Old Time Logging Stories

[gaproperty]

Dad and mom had a big family of 10 then adopted one. Having such a big family and being a small scale logger money was sometimes tight. I remember dad telling me the story of a time he took a beautiful load of pine to the local mill. It was a load of big big pine which dad always took pride in and did a great job of limbing and having everything the exact length and no dirt on them. The load was transported to the mill on the back of Dad's 1 or 2 ton truck. Mr MacLeod, the owner of the mill was a stern but honest man where right was right and wrong was wrong and there was no deviation from this. He scaled dad's log and said two cords. Dad said, "Mr Macleod, there isn't 1.5 cords of logs on that load". Knowing Dad was hurting for money he wanted to give Dad some extra money for the beautiful load of log. He also wanted to allow Dad to keep his pride and not feel like he was excepting a handout so he turned to Dad and said in his stern tone, "are you telling me that I don't know how to scale a load of logs? That is exactly how much is there and here is your money" There was no arguing with Mr MacLeod. Dad thanked him and reluctantly took the extra money.


 

 

[moodnacreek]

Love this story. I wonder if people like that even exist today. I well scale a little higher with logs cut right but it is a rare thing to see.

[Jeff]

Great story! Thankyou.

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Great story. Anybody got another?

[quilbilly]

I know there's a YouTube thread on the general board, but if you're interested in just stories my buddy Daniel Boone has been compiling logging interviews with lots of loggers from the Olympic peninsula area with quite a few old timers and their stories mixed in. Look up danielboonesloggingvideos on YouTube. 

[Wlmedley]

My uncle told me a story about when he was a boy growing up about a mile from where I live now.He was born in 1928 and died a few years ago.There was a family named Newhouse that had a sawmill about a 1/4 mile from my Grandparents house and grandma sent my uncle John down there fairly often with a wheelbarrow to get slabs that she used when washing clothes for a outside fire.Uncle John said he always hung around a while watching them saw and said it was something to see.Old man Newhouse ran the mill with his three sons who where a little older than my uncle.Evidently the mill ran off a steam engine because John said it had a stack which blew out heavy smoke and sparks when sawing.He said the old man had a thick head of gray hair and one day he was watching them saw and the smoke and sparks were really flying and one of the boys hollered(Shut her down the old man's heads on fire)

[barbender]

 I think I've told this one before, but it seems like it fits here. 

 My Grandpa Alger grew up around Cass Lake, MN which is an old logging town, and he grew up working in the woods. He has quite a few good stories, actually could probably write a book of short stories from the ones he's told me.

 Grandpa at one time had a single axle truck he ran a dump box on in the summer, and then he had a log bed and loader he'd put on it in the winter so he could haul wood. 

 Grandpa was hauling wood for an Indian guy on a block by a local village. There was a good hill coming out of there, and that little truck got too light on the front with a load and the rear mount loader. So, he kept losing the front end on that hill and would have to back down. 

 Now the guy he was hauling for saw the predicament and told Grandpa, "hold on Alvy, I have to run into town- I have an idea!". 

 So, Grandpa said after a bit here comes Sammy, with 3-4 guys and not insignificantly a real sturdy gal, too. Sammy told everyone to get on Grandpa's front bumper, and they did. Grandpa said by golly the extra weight made a very noticeable improvement, and things were working great. Now I should say here, if you've never spent any time around Native Americans they love to tease! It can be kind of brutal, especially if you're new to it😂

 That said, these guys kept making fun of the gal and she got mad and jumped off the bumper. Well that ahem, ballast was what was making the difference because Grandpa said he lost his steering again. He finally told those guys to get her back up there and quit teasing her, he needed her up there! 

 Well, Grandpa and his bumper full of Natives finally made the top of the hill. I wish I had a picture of that one!😂

[peakbagger]

Just in case folks are not aware of the Pike Books, "Spiked Boots, Sketches of the North Country" and "Tall Trees Tough Men" are both good reads on classic logging, Spiked Boots is all stories that Pike collected and wove together somewhat loosely while the Tall trees is more historical starting with the settlers up to the cross cut saw era of logging in Northern NH, VT and Maine. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Thanks PB, I just ordered a copy of the first one. Rainy day reading.

[Jeff]

I guess this would be old time, because it was around 1981.

Many years ago we were logging between Clare Harrison and Farwell off of Harrison Avenue. This was a huge property owned by a man named Cappaert who at the time was the only share holder for Diamond Reo Trucks and he also owned Marlette mobile homes. 

Where we were logging was way back in the center of a section. You turned off from Harrison avenue in the driveway of one of the caretakers homes, then drove back across a field, then through a wooded area, then across a sugar sand airstrip, then on into the woods again where we were working. Our landing was set up about 50 yards from a beautiful little stream that I could see trout darting around out from under the undercut banks.

This was a Saturday. We were doing equipment maintenance. There was me, our mechanic Pat Ahac, and a mobile welder named Bruce from Service welding in Clare. Bruce had finished some welding up on the 404 Timberjack dozer blade and had turned his attention to the bobcat. I can't remember exactly what he was welding on now, but we heard him say "HEY! I have a fire!" Some sparks had dropped down in the belly pan where there was quite a bit of oil and debris accumulated. Pat ran to his work truck and grabbed a big extinguisher. He ran back and sprayed it down into where the fire was but the fire would not go out, even after using the entire contents of the extinguisher. There was an empty 5 gallon pail in the truck so I hoofed it to the stream to get a pail of water and then hoofed it back to the bobcat and tried to awkwardly poor the water in through the side panel past the engine and down into the pan where the fire was. I did this 5 times (I was a young man and in very good shape at that time) and all it did was die the fire down. This wasn't a huge fire, but it was sure meaning to be if we didn't get it out.  Pat hollered at me to jump in the truck and drive back out to the caretaker's house and call the Fire Department.  So off I went, through the woods, out across the airstrip, through the woods, acrodd the field and made a sliding stop at the house. Ran up to the door and knocked loudly.  A middle aged woman answered the door and I quickly told her that we had a piece of equipment on fire out back across the airstrip could she call the fire department.  "Yes!" she said, so off I ran back to the truck and flew back to the woods where Pat was about to drop from running pails of water while I was gone. He was probably 10-15 years older than I was at the time.

When I jumped out of the truck, we could hear the sirens go off in the distance in the direction of Surry Township. Not to far away.  Then we heard sirens at about 90° from that.  Clare sirens! No time to listen I started humping pales of water from the stream to the bobcat. We continued to just keep the fire under control, but it was starting to build. It took about 15 minutes for the first vehicle to arrive from the fire department, a volunteer in a pickup. Then they really started coming, about 5 minutes after the first vehicle pulled in, a foam truck rolled in. They drove right up to the bobcat and had the fire out in about 5 seconds.

Vehicles continued to arrive. Fire trucks, pickups, now we had a truck and a dozer roll in, DNR trucks started showing up one hauling a modified green skidder with a huge firebreak plow on it. Before it was over, there were several pieces of heavy equipment and probably 50 men there. As it turned out, when I left the caretakers house, and she called the fire department, she told them that the loggers had "set the woods on fire".  Before all the trucks had left, S. L. Cappaert's leer jet was buzzing the area. He couldn't land as the airstrip was only for small prop planes.

I was whooped after this all ended.  I walked back over to the stream, laid down on the bank and washed my face. I then washed out my hardhat. Took the liner out and washed it out really good then dipped the hat back in the fast moving crystal clear waters of the stream and got me a good long drink.  I then stood up, and that is when I looked up stream for the first time and saw the dead sheep laying mid stream about 50 feet away.  What a day.

[barbender]

 I remember that one, Jeff!😂 That "fresh and pure" stream water had to taste so wonderful after all of that, only to see a bloated dead sheep upstream🤢

[Rhodemont]

I do not like to think that anything in my lifetime would be considered "old time" but I guess the years pass and they are.  In the early 80's I bought a McCormick Deering monster tractor, think it was a w9. It was cheap and figured I would use it to haul out firewood from the property.  Had to crank start it, almost broke my arm on a kick back one time.  No hydraulics but man could it pull.  Had a dead oak hung up in anther tree...looked like good dry firewood that I needed so I threw a line up high as I could to pull it down. Well, I fire up and head off...Crack!  The tree the oak was hung up in snapped off and was headed kind of right at me on the tractor.  I bailed out and whomp the tree landed just on the other side of the MD.  So here I am lying in the briar with my heart thumping and there goes the MD cruising threw the wood knocking over everything in its way.  By the time I got untangled and wiped of all the briar scratch blood damage the MD was way off headed north.  By the time I trudged along and caught up to it the MD had broken out from the woods into the orchard headed right at my Neighbors house.  After a couple apple trees went down I started to pray!!!   Thank goodness an ancient Locust held its ground.  I was able to hop on and shut down the MD as it was grinding into the Locust.  Carl came out, he was in his 90's, and said "Hell of a tractor".

[Old Greenhorn]

Good Stories! I'm enjoying this a lot.

[Autocar]

My old time logging story was 1956 and I was eight years old and dad was a farmer on 197 acres he cut some white oak and he rolled two logs on a log sled he made and we pulled it with a WD45 farm tractor. we pulled it up the lane and went to the house and ate dinner. We went back down to where the logs were and I was playing around while he was unhooking the log boomers and I saw this shiny object between the log and the log skid frame. I wiggled and pulled and pulled out a high power rifle bulled that sailed in and landed there. Glad we went to dinner  ;D. 

[barbender]

Rhodemont, the last part where the old timer came out and proclaimed it a, "hell of a tractor" was the icing on the cake😂

[beenthere]

Rhodemont

This your old MD ?
TractorData.com McCormick-Deering W-12 tractor information

Good friend had one on his sawmill back in the 60's and it was a beast to crank. 

[Rhodemont]

beenthere:  no, after thinking back more I revised my post. It was a WD9 gasoline.

barbender:  Carl was a good friend. I saw that his roof was leaking into the bathroom and he replied "Only when it rains"!

[Magicman]

You just reminded me of an instance where the customer asked me whether my old sawmill engine "always smoked like that".


 
My reply was "only when it was running".  ;D

[beenthere]

beenthere:  no, after thinking back more I revised my post. It was a WD9 gasoline.

barbender:  Carl was a good friend. I saw that his roof was leaking into the bathroom and he replied "Only when it rains"!

So a W9 then if gasoline.  ;)

TractorData.com McCormick-Deering WD-9 tractor information

[Rhodemont]

That is it.  Had a take off with drum on the side to run a belt.

[47sawdust]

Great stories fellas,thanks.
Back in the winter of '77 my neighbor was cutting timber on our property.The log landing was in our pasture,shared with Bo,a very good natured Percheron.
The logging crew would show up in the morning and hook up the "spit swapper hose" to the Franklin.
They  would then sit in the truck ,warm up and work on their "illegal smile". Sometimes,it seemed half the towns chuckleheads would show up to help with that.
Bo, being of a curious nature, would stick his head in the cab to see how things were going.
As the winter went on, Bo bonded with the crew, but most especially, with the Franklin.In the morning you could see where he had slept right next to the Franklin to soak up some heat.
Well,all good things come to an end,the crew finished the job and the Franklin went down the road to the neighbors.
Next morning Bo was gone.I followed his tracks with an ever wider smile on my face to find him standing, sleeping next to the Franklin.
He was some disappointed when I told him, no,we can't buy you a skidder.

[barbender]

Great story! I don't follow the "illegal smile" and "chuckleheads" though...smoking dope?

[47sawdust]

"illegal smile" is a reference to a John Prine song by that name from the 70's and yes it is about dope.

"chucklheads" is my own adjective for those locals that are more talk than do.
I also refer to their dwellings/habits as where ambition goes to die.

[SwampDonkey]

The Dungarvon Whooper written by Michael Whelan

The Dungarvon Whooper 1 - YouTube

[SwampDonkey]

Back in the 70's dad yarded wood with a horse for 4 or 5 years before getting a skidder. This time of year he would cut wood. Often white cedar. Anyway, they had a wooden sled the horse would pull. They were probably going to cut cedar rails this time. He loaded a bale of hay onto the sled and he and the neighbor, who was hired to help cut, set off for the woods. Well, the neighbor's wife looks out across the field where they were heading off to the woods and sees father and her husband pulling the sled. That old horse was eating hay off the back of the sled. She had a good laugh with her husband later, telling him that she never saw that being done before. :D