Loading logs on a truck Russian style

all i can say is...i sure am glad he had a helper telling him when to stop..!!
 
Someone needs to tell them that they need a logging truck for logging, and use the dump truck for Dump Truckin'.
 
Hill folks have the reputation of making do with what they have like this. I have seen loggers in this area "engineer" machinery to get logs to the mill.
 
Hill folks have the reputation of making do with what they have like this. I have seen loggers in this area "engineer" machinery to get logs to the mill.

My home and property is situated on a river where logs were taken to the river in the 1800's to float 25 miles downstream to the mills. Even though there was lots of activity here over 100 years ago, there is little evidence that it ever happened. I found 1 inch and 2 inch diameter wire cables buried in the sod out in the field that is now my yard, likely used for skidding the logs down to the landing on the river.

In the neighbor's pasture there are some bits of an old sawmill where the cedar logs were cut into bolts for shakes.

Everything else is long gone.
 
Up here in the hills there were many "Ground Hog Sawmills' back years ago. A mill could be put up in a short time. In the old days loggers used mule & horse teams to skid logs out of the woods. Much of the mill was built out of scrap steel. The men back in those days were true engineers. Many times forklifts were made from old bus or truck chassis. If you told one of those men something couldn't be done they would prove you wrong.
 
Up here in the hills there were many "Ground Hog Sawmills' back years ago. A mill could be put up in a short time. In the old days loggers used mule & horse teams to skid logs out of the woods. Much of the mill was built out of scrap steel. The men back in those days were true engineers. Many times forklifts were made from old bus or truck chassis. If you told one of those men something couldn't be done they would prove you wrong.

It is always interesting to learn about the history of where we live.

Here are a few pictures from the late 1800's and early 1900's showing logging, mining and one of the local town streets.'

A gas powered "bus" that ferried workers from Granite Falls to the mines at Monte Christo. Back then the only way in and out was via rail. Today the rails are gone, replaced by a (mostly) paved road that goes to Barlow Pass. The road to Monte Christo is gated now, and gets washed out frequently by flooding and avalanches in the winter. The railroad grade is a trail now, accessible on either side of the South Fork of the Stillaguamish river. The trail on the South side is about 4 or 5 miles, and passes the Lime Kiln. The trail on the North bank runs through the Robe Valley, and is also about 5 miles long. In many other areas the railroad grade is covered over by the Mount Loop Highway.


A one log load.


Downtown Granite Falls, 1940's I think.


The Granite Falls train station, 1900.


One of the mines at Monte Christo.


The Mount Loop highway continues to Darrington from Barlow Pass, and is gravel/dirt. A really nice drive in the summer. We used to take it in the winter with Jeeps, in the snow. Not a drive for the meek, it often involved everyone getting out and digging the Jeeps out of snow 4, 5 or even 6 feet deep, and excessive use of the bumper mounted winches.

Lots of whiskey was consumed on those drives!
 
[Russian loggers find an innovative way to load up heavy logs with their truck's tire and a metal pole. This ingenious method saves a lot of manpower but it probably doesn't make up for the gas wasted.]

Whoever the hell wrote that snarky comment never had to try to manhandle those bigass logs. Wasting gas would be the last thing on his mind.
 
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