Steam Donkeys still in the woods ?

[thetrailboss]

Hello Gentlemen

I was wondering if there was any members of this forum who used to work the  California  woods? Im looking to find an old logger , log truck driver, cat operator, forester, rangers.....logging historian who might know of any reliable 1st hand knowledge or locations of any abandoned Steam Donkey still out in the woods...... on private or FS land. Im looking for some good photos, facts, details, points of reference on a map to go into the woods and hunt for them and photograph them. Also looking for someone in California  near the SF bay area interested in doing some steam donkey hunts with me up in the Sierras

Thank you

Mike

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

Welcome to The Forum Trailboss  ;D ;D 8) 8) you have an interesting pastime with the logging history I use to be rite into sussing out old mill sites and tramways when i was younger but don't have the time these days  :( :( :(

Regards Chris

[ErikC]

 I know 2 in the Trinity alps. One is dismantled, the other isn't. Probably all the easy to take little parts are long gone of course. I also know several stamp mill sites, and a steam shovel way out there.

[caver]

This guy has some steam donkey visits in Northern Idaho. Dig around his website.
www.brian894x4.com

[timberfaller390]

Pick up a copy of the book "In search of steam donkies" alot of good reading.

[SwampDonkey]

I suspect a lot of the accessible ones have been scrapped over the years by owners or scroungers.

Kind of like the antique furniture business, anything of value has been hauled off to areas where they have more value. I can remember as a kid, there were people coming from all over the place looking to buy your dead grandmother's furniture and never offered much for it. My mother and uncle were ones to practically give stuff away. If it didn't go on the back of a truck someplace it was usually throwed over a steep hillside to rot.

[thetrailboss]

This guy has some steam donkey visits in Northern Idaho. Dig around his website.
www.brian894x4.com

Thanks for the heads up he has a very interesting website......I have talked with him and he dosent perform any searches in California

[thetrailboss]

Pick up a copy of the book "In search of steam donkies" alot of good reading.

Thanks ...I got the book and correspond with Merv Johnson regularly

[thetrailboss]

I suspect a lot of the accessible ones have been scrapped over the years by owners or scroungers.

Kind of like the antique furniture business, anything of value has been hauled off to areas where they have more value. I can remember as a kid, there were people coming from all over the place looking to buy your dead grandmother's furniture and never offered much for it. My mother and uncle were ones to practically give stuff away. If it didn't go on the back of a truck someplace it was usually throwed over a steep hillside to rot.

yep many Donkeys have been scrapped.........But I have found a few Donkeys still in remote inaccessible drainage's still pretty intact

[RPF2509]

Though technically its still in the woods you can drive right up to this donkey.  Highway 20 between Ft. Bragg and Willits and the Chamberlain Creek Conservation Camp is a semi restored donkey.  I believe it was removed from Big River in the 80's by a Philbrick logging crew and donated to the State.  Check with Jackson Demonstration State Forest for the full story behind it.

[thetrailboss]

Thank you for the interesting lead.....Did you happen to get any photos of it ? I wonder if the boys over at Roots of Motive Power where involved in restoring it ?  I well contact them also   Thank

[thetrailboss]

 Hey Guys its been almost 4 yrs sense I inquired the 1st time if anyone knew of any old Steam Donkeys still hidden out in the woods, which were still remote enough to escape the scrapers.

Im thinking if I post some rare photos from some of my Donkey Hunts I might jog someones interest or memories, anyone want to share their stories or photos. As I mentioned my main area of exploring is the California woods.

This series of photos is of 1906 Willamette 2 speed compound yarder used in a highlead operation which I finally found after many trips into the woods. It was abandoned around 1927 by the Pickering Lumber Company in the Stanislaus NF above Beardsley Dam. This is a extreme large unit, If you look at the final black & white photo you can see the matching large square water tank on the rear of the sleds and you can only image how big and mighty once this master of the woods was



    


 


 


 


 
 

[thetrailboss]

two photos of a old school Tree shoe for skyline rigging,  catalog says its weights 700lbs



 


 

and photo of the gigantic double deck fairlead, it weight 2250lbs



  

[coxy]

great pics got any more ;D

[Magicman]

Looks like you have been quiet but very busy for the past 4 years.  You have shared some very interesting stuff. 

[clww]

Great photos of old iron.

[thetrailboss]

great pics got any more ;D

Yes Coxy I got 1000s of photos of my adventures into the woods  ;D Stay tuned

[thetrailboss]

Looks like you have been quiet but very busy for the past 4 years.  You have shared some very interesting stuff.

Yes Magicman I been very busy I never got and viable leads in this forum so I went out and found my own leads researched and investigated them and spent many wkends following wild goose tales bushwhacking unforgiving remote areas, most peoples memories are not what they think anymore I would say about 5% of the leads were real, mostly 3rd and 4th hand info. But I learned a lot of historical info had lots of fun interviewing and meeting old timers. And truly 1/2 the fun is following the trail and knowing what to look for

[thetrailboss]

Great photos of old iron.

Clww...Thanks glad you enjoyed them. But I dont look at it as old iron, these are historical sites and the surviving steam donkeys give us a glimpse into the past. Its not like the millions of tons of old iron just abandoned all over the Pacific NW, Alaskan frontier and BC., just because they broke down, wore out or was to expensive to move.

Steam Donkeys where one of the most important piece of industrial equipment every invented it revolutionized the early logging industry in the early 19 Century. Donkeys where massive wood fired steam powered machines with multiple steel cable winch drums ...which ruled the woods from the early 1900's to about the 1930's they where mounted on 65 ft long log sleds and where used to yard and highlead the felled logs out of the woods down to a log landings and then Donkeys loaded the waiting logging trains to be shipped to the Sawmills. By the 30's most Donkeys where just abandoned in the woods due to the development of hydraulic equipment and diesel Cat tractors which replaced the need of dragging the logs out of the woods by the Donkey cables. Most donkeys were later scraped out for their steel value.....today there are still a small hand full of Donkeys still resting where there where original abandoned still deep in the woods hidden away for over 100 yrs throughout the northwest forest of Wa, OR. CA. AK.  Its almost hard to believe something so large could stay hidden, most of the log sleds have deteriorated in time and the massive steel engine frames are laying on the forest floors buried among 2nd and 3rd growth forests

[drobertson]

Neat thread, thanks for opening up a very interesting topic. 

[coxy]

great pics got any more ;D

Yes Coxy I got 1000s of photos of my adventures into the woods  ;D Stay tuned

cant wait  8)i like seeing old logging pic  it makes me feel better about the junk I run every day  :D :D

[Holmes]

Great pictures and an interesting topic. I marvel at the hard work done by our forefathers. 

[thecfarm]

Interesting.

[Dan R]

Mike,
If your travels bring you to British Columbia check out the working Donkey at the MacLean Mill in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. Also on their website. Here in Powell River we have one displayed on a seaside trail in town that was lifted off the mountainside by Erickson Aircrane in pieces then put back on a new skid. We also have one up Powell Lake with a stand of timber left around it by the forest company. Fitting name for the logging road is Museum Main.
Dan

[beenthere]

I found your pics very interesting. But doubt I will be chasing off to another site... especially facebook. ;)

Not our fault (or is it) that your thread fell dead. 
Haven't seen another post of yours for a good while but thought you had some interest back in November.