Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 10, 1963, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg wildlife notebook Chickadee notes Church accent on youth 6 feature articles fiction. Hurist saturday August 10, 1963 second Section pages 19 28 loggers and logging methods have changed out of recognition since the old Days. Why by Edward r. Green the crucial moment in Topping a spar tree Rephey Carousel they Al crawled and sedate folks in the towns and cities heaved sighs of Relief when the seasonal spree ended and the thick muscled hairy chested loggers or Lumberjacks poured Back on trains and coastal steamers to the challenging forests. Those picturesque times Are gone but they Laid the foundations of an Industry which today is so integrated from raw material to finished product that it contributes one out of every three dollars in Canada s Economy. Today s logger is generally a Young or Middle aged family Man with his wife and children comfortable settled in a modern Home in the main Camp. Though the work is still rugged much of it has been lightened by machinery. Sin Gle men have their own rooms comfortable and with every convenience. No More Are they billeted in reeking bunk houses with horses at one end and muzzle loader bunks at the other bunks jammed so closely together that men had to crawl into them from one end and no longer do loggers live on a diet of Salt pork and Beans today a Forest workers get the Best food and plenty of it. Methods of Harvest ing Timber vary in different areas of Canada. The lumber Jack As he is known East of the Rockies would have to learn new tricks before he could become a logger on the Pacific coast and vice versa. The easterner would have to accustom himself to much heavier tools and the Tluck underbrush of Needle Sharp Devil s club and Salal for example. His working season would be year round except on the High Mountain Levels where Snow ten feet and More in depth is common. In the East the Lumberjack can work Only in the Winter because he cannot get into the swamps to largest pulpwood and saw logs until the surface is hardened by Frost and the swarms of Ilies and other insects Are gone. Power equipment is rapidly aking Over the logging operations. But there Are still i Quebec Woods where the ground. And it must have a Good lie so it can be bucked into log lengths and moved to the water. Standing on the Spring boards the swedes saw their first Cut about a third of the Way through the tree. Then the axes come into play. A great notch is chopped out its face sloping towards the spot where the tree is to fal then the springboards a moved and the Back Cut stared. If the loggers have an doubt about where the tre will fall they will use wedge to ease it in the right direction. Theirs is hard Back break ing work but when the tree i finally felled backed into log lengths and moved to water it might be Worth As much a to today in most logging a thrilling report on How s Timber giants Are now being harvested operations the Power Sav makes Short work of the big Gest carry Trees Cutter one Man saws bars up to five removable Han to the head of feet Long. A die is fitted the Blade and two men the saw in the Cut. As French Canadian Crews win Jas saw is deep have nothing to do with machinery and who Are so skilled with axe and Buksaw that their production equals that of machine equipped Crews. And there Are hand loggers in . Too. Their equipment is Power Ful jacks double fitted axes with Long narrow Blades and Long crosscut saws known among loggers As swede fid Dies. Their Camp might be the Cabin of their boat or a tent. Their limit will be a narrow strip on a Mountain Side that slopes Down to tide water too Small an area to be Worth the big logger s while. Let us watch them fall a Douglas fir 200 feet tall. The butt of such a tree May be eight feet thick but the trunk tapers sharply to about a six foot diameter. Since it is easier to Cut six feet than eight our hand loggers will use springboards. A springboard is a carefully selected piece of Edge Grain Wood with a chisel like Hook at one end. Notches Are chopped through the thick bark of the tree into the solid Wood the chisel end of the Board is placed in the notch chisel up Ward. When the Board is step Ped on the chisel takes a firm Start soon to support itself the Trandle is taken off and one Man continues the Cut the saw will operate in any position tilted sideways or upside Down and the tree is Cut As close to the ground As possible. No longer Are Valu Able Board feet of lumber wasted by leaving the thick butt in the ground. Oxen which first were used on the skid roads gave Way to heavy draft horses. It was an inspiring sight to watch 10 or 12 magnificent clydesdales Heads Down and Mains Bob Bing haul a huge log or Sev eral smaller ones. But horses in their turn were replaced by steam donkeys with powerful cables reaching out feet or More which brought the biggest logs smashing and crashing out. Then ground Lead logging As this system was called was replaced by High Lead. With the new method came new skills like choke men rigger slingers and of course the Donkey puncher who instead of a steam engine now ran a because once that top starts to go nothing can Stop it and there is no place for him to Dodge. Moreover the tree might split when it is weakened by the Cut land he could be badly nipped or even trapped when the split snaps shut. Or a puff of wind might upset his calculations and Send with High breaking Strain. The rigger s work is done. But the colourful High rigger like the oxen is horses on his and Way out. Portable ready rigged steel spars now Are being introduced. When ready and the Crew in place the whistle the top falling in the wrong push who might be any direction. Now the top begins to Sway. It looks Small from the ground but it is actually a fair sized where from 16 to 60, or even a girl signals for the main line. It goes singing out and stops Over the felled and bucked Timber. The chokers steel wire Cable with a Knob on one end Are pushed under the log brought around and the Knob slipped into a sliding fitting. The whistle Punk Sig continued of Ekuan tree in itself. The rigger drops his axe which dangles on the end of its rope and clings tightly to the tree for he knows that when the. Top Falls Clear the tree will be forced n the opposite then will whip swaying and shaking. The first part of the rigger s task is now done. The real work is to follow. He sends Down the Light Ine. A steel Pulley and Straw Ine Ca steel line about three eights of an Inch thick Are ent up and the Pulley is made ast to the tree. The other end f the Straw line is on a drum n the Donkey. Tree plates Are sent up and picked into place. These Are partially curved steel plates Vith a Hook on the Bottom to recent the heavy steel Cable rom slipping Down before it Gheens. Heavy Guy lines Are ext sent up and secured and going slingers below fasten be free ends to Green barked pumps. A heavy Bull lock strap is ext then the Bull lock a Uge steel Pulley in a thick casing and the Haulback lock is Hung. Next comes the airline which might be any Here from three quarters of Inch to an Inch and Goth thick then the haul ack five eights to three a High rigger starting up a tree grip and holds a solid working platform. Two or More Spring boards will be used. Merely cutting Down a Forest giant is a problem that would dismay the Layman. But the task is a bigger one than that the tree must fall so it won t1 shatter when it hits the to High rigger is needed when a portable steel spar tree like this one is used. Note the Power cat used of help the truck Over the soft Road. The Clear logged area will later be planted with gasoline or diesel Power unit quarters Inch Tough steel Cable they were All Over shadowed by the King of the Timber workers the High Rig Ger. High Lead logging requires a tall straight tree adjacent to the Road that will used by the trucks. It is called a spar tree and must be top Ped and rigged. This. Is where the High rigger comes in. Besides skill and judgment the High rigger must have considerable strength. He wears climbing gear similar to that out an electric lineman but with much longer spurs to dig deep into the bark. Around his Waist is a wide thick leather Belt securely fastened by safety buckles. A Long steel cored one Inch rope passes through loops attached to the steel rings Are attached to the Belt and from one of them a piece of Light rope is tied to a doubled fitted Faller s axe. He might also carry a Light rope and Pulley. When All is ready the rope is passed around the tree and the free end secured to the Belt by a non slip knot the High rigger gives the rope a flip upwards. He leans Back digs his spurs in and starts to climb. When he is level with the Loop he gives the rope another clip and so continues until he breaches the first limbs. There he uses his axe to Clear the Way. At last he reaches the de sired height and after a care Ful Survey of the. Direction in which the tree is leaning he makes his rope fast and begins to the he must be extra careful taller with a one Man gasoline powered saw begins Cut on a Douglas fir four feet thick. Diesel powered truck hurrying along a Bush Road on its Way to the main Road. No chains Are needed to hold Down the Load of logs ;