So glad we took the kids out to see them a few years back. Impressive as all get out! And don't believe 99lbs when she tells the story that every time we stopped to view some or walk on a foot trail that i started up a chain saw and revved it up for about a minute....
Every time I see that video, I cringe at how short the distance it is from where the guy is swinging his axe and where the rope is. If that was me and with my severe lack of swinging accuracy......
One older guy in town observed me splitting chunks as he rode by one day. Then at the post office, he said when he was a kid, his Dad used to call him lightning when he split wood. Not because he was fast, because he never hit the same spot twice!
great video. can't say that i think i could hold my own back then. those guys were tough. i can see a couple OSHA violations here and there.....somewhere i have a diary of a great uncle who worked in a saw mill here in ohio and i believe he earned a quarter a day!
i have been wondering about all that lumber. i am curious about the cost of a board foot then versus now. i would love to have a bundle of that old cut lumber, like those first cut slabs! what are they 4-5 ft wide?
Interesting old film. It is one of the few I have ever seen on logging that is actually older than I am, but only by a year or so. If you have never been to King's Canyon or Sequoia National Park you owe it to yourself to at least go see these Big trees just once. I was there in the early 70s and was very impressed. Even an old Doug Fir can get big if it is allowed to grow under good conditions. Think about the progress in tools from then to now. At a few points in that film they were using a mechanical reciprocating saw that I assume was run by steam but may have been connected to an engine through a crankshaft to make a back cut. The saw itself looked like a misery whip blade adapted to run on an external power source. You have to love what they called a topping cut being performed at a point that was at least 30 inches in diameter.
