http://bangordailynews.com/2012/02/...of-all-shapes-styles-and-colors/?ref=comments 4 year old story but still pretty cool IMO.Lots here will find this fascinating. :stacke:
That's the same last name of the family in the show "American loggers". Same area i think as well. Has to be related.
I'm up that way often. If you'd like I can go see him and get lots of photos for you. I'm originally from that area and everyone knows everyone around there. I don't know him personally but know some of the family.
Gerald Pelletier was from Soldier Pond, a couple towns away. He was the founder of the company the show was made on. Hell of a man he was, had the pleasure of working with him a few times. All his boys run the company since he passed. See them quite often around town, I live in the closest place for real business. Pelletier is a more common name than Smith or Brown in the northern half of Maine. They could or could not be related, a lot of them moved from Quebec to Maine eons ago all with the same name. That show and the company is based in Millinockett, that's a good 100 miles from Ashland
Right millinocket. Yea I knew Gerald founded it and the like 6 brothers or whatever ran it. I just saw the Bangor news and was thinking They were same area. Didn't know there was 100 miles between them though.
Is their restaurant still open that they showed them opening the last season it was on? Out of all the logging shows American loggers and swamp loggers were my favorite. I am a forester so this is my thing
They were open on and off since they opened it. It shut down for good last year. That is a very tough area, old mill towns with 2 huge paper mills that shut down several years ago. Millinockett and East Millinockett are bankrupt after that, houses foreclosed and empty everywhere average age is well retired. Only real money coming to town is snowmobile in the winter and people going to Baxter state park. Plus rumors are the crew spent more time at the bar than the woods. Gerald's boys took over before he passed but these days logging is less important than other interests. Markets aren't great, mills are closing fast here. They started an insurance business and started a trailer manufacturing business after Stairs trailers went out. What that show wants people to believe vs. reality makes me not want to watch any of it. My wife is from 20 miles away and her dad was a logger. I had the opportunity to help him out when his logging days were getting short and his body saying it ain't gonna happen anymore. That was early 90s and all hand work. Didn't see much mechanical harvesting Back then. It's a lot safer now. I did love to watch Swamp Loggers though, we just wait until things are frozen solid here. Actually taking a skidder through that muck and not having it disappear is amazing.
Swamp loggers is closer to what I do here. The running on ice and HUGE trailers of wood going to canada on those private back roads just has me shaking my head. Swamp loggers was pretty darn close to reality to my loggers. Yea laying a road out in the swamp is an art. But swamp logging is a speacilty, not all do it and the ones that do are busy, and cover a large area. And now a days many folks don't want to cut hardwood...upland or bottomland. I am in The Sandhills and piedmont mostly so swamp is not really in my working vocabulary. Beaver swamp....maybe?
It's amazing how much we all adapt to surroundings to work in our environment. Running dirt roads on ice is a challenge at first but not as bad as they make it. Not that I have the miles most of them do but I only laid 1 on its side, broke a mirror and cracked the hood. Those huge trailers aren't really so huge. Only a few of them are the extra wide, most have to run the state roads. Our main woods roads are 30 feet wide on average but when you meet a loaded truck they own the road. It would be nice to see the differences first hand and compare. The work my FIL did mostly was terrain work for other contractors. Had 2 skidders. 440 Deere was for the easy stuff and a 540 that had the front half stretched and the arch raised was for the steep stuff nobody wanted, that's my machine now. Anytime you want to go see the North Maine Woods I can spend a few weeks taking you around the areas I know.
I'd enjoy it. I'd love to go to main again sometime and actually see the place. I just went to Kittery for a few hours was all
If your ever down here let me know. Be glad to show you around. I know a few areas around here. Go fishing or hunt whatever is in season. Probably deer since it's in season like 1/4 of the year around here...Esp if you bowhunt.
My daughter plays ASA softball. If they can win a pre qualifier in RI this summer we will go to a tournament down there next year. Over the course of 2 weeks I'll need a break from it for sure and look you up. Any wild pig there? I like shooting them.
Yea we have pigs. Our town actually has a group that moves in and out of town. Town is a loose term. It's 50 closer grouped houses in the country. But there here. I don't have permission from anyone to hunt them though. On the GA side of the lake here I found some sign when looking at some timber that was being cut for a road. My cousins hunt club on The other side of the state is eat up with pigs.
I just saw this post, I am guilty. I last counted in the 900 range, but been quite a while since I counted. That guy sure has some stuff I don't though. Probably 85% of mine are Stihl, and certainly not all 100% complete.
