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TYPICAL LUMBER CAMP

From interviews conducted by Mike Scott

An attempt will be made now to portray a typical lumber camp as it existed shortly after the beginning of the twentieth century, the personnel required to operate such an establishment and some of the customs of the industry. After selecting a site with an eye to the relative level topography and the proximity of a suitable water supply construction of the several buildings was started. Building material consisted almost exclusively of rough, green lumber which as the hot days of summer wore on, began to warp and shrink until cracks opened up through which the lumberjacks claim a cat might be thrown. Sometimes, but not always, these cracks were covered with strips. The more elite camps might even be covered on the exterior of the buildings with tar paper, the only insulation available at that time. The camp complex consisted of an office building normally housing a sparse commissary stocked only with bare essentials, such as Copenhagen, various brands of tobacco and a few items of clothing. A short distance away was the cookhouse and dining hall, and arranged in a row were sufficient bunkhouses to provide living quarters for the crew. These structures might house as many as 40 men with double wooden bunks arranged along each wall. The raucous snoring of two score lumberjacks was often loud enough to cause the roof to undulate rhythmical. Also by Saturday night an order might permeate the vicinity as Sunday was bath and wash day for the jacks.

As close as possible to the bunkhouse sat the privy with as many seats as necessary. Beside the comfort station, a bath and wash house existed, usually pretty much abandoned except on the Sabbath when the men scrubbed their bodies and washed their apparel. In the earlier camps water for these chores was heated on a wood burning stove and the jacks furnished their own forerunner of Duz. Also close at hand was an ample tool shed where paraphernalia incidental to logging was stored. Under this roof could be found grinding tools and racks where axes and saws were sharpened daily. A blacksmith's shop with its forge, anvil and other accouterments was a vital facility as it was here that the numerous draft horses were shod and various special tools were fabricated by the smithy, usually an artful tradesman.

At the edge of the camp was the largest building of the complex, the horse barn. Insofar as possible it was adjacent to an adequate water supply for the animals and contained space for hay and grain to sustain the draft horses. The animals, furnishing the power required to move logs during the early days of logging, were prized possessions of the owners. Costing a minimum of $500 per team, the animals were carefully tended, often receiving better treatment than the humans who labored in the camp. In order to be effective the stock had to be large and powerful, ranging from 1,700 to 2,400 pounds apiece.

The Logging Personnel

At the helm was a man of considerable vision. He was certainly a gambler and of necessity innovative because he employed such means as donkey engines, steam tractors, flumes, chutes, railroads, etc., that frequently proved more expensive than practical. As far as the actual labor force was concerned, it consisted primarily of unmarried men who spent their lives in the camps with the exceptions of trips to the town for the purpose of "blowing in." This process entailed the spending of the wages that had accrued. This pattern usually consisted of slaking a thirst, indulging in gambling games, most of which were rigged or seeking feminine companionship.

The owner usually employed a foreman and several straw bosses to oversee the efforts of the crews. These were generally experienced woodsmen who had responsibility of laying out the work. The actual work was done by a variety of specialists:

Sawyers worked in two-man crews and felled the trees and sawed them into 16' and 18' lengths, using a crosscut saw for the purpose. Such saws or 'fiddles' as the lumberjacks called theme were five to six feet in length and were operated solely by manpower until the 1940s when Husqvarna and McCulloch devised a means of motorization that produced more in a given time than two husky Scandinavians could generate. For their efforts they received $1.00 per thousand board feet, or sometimes they were paid 25 cents a log. In some operations an axe man or swamper was assigned to each saw crew to do the limbing and clearing job. Logs were then measured by a scaler and it was on his records that the sawyers were paid.

Two-horse teams were used to pull the logs to the mill, riverbank or a collecting point. To prevent long, laborious and expensive movement of the logs, small sawmills were often installed close to the cutting area. The horses were driven by men called teamsters or "skinners." In their own opinion, the skinners were the elite of the crewmen and were paid a little extra for the additional time they worked caring for the big animals.

Operations where the logs had to be hauled or decked along the riverbanks required additional workers such as top loaders, men to guide the timber as it was rolled via a cross haul team and decking line, into position on the load or deck. In some cases a jammer was used, employing a long boom and a forked cable with hooks to fasten to the end of the log. The guys doing this type of handling were called "hookers."