The 1938 New England Timber Salvage

[Resonator]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C17Jc85Ts0M
Saw this video on You Tube, an interesting account of how in 1938 a massive hurricane hit New England, and destroyed thousands of acres of timber land. And how a great effort was mobilized to salvage the 1.6 to 2 billion board feet of timber before it rotted, or became a huge fire risk. Lots of vintage logging and sawmilling pics, and neat historic details. How the surplus was used for the war effort in WWII, and that the fallen timber actually helped lead to the New England fall colors of today.

[GRANITEstateMP]

Resonator,

Just watched the video.  Super interesting!

[Rhodemont]

The hurricane of 1938 is still talked about here in RI particularly by some of the remaining old timers who lived through it.  A follow up story is the RI fires of 1942.  Dozens of wildfires broke out within the first couple days of May burning huge areas in the State.  Many were right around government owned storage buildings with millions of board feet of lumber from the hurricane being held for the war effort.  Several of these storage buildings were lost.  While not proven it is thought to have been sabotage going after that lumber.

[doc henderson]

great video!  thanks rez!

[Resonator]

Thanks. The guy that made it mainly does racing and "gearhead" history video's with his channel, but has done different subjects also. He has a great radio announcer voice, and does thorough research with whatever topic he covers.
Interesting to see the historic photos, and realize how much strenuous hand labor it took, by an army of men, to harvest all the timber and turn it into lumber.

[jpassardi]

Interesting, thanks for posting. 

[Ljohnsaw]

Amazing!

[doc henderson]

My brother did a summer CCC program.  Not sure how he got selected but may have been for youth struggling a bit.  They did conservation stuff for the summer.  He ended up in Fort Collins, Colorado and did a semester in college on a mountain where they cut their own firewood and lived in a cabin/barracks.  He was going into forestry but met his wife and that was that.

[cutterboy]

An interesting topic for sure as it effected me directly. My father and uncle set up a sawmill on my grandfather's farm after the hurricane. I remember as a kid playing in the sawdust pile as the sawdust was blowing out of a pipe over our heads. I loved to watch the trucks come and unload the logs onto the deck. My mother hated it when I came into the house covered with sawdust both outside and inside my clothes. My father told me that the ponds and lakes in the area were filled with logs to keep them sound.
I remember playing in the woods with my brother and cousins on the many huge downed trees and this was 20 years after the storm.
There were lots of family stories told about the hurricane.

[Old Greenhorn]

Great Video Res! Thanks for posting it. I saved it for a Sunday morning watch and I'm glad I did. I had no idea this went on and it may tie into some small family timber sales back in that time frame. I have the weekly sheets from those and I have to dig them out and check the dates.
 Very nicely researched video.

[red]

There is a book titled Thirty Eight by Stephen Long but I have not read it 

[GRANITEstateMP]

Doc's comment got me thinking.  When did the CCC  go away?  

[doc henderson]

My recollection for my brother I think was mid 70s

[Old Greenhorn]

1933-1942

[doc henderson]

Civilian Conservation Corps - Wikipedia

[doc henderson]

I will ask my brother.  maybe I have the letters wrong, or it is a kickoff.  I think he signed up via the local Junior college.  I remember it kept him busy and set him in a direction that was good.

[doc henderson]

Youth Conservation corps, Young Adult Conservation Corps, and Related Programs. In 1970, a 3-year pilot Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) program began—it became fully established in 1974. It was designed to further the development and maintenance of natural resources by America's youth between the ages of 15 and 19.


AWAKENING OF ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS 1968-1975 - Forest History Society

[thecfarm]

I worked for the YCC for 2 summers.
I was the one that knew how to move 
There were city kids that had no idea how to get dirty.
I thought everyone knew how to work outside. 

[Rhodemont]

Red:  I had not seen the Stephen Long book before.  Just ordered a used hard copy.
Cutter:  I guess you are one of the old timers I mentioned who lived it.  Hiking and riding my horse the forests of RI I have found many former sawmill sites from the recovery effort.

[nopoint]

There was a YCC camp near Neshkoro WI. I don't know the years of operation but do remember seeing some of their crews in the mid to late 80's. They did among other things lots of trout stream restoration in our area. Leading to some very highly rated trout streams. 15 or so years ago I got involved with a group that was leasing the former YCC camp from the DNR and trying to run some youth education programs out of it. This project ended up going nowhere and the camp facility was too far gone to save. Large dining hall facility on a bend in the river right at the confluence of the Mecan River and Wedde creek. Also a series of bunk cabins organized in a circle under some impressive red pines. I believe at this time all buildings have been removed. The interesting part was hearing the stories of the former YCC members during a reunion that was organized. Some participants came because they wanted to experience the outdoors, others came because judges required it. Either spend your summer in the woods or in jail.... Made for an interesting group mix I'm sure. Pretty strict place. When leaving camp you had to place your name on a buddy type board. When returning you had to place your name back on the in camp portion. If you forgot you were presumed dead and had to dig your own grave. Other infractions got people to fill in those dug graves. I saw the collection of shovels, they had a pretty good number. Its unfortunate to see programs like this go away. It was clear that it made a lasting impact on those that I met. There are so many kids that could benefit in one way or another. 

[NE Woodburner]

I worked for YCC in the summer of 1980. Our program was not a camp - it was day work and you went home at the end of each day. We had to be there for 40 hrs per week but 10 of those hours were unpaid and used for conservation classwork and an occasional field trip. As I recall, the program aimed to get teens from various income classes and backgrounds to work together. If my memory is accurate, we were paid $3.00 per hour for 30 hrs a week. We worked pretty hard too. I have a YCC patch somewhere.

[240b]

still cutting maple which was leaned over during the storm.  those trees have a distinctive lean to the northwest on the neighbors woodlot. 
 It would have been a stand of poles at that point.  grown up field noone would have messed with. 
   also can see pit and mound lower down the valley which obviously got the wind out of the southeast.  

[thecfarm]

NE Woodburner, that is how I remember it too.
No grave digging where I was. 
We was all high school kids. 
We had dorms and a retired Nayy cook. He took one look at me, and said, I'll put some weight on you.
I spoke right up and said, I am ready.
That guy could cook and I could eat. His name was Gene. 
He never did put any weight on me.
I went back as a Youth leader the next year and he still could not put weight on me. 
He use to come out and see me eat sometimes.
We went to Baxter State park and they had tents to sleep in.
We even had a rec room.

[Resonator]

He never did put any weight on me.

Not to side track the thread... 
But a little historic trivia in "Old England" (Europe), a persons weight was measured in units of 14 pounds, called "stones".   

[doc henderson]

early metric system!?.  no wonder those English are happy with metric now.