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Lumberjacks

Started by runmca, December 13, 2017, 08:33:26 PM

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runmca

I received this link in a newsletter today, it's an excerpt from the Paul Buffalo biography - http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/Buffalo/PB39.html

I am amazed at what they where able to accomplish back in the day.

Runningalucas

Great pics at the link!  I read a woodworking book from the turn of the 20th century; I think it was from 1907.  The book started out talking about where lumber comes from; which meant a detailed account of how lumberjacks 'did it', during that era. 

It was really really interesting.  They discussed how northern logging operations would often times stage their operations heavily on the seasons; wintertime was their 'super highway' time, needed to easily move the logs out of the forests using ice roads they built. 

Apparently a lot of care went into crafting the ice roads, continually pouring water to build up the thickness necessary to support the weight.  They'd skid the logs to the nearest navigable waterway, and wait for the Spring thaw to send them on from there. 
Life is short, tragedy is instant, it's what we do with our time in between that matters.  Always strive to do better, to be better.

Grizzly

I've read a number of these histories but 2 things struck me while going through this one.

1 - very high priority on food. Did you see the baking pans in that kitchen?? And those fellows were served food and lots of it.

2 - they worked cut to length and now after a hundred years of new and improved we're right back at it.

Good reading.
2011 - Logmaster LM-2 / Chinese wheel loader
Jonsered saws - 2149 - 111S - 90?
2000 Miners 3-31 Board Edger

Ljohnsaw

Amazing.  But, about 1/4 of the way down the page, there is a sled loaded with logs.  21 feet high by 20 feet wide with a total of 31,480 bd-ft drawn by a 4 horse team.  If I read it right, the sled (alone) was estimated to be 5 tons!  What's the weight of green pine per bd-ft, about 1 pound?  Those horses sure got a workout!
John Sawicky

Just North-East of Sacramento...

SkyTrak 9038, Ford 545D FEL, Davis Little Monster backhoe, Case 16+4 Trencher, Home Built 42" capacity/36" cut Bandmill up to 54' long - using it all to build a timber frame cabin.

mike_belben

I find one of the most interesting pieces of culture that has persisted from the days or logging yore to today without us knowing why.. Is the term "skid row"

Greased log skid road for oxen to pull logs from the cut site to the mill, with a town popped up around it down on the flats.  The front row right on the skids was where the saloons and flop houses were.  So to say "hes on skid row" basically meant out slumming. 

Praise The Lord

samandothers

Great read! I liked the perspective he shared, especially on the value of money, taxes and doing good work!

51cub

Excellent pictures, thank you for sharing!
I believe in the hereafter, because every time I take two steps into the tool crib to get something I wonder " what did I come in here after"

If nothing else I'm always a good last resort or the guy to hold up as a bad example

Firewoodjoe

I like that kind of stuff. What amazes me is the fact that they did a lot of work and production (considering) with their strength and we now need 1 million in equipment to make any money! No wonder company's say there not making money. Back then there biggest exspenise was food. Now it's iron!

runmca


samandothers

What was the reason for making the wedge and felling cuts so high?

Dave Shepard

Less butt swell to chop through. Some species, like redwood, the butts are full of pitch, too.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

Timbercreekfarm


sawguy21

Hard to believe they did that with hand tools and oxen.
old age and treachery will always overcome youth and enthusiasm

barbender

I'm surprised I've never seen this bio before, the area he speaks of is my back yard. Even a lot of the family names he mentions (Barnes, Michuad, Tibbetts, Nason, Fairbanks) are all families I know. The Ball Club river outlet into the Mississippi is about 5 miles from our house as the crow flies. Also striking to me is the patterns of speech and reasoning of an Indian man from that time, honestly I think I would have picked up on it even if he hadn't mentioned he was Indian. I can't put my finger on what makes it unique, other than just a different perspective. It reminds me of sitting and listening to my grandad tell stories. I'll have to ask him about some of these names and see if he remembers any of these characters. I got a chuckle out of how he said the indian and the finn got along real good, "like a team of horses" since I have indian ancestry and my wife, finnish. 

He saw the way things were going too, all the money going into the machines 
Too many irons in the fire

samandothers

Thanks Dave!  That makes sense.  

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