I'm a Lumberjack....

Immortalised for so many through the lyrics of Monty Python, it's been interesting to learn about the development of an industry that's come to define the area. 

Photo: a copy from the Samoa cookhouse showing 17 lumberjacks in a redwood cut. 

It was the discovery of gold on the west coast that sparked the dramatic growth of the lumber industry. With people flocking to the west to make their fortune, San Francisco's population grew from c.2000 in 1849 to c.59,000 by 1855, and they needed wood for housing, industry, and sluice boxes to pan gold. 

One of those who made the journey in 1849 was William Carson, a Lumberjack's son from New Brunswick, Canada. He came for gold, but soon found that he could be more successful employing his skills from back home where he'd helped his father to fell ship timber for exportation to Liverpool . By 1854 he was operating the Muley Mill in Eureka, and shipping the first redwood lumber cargo. Cutting and moving trees this size had never been done before. 

The trees were cut by two men with axes and crosscut saws, sometimes taking as long as a week. For the smaller trees, such as 5ft diameter, a good lumberjack could fell it in about 3.5hrs. Once felled, they were stripped of bark, sawed into smaller sections, placed on oiled planks and hauled to the 'skid' road for teams of oxen to drag them to the mills or a landing. 

If sent to landings, boom men formed rafts (that could be up to 100ft x 40ft), and when the tide ebbed the rafts were floated to the mills. If the tide turned before they got to the mill, the Lumber men had to tether the raft to a tree or stump and wait for the next ebb. 

It's incredible that the same felling process is still used today. For instance springboards - shown below in the centre of the photo - a series of these were driven into pockets cut into the side of the tree to be felled, and comprised the platform for two choppers. Often this platform was set well above ground level to avoid twisted grain and fire hollows in the base of the tree. To me this seems like standing on a ski in mid air wielding an axe.... 

As the industry grew, developments in technology enabled logging in previously unreachable areas. 1881 saw the patent of the 'donkey engine', a small steam engine set on skids and attached to a winch, pulled logs with cables. Sometime after 1905 this was then developed into 'high lead logging' where the engines were used to haul logs through the air by suspending cables and pulleys from the top of a tall tree called a spar tree.

This technique was more efficient and allowed cutting on steep slopes and in narrow valleys.... However, the process of moving huge logs through the air above workers' heads also increased the number of industrial accidents!

By this time narrow gauge logging railroads were in use, and trestle bridges dotted the countryside, such as this trestle, built in 1915 across Pudding Creek to transport lumber from Fort Bragg to Eureka. 

Eureka was key to the Lumber trade, and at only 3yrs old it was producing more lumber than any other Pacific area. 

Everything here was built for or with money from the Lumber industry, and there are still many of the ornate buildings. 

William Carson's mansion still stands today. It was built by the Lumber magnate to keep 100 of his workers employed during a slump in industry, and took two years to complete, and is a striking place made of redwood, white mahogany and onyx. 

It is also in Eureka that you can visit the Samoa Cookhouse museum which has old photos and items from the lumberjack trade which shows just how hard a job this must have been. 

These forests have helped define the identities of the Washington and Oregon states (called the Evergreen and Beaver States). However, attitudes towards and uses of the trees have changed dramatically over time, and have been contested and coveted my many groups and individuals. 

Passed in 1891, the Forest Reserves Act authorised the President to establish forest reserves on public lands, one of the primary purposes of which was to protect the area against the effects of deforestation, and was the first step towards trying to make the industry more sustainable. 

It's been fascinating to see the legacy compared to the trade today, and how an industry has defined and shaped an area, for better or for worse. 

Note: just as a little bit of trivia, this wasn't the only time that Canadian knowledge of felling was transported for use in another country. For World War I the Canadian Forestry corps numbered approx. 35,000 Canadians who were brought to the UK and France to cut trees for war materials. This then happened again in World War II when they were nicknamed 'The Sawdust Fusiliers'.