Oregon Logging

Hand Logging

Art & Words by
HOWARD B. TAYLOR

“Swiftly upon the heels of the hydro-loggers came the hand loggers. These had to choose the trees which could be fallen on the ground and bucked in such a way that they could be rolled into the water.

They would jack a log and secure it by blocking. Then they would reset the jack and this time, perhaps, lift it over a stump or obstruction to where it could roll on into the water.

They could have cut low stumps and saved a lot of jacking. This would have increased the cost of falling. Then the stump would have been bucked off as their mill could not saw the pitchy, cross-grained stump and could not sell the lumber anyway.

These people not only profited by an abundance of resources, they also were the victims of circumstance and had employed as much intelligence as muscle. Can we, ourselves, say as much?” – written by Howard B. Taylor