ADKX-tra Credit
ADKX-tra Credit
012 - Work in the Woods: Logging
Work in the Woods: Logging
Introductory Segment
Logging is the harvesting of trees for the purpose of using the wood. It’s also called the lumber industry. Logging was once the largest industry in the Adirondack region.
This episode will introduce you to logging in the Adirondack Mountains in the 1800s. There is a lot of information about logging and the lumber industry.
- Types of trees
- What each type was used for.
- Tools used long ago and now.
The list goes on and on. Today, I’m going to tell you about the logging process throughout the year.
TRANSITION - ADKX Podcast Intro - Ready to earn some extra credit? You are listening to ADKX-tra Credit, a podcast for students about the history of the Adirondack Mountains and the people that have lived, worked, and played here. The Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, is located in the heart of the Adirondack Park of New York State.
CONTENT
Before industrialization and the creation of man-made materials, wood was the most basic building material. It was used for nearly everything. It was used to build houses, barns, wagons, boats, and furniture. Also for household items like bowls, tool handles, backpack frames, barrels, baskets, boxes. All sorts of things. Of course, it's still used for lots and lots of items. Early North American settlers believed it to be an inexhaustible natural resource. They thought there was no end to the supply of trees. By 1850 people were beginning to realize that without changes to the industry the environment would be permanently damaged.
TRANSITION - music or sounds
For the logging industry the year started in the summer. That’s when cutting begins. Crews of men (yes, logging was done exclusively by men back then. Women were considered too fragile to be lumberjacks!). Anyway, crews of men entered the woods and the process of clearing the chosen area of usable trees began. Trees were chopped down by men using axes. No electric or gas-powered machinery. Those types of tools didn’t come along until 1930 or so. The ax was the only tool for cutting trees until 1890.
TRANSITION - music
Another important job that was done in the summer was getting ready for the next step in the process. The camp foreman organized crews to build camps for the workers to live in and trails; called skidways, for skidding the logs.
In the fall they continued to cut trees. They also stacked and skidded the trees that had already been cut. Skidding means moving the logs from one point to another by having oxen or horses drag them. The giant logs they were cutting were very heavy. Too heavy for people to pick up and carry
TRANSITION - another voice
We worked from before 5 a.m. until 8 p.m., and $2.50 was top wage, with four meals a day. When it rained or snowed we would stand with our backs against a tree and sop up our beans, with snowflakes or rain water, being wet to our necks. It was so cold our teeth would chatter, so we hardly had to chew the food. Sometimes a lunch carrier would get lost, which was often the case. Then the men tending out would go eight and ten hours without anything to eat.
Quoted from “A North Country Chronicle” December 31, 1955.
TRANSITION -
The cutting, stacking, and skidding went on for as long as possible into the winter. The more logs a company had the more money they could make when they sold them to a lumber mill.
Once the snow was deep enough they began hauling loads of logs. Lumberjacks loaded logs from the skidway onto sleds and hauled them to the banking ground. That's the spot next to the frozen lake, pond, or river where the logs were piled waiting for the spring thaw. It was hard work in a very cold, snowy environment. But, the winter weather of the Adirondacks was a benefit to the lumbermen. The snow covered roads were scraped, smoothed, then iced. That’s right, they made the roads icy on purpose! A vehicle called a sprinkler wagon sprinkled water onto the snowy roads. That water turned to ice in the cold temperatures. The wagons full of heavy logs had runners instead of wheels. So, the ice roads made it easier for the horses to pull them.
TRANSITION - sounds or music
Spring was the time for the big log drive. As soon as the ice went out on the lakes, holding ponds, and rivers the lumbermen released the logs downstream to the mills. Log driving began in the Adirondacks about 1813 and didn’t end until around 1950. It was rough, dangerous work to drive logs down the river. Rivers are high and fast in the spring. Millions of logs would be rushing down this fast water to the mills. The workers; called river drivers, used long poles to keep the logs moving along.
Sometimes the logs would jam, that means they would get snagged and pile up. The jam needed to be broken up so that the logs could continue to the mill. Breaking up a log jam was highly dangerous. Crews would get into a small boat and go into the river to break up the jam. An experienced driver could usually find and pull out the key log that would release the jam. Imagine it like playing pick-up sticks or Jenga only you want everything to move instead of staying in place. If they couldn’t find the key log they would use dynamite to blow up the jam!
TRANSITION - another voice?
From an article in Godey’s Magazine in 1896 about lumbering in the Adirondacks.
“The gang of choppers and loggers in the camp make up a money crowd. They are all sorts and conditions of men, and of different nationalities. Canadian-French, Norwegians, Swedes, Irish-Americans, and Vermont Yankees are represented. The pioneer work of the lumbermen makes them what they are - rough, uncultivated, reckless and daring at all times. You will find them on the whole a bold independent and manly set of fellows, although rude in their manners, rough in their habits and coarse in conversation. That big, warm hearts beat beneath woolen shirts is shown when the hat is passed for a brother in distress. These and other acts of sympathy and kindness make men brothers far a’ that.”
TRANSITION -
Logging is still an important industry in the Adirondacks and elsewhere. But, many things have changed since the 1800s. Clear cutting is not a sustainable practice. Clear cutting means taking down every tree in an area. In the 1960s and 1970s safety became a priority. The tools used in the trade are now power-driven machinery. The days of the axe and horse are over.
The changes have transformed the early woodsman from a man with an axe to an industrial worker wearing a hardhat and armed with an array of machinery.
TRANSITION - ADKX Podcast conclusion - Thank you for joining us for an episode of ADKX-tra Credit. This podcast is brought to you by Adirondack Experience, the museum on Blue Mountain Lake. Our mission is to expand understanding of Adirondack history and the relationship between people and the Adirondack wilderness, fostering informed choices for the future. If you want to learn more fun Adirondack history visit our website theadkx.org