# Pictures for Scotty



## hobbyheater (Aug 18, 2013)

Seeing Scotty topping the trees at the scout camp made me think of these pictures.
You were right Scotty, it was hard work. There were no fat loggers in any early pictures.





In these early logging shows, the high rigger was the most valued worker and a good cook often was second.




The block that the rigger was standing on weighed around a ton! [A high rigger tops a Douglas fir to use as a spar tree at Abernethy & Lougheed's Camp 3 on Alouette Lake, 1926 (VP 1488)]




This is something that I have only seen in pictures. By the time I started in the woods, the portable steel spars trees had taken over. [Rigging a spar tree for a skyline show at victoria Lumber & Manufacturing in 1940. (Jack Cash photo, UBC BC 1930/549/65VL4003)]



	

		
			
		

		
	
 Many of these logging techniques were also in use in Washington and Oregon states. [A wooden skyline spar at a Victoria Lumber company show near Chemainus in the 1940s. A MacLean boom is being used to load the cars. (Jack Cash photo, UBC BC 1930/547)]

Pictures taken from Whistle Punks & Widow-Makers by Robert Swanson.


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## begreen (Aug 18, 2013)

That last shot looks like a spar and boom for a boat. Must be for a land yacht.


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## ScotO (Aug 18, 2013)

love it, Allan!  Fantastic pics, and some great history right there.  You had to have balls of steel to climb one of those ancient fir trees and top it off like they did.....and imagine having to haul those cables up there for the skylines.....

Honest to God, my hats off to those men.......those guys busted their azzes for pennies, and kept going back for more.  Back when men were men, right there....


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## hobbyheater (Aug 18, 2013)

begreen said:


> That last shot looks like a spar and boom for a boat. Must be for a land yacht.


 
With the MacLean Boom, using two sets of tongs, it was used to load the logs onto the rail cars.




This is a baby set of tongs and weighs around 80 lbs! The man that packed and set these two hundred times a day was in good shape.


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## Lake Girl (Aug 18, 2013)

Looking at these pics reminded me that I have a pretty cool pic of my own - my Great Uncle putting up his bird houses in the 1940s in a park they owned on Lake Erie, ON. Not as tall as the trees you show but you wouldn't get me doing that


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## ScotO (Aug 18, 2013)

Lake Girl said:


> Looking at these pics reminded me that I have a pretty cool pic of my own - my Great Uncle putting up his bird houses in the 1940s in a park they owned on Lake Erie, ON. Not as tall as the trees you show but you wouldn't get me doing that


That's a great pic, Lake Girl.  I love that ladder, and the ingenuity of letting the branch stubs on the trunk of the tree to assist in climbing.  When I 'free climb' pine trees, I use that trick...it's a lot easier on your shins when you can get the spurs out of the tree for a bit.......

one of the only reasons you'll ever hear me say I like cutting pine.....


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## hobbyheater (Aug 18, 2013)

Lake Girl said:


> - my Great Uncle putting up his bird houses in the 1940s in a park they owned on Lake Erie, ON.


 
Thank you for sharing a great picture!


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## Lake Girl (Aug 18, 2013)

Uncle Romaine was a carpenter who built many of the homes in that area.  He renovated my Great Aunt's house on the lake and dug out for the basement by hand - after they sold the park and he was in his 60s.  Used to build his own ribbed boats too.

If I had photos of the wood piles of split wood he stacked at their cottage at Jack Lake near Apsley, Ontario, you would be amazed.  That was after he cleared the cottage site and built the cottage  They stacks were large and a conical shape that kept rain off and no insects without tarps.

When he passed away, my brother's comment was right on - He just didn't look right without his flannel shirt and jeans


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## hobbyheater (Aug 18, 2013)

[quote="Lake Girl, post: 1496005, member: 19696"When he passed away, my brother's comment was right on - He just didn't look right without his flannel shirt and jeans[/quote]

Good heads up! 

In the last forty two years, I have worn a suit three times.  Once for my own wedding and for each of my daughters' wedding.  I am going to put it in my will that I want to go wearing a clean set of work clothes with my suspenders and my hiking boots.


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## Lake Girl (Aug 18, 2013)

Uncle in his "dress" flannel in the house he built at Ashland Park, Lowbanks, ON


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## NortheastAl (Aug 19, 2013)

Allan, you are opening up history to us with these great pics. They are great to look at. Life was hard back then, but they survived.


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## ScotO (Aug 19, 2013)

NortheastAl said:


> Allan, you are opening up history to us with these great pics. They are great to look at. Life was hard back then, but they survived.



Amen!!  And THEY controlled their own destiny, not the government!


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