Western Logging Then.. and Now

Date1950s

AbstractFootage of loggers chopping down a tree using hand saws and axes and oxen pulling the downed tree to show what logging was like in the late 1800s. A shot of photos in a photo album entitled History of Western Logging showing logging equipment from around the turn of the 20th century. Footage of tractors and a revolving steam shovel from the era in action. Footage of railroad workers building tracks out of logs and being fed rails by a large crane moving along the tracks. Footage of tractors hauling logs. Footage of logs being moved down and unloaded from a greased chute. Footage of a log flume. Footage of a logging bummer in use. Footage of logs going down a dry gravity chute into a river and being moved along by river drivers. Footage of logs being loaded onto bummers and trailers and hauled by tractors. Footage of a hydraulic, high wheeled trailer and a self-loading, arched trailer with a winch. Footage of logs being unloaded from arched trailers by a crane and measured. Shots of a modified arched trailer. Footage of tractors with double drum winches and a drag scraper in action. Footage of early model bulldozers, diesel tractors and accompanying equipment hauling logs, clearing roads and felling trees. Footage of logging tractors and equipment from the middle of the 20th century at work in the forest, at a saw mill and in the water. This film is Reel 19 of the the Richard Hale Collection.