The Glory Days Of Firewood 2

[hobbyheater]

In the proceeding post I featured some pictures of a nice logging truck load of firewood. The load in these pictures show some very nice old growth Douglas fir logs from the same cut block. These off highway loads are not as big as you would see in other logging operations. These loads had to be balanced with a lower center of gravity as they were transferred to a railway car to travel the final 60 miles to tide-water, on what I believe to be the last operational privately owned logging railway in North America. The log loader pictured is the one that I used to load these logs. Hope these pictures are not out of bounds for content.
Allan

 

[woodchip]

Really interesting pictures.

Makes me realise the value of a standing tree, and what it has to sell for after all the equipment is used to get it to it's destination.

Bit similar to firewood today....... ;-)

 

[raybonz]

Wow those are huge trees! Kind of sad to see such giants taken down..

Ray

 

[hilly]

I love the pics. There certainly aren't many of those logs being taken out now. Where are they taken?

 

[Fi-Q]

This is Timber ! Love it ..... I will dig and try to post some..... One of my great Uncle was lumbing on the Vancouver ISland just before WW2 and the picture were cray.......

 

[basswidow]

Wow. Amazing pics

 

[blacktail]

Ya don't see timber that big getting cut anymore. I pass a lot of logging trucks on my way to work and anything over about 24" looks big now.

 

[hobbyheater]

[quote author="woodchip" date="1322223902"]Really interesting pictures.

Makes me realise the value of a standing tree, and what it has to sell for after all the equipment is used to get it to it's destination.

You are right the equipment was very expensive. The loader, " 075 Madil " was worth over a million CDN in 1992! The loader weighed just over 100 tons, and had the same drive train as a large off highway logging truck. The rectangular tubes you see extending beyond the end of the boom is known as a Snorkel that increased reach so that the machine could yard and load logs all in one motion. In some cases, I could reach logs that are 150' from the road with no need of assistance of a ground crew. This snorkel had 2 sections. The outer section as seen is extended but could be retracted for situations where you did not need the extra reach. The bridge deck is 16 ft. wide that the loader is pictured crossing. If you had lots of patience and good hand eye coordination, this was a fun job. A really big Nintendo game.

Allan

 

[hobbyheater]

Ya don't see timber that big getting cut anymore. I pass a lot of logging trucks on my way to work and anything over about 24" looks big now.

The picture of the logging truck going down hill is now considered to be bigger wood now. The view of the load from the loader is typical. The three pictures of big loads are: the picture perfect load with the real nice logs is the company picnic parade in Woss, BC - 1990 and the 2 pictures of loads with the big cedars was taken in 1985.

Allan

 

[hobbyheater]

I love the pics. There certainly aren't many of those logs being taken out now. Where are they taken?

I think at that time they went to a sawmill in New Westminster, BC. It could cut these big logs. I'm not sure if that mill exists anymore.
Allan

 

[Capt]

Awesome pics! Thanks for sharing!

 

[hobbyheater]

I love the pics. There certainly aren't many of those logs being taken out now. Where are they taken?

Nimpkish Valley, Northern Vancouver Island.

Allan

 

[Gasifier]

Very cool and interesting pics Allan. Thank you for sharing. And keep them coming.

 

[hilly]

I've only been to the north island once. It's difficult to understand how big the island is until you drive from Campbell River to Port McNeill. There are just hours of nothing but trees. It is such beautiful territory up there!

 

[Thistle]

Wonderful pictures.Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[Blue2ndaries]

Allan, here are some pics of some of the logs from our lot clearing. Nowhere near the big daddys from your pics. I've also tried to embed a vid of one of the doug firs coming down.

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[Backwoods Savage]

hobbyheater, when I was a sawyer I used to dream about what it would be like sawing those type of logs. A dream for sure. Lots of lumber from one log. Thanks for posting.

 

[hobbyheater]

[quote author="Blue2ndaries" date="1322891160"]Allan, here are some pics of some of the logs from our lot clearing. Nowhere near the big daddys from your pics. I've also tried to embed a vid of one of the doug firs coming down.


That is some very impresive second growth, very high quality. I see one really big fir in the deck waiting to be loaded.

Allan

 

[Blue2ndaries]

That is some very impresive second growth, very high quality. I see one really big fir in the deck waiting to be loaded.

Allan

I think I mentioned that we had one huge fir which the faller believed was 2nd growth, easily 4 feet in diameter. We also were fortunate to have several loads of "export grade" that went to Japan. We got a few more $ for those loads.

 

[hobbyheater]

hobbyheater, when I was a sawyer I used to dream about what it would be like sawing those type of logs. A dream for sure. Lots of lumber from one log. Thanks for posting.

These pictures will mean something to a sawyer. I will send them in three sets so I can explain the pictures. Myself I spent the first 10 years of my life in a small sawmill town on the BC coast that was only accessible by steamer or by some really strange looking airplanes. My father was the steam engineer at this small mill. These pictures were taken in the mid 50's. The most modern piece of machinery in this mill was a 1915 planner.
Pictured is the freighter, Catala, that called once a week. The company's boat, the Gikumi, can seen bringing a two section log tow into the Cove and the shack in the middle of the booming ground is a drag saw that cut the logs to the desired lengths before they would be dragged up the slipway into the mill. The log on the slipway was typical of what the mill would cut, and of course that is me in the picture on the log!

Allan

 

[hobbyheater]

["Backwoods Savage" when I was a sawyer I used to dream about what it would be like sawing those type of logs. A dream for sure. Lots of lumber from one log.

The mill primarily cut railway ties and bridge timbers for a local logging company's railway. That logging railway still operates today! The portion of the log that did not make ties or timbers made some very nice lumber as seen in the lumber yard. In the picture of the lumber yard and mill operating, you will notice the 45 gallon drum of water on the mill roof. These were for fire protection as the mill roof was board and batten construction. The picture is of me and the dog on the lumber cart with the bridge timber. These carts could be maneuvered by hand to where the timbers could be loaded onto the company scow.

Allan

 

[hobbyheater]

"Backwoods Savage" when I was a sawyer I used to dream about what it would be like sawing those type of logs. A dream for sure. Lots of lumber from one log.

These pictures feature a picture of the company boat, Gikumi, taking a load of lumber to a customer. The other picture shows the mill, slipway, log booms and the mill's scow. Above the scow, on the dock, is a gin pole set used to load the scow. It had a hand winch for loading. As I said earlier, the most modern piece of equipment in this mill was the 1915 planner.

Allan

 

[woodchip]

Wow, these pictures really are amazing, thanks so much for sharing.

These really were the glory days, nice that you have the photographs and the memories

 

[raybonz]

HH those are some great pics! Those old sawmills were some dangerous places to work and many men lost fingers. limbs and life.. Like woodchip said those pics are rather historical of the glory days gone by.. Thanks for posting!

Ray