before you criticize our generation look who raised it. I'm not making excuses here, personally I think it's pathetic and unacceptable how most kids act now. But I will say there are a few left out there that are raised right, I'm 16 and work 20hrs a week during school and 40+ hrs during the summer building houses

Right there with you my friend.
I'm 17 and when I tell kids I like to work they give me a weird as look.
Ill work 13 hours straight through the day. And also worked longer a couple times
I still have a Facebook and a cell phone. But my cell phone is usually used for buisness and chainsaws. I use it to talk to my girlfriend that's the only reccreation I get out of it.
That's another one. My girlfriend works for steak and shake. She works from 5-pm-3am goes to sleep then goes wakes up at 730 to go to college. 5 days a week.

Not all teenagers are a disgrace. There's still a few of us that will dig in and work... but there a dying breed.

 

[BroncoRN]

I wasn't going to get into this but your right !

We got our shrinked wrap bubble wraped I'm allergic to peanuts, milk, latex,what have you kids. I've never seen so many kids with so many ailments.

We are so caught up in red tape and regulations we can't go forward or backwards.
If you think because your not a logger this doesn't concern you, you are mistaken.

We have lost so much liberty a piece at a time that it goes unnoticed until a video like this makes us wonder what the hell happened ?

For some maybe this is your wake-up call. I believe most of you on this site are hard workers and are part of a dying breed.

What the hell happened to us......

To be fair though our society now demands food...fast. As a result the additives/preservatives that are in use cause many problems. And the quality of food has gone wayyyyyyyyyyyyy down hill. I feel this way because I am in the medical field. And because I have some type of weird allergy that makes my esophagus close up. Which means now I am officially the slowest eater in the room

 

[Winchester356]

Wonder why they topped the Redwoods before they fell them? What kind of saw was that they had kinda resembled a huge reciprocating saw moving the cross cut saw back and forth?

 

[struggle]

You didn't see any fat guys in that video.

It would be kind of hard to maintain weight doing work like that.

I doubt you would want to unknowingly start a fight with any of them as well if you ran into them in a bar.

 

[Gologit]

Wonder why they topped the Redwoods before they fell them? What kind of saw was that they had kinda resembled a huge reciprocating saw moving the cross cut saw back and forth?

A Redwood was very seldom topped before falling. The tree the climber was in was going to be used as a spar tree for yarding. They hang blocks (pulleys) from them for the yarder lines.

I have no idea what the drag saw was. They were tried on several different jobs with varying success. They were extremely heavy and awkward to use and slow to move from place to place. Most were gas powered but there was also an electric one. I never saw it ( I'm not that old ) but I understand it had a portable generator set up on a Model T frame...and some really long extension cords.
The advent of the chainsaw and the rapid advances in saw technology sent the drag saws to the scrap yard...where they belonged.

One thing to remember about that video. The guys working in the woods didn't think they had it too tough. Every time they turned around somebody was inventing some machine to make their job easier. They were used to working like that and saw themselves neither as heroes nor anything special. Also, all that old iron machinery was state of the art for those days...the latest thing. And, if you didn't like your job there were 10 guys standing around someplace who'd fight each other for it.

One whole side of my family made their living in the Redwoods, starting about the time that ox teams were being replaced with steam power. My Grandfather was much in demand as a faller because he could chop either right or left handed equally well. That made him versatile and a good partner to a man who could chop from just one side. They'd often spend upwards of three days falling a single tree.
He said that when chainsaws first started showing up in the woods it amazed everybody how much more production was possible. He thought power saws were the greatest thing ever.

I was lucky to get in on the last of the Old Growth Redwood logging. What we did, and the scale we did it on, is gone forever. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Sheldon Cooper]

A Redwood was very seldom topped before falling. The tree the climber was in was going to be used as a spar tree for yarding. They hang blocks (pulleys) from them for the yarder lines.

I have no idea what the drag saw was. They were tried on several different jobs with varying success. They were extremely heavy and awkward to use and slow to move from place to place. Most were gas powered but there was also an electric one. I never saw it ( I'm not that old ) but I understand it had a portable generator set up on a Model T frame...and some really long extension cords.
The advent of the chainsaw and the rapid advances in saw technology sent the drag saws to the scrap yard...where they belonged.

One thing to remember about that video. The guys working in the woods didn't think they had it too tough. Every time they turned around somebody was inventing some machine to make their job easier. They were used to working like that and saw themselves neither as heroes nor anything special. Also, all that old iron machinery was state of the art for those days...the latest thing. And, if you didn't like your job there were 10 guys standing around someplace who'd fight each other for it.

One whole side of my family made their living in the Redwoods, starting about the time that ox teams were being replaced with steam power. My Grandfather was much in demand as a faller because he could chop either right or left handed equally well. That made him versatile and a good partner to a man who could chop from just one side. They'd often spend upwards of three days falling a single tree.
He said that when chainsaws first started showing up in the woods it amazed everybody how much more production was possible. He thought power saws were the greatest thing ever.

I was lucky to get in on the last of the Old Growth Redwood logging. What we did, and the scale we did it on, is gone forever. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

So what you are saying is that those very old trees have all been harvested and nobody around here will ever see one that big and old for many hundreds of years. I found those trees to be just amazing in size. It makes you wonder how trees like that could survive that long and fight off death in a competitive forest environment.

 

[spacemule]

Not sure if that guy topping the tree and swinging an axe 2 inches from his rope had brass balls or just a numb skull.

 

[paccity]

:monkey:

 

[watsonr]

I'm with SlowP.... it was terrible conditions! Long hours, extremely hard work and if you got hurt... your family was done for!!!

I grew up in Idaho, Lewiston to be exact, home of one of the largest white pine mills in the country if not the largest and still operating today. The last log drive heald in the US was on the Clearwater River in 1973 and ended at the mill. Grew up with lots of loggers, mill workers, truck drivers. All my buddies work at the mill, there fathers and all our cousins, uncles and still do today, glad I left when I could! We even cut firewood on days off to make ends meet, everyday was a logging day at my house.

Don't get me wrong, I love Idaho, just not that part. My brother was killed on a log deck and my father died at 61 from being worked to death, never missed a day of work, called in sick or took vacation... we lived, breathed and they died doing it. Looks glorious in that video and I've seen some pretty amazing stuff..... I've also seen some pretty bad stuff, guys hurt really bad, lost arms, legs, lots of fingers, hands.... still extremely dangerous today and much easier than the days of old. I have pictures of them cutting trees 30' deep in the snow because of fires hazards, why do you think they work in the winter. Rolled the logs by hand to the gully so spring floods carried the logs to the river. I remember listening to the river at night and hearing large boulders tumbling down the river and all the logs going with the flow and guys actually wading in with just jeans and flannel long johns on under there pants to keep the logs moving. Coming out blue from being cold, never complained...they were lucky to have the work and hoped they didn't get hurt.


I'll take now

 

[paccity]

my greatgrandpa past in the wood's at 58 my grandpa at 63. i'm not proud of how hard they had it . but i am proud of the fortitude they had to survive life it self. especially the depression era loggers. we have it made today.

 

[tree monkey]

This is right, before you criticize our generation look who raised it. I'm not making excuses here, personally I think it's pathetic and unacceptable how most kids act now. But I will say there are a few left out there that are raised right, I'm 16 and work 20hrs a week during school and 40+ hrs during the summer building houses

People Of Walmart (Sexy And I Know It - LMFAO) - YouTube
the good old usa at it's best. see something wrong with this?

 

[bcorradi]

Yes I agree I don't think logging was a very admirable occupation back in those early times...it was a ton of hard work and was a very risky occupation. My relatives iron mined and that wasn't a very safe occupation back in the day either and imo was on par with logging in terms of riskiness.

 

[jammin_with_j]

I was talking to my uncle and great uncle the other night about the old times and the mills. I am from Nova Scotia and in Lunenburg county they estimated there was close to 140 mills back in the day, all run by water. Under shots, over shots, side shots and turbines, being run direct drive and by leather belts. Dangerous work, hard work, but an honest living. My great uncle worked hard in the woods trying to make a living for himself and his family. The mill was built by his father and a mill wright, they made a living from the land. The mill was passed from his fatehr to him and I'm sure his sons will get the mill when he passes. He could open the damn and let the water flow and the palce comes alive. He lost a son to a chain saw accident when they were a relativly new thing. He has suffered many accidents and his movements show. But the world is changing, even he knows that working a hard day in the woods now can barely pay the bills and put food on the table. Its a shame to hear how at one time if you were willing to work hard you could provide for your family but now people just don't want to do a thing. I know my generation is not the best example of work ethic, but I still like to think there are a few of us that can put in an honest days work. I will admit I'm not as hardy as my grandfather was and my great uncle is, but I am still willing to put my desk job aside and put my time in working. Its sad how many young men my age can't even figure out how to use tools or explain what they are used for. We have been raised this way and its sad to say.

 

[jammin_with_j]

Here is a picture of the mill, there has been a lot of wood cut here for family over the years