I live right smack in the middle of the 'Tongass National Forest', an area of 17 million acres of mostly old growth timber, on over 1,000 islands. Logging here started way back in the 1902's, and eventually progeressed through the 60's, 70's and 80's pretty much OK. In the early 1990's, under the Clinton Administration, the US Forest Service cut off the timber sales supply, and our two big pulp mils closed in 1997. We are so far from anywhere, that without the mills here there became no mills/market close enough to make it feasable to transport. BC was fairly close, but has a ready-supply of closer, therefore cheaper logs. The loggers left, and left their equipment behind for the most part. The USFS wanted all the equipment gone, so some loggers drove all of thier gear into rock pits and buried it under overburden. Others loaded thier barges to the gills, towed thier spreads out to international waters, and set charges to blast/sink the barges full of equipment. But some remains. Actually, ALOT remains. Sitting, rusting, all over the Tongass. Too far and expensive to move, even high scrap prices in Seattle werent enough to cover transport costs. One logger sent 8 Madill 009's to Seattle to auction at a freight cost of about $ 15,000.00 each. They brought $ 5,000.00 each at auction. Didnt take long for word to spread, and soon everyonewas running from thier iron as fast as they could. Buried, burned, or sunk was better than a loss like that. Anyway, I have a few thousand pics of this gear up here. I will post a few in this new thread for your enjoyment I suppose.
In spite of being surrounded by all this old iron, I like it here. Love it here actually. I can go out in the morning and see glaciers, bears, goats, bald eagles everywhere. Occasionally, they are even perched on an old yarder. No better place on the planet.
Winter is the best time for this- without the leaves, you know.
West Coast Yarder, just like the Rygaard's on 'Axe Men'. Wonder if they need a parts machine? Also- the factory sales brochure so you can see it new. Rusting south of Wrangell now, along with alot of other iron at an old campsite.
South Wrangell Island, in an obscure rock pit, an old logging camp has been abandoned completely. And the ghosts of big timber haunt the area........ The loading shovels are big- Liebherr 965HD's, the yarder is a Skagit GT5C, and there are 2 IH 560 Payloaders with log forks there.
North of Ketchikan, trucks are grouped in an old sort yard area.
A bunch of trucks here. 'Soelstra Bros, Forks Wa' on that green door there. Another has an 'ITT Rayonier, Clallam Bay' sticker on it. Pretty Neat.
Moss, Rust, and Logging Trucks. I like it.
Weyerhauser '12 Road' truck #420- survived Mt St Helens blow-up, and assisted in the salvage effort there, only to die a slow death in the Tongass rain.
Kenworth C500 tractor and lowbed, ex-Weyerhaeuser, with a mobile fuel tank on it. Big and ugly, near Ward Cove, Alaska. Current owner unknown....
Ex Weyerhaeuser C500's in the old Whitestone camp south of Hoonah.
Paystar 5000 Rock Trucks at Whitestone.
Hayes HD at Hoonah, rusting in weeds. Reads 'R.H. Valentine Logging' on the doors, with a faded number '216'. These were cool trucks in their day.
Ex- Louisian-Pacific Truck, Pacific brand. 'LP' owned 'KP', or Ketchikan Pulp, in its final years of operation. This truck belongs to a small contractor who pulls an off-road lowbed around Hoonah with it. Not abandoned, but very cool.
Cool pics, thanks for sharing.
Old Equipment at Whale Pass, northern Prince of Wales Island. I took these pics about 3 weeks ago. Lots of old gear around up there yet. Familiar Washington names on most of it too, 1,000 mile northof Washington!
More Whale Pass.
so this is just sitting there rotting away? oh the humanity.... Id love to have something like that closer to me!!! that 490 deere isnt that old, figure that would still be worth something!
Great stuff/pictures. Thanks for sharing information and pictures. Sad to see all that rusty equipment. Sure if I was there I surely would spent days enjoying the equipment, nature, animals, etc. I did not know that so much equipment were parked up there. Quite a few Hayes HD as well. Keep up your great work. Looking forward to see more.
It seems like some of those trucks have Mack rearends under them even though they are not macks,can that be so?Great pics,great history that many of us would never know.Thanks.Ron G
Exceptional pictures Contract Logger, Glad that you have chosen to take along a camera on your many journeys around the Panhandle. It's easy to see way all this equipment is still laying around, just kind of sad. Please keep posting more and more pictures. I personally really enjoy seeing them. As a young man living in Anchorage, I remember watching Rogers & Babler Bros. uncover a complete track mounted concrete mixer while digging for fill material in an old Beck-Norcoast yard. Made many a trip to gold mining country, lot's of equipment left rusting there as well. That was quite an impressive display of model logging equipment on your other post. You got serious talent, and lot of time invested. Thanks again for all the great pictures. John
I would love to spend a day poking through places like that,or many days.Some day I will find my "B" mack like that.Found an LT inEnumclaw Wa. one time,just didnt have a place to put it!Please keep the pics flowing!
Thanks for the pics and the history lesson Logger. Makes me sick to think about all the people our government put out of work just to save a bunch of dead and dying "old growth"
Old growth timber is just like all that equipment- the older it gets the less it is worth. Even in the logging heyday here, the old growth cutting yeilded darn little good saw or board material-it stands there rotten or dying, it is mushy low-value pulp wood. Great for paper, but little value otherwise. The areas that were logged over the years are now producing some of the finest stands of hemlock and spruce you have ever seen- all natural regen as no replanting was ever done up here. Our earth and its resources are amazing, the problem is human nature, stewardship, and laziness. Sureley we are inteligent enough to manage this resource better than we have been. I am very pro-logging. And I am very pro-environment. I am not anti-government, but they cnnot effectivley manage anything well it seems. Not even my post office or DMV, LOL. Anyway, I wasnt blaming Government or even Bill Clinton, it just gets frustrating when I have so much faith in people and common sense-- that we can manage without destruction. Our predecessors just couldnt/wouldnt figure out how, and we pay for it today with no timber jobs on the Tongass. They were either too greedy, to lazy, or both. Enough politics, back to the equipment pictures! Thanks for listening.
Bears. There is one very real problem I have with exploring abandoned areas looking for/at equipment: Bears are curious. And they are everywhere- including in my front yard sometimes. Anyway, I never wanted to be a 'Wildlife Photagrapher', but I have become one out of circumstance rather than desire. Often I'll go looking for an old Madill yarder someone told me about, and come home with 30 or so yarder pics and about 350 bear pics. I dont carry a weapon, never have. Most people here dont, as bears arent dangerous, just curious. They follow you like a puppy through the woods. People who havent been around bears tend to feel stalked or hunted, so they get scared or run, and its all over then. Just like a cat, the faster you go the faster they chase. Instinct takes over by now, and you have made yourself prey. Very bad scenario. Bears and other wildlife are a HUGE part of my rusty equipment hobby, so I will sprinkle some wildlife pics in this thread if its OK by Steve and everyone else. The thrill I get when I find an old yarder on a spur road is intense, and the thrill I get meeting a 900 pound brownie on my way back to the pickup is equally intense. Fortunately, I have lots of pics of both! Bears dont scare me anymore. Wolves still do. Here are some bears from my neighborhood. Most of these I took on equipment expeditions.
Those last two shots are at an old log yard in Yakutat. People throw trash around there and the bears were everywhere. The ranger has been tracking them and says he has 13 individual bears in that area he watches. As you can see, this big boy is in the thousand pound range. I took about 75 pics of him, and he seemed to love the attention. OR, he thought I was gonna dump garbage maybe........ Shame on people for this.
People suck. They leave trash all over and bears come running. This is logging related, cause it an old yard and there were a bunck of rusting pieces there that day, just wanted to show you what i have to deal with to get these pics.
Driving 15 miles out of town to dump your trash must be easier that paying a $5.00 dump fee. Never made any sense to me either, given the costof gas up here. Idiots.
Back to equipment.
Skagit GT5D Yarder, rusting in a rock pit near Whale Pass. This was a big grapple yarder, and very majestic in its heyday of the 1970's. This would be a fun model project I think. Big and heavy,just the way we like them.
Same rock pit as above. This is a Washington TL6 and was the loading shovel for the GT5D above no doubt. I have no idea who owns all this stuff, but given the state of the bridges on either end of the pit, these machines will never leave this place in one piece. The pickup coming in here made me nervous on one of them. These machines would collapse them and be lost in the canyon for sure.
Logging gear at the old Klawock sort yard. Lots of gear around here doing nothing. I have alot of pics taken here you wil enjoy I hope. Never have seen any bears here, though........
More Klawock Alaska area. This gear is more modern- from the 80's.
Klawock round 3.
That Barko 475 there wasa good machine- mounted on a Cat 235 bottom as you can see. Check out the piece of concrete parking curb added to the Komatsu PC300 counterweight- talk abou 'might be a redneck' counterweight, lol. They actually built brackets and bolted it in there..........
'We Be Log'n'! This is a Bucyrus Erie 30B I think, not completely sure. It does have the newer 'highwalker' undercarriage, but alot of older machines were retro-fitted to this style. Anyway, its a cool machine, parked at the old sort yard shop there in Klawock.
Lots of old rucks left to rot away there also.
More old logging trucks. Pics taken Jan 2010. Little or no value here. These newer trucks wouldnt fetch $2,000.00 at auction, and it costs $3,000 to get then to Seattle from here. Larry Derry is the owner, and he has about 20 trucks parked around the island. Someone said he was retired, in Idaho now.
More Klawock pics. That TMY45 Thunderbird is a neat little yarder, I was told the engine was blown up, and that it was not worth fixing.
its funny when i joined this forum i all ways went to the excavator section first because thats what i do for a living . but now every day first thing i do is come to the Forestry section to get the next installment .i hope or would like to get up there one day to look around. its the history that fascinates me the most how and what it was done with and thanks to your photos what it look like. THANK YOU and please keep it coming
Here we have a magnificent machine. Sold new in 1985 to Sapp Brothers Logging of Alsea Oregon. Came to Alaska in the early 1990's and logged a bit out of Craig for Phoenix. This machine new, if available today would cost a mllion and a half or more. She was a wonder to watch in her day, with a 110' tower and 7 gulines she could easily hang out 5,000 feet with 1 1/4" skyline. The woman who owns this wants $300,000.00 I am told, and the last one sold at auction that I know of brought $100,000.00. So here she sits, dying in the weeds.
More of TY9044. This machine was featured on the cover of the Thunderbird TY90 Sales Brochure through the late 80's and 90's. Wish I had that to post here. She was a beautiful sight all rigged up and logging, brand new.
More Klawock.
Bones of many beasts.
Hopfully I am not boring you guys, but the parts and pieces left behind intrigue me. And there are lots of them.
Any Euclid or Terex dozer rusting away Contract Logger, I seen about every brand of excavator built. I always found Alaska to be a good place to see Terex, and Euclid dozers. Evans engine and equipment use to bring up lot's of them as cheap dozers for the placer mines. I also see they were popular for yarders mounts. Thanks, John
Bones, con't.
Most of the equipment sold into Alaska was sold sight unseen, so lots of gear came up that was unfamiliar to those buying it, based purely on the description given over the phone by some salesman. Wasnt always the best. In Southeast, I havent run into to many Terex/Euclid producs. Doesnt mean they arent here, maybe I just haven found them. People are always telling me where stuff was left, but many of those locations are helicopter access only (mountainous canyon with road systems washedout long ago. I have seen many pieces from the air, in passing over on my way someplace else. Many of the old camps just have no road access anymore. Fly-in only, and when you get there, WOW, look at all the equipment, you think.
I was told of an island West of Craig somewhere that is rumored to be loaded with old yarders. Several people have told me this, but short of hiring a pilot for a day and just flying a search pattern, what do you do? I can't afford it. If I ever won a lottery......
Klawock junk.
Man a live what a shame ! I would give anything to have a few piles of that iron laying out back Is there salt from the ocean in the air or something ? Seem's like things are rusting up so fast. Pretty sad when you think about it all
Old log sorting area near Yakutat Alaksa. Amazing the amount of wood left behind to rot there. Locals have been cutting some up for firewood it looks like.
Salt air yes. Southeast Alaska is made up of over 1000 islands, surrounded by saltwater. Pacific Ocean to the Southwest, Gulf of Alaska to the Northwest. Good for halibut fishing, but bad for equipment preservation. Plus, it rains 200 inches a year, that doesnt help.
Here are some various ariel shots so you can see the lay of the land. Island logging operations, isolated, rain all summer (in 100's of inches), snow all winter (in feet) mostly. Gorgeous on a clear day though. Lots of old equipment parked around. The last 2 are at Icy Bay, a closed camp, but there are University of Alaska research people who stay out there and monitor moose, bear, and such things. The tracks you see are from them.
Old equipment of all types at Hoonah, in the Sealaska sort yard there.
Whitestone Camp scrap pile. Grapples, gravity carriages, log trailers.......
Whitestone in the springtime- tires, tracks, and trailers.
And there's alot of stuff left there at Whitestone.
Whitestone trucks.
I never get bored of these pics. every pic i look at i think of what it would of looked like new and shiny. thanks for the pics
Whitestone trucks continued. These trucks run OK, there just isnt any work.
Whitestone. This is on Chichagof Island, Southeast Alaska.
More Whitestone.
Equipment near Ketchikan. Link-Belt 5800 roadbuilder with Jewell clamshell bucket, and Mack DM600 and DM800 rock trucks.
Machinery at Ketchikan. Link-Belt excavators, Skagit 739 yarder, and the barge used to move it all around. The floating logging camp is visible on the other side of the bay, above the yarder in the second to the last pic.
Detail shots of the Skagit 739 yarder with 110' tower.
Giant Kenworth truck and 16-wheel 150-Ton lowbed trailer. Used to belong to Ketchikan Pulp Co, now a local contractor owns but rarely uses it. Ketchikan area, same location as above equipment. This thing is a monster.
More Ketchikan Alaska Kenworth trucks.
Koehring 405 Shovel with a Skagit SJ4 Heel Boom? A new one on me, but great looking combination. The landowner says this machine was abanodoned here, and he said 'if you haul it you can have it!' He started the machine for me, and other than a hole in the main air tank, it looked OK. I dont need it, and its still there. Has been there 10 years that I know of, he keeps having to move it.
I was thinking about you Logger as I watched an episode of Tougher in Alaska tonight on the History Channel. I hadn't seen that episode before. It was filmed in June of 08 and some of the iron you have posted pics of looked familiar. They were on three different jobs. One with Alcan-building road and yarding with a big Skagit tower. Another at the Pacific Log & Lumber mill, and out in the brush with one of their cutters who lived on a float camp. And the other with Columbia Helicopters, landing their logs on a barge. Pretty good show really. Glad I watched it!
Thats a good episode. Some friends of mine have been featured on that show, all over this great state. The host always annoyed me though. The Skagit 739 in this thread IS that same machine- at Alcan. They but Tribal and State wood when they can, but nothing right now at all, lots of parked iron. Most of what they do is export to Asia- they avoid the Forest Service wood altogether, as you cant sell it. Pacific Log and Lumber closed last year. Columbia Helicoters has laid off 400 people in the last 18 months. Sad state of affairs right now.
Silver Bay dump trucks, parked at the old mill in Wrangell, 2005.
More Silver Bay Logging dump trucks.
Few more SBL dumps. couple in the pit across the road from the mill there in Wrangell.
More SBL millyard. Some of the boxes are big for hauling bark, wood chunks, and chip debris out of the mill. Others just dont survive on the job....
Silver Bay Wrangell 2005.
I had one of the Silver Bay trucks here in Juneau for a summer. Used it to help build a road out to my property. Couldn't say which on it was but looked a lot like #22 there. I think Brian Martin had it then. Most of Tonsgards road building equipment left town on his barge last month. Not sure ware he was taken it. His 10 and 20 dump trucks are all lined up in his lot here and most haven't moved for over 6 months. Sure would help if the Gov would release the funs for the road out of Juneau. At least there would be an influx of 1/2 billion federal dollars into south east. The Kensington has geared up to open this spring offering around 300 directly related jobs. Now that the *itch is out of office we all have a better chance of seeing movement in the construction industry rather then more studies. I think it will take a few more years to stop this downward spiral and maybe start a clime out of trying to keep Alaska from becoming a National park.
Trucks at the mill on a nicer day.
Channel just finished a huge job in Metlakatla, and is working in Ketchikan now. They got the big Hoonah job going right now and its going really well for them, and they are getting geared up for the Sitka Breakwater work they were awarded in December. The highway trucks were all supposed to be working for Secon at Yakutat, but the job is screwed up and may not even go. Roger Schnabel at Haines says he has more work on the books for 2010 than he has done in the last 3 years combined. John McGraw got the Sitka sewer job today, and there is over 50 million in Southeast DOT work coming down the pike in the next 3 months, according to DOT's website- check out the Tentative Advertising List at DOT Southeast. The construction group between Ktn, Sitka and Juneau all ahve more work than they can do...... its the loggers that are starving right now. And everything you said is correct- a road out of Juneau would be amazing!
Some Silver Bay Kenworth C500 highway loggers.
First couple pics are of a fuel truck- C500 and 40' trailer. Last is a C500 tractor hooked to a screen unit.
They had a bunch of yarders working here, and as part of the moving yarder process, a line truck is required to spool and haul guyline extensions, skyline extensions, etc. There were several line trucks around. This Kenworth was sold at the 'Camp Grisdale' auction in Shelton Wa. in 1985, and still has the Simpson stickers and numbers on it. The hoist on the KW is a Berger. The International was cool as well- that hoist is a Washington Iron Works.
Brings a tear to my eye seeing all that iron just rotting away out there in the bush. especially all that really sweet iron from Seattle's finest. not to even mention the sweet Pacific's just left to die in silence. Makes me want to start building a rescue barge.
I agree what a shame !
Northwest shovel with elevated cab for loading logs. Young heel boom off machine is sitting in the bushes nearby, lattice boom has been installed later for construction work. Mike, the owner, says it ran good when he parked it there...........been awhile however.
Couple mor pics from the same place. Check out the pile of IR ECM350 air-track drills- I counted 6 total on the property. Last pic is of 'Young' logo on the heel boom off the NW shovel.
International Harvester 560 Payloaders were popular up here. Lots of them around in the weeds gathering moss. There are 4 machines here near Ketchikan in an old yard.
Log skidders, both rubber-tire and FMC models rusting away in an old camp yard. Not sure what the rubber-tired machine is, Garrett or Franklin maybe. The FMC is an old model 210CA. I've seen a bunch of these here in Southeast Alaska rusting in various old abandoned locations.
Random shots in an abandoned logging camp.
Same area as above. Lots of junk in the brush....... Several dozers large and small.
Old cranes of various makes, models, shapes, and sizes.
More cranes and trucks.
Rust and moss. Oh, and really neat old equipment.
Cat D4 in the bushes at Herring Cove log dump, along with some leftover trucks from the logging days. Kenworth fuel truck doesnt look too bad.
Also at Herring Cove, an old boned-out Komatsu PC300 log loader sits rusting on an off-road lowbed trailer rusting away. The tracks are missing, and the boom is laying in pieces nearby. The logging boom front was built by Pierce of Portland Oregon, and the cab is on a scissor-style riser which rises strait up and down. Here it is seen in the down position. I doubt it will ever leave here. Near Herring Cove, on Revillagigedo Island, Southeastern Alaska.
In an old rock pit near Ward Cove, the American has dug all the way around itself and sits trapped on a high ledge. Lots of old machinery below it as well. The Bantam C-475 is a rare find for sure.
Log Trucks left for dead at the old Wrangell Sawmill. There used to be over 100 of these log trucks parked here. Now its more like 25, mostly carcasses.
Wrangell Alaska, round 2.
Wrangell AK, Round 3.
Wrangell Round 4. Lots of iron parked out there yet.........
Wrangell 5. They left it all behind.
Wrangell 6.
Wrangell, log trucks and trailers.
Trucks, trailers, brush.
Wrangell mill log loaders, 2010.
Madill yarder bones at Wrangell. At one time there wer 15 Madill yarders here. Today there are 4 complete machines, though they are very rough, it would take alot to get them back logging. 1st Pic: Guyline stand/front off 009 tank mount. It was a 7-guyline model. 2nd Pic: Final drive assemblies with sprockets attached. 3rd Pic: Tower top section off a Madill 046 tube. 4th Pic: Tower top fairlead off a Madill 009 tube. 5th Pic: Sprocket, spare engines and transmissions in shed.
Log trailers, 40' parts vans, and yarder grapples in the old sort yard, Wrangell.
Lowbeds and tractors, trailers, etc.
More Kenworth C500's. Lots more.
Wrangell mill, equipment, 2010.
Millyard dump trucks.
Various pieces of equipment in Wrangell.
This has got to be the sadest thread I have ever read. All that equipment just rusting away is just so wrong on so many levels.
Well, they leave just about everything out to rust in Alaska. It's not just equipment. You should see what the "common folk" have sitting in their front yards. Tons of stuff, once good, now bucket of rust. And they leave it right in their front yards. Even Sarah Palin couldn't clean that up.
The stuff Sarah left behind no one can clean up. But we are not suppose to post that here. I think I should censer my own post. Here in Juneau ware the leaf sniffers live most of the ugly stuff to them has been hauled away to the scrap barges. They don't want to see the results of there handy work. They think they are saving the planet. If they could just look beyond their nose they could see some of the carnage left in there path. This would be a good thread to put in front of the state legislators when a green bill came up.
I could go on all day, dead right on on both points. For me it breaks down about like this, granted the loggers always paid less than the construction guys: Every dump truck or log truck shown represents one lost $15-18.00/hr job. Every piece of hydraulic equipment represents a lost $20-25.00/hr job. Every yarder-tower represents 7 lost rigging jobs ranging from $14 to $20.00 Doesnt even take in all the cutters and boom men. One outfit-Silver Bay- seen here, employed over 600 men full time.
keep on posting pics, cool stuff even though its sad to see it rusting away. throw in a few more bear pics too
What a crying shame to see all those machines just rusting away. COOl PICS but just keep em comming.
i could look at those pics all day thanks again
Man I could make a fortune in IHC and dresser parts lol. I saw tons of things up there on the linkbelts that would have kept a machine here working . thanks for all the neat pics.
Sad to see all the old equipment setting, rusting away knowing how many people benifited when it was operating in its heyday. Did the state or the feds doom the majority of the logging actitvity in So East Alaska? Hope this is not to political of a question to ask. Fred
The federal government rescinded logging contracts in the nineteen nineties stopping almost all logging on federal land in Alaska. I saw some logging on Native lands by the tribes or contractors hired by the tribes. Last time I was up there logging was only happening on private land for local use of the timber. Most all that iron shown went up there in the late eighties and early nineties. Most all was well used when it went on the barges. Some of the Link-Belts shown were sold new up there in the early eighties. I was on the crews that built the guarding packages that went on the houses. It does stir memories a little to see some of the stuff I worked on when it was new in these pictures all done in. Anywhere down south and the iron would have been cut up long ago. It will be interesting as fast as the brush grows up there to see what can be found in five or ten years.
If the middle east blew up and a war broke out, need for iron could bounce scrap prices upward, and everything could change. But for now the prices just arent high enough. Occasionally a contractor from Alaska will take a load of scrap south IF they are going south anyway to pick up trucks or equipment or other supplies- king of a reverse back-haul.
Sounds as if the state of Alaska would have benifited by the continued logging if the Feds hadn't been mettling in the states afairs, not a whole lot differant than whats going on here in western Washington. Here it seems as the Feds don't want to log any timber as well as their wish is to close all the roads used to access that timber. There is a lot of second growth now avaiable on Fed land that is of a size that should be going to the modern (small) sawmill. The main difference is there is a lot more land in private ownership to keep the timber industry in a somewhat healthy state over what may exist in Alaska. All that old Iron will go the way of the steam tractors in a war effort, hopefully not used against us. Fred
Fred, I couldnt have said it any better. The USFS used to contribute to the economy, now it only consumes money, keeps growing, but contributes absolutly nothing.
What's happening with those trucks and loaders? Could one buy them? Or are they sitting to rust? Specifically the dump trucks, can someone help me out?
They're sitting to rust. Cost twice what they're worth to charter a barge to move em' outta there......................sad but true, unless you like to pay $15K for $6,000.00 dimp trucks. You'd do better to find an RB Auction.
On the Lost Coast of Alaska, North of Yakutat and South of Cordova, lies an uninhabited area that has bee extensively logged since the 1950's. The area is so remote, and the waters so fierce, that all of the fuel for this entire operation was flown in by air-tankers (a 7,000 foot runway was constructed for this purpose) out of Anchorage. In the summer months, equipment and supplies were barged in and/or out, but the fuel companies refused to risk it with tankers or fuel barges. Logs were trucked over an extensive road system from the woods to a sort/storage yard at Icy Bay, an iceberg-riddled saltwater cove, where log ships would come in and load up to get them South to markets in the real world. The camp closed and most of the buildings were demolished and finally burned in 2007. But much machinery never made it out, and will be there now in perpetuity, including yarders, loaders, trucks, etc. Here are a few pics I took last trip out there. If you charter out of Yakutat with Les at Alsek Airways, a bush service, it is about 90 minutes North, flying over the miles-long face of Malaspina Glacier, well worth the cost, lots of bear and moose to look at on the trip. Getting there is a real weather challenge, however. Anyway, some rusty Alaskan equipment pics.
Icy Bay, bones and bears.
The tracks and boom is a Komatsu PC300- the rest of it is 1/2 mile away.....? One of the 988's actually jump-started off a couple of 8D batteries- the one intact of course......Amazing.
Madill 009 (there are 2 of them out there), Skagit 739, and 4 spare Madill tower tubes. Throw in a D8H blade and a bunch of rigging, and you have good photo subjects.......
Like I said.........
Here are some refernce pictures: 1st. Icy Bay with log yard at upper center of pic. House sized icebergs at beach. 2nd. Sort Yard and Icy Bay again. 3rd. Sort Yard and overview of terrain. Lower left area is yard. 4th. Ice cubes, giant sized. 5th. Above equipment seen under 40" of snow cover.........
More reference pics. 1st. On approach to runway. Tracks from Fish and Game officer stationed there. 2nd. 20,000 gallon fuel storage on runway edge (fuel pumped from plane to tanks). 3rd. Dead 40' Whale washed up on beach near camp. 4th. D8H, abandoned in a clearcut with alder trees. 5th. Logged areas with pulpwood decks left behind.
Reference round 3. Pic 1. Camp area, yarders visible. Pic 2. Camp with ocean in background. Pic 3. Iceberg rolling over. It was huge, you cannot tell. Pic 4. Skidder, 20' container, and ice cubes. Pic 5. Flying over the miles-long Malaspina Glacier...... just ice forever...
OK, last reference set. Pic 1. Moose on the flats. Pic 2. Malaspina Glacier and Mount Fairweather. Pic 3. Hubbard Glacier up the inlet. Pic 4. Flying over moose country, into the sunset......... Pic 5. Back on the ground in Yakutat.
Old M&B Hayes HDX Great pictures as usual but sad at the same to see all that equipment rust away. Pictures from the area are great - beautiful wilderness. Fun to see an old M&B Hayes HDX - I wonder what unit number #H??? it had and which M&B div. it belonged to before it went to Alaska. Keep up your great work.
Alaska Left to rust fantastic pictures keep them coming, its very sad to see all that old plant rusting away, i would be happy rooting around all that old stuff, but its a bit to far to travel from Wigan Lancashire UK is there no chance any of it can be salvaged what about all that polution tyres oil etc ? thanks again and keep the photos coming
Taken last summer, near Haines. Leaves make visibilty lousy, sorry about that.
Haines round 2.
Haines round 3. Poclains, Washingtons, all sorts of stuff.....
Haines 4th.
Haines round 5.
Haines, Alaska scrap iron. The grapple on that Lima crane is huge.
Some better shots of that gear, and another bear pic or 2. They go with the iron-hunting. Adds to the excitment and enjoyment anyway......
These I took in Skagway, 12 mile flight east from Haines, up Lynn Canal. Not a road through there, fly or float only. Lots of old railroad relics to go with the heavy equipment there at Skagway.
Hayes rusting at Shelter Cove on Prince of Wales. KW on Revillagigedo Island.
Those look like Sherman tank final drives.....
Where these locomotive are.... Could you drive there, I'm planning a road trip with the girl friend up there this summer. Any chance you'd care to share some of the locations of this equipment in private message?
These machines sit unwanted, even 400?
Man alive what a shame,if it was here in my neighbor hood it would be like Christmas every day.
The fellow who owns them wont sell them- or ever use them again. Actually, he has 7 or 8 EX400's and EX450's. Not sure how many I posted, he has alot of gear! No timber to log, but lots and lots of gear. Had 150 trucks sitting there in 2006, quite a sight. Silver Bay Logging was the name, had 12 Sikorsky's, private jets, all of it back in the day....Now he just has dimentia...
Of course I'll help. Any idea where your going and when? This equipment is in Southeast, spread across literally 1,000 islands from Annette, Prince of Wales, Revilla, clear on up north to Admiralty, Baranoff, and Chichagof. I live more in the Admiralty Isl area, and these 'ABC' islands have the highest population of brown bears on the planet- Admiralty being the highest. Heres a good one below of an Admiralty bear from last September. PM me where your headed and I'll make a list of machines you should see.
More pictures of the Hitachi equipment! What about that 988 that was jump started, I actually need one for work? Do you have msn or anywhere we could chat? I'd love to discuss some of this Equipment.
Contract Logger you sure get around. lol I talked to Wasser and Winters the other day. Most of the equipment at Icy Bay that was worth anything (330 Cat Log Loader, 988's, Grader, etc... was moved a few weeks ago by barge to Seattle. If you're looking for equipment contact **** Buhler at Silver Bay Logging in Wrangell, AK. They have quite a bit left including loaders, yarders, shovels, drills, yada yada. He's retired and selling everything including the mill. He might have dimentia, but that guy has forgot more about logging than any one on here will probably ever know. What a guy! If you're looking for logging trucks, let me know. I'm meeting Larry Derry on Prince of Wales, he needs to sell all the trucks. He's been payin' the City of Thorne Bay rent for the last 10 years. lol What I want to know is where you found the 210CA FMC in the pic's with the International Loaders. I think I recoginze it as Ketchikan?
Ha! I do get around, lol. I see youre from Idaho. Did we drink beer in Ketchikan recently (Octoberish, Gateway Auction?) That machine is in Ktn belongs to a fellow named Lattin, but you knew that already. I know where there are 3 more close by to that one (well, 200 miles, so Alaska close anyway). I think I know who you are, lol. Fun night that one was.....
Contract Logger you can email me at [email protected] . I'll give you a phone number where you can reach me. I'd enjoy chatting about logging in Alaska. Have you been to Afognak lately? That's another island where almost all the equipment that makes it there never leaves. lol I started working out there in 1979 and will be going back again this year. Can't get enough of a good thing I guess. I have ton's of pic's of the early days on Afognak I'll post as soon as this thing lets me.
I'll be on Afognak (I think/hope) in late May or early June. Got something cooking out there myself. I think you have to post 5 or 6 times before it lets you pst a pic. Were you out there in the Thomas days?? I'd love to see your pics-- and you're right, not much iron ever left Afognak- Eric and Brian have been running a few barges back and forth lately though...........
its funny how far computers and technology has gone ever day you guys mention some where i go to google maps find it and you can get satellite images of the area and some times even see some gear or old camps , hoperfully one of these days i can make it up to have a look myself. keep posting you keep the old iron alive. thank you
As anyone who knows Alaska and this equipment will understand, (maxey- that's you!), these pictures represent thousands of hours in the seat of a helicopter and/or floatplane to get, sometimes (often, actually) both in the same day....
you never know one might win the lottery LOL
Awsome collection of photos of these logging Equipment...I can understand your hobby and passion of seeing and seeking out these machines ...I live on vacouver island and when growing up and going on hunting trips with my father we would stumble accross some old abandoned logging equipment ...that was usually the highlight of our trip when we didnt see any deer ...wish we had brought cameras ...Thanks for taking the time to scan and share your collection with us .
Well, all the pics in the thread here were taken in the last year or 2, since I made the big -to digital - switch. When I start scanning the collection from the last 20 years, it will blow you away- I promise. I travel alot for various (business) reasons, but have been photographing this stuff just in case its all gone one day- and I believe it will be gone one day. In the meantine, its fun and brings back alot of memeories from my logging career.......
I'll hurry and post a few more times then scan in those old pics of Afognak. I started out there with Al Schafer and Afognak Logging. We had 4 FMC's, a GT5 swing yarder, and a 737 skagit tower. We logged 42 million ft. a year with hand fellers. Whew! Evergreen thinks they are movin' a lot of wood (40 million a year) with everything mechanical! lol If we'd had a Tigercat LX870C and a 12000 logmax processor back then, I'm thinkin' 80 million ft. a year. Contract Logger, my wife and I sat and looked at your pictures for a few hrs. the other night. I swear she was as excited to see them as I was. Just wanted to say "thanks" for posting all the pics. I've got a nice Canon digital camera never really thought about taking equipment pics. You can bet in the future I will
OK, you had me at GT5. and 737, lol. You gotta get to posting my friend! And what, may I ask, were you loading with out there??
( All gone one day ) I here you ...over hear on the Island scap prices are near $100 bucks a ton and every now and then i will see a load of some old logging equipment headed for the scrap yard...Being so remote up in alaska may buy a little more time...Seeing all your logging threads brings back alot of my old logging memories as well ...Spent about 12 years with Interfor /helifor in misc camps...some great times ...cheers lou
Oh man, now you're talkin' old gear. Okay, so 42 million bd. ft. a year and this is what we loaded with: George Pietch on a 1978 235 Cat hydraulic loader, Dave Stolley (he's still out there running shovel in the sort yard for Evergreen) ran a '98 link belt cable machine with a cable grapple, and A.D. Wilson ran a 1975 Drott on a wheel carrrier! Holy Cow I'm just tryin to imagine what we could have done with todays technology!!! For road building gear we had a D8K with a single ripper, a D6C spread cat, 8 mack dump trucks, and 2 1947 Euclid 20 yd. dump trucks. We actually had some nice off highway 10 or 12ft. bunk Peterbuilt log trucks. George Pietch sent the biggest load of any truck to the LTF at Discovery Bay with 22,000 bd. ft. on it. Al Schafer almost swallowed his dentures when he heard about it! From then on I think the biggest load was about 16,000 bd. ft. I've got a few pics of it I'll figure out how to post.
Boy, I'd love to see those pics. Is all that iron out there yet? They had talked about burying some of it a few years back. I wonder............ There are still and awful lot of LS98's parked in Southeast in the weeds, lol.
Most of the equipment was moved when Schafer closed the camp. He was hoppin' mad at the natives and tore out the whole camp including water lines, powerlines, etc...When he rolled into Seward with his barge load of equipment it looked like a junk barge that should have been headed south for scrap! lol Did you know Bill James, or "Big" Bob Faust from Afognak?
That Salmon the bear has, is a beautiful fish! I'd like to catch some of those! Thanks for the pictures, those were great machines in their day.
It's a shame all that iron is just sitting, rusting away. Would love to win the lottery and travel up there to see it up close! It's to bad people don't realize that trees are a renewable resource and that logging is good for the enviorment.
I saw Al a couple years ago over in Seward. He's was still at it. I bet all the equipment he took off of Afognak is still at his yard out on Nash Road. I doubt you'll find much old stuff on Afognak. I know when Silver Bay pulled out they took all of their scrap equipment. We hauled two barge loads of Tommy's scrap iron out after he pulled out. I think most everything else was buried. I was over working on the Anchor system for their stiff leg when two landing crafts pulled in from Icy Bay. They took what they could fit on them and left the rest. Talk about looking like a Gypsy. It was a sad day when Thomas went down. We used to do a bunch of work for them. I always enjoyed going over to load Logs or work on their Mooring Systems. Kinda bummed I never took very many pictures of the work we did. Maxey6, did you ever work with Fred Almandinger or Bill Neshiem? They were Mechanics for Afognak Logging. That old 22B Shovel in Skagway is in nice condition for as long as it has set there. If I could have figured out how to get it to the Barge last fall I'd a swiped it!
I heard Al got rid of most everything but the old D8K. KMC bought the FMC's, Klukwan got the 250' barge, and I heard he sold the tugboat the Cygnet somewhere in Alaska. Lashlander, are you a Lash, or do you work for Lash Corp? Almandinger was there as a mechanic in the shop, Sang E. Sue and Charley Winters were the field mechanics when I was out there. I don't know Bill Neshiem, but he must be related to David Neshiem who is going to be doing some consulting for us on Afognak. I sure hate to see the oldtime loggers pack it in, but maybe some of us can take up the slack and keep things goin'. Nothin' I like better 'en getting under some Earth Firster, greenies skin! lol I have a question I'd like to pose to this board. Do you think the Gildersleeve's, the Buhler's, the Seley's, the Thomas's, the Whitestone's, the Browning's, the Derry's of the logging world are getting out because it's all over, or they know something we don't, or do you think they just aren't willing to change with the times and figure it's time to get out? You guy's work on that, and I'll scan some pics from the old days. lol I'd really like to hear everyone's comments on the subject.
I was talking with Steve Seley 2 weeks ago on the Ketchikan Airport ferry- he was headed South to Olympia to the RB Auction, I was headed North to Juneau on business. He doesnt want to be out, or get out, but just doesn't have the timber supply he needs to continue the investment. I had lunch in Wrangell at the Diamond C Cafe with D. Buler last Friday. He would still be logging if it were up to him, but has too many medical and other issues in his way. He flew back to Kelso to be with Betty that afternoon and is there right now if you want to call him. I talked to Wayne Browning this morning, (funny you mentioned him) called him just to chat. I like Wayne Browning, and we are both old SW Washington loggers, as is D.B. Wayne would like nothing better than to be logging, but logging doesnt pay the kind of guaranteed money he is making now as a consultant. He was in Hydaburg at 9am but headed out to Kasaan to look at a job (USFS/Tribal, non-logging job I might add). Wane B, Ben Thomas, and myself were all on various parts of Mt St Helens after the big bang, but eventually we were all drawn North to Alaska. For some of us it worked out well, for others it didnt. These fellows, just like me, would rather be logging full speed ahead. But, we cant. No available timber, pisspoor available labor, high insurance and fuel overhead, and on and on. So each of us has figured out an easier way to make a better living, and we do still miss the smell of the landing every morning at sunrise. Every October the Alaska Forest Association meets and we all get to drink beer and tell lies of old logging. We could all put together 3 sides worth of gear by the end of next week, easily. But why? to take where? and be run by who? --Hell, we're the only ones who would show up in the morning, on time, and ready to go. Posting pictures and memories is much better than trying to figure out which one of the crew isnt going to pass his next **** test, and worrying who he might injure or kill. For a list of contact info for each of these gents, PM me and I'll hook you up. One of these days I may put a couple of books together. One on the St Helens story- before, during, and after. (see my pics of all that in the 'this is for folks who hate dozers' thread. The other book would be on the great Alaska Timber Industry, 1900-2000. Sorry fellows, that ran too long.
Great post Contract logging Its a shame that THEY LEFT ALL THAT EQUIPMENT BUT STILL ITS BETTER THEN BEING SCRAPPED WHICH IS FAR THE WORST FOR ANY TYPE OF EQUIPMENT ALSO IS THERE ANY EQUIPMENT FOR SALE AND IF YOU HAVE ANYMORE PHOTOS OF ANYTHING PLEASE POST THEM KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!!!!! DIGGERDUDE
I own a home in near Longview/Kelso Washington, which is where all me good pics are at- all on film and will need to be scanned, but thousands and thousands of them to be sure. I cannot run this computer equipment near as fast as the logging equipment, so If you check out this forum in 5 years I assure you I'll still be scanning and posting and wont be near done, lol. I was looking for a spec on a machine when I found this forum. Then I was a guest for about a month, I guess. Eventually, I signed up and got sucked in. My old lady calls you guys my 'invisible/pretend friends', lol! Whatever......This is fun, whether she believes me, or not.
Contract Logger it's funny we've never met...It seems as though with the invention of the feller buncher, the processor, and other mechanical harvesting machines a guy could find enough guys to put together a crew. I remember we had 40 cutters working 6 days a week on Afognak. Today two feller bunchers and two processors could do the same work, only faster. I appreciate your offer of contact numbers, but I believe I have most everyone. Hollar if you're looking for anyone, I have a fancy computer program that is flawless. lol I'll be in Ketchikan as soon as Steve Seley gets back from Washington DC chewing out the feds about timber supply. Also headed out to POW to try and jew Larry Derry out of a couple of log trucks. I have a lunch planned with Don Koenigs from the Mental Health Trust. Do you remember him from his 17 years on POW with Valentine and KPC? Then I'm driving over to Longview to see my sister who is fighting cancer(she needs prayer), and stop in and have lunch with the Buhlers. lol I'm trying to talk him out of the floating camp and some 988's. Then up to Bellevue, Wa. to meet with Alaska Pacific. Robert Duvall loved the "fresh smell of nalpam in the morning," I love the fresh smell of a diesel engine when you first fire it up on a cold morning, and the smell from fresh felled trees. lol I'm almost embarrassed to post some old logging pics after seeing all of your high quality digital photo's, but keep in mind my pics were taken in 1980 and 1981.
I can't believe I still have these pics around after 30 years but here they are. 1. Jim Neil from Coos Bay, OR on a 220CA FMC. 2. Same FMC 3. Crazy George Phillips with a Kodiak Brown bear he shot near Portage Lake
Steve Harvey has been flying this same 1947 Widgeon for over 40 years. Holy Cow I can't wait to ride in it again. 1. Harvey Flying Service at Danger Bay, AK 1980. He's still flyin' today.
Here's that Ultra Modern 235 Cat. It was the newest machine I think Schafer owned. 1. George Pietch on the 235 Cat. Man, that guy could load trucks, limb logs, tail for all 4 FMC machines, and eat lunch all at the same time. lol 2. We plugged the yard for winter in 1980 with about 4.5 million ft. George high decked everything with the 235. That way in the spring we had plenty of wood to load our first ship. 3. Mack fuel truck Dec. 1980
Well, back to work after a winter break. This is the Log Transfer Facility at Discovery Bay. I understand it's in pretty bad shape now. 1. Danger Bay 2. LTF getting ready to start loading the barge to take out to the ship the "Orient Pine." We loaded the barge every night for a week to fill the ship. 3. "Orient Pine"
These are great pics! I love it. Awesome Widgeon, havent seen one for a long time!
Here are some pic's of a few Silver Fox on Afognak. We had a 3 legged one that followed us wherever we went. If we moved 10 miles it didn't matter. He'd come hobblin' up to the crummy in the morning waitin' for a sandwich, cookie, or on a good morning I gave him a whole maple bar. They had no problem eating out of your hand. 1. Silver Fox 2. Silver Fox in one of our logging units 3. Jim Neil hand feeding a fox
Traffic jam!!! Okay, now here's some classic Iron. Starting on the front row of picture number 1 is 3 of the FMC's moving to a new unit. Notice the guy standing next to the machines flipping the camera off? lol I've got a story about him later. The Drott loader on rubber tires loading, and the BU737 Skagit yarding. 1. FMC's on a move. Drott loader. Skagit Tower. 2. Steve "Reggie" Rucker on the "Queen" a 210CA FMC 3. Off highway truck with a magmum charge of sitka spruce headed to the LTF
These pics are great, but small. I usually scan a set like this, then go into photo editor and crop them individually, re-assign a new name, and save. They become full-size then for me. Not sure if it would work for you, but worth a shot for sure.
Last but certainly not least a pic of me in October 1991 on Prince of Wales Island. We built the beach road between Thorne Bay and Coffman Cove. We stopped at Ratz Harbor and Pete White finished it into Luck Lake. 1. Cutting right-a-way 1991. Don't be laughin' at that holdin' wood. I thought about sawin' it off before the picture was taken, but then again it wouldn't be original. lol Besides, I was nervous, it was my first big Sitka Spruce.
Contract Logger ur confusin' me, but I'll certainly try. lol
Contract Logger. I called Lattin and talked to his sister-in-law, he's always on the road about his FMC. You said you know of a few more FMC's in Southeast? I'm lookin' for some for runners and parts machines. I do know of several here in Idaho as the Forest Circus mandated their usage in the '80's and '90's but looking for something closer to Alaska. Any help would be appreciated.
Harvey Von has one or 2 at Whale Pass that were running not long ago- and Harvey is back on POW I hear. Lattin has a good phone number for him, and recently bought some trucks from him. Lattin's in Wrangell right now working on Enright iron I believe. I'll see what I can find. Shouldnt be too tough to find, lol. PM me again- I am curious as hell what yer gonna do with the FMC's? You looking for grapples or line machines preferrably?
That makes sense. Steve called and asked if Lash Corp would be interested in buying their old 90 ton Lorain Truck Crane. Is that it in your pictures? The last I saw the Cygnet it was sitting in the Seward Harbor looking real rough. Did Dennis McMurrey run it when you worked there? Bill Neshiem isn't related to Dave as far as I know. Dave was a Forrester for Lesnoi when they logged Chiniak. Personally I think everyone of those companies would still be at it if they had the wood.
This is an awesome pic. I've seen trucks roll off the landing with big timber and alot more olding wood than than on em'. Nothing to worry about if she got to the ground and you walked away safe.
Great picture , Is that an 066 stihl you used?
If only WOW....for those of us in New Mexico, we wouldn't see that many pieces in a lifetime let alone left to rot. Thanks for the pics--love those B Model Macks
Hey OldMule it was actually a 064 stihl I had then. Replaced it with a 288 Husqvarna with a 36 inch bar. Here in Idaho I think a guy could get away with a Homelite or Poulan with a 12" to 18" bar. lol
Lashlander, I'm not sure if that was the same crane or not. Reminds me of the crane we had at the Danger Bay camp. It sometimes got out of control (about 90% of the time) and just started spinning. I think they had someone that would throw a chunk of wood in the gears or brakes to get it to stop where they wanted it. lol Typical Schafer piece of equipment.
Thanks for sharing all the great pictures! I spend time on Annette island working on equipment, very memorable experience.
bump not to be forgotten
Oh my.... So will you act as the official tour guide if I bring money for the plane Contract Logger?
I missed this the first time around. Pretty funny though. The boom tip in your pictures makes me think it's the same crane. It's been sitting out at the North Dock by the Ship Yard in Seward for years. It was still in use last time I was there. I've got a few pictures I can add to this but their about 300 miles east of me right now.
allo the great picture logger truck best machine heavy-duty .
Hopefully the scrapies don't get the rest, history leave it there its not hurting anything. I've stumbled across a few pieces before an A-frame show in Call Inlet, the A-frame is long gone but 1500 ft up the hill is a fully rigged wooden tree it has a cat with the yarding drums mounted on the back, chockers still dangling from the top of the spar and you could still see the fell and bucked timber through the Alder. I flew over it about 10 yrs ago and still wonder how they got the yarder up there it was staight up from the waters edge, maybe flew it up on the skyline? I know here on the BC coast most of our old machines in the bone yards are gone. I've herd there's a privatly owned island north of Campbell River where the owner has been logging for decades and he has his own bone yard and kept everything. Apparently theres lots of great old equipment, maybe somebody out here has photos.......
my photo family personel album scanner mack rd-600 logger 1973 my father truck . .great truck ,
I just joined here to post. On page 2 there is a black & white Kenworth....Pat Rabey Trucking, Hoquiam, Wa. Truck #1 My father (74) drove that truck home from Kenworth Northwest in Aberdeen, WA when it was brand spankin' new, many years before I was born. He also worked many a year in Alaska, probably on some of this very equipment shown in these photographs... I showed him these pictures earlier today, and with a teary gleam in his eye he said "Son, I wish you could have seen it back in the day...." Thank you so much for posting these pictures. Dan C. Elma, WA
my father drive kenworth 1978 w-900 engine cumming 350 hp log truck. the dlm compagnie logger pointe a la croix quèbec.
Hey Contract Logger Great Pics! I would like to speak with you about your intimate Knowledge of where equipment is sitting in Various places. I am a old mechanic and logged in Michigan as boy in the 80's and then went westward. I also logged in Idaho and Eastern Washington now im in Alaska. you can reach me = [email protected]
This is my first post on this forum, hopfully it works!!!!!!! These pictures are from Hauer Bros Mill in Tete Jaune B.C. I dont know what model Kenworth it is but it is old, it was a former logger and is now a dump/fire tank truck. If anyone could tell me what year and model it is I would be pleased to hear from you! I know it is'nt 100% abandoned and a far way away from Alaska but it is a find! C:\Users\Public\Pictures\Kodak Pictures\20-07-2009\101_0222.jpg C:\Users\Public\Pictures\Kodak Pictures\20-07-2009\101_0224.jpg
hey mountain man, your pictures didn't work.
This is my first post on this forum, hopfully it works!!!!!!! These pictures are from Hauer Bros Mill in Tete Jaune B.C. I dont know what model Kenworth it is but it is old, it was a former logger and is now a dump/fire tank truck. If anyone could tell me what year and model it is I would be pleased to hear from you! I know it is'nt 100% abandoned and a far way away from Alaska but it is a find! Lets try this for the 3rd time, sorry guys!
Why arent they working? I uploaded em' onto photobucket.com and then copy and pasted the url adress into the photo thingy! O C'MON!
How do I do this?? Any pointers?? Sorry Im very new to this, sorry bout the other posts.
PM me a link to your photobucket album, the links you posted go back to your computer. Ed
if you hit the insert image buttom then put img link on your photobucket page is should work.
I think that you need a few posts before you have those priviledges.Ron G
new picture drove father pacific truck and lacroix lumber company carleton quèbec. brand new truck international transtar 9300. .:thumbsupmacktuf1973
Thanks! Thanks all of you for the tips and pointers, I will try them.
This is the truck I talk about on page 14
You must load your pictures to our server, we do not support remote hosting
How do I do that Mr Frazier
Property/Machinery Owner Concerns Sorry fellows, been traveling alot this summer and away from the internet most of the time. I have been contacted by one of the fellows who owned a piece of the equipment I posted a while back. No issue for him today, but he had some concerns regarding letting the vandals or potential scrappers know where some of this gear is or was parked. Many of these fellows are only in Alaska seasonally, and he was concerned one day he may go to the rock pit where his gear was parked to find it looted, or worse, gone. Therefore, realizing that his concerns are very real, I will be posting pics taken over a years-long spread and with no date or location details given. This will insure that the equipment survives another day and ease some minds at the same time. Better for everybody that way.
DM800 Dump Fleet Some time back I ran acros a gold mine of trucks and equipment, resting in camp where it had been parked some years ago. Check out these 6 Mack DM800's!
How about some Peterbilt off-road log trucks? Same location as the Macks.
Same location, lots of logging equipment......just left behind. I'm having trouble uploading these pics tonight......?
More of the same.
More Alaskan and abandoned.
This Hayes is a treasure, and its location will remain a closely guarded secret, until we can convince its owner to sell it that is! She's a runner and in great shape.
Here's an old Miltary tank retriever, truck and trailer, loaded with a Young logging boom off a Cat 245, and just left beside the road....... I've run across quite a few of these trailers in Alaska but not a truck like this. It had Mack logos on it but I'm suspicious they may have been added later.
Same location.
More rusting history. Check out the Washington Trackloader, and lots of truck parts.
And roadbuilding equipment rests in the weeds.
Euclid trucks, along with 4 or 5 Poclain front shovels and bones.
Different angles, same machines, plus a crusher and truck in the brush.
Poclain HC300 Log Loader on the same hill.......
What a waste,great pics.
Afognak Logging wow that brings back memories I was there in 75-76 I remember deer mountian and hunting and all the new equipment! And did I mention the bears.
Wasn't Bill such a great President.
rust Some of that equipment looks in not bad condition.Is that a Terex loader in the background on one of the pics?Those HC-300 Poclain shovel-fronts look heavy,but probably could really load out material.Anyone ever operate one? Dominion:canada
They were powerful as all get out but slower than an glacier in winter. I worked for the dealer for a couple or three years. 8V71 Detroit engines, huge fan belt driven hydraulic oil coolers, used automatic transmission fluid for hydraulic oil and leaked it by the drum. Individual manual levers for every function and they were heavy. They were the first high pressure machine that I worked on besides the Link-Belts and the seal technology had not progressed enough to allow oil to stay in the hydraulic system. It's nice to see the photos but I doubt anyone that ran or fixed them will ever miss them.
I can remember my Dad telling me stories of the Poclain shovels. D & J logging in Forks had one delivered in the late seventies that he had the mispleasure of working on. I think he still has a set of original test gauges for checking pressures. It was a daily occurence for him to be fixing something on those beasts. As John said, I doubt anyone misses spending hours on those machines...
Contractlogger Yes the military low-bed truck is an M123 Hard to tell if it is the early one (Leroi gas engine) or the later model with the Cummins 903 V8 diesel but she is for sure an M123 that is one of her axles laying on the deck of the lowbed, As for keeping the location of this equipment a secret --I couldnt agree more LEAVE IT ALONE ITS NOT HURTING ANYBODY !!! Thats why we here in BC dont have any history left cause the scrappers got it all--At least you people have still got yours This is so great to be able to just admire this stuff THANKS
Thank you for taking the time to put this stuff up!!! I am obsessed with logging equiptment and all the history around it. I am a carpenter in the bay area of California so I have very little opportunities to see ANYTHING this awesome. Your profession is what I always dreamed of doing when I was a kid but life took me to the city and hippies ect so no real work fer me. I am collecting stuff for a diorama in 1/25th scale of A 70s-80s west coast log/trucking shop and would love to hear from anyone that has an interest in that type of thing I can be reached at [email protected]
Thanks for posting all of these pics. It took me a while to look thru them, but well worth the time. Now I have to figure out which ones to look at next.
The Poclain shovels were quite popular in BC for a short period in the 70's. Edwards & McEachern had a few building grade, and MacMillan Bloedel had at least one. I think CIPA had a couple, too. There were also a few set up as log loaders, but I don't know of any surviving in BC. Looks like they all went to Alaska!
Great photos Contractlogger, find myself looking through them again and again. pick something different out each time. Hard to believe so much iron is still out there. We're lucky to have you take the time to post such great shots. Thanks again.
^I agree. I've visited this thread and looked at all the pictures many, many times.
Very nice pics,makes me wanna go and see it in person.I wouldn't have believed it if some one told me,your pics proves it.Thanks for sharing I'm appalled at so much waste though,its a crying shame.
Could those be the old Simpson petes from Grisdale i know some went to Africa after the auction.
Drove all of the types of trucks you've pictured, at one time or another, in Alaska. Never much cared for the 46-40 rear ends, but were ok if you treated them with reasonable care. I've watched the logging industry strangled to death over the years, the sawmills disappear and our forests become a disaster. Traveled extensively the last few years and the destruction is wide-spread across northwestern states. Some place have an estimated 70% killed by bugs. Not telling you anything new, except I'm a fourth generation logger, off-hwy log hauler, with nowhere to go. What jobs I see in different places offer wages akin to what I made in the late 70s. Not much future in that. Guess I'm becoming es extinct as the old iron you've pictured. Such a waste of a resource and industry.
It took me a long time but finally went through all the pictures. They were great!! I find it hard to believe that they just leave all that old equipment there to rust. Just curious, who owns all the equipment and even the property if the logging companies left years ago??
Dozer21, I just couldn't tell you who still owns that equipment. Contract Logger probably has a better idea. You would think it would be available to do something with. The property is most likely either Forest Service, or Native land. Tracking down any owner might be a chore, but I agree with what you're thinking.....Aught to be put to work and good use, not left to rot. I know... I'm an off-highway truck driver/log hauler, with pretty much nowhere to go. Make you feel like that equipment left in the brush.
Wow, great pics. What a waste. If you have more pics, I for one would enjoy seeing them. thanks,
I loged fore Gildersleve in 91 ,92 on Prince of wales , the float was in Tolstoi bay. I ran shovel and slung riggen on bulls crew if any of you no who im talking about I would sure like to here frome you.toyaround.
Nice site! glad i found it!
HAHAHA that look exacly like theres HAHAHA ive seen it, its not to pretty
I love looking at all the old iron, just wish that the reason most was sitting wasn't due to lack of work but rather that tha piece was just plain wore out. Thanks a ton for sharing what you have spent hours getting, and loading into here. Looking forward to more. Trbo
So have I, each time bringing different thoughts and memories to my head. Also every time i see what those machines did when they were still alive and working. not religious but AMEN :notworthy :notworthy
Also this is the forum that got me really interested with the industry again and this is the one that made me create this account on this site, thanks Contract Logger.
Do you have pics of the Fellerbuncher? (if that's the right way to word it? It's like an Excavator, but it's got a saw head at the end instead of a bucket) Looking at the pictures so far, I could see the Dozer, Cranes, etc. But what did they use to actually cut down the logs?
Back then, when these machines were in their hay-day, they were just developing bunchers. These machines were used in the 60's-late 80's. They would have used the good old chainsaw.
In the early nineties when I would have to go to southeast to work on machines for the dealer I never saw a feller buncher anywhere. The ground really doesn't work well for it up there. They are a heavy machine and you shouldn't use the cutting head to have to get yourself through the swampy ground. In fact I recall seeing only saw a couple of processors up there. Up there in the days most of those machines were working was like logging down here in the late sixties to early eighties.
I worked for Silver Bay Logging between 1985 and 1989 as a mechanic and welder. I started out when **** was using the Corner Bay Camp and we were going across the bay by work boat to the Tennakee side every day. Bill Slagle was the side rod. In 1986, **** sent me to Yakutat. Some of the equipment I recognize. I do wonder what happened to the Barko 550 machines. I think **** had at least 7 of them. Through the years, I have lost track of all the guys I knew from the various camps. Some of them were great guys to know. I have lost all my pictures from there except the one I put on my Heavy Equipment Mechanic website in 2006- http://familyrights.us/ofr/scribbles/who_heck/mechanic/index.htm I did visit Yakutat again in 1997. There was nothing left but a big bare lot. The draw south of the camp had been filled in by all the concrete and other junk and covered up with gravel. The only thing left was the dock. I suppose that maybe a few of the guys might find this eventually. You aren't likely to have worked for Silver Bay Logging without wondering how the guys are now. I wouldn't mind hearing from the guys. Leonard Henderson
Welcome Leonard! **** is still in Wrangell living in the A-frame, and Errol Champion is still living in Juneau. Here's a quick shot of a belt buckle **** gave me last time I saw him. Not sure how many of these are around but I had never seen one. Maybe you even have one! Not sure about those Barko 550's-- ALOT of the gear was sent to Maytown (Olympia) a few years back and sold there at RB Auction. 2-day sale, I think it was 2002. I was at the old Yakutat camp site in August, minding my own business, and a BIG brown bear and 2 cubs came strolling through.... It's a beautiful spot on the earth, and there's still a bunch of logs decked in the old sort yard.
Great Thread CL. Reminds me of alot. I have driven, Lowboyed and for the most part helped scrap MANY of the pieces of gear seen in the pics from Yakutat to Ketchikan and everywhere in between. Still lots left out there though. Funny cause I have alot of my own pics that interest me, and they are of the same things you took pictures of.. I have been working in SE almost 19yrs now and worked for WR Tonsgard (Channel Const) for about 12 1/2 yrs. Cut up,hauled and loaded alot of good scrap for him. MANY of yarders, shovels, dozers, trucks, a couple pulp mills and alot of JUNK.. Lots of stuff from Whitestone, POW, Wrangell, Ketch etc.. Anyhow thanks for posting so many pics and letting everyone see here also how the Clinton Admin Killed the Logging economy here long ago as with everywhere else. Back in the Mid 90's I drove Lowboy ALOT from all the gear coming in on the barges headed to NC or CMI for repair. It was not uncommon to move a few pieces of logging gear every day, . Now your lucky to see one every couple months. And its only gonna get worse...
:wavingHey Sharky, check out my blades and roller on page 10. Man, I can't believe CL mistook my fleet for "Left To Rust"!
page 10 That page brings back memories as well. The red and white Poclain shovel. Got it halfway on the lowboy in Juneau and the gear box busted. Left me stuck there for a day, then when fixed finally got it loaded and to the barge where the fuel line broke and could not get it unloaded till late that evening.. It was a big rush to get it to Haines bound for Whitehorse... Years later, it sat in Haines where the barge dumped it off.. If I recall right, the check bounced too and we never did get paid for that one.... I am sure it was the same one, Sittin out by the ferry terminal?
Any idea what brand that shovel is in Post 229? The counterbalance looks like something you would see on a Manitowoc, although I don't have any knowledge of any Manitowocs that ever worked in the woods.
Its a Manitowoc 3900. There were hundreds of Manitowocs used in the West Coast woods. Most were equipped with Young heel booms (as this one is but you can't see it). This particular machine came in to Alaska brand-new to load logs for Gildersleeve. It is now resting in the home of its second owner, who doesnt have the heart to part it out....... I'll round up some good Manitowoc log loader pics. Weyerhaeuser Longview actually had several of them too.
Thanks, CL. Apparently that's the same model that was used in the movie "Never Give an Inch". I couldn't see any markings at all on that shovel, but it had that same type of counterbalance.
That was the name of that movie! I was thinking about that just yesterday. I could remember Paul Newman was in it but that was it.
Ahhhh- You're thinking of the Paul Newman Movie "Sometimes a Great Notion" featuring the fictional Stamper Family Logging Company! You're right about the shovel too-- That movie was filmed on the job of L. Jepson and Sons logging at Lincoln City Oregon- the Yarder/Tower was a new (yellow) Skagit BU-94/T100 SP, and the shovel was a Manitowoc 2300 with a Young heel boom. Much smaller that the machine shown here in Alaska, but a Manitowoc for sure. When Jepson's (in Clatskanie Oregon now) ceased thier yarder logging operations in 2009, they parked a Skagit BU-737, a Thunderbird TMY-70 (now in Alaska and occasionally seen on Axe-Men), and that same BU-94- which they bought new in the early 70's and logged with until they were finished in 2009. Here's a movie collector-card scan featuring that Manitowoc..... I collect all things logging and have the full set of these. This is the only real shot of the shovel however.
That's Newman himself and his hippie longhair buddy with the shovel and a log truck that belonged to Loren Golly (the truck got wrecked in the movie). You can often pick the DVD up on ebay and every logging fan should own one. Another GREAT logging-theme movie from the 70's was "Timber Tramps" filmed here in Alaska and featuring Claude Akins, Rosie Greer, and alot of equipment. Also easy to find on ebay for under 10 bucks! When I die I'll figure out a good central location in Oregon/Washington and build a big building and put ALL this stuff of mine in there and you guys can all go read the books and watch the movies there whenever you want. I'll make sure they have several beers on tap for you as well. Somehow I gotta figure this out.......
I have seen that movie listed under both names for some reason; "Never Give an Inch", and also "Sometimes a Great Notion'. Haven't seen Timber Tramps yet, but I had heard of it. The late Finley Hays told me a few things about "Never Give an Inch" as well. One of my most prized possessions is a brand new 6 foot misery whip with three handles that my dad bought brand new from Schafer Bros. at their Brady, WA shop (now Vaughn Manufacturing) in the early Sixties I believe. He paid one dollar for it. I actually camped at their old homeplace once as a Boy Scout.
Here is a thread on that same movie that I started a couple years back: Rats. I can't post the link without keeping myself logged in. A search on Arboristsite.com will turn up several threads on this movie. It was Fonda and Newman at their best IMO. And if you had the ear for it, you could hear that old naturally aspirated (non turbo) Cummins engine in the log truck.
My Grandfathers equipment was used in Sometimes a Great Notion.. W&S Logging.. My Grandmother still has the studios official contracts. I will try to post them.
Not saying Jepsons was not used, Contract Logger.. But W&S was also used.
Thanks for all your posts. I am a new member and have spent alot of hours looking at all the things that you have put on here. I really enjoy your stuff and look forward to more of it. I wish I could see the stuff in your pictures in person. Thanks, Gary
Rockhaul: I'm curious. Which pieces were his? I would have LOVED to have picked up that ancient KW log truck. It must have had either a 4X4, or most likely a 5X4.
There were several different outfits used. Is this you grandfather? I didnt know him but Finley Hays sure speaks highly of him here- and that's good enough for me. Must have been a hell of a man and logger.
Yes. Sure is, Always speaks highly of Jim Anliker and Dave Bowden from Longview Fibre. Jim passed away 30+yrs ago in Jewell while hunting with the Jepson boys and Dave Bowden is doing very well, last time we visited, he was living in Longview.
I'm new to the forum...and all i can say is wow, theres a couple pieces of old iron off in the bush here, but no where near what is up there. thanks alot C.L. for posting these amazing pics of all that equipment sitting and rusting. its a real shame to see all that iron sitting, but at least the scrappys havent got to it yet!
I'm sure y'awl already know that Mr. Hays passed away a little over a year ago. I believe he was 82. He told me he felt like he probably topped and rigged a thousand trees in his day. He is another one who spent some time with Saginaw Timber years ago. He put out a really nice book full of photos and stories on Saginaw. I sold a few copies of his book for him (with no profit on my part) on Ebay. At one point, I received an email from a young lad named Mark Morley, out of Saginaw, MI. He was a descendant of Mr. A. J. Morley, one of the founders of Saginaw Timber. It gave me great pleasure to introduce him to Mr. Hays. I only met Mr. Hays in person once, in 2002, but we spent an entire afternoon together at his house, by his invitation, talking about the good old days of logging. As we parted ways, we made plans to meet again some day, at the big logging show in the sky, and take up where we left off in the conversation. I'll never forget that day. Mr. Hays was quite a gentleman. My dad used to take little bro and me fishing in Fall River, out behind Saginaw's shop in Brooklyn, WA. As a Boy Scout, I camped at Camp Delezene, which was Saginaw's original corporate headquarters. I also camped in the old Schafer family homeplace once. It was still in good shape back then. When the Schafers built something, it was built to last. As far as I know, their old roundhouse at Brady is still standing, and I'll bet it's still looking pretty good.
I know the fella that owns all this Whale Pass Iron. He has been a super gyppo in the past but has lost his will to log mostly and can't bear to part with any of his treasures..Once in awhile he fires something up and moves some wood
I heard HV was back on the island. PM me- I need to catch up with him on something. I have a fellow looking for a Madill 143 he had stashed at Goose Creek a few years back.
Skadill,from Youtube here.This has been one of my all time favorite threads.Just finally signed up after ages of enjoying the iron pics.I also seek out this type of stuff to feed the camera with,before the torches arrive.A few years ago,there was near nothing for the logging equipment buffs to feast on,but you guys have brought a world class collection of museum quality material together here.Excellent work.Contract Logger,I completely understand your passion for the worlds greatest industry and thank you for the history and images you've taken the time to capture.At the time a lot of equipment pictures were common place,but as time ages these are more valued and cannot be re-captured working again,have dissapeared,faded into scrap yards,and are no longer even manufactured ,Whole generations now will only know what was by these great works here.
Welcome skadill. Seen lots of your stuff on youtube and think it's great. Hoping to see lots more here. Should be a great contrbution to the forestry forum. Regards D.D.
About time!! this will take up any spare time you had...
It's a lot more intimidating here to open ones mouth or tell how it is about a piece of iron,this is where the big boys hang out.You guys are the Kings of the timber here.You have a Kwatna Timber connection.I've run for them myself years ago at Kwatna Bay,Big Windsor River,Prince Rupert and East Harrison at Silver River(G&F Logging too,buts its basically the same outfit.
Ha Ha! it just looks intimidating, more of a hobby finding pics of old equipment and posting them for everone to enjoy. I've seen lots of your vids looking forward to the still collection and yes to Kwatna 96-08 WELCOME
Welcome to HEF Skadill!
what is the story on the white western star in the back ground? 2 20 2010
Welcome Skadill to HEF, got to say if I'm not on this site I'm watching your vids, there great, music is choise too!
Whats the story on the old peterbilts?
Skadill; Welcome aboard - hope you will post some of your great pictures. Every second day I check out your great Youtube vidioes - great stuff for my modelling - thanks
I'm a newbie, not allow to PM you. Contract Logger I need you to contact me. [email protected] wonderfull job you did! already making plan to visit Alaska
Wow its sad to see all this great equipment left to rust away up there. I would love to have seen some of it in its prime doing what it was built to do. Cheers: Bill
I could use some parts from equipment do you know the current owner is Thanks
Never been a logger ,but such a waste!, but was some of the best photos I've ever seen on a post of any kind !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AMAZING!!!! thank you for sharing... absolutely amazing! Remy http://lineboring.org
Some history in those pics. If only they could talk. Thanks for posting them. Will
So CL, anymore pics? This thread has died and it's the one that got me onto this forum, please make it alive again!
I agree .. please keep it going.. I moved to Alaska in the 60's and worked out of Sitka before moving to Haines... I logged.. mainly as a timber faller. in Haines Afognak, POW, Long Island, IcyBay. Hobart Bay and various other camps.. I loved being a timber faller but I also loved the sounds, smells and working of all the equipment... Two big things in life I did wrong was leave Alaska and get old.. Even now I get joy from waking up to he sounds of log trucks going to work at 4 in the morning... Thank all of you for this thread..
Welcome to the forum wheelie! Thanks for posting, I hope it gets re-started soon!
Loved looking at the old iron. May have operated some of it. Worked in Coffman Cove one summer for Valetine. Most of my logging career was with my dad, Ross & Sons Logging out of Pacific Beach, Wa. Contracted for Aloha Lumber Co. and Evans Products which sold to Mayer Bros. Later in Toutle contracted to Weyerhauser. 2 sides. Lost all our equipment, and 2 men, when the mountain blew. Interesting to see the Pat Raby truck in there, as he contract hauled for us on the Quinault Indian Reservation in the early 70's. We ran a Tillman tower 110 feet, with Skagit drums. Link Belt 108 on Clark undercarriage, TD 24 and TD 20 Dozers, Manitowoc 2300, various trucks and support equipment. I got to run it all. Big Timber. Big Saws. Big Equipment. I saw the end of an era. When I first started helping my Dad, we were still running a sled donkey and wood Spar Tree. Bought the Tillman in 1967. The men who worked for my Dad, said he was the best they ever worked for. He still cuts wood, but only for the stove there in Toutle. 85 y.o.
It's a bummer the cussword filter is replacing D-i-c-k with astericks. If I got started telling Silver Bay Lodging stories, they would go on forever, I guess. I did tell some of those stories on History Channel Ax men blog last year. I think it was a "funny true stories" category.
Oh- and about the belt buckles- Silver Bay Logging had company items for sale in the offices at the camps. They sold a ton of coats and wind breakers, suspenders, and maybe T-shirts too with the Silver Bay Logging logo on it. For quite a while in the late 1980's you would see people wearing SBL coats all over AK, Washington, and Oregon. I used to joke that almost everybody had worked for SBL at some time or other. Hats too. And the belt buckles. I seem to recall the buckles were expensive. Seems like there was more items, but I don't remember what.
First time poster here, just came across this thread when looking to see what happened to my old hometown. My dad started as a deckhand on the Seahawk in Icy Bay in 1994, then kinda floated around the company from setting chokers to shop boss and camp watchman. I was about three years old when we moved there, and I remember watching Big Red (the red log truck that's pictured in the sort yard) bore down the road that went past camp with a big load. Always put a smile on my face. We lived there until 2005ish, but I remember playing on a lot of the equipment that you have pictures of when I was growing up. They also used to have a big row of Bucyrus-Erie line shovels down at the sort yard, but they buried them in the metal waste site in 2004 I think. Thanks for the memories!
"They also used to have a big row of Bucyrus-Erie line shovels down at the sort yard, but they buried them in the metal waste site in 2004 I think. Thanks for the memories!" Boy, there's sure alot of equipment buried in Alaskan rock pits isnt there? It all either got left, got buried, or barged out into the deep water and pushed off the barges. I know of barges that left camp with 5 running yarders aboard, headed for deep saltwater, only to arrive back in 3 hours later, completely empty. Hundreds of trucks too. Do you have any pics to post? Much of the Icy Bay gear still sits there rusting, including the yarders, where they will no doubt still be in 50 years. Too remote to go scrapping out there. Poole was in there getting Wasser & Winters out and grabbed a few pieces but not much. Wayne's 2 009's are sitting way out beyond the Cape, all the bridges on the 40-mile mainline got pulled out so the yarders, cats, and all the gear beyond the Cape is there forever now. I still see them from the air once or twice a year and smile. There's a complete Skagit 739 and Madill 009 tank mount in Brownings yard still as well, along with a bunch of other gear. Whatever's out there now will be out there forever. No one's going back into that country with a barge in this day and age. When I tell people the water on the lost coast is so rough all the fuel was delivered by air tanker they dont even believe me. I guess you just had to be there and see it with your own eyes. Are you Stormy's boy?
I have a SBL video of their alaska operations. Kinda cool as there a few guys I cut with that are on it. I wish I could get my hands on that 739...... ;(
There sure is, I know out at the cape there was a bunch of old stuff too, left over from the White Alice operations, as well as some old equipment out at the old oil camp they had. I might have a few pictures of the camp and what not, but I'll have to scan them in. I remember that fuel tanker too, used to hitch rides with them sometimes into Yakutat. The Salmonella, a C-46. They still run it out of Anchorage or Fairbanks if I'm not mistaken. And yep, that's my old man.
What would the cost be to get that 739 from AK down to seattle you think...???
What is going on with all the old whitestone stuff since Bryan Brown bought them out and I heard he is going/went under also....????
Ain't Basco's 739 for sale?
Any info on it...???
Here's some contact info for them. Torkel has been to their place and took pictures, he will probably chime in when it gets to daylight on his side of the world. Basco Logging Inc 1039 Park Hill Lane, Sutherlin, OR (541) 459-9318
Thanks Jeremy. I believe I have seen the machine and if it is the one I am thinking of it is nice. Anyone have any info on the one D**k Gilkenson had for sale a couple of years ago...????
Check out Post 268 in the Skagit forum for more info and pictues on the Basco 739
I guess this is as good a thread as any to make my first post on. My Dad was a logger in NW Oregon and looked at a job in SW Alaska for Ketchikan Pulp, but it was too far out of his experience level, so he moved to the Klamath River country in N. Calif to start logging there. That was in 1954 and he said later that the guy who took the Alaska job became a millionaire, but maybe that was just wishful thinking on his part. One of his friends did go to Alaska and logged with his own small sawmill, name was Earl Brown. Now if I could just remember which island or inlet he was located on?
I would bet the guy that took the leap to AK made millions. If you worked and put your time in you made huge $$$ as a contractor up there in the heyday.
Thank you for these pics.i operated almost all of those rock trucks in the whitestone yard back in the early 90's.broter inlaws dad and one other person were the owners of whitestone .shame to see all those memories rusting away.living and working in hoonah was one of the best times in my life.i was recently told i have lymphoma.i would sure like to go visit the old yard/camp.thanks again travis
It was very informative article to me... Thanks for your sharing. Thank u so much.... Pizza Equipment
hey thank's again for the whitestone pics.as i said before operated alot of that iron.did not realize it at the time but that was the best days in my life.thank again.travis
does anyone know if whitestone is operating anywhere in ak?
Hey "Contract Logger",any chance ** posting some more pics of the gear in Alaska?,we find this absolutly amazing and would love to come on up and do a tour one day.Quite sure I could raise a bunch of Kiwi Logger's that would be keen to do a tour if at all possible?
to see all that gear go to waste............what a shame, governments just dont get it , all that money sitting there rotting away when it should be all workin......
www.rustygrapple.com Go there for all your alaskan pics. There are thousand.
Just checked it out, many thanks Hallback,really amazing stuff.
Don't thank me NZ, My friend is the one who put that site together and has approx 30.000 photos and flyers that are logging related. His favorites are large towers and big wood logging. Keep watching as more and more are added all the time. It truly is a blessing and wonder that he has done that for us all to enjoy,reminice and learn from.
Hi ! I think it is very pathetic to see all this iron sit for rotting instead of being reuse !! I know it is expensive to recover but I guess it depends on which method we use to recover those !!! I'm sure our freinds from China wood drool on recovering all this iron !!!!
I couldn't agree with you more. I've had to stop watching three or four times. I've got property at Nauakti, Alaska and have seen some of this first hand. I may have met "Contract Logger" one time at the Nauakti Connection store in 2001 or 2003.(He had a 18/20 foot aluminum boat, kinda like an Alumaweld) No matter one way or the other, these are some of the most outstanding pictures I've ever seen. I suppose when you've worked in the industry that you "feel" it more than an outsider. The pictures of the 739's brought back memories of Hog Mountain's 739 burning to the ground up the Winchuck River, on the Southern Oregon coast. From the time you saw the first licks of flame come over the yum pile, to when flames were going clear over the 110 foot tower(it could have been a 90' tower, I don't remember) was about a minute and a half! The other thing that stands out in my mind is all the jobs, direct and indirect, that aren't there any more. Thank you very much for posting this stuff.
I must comment on Skadill's post. You guys need to checkout his website, it's outstanding. Skadill is the guy that turned me on to you guys. You can hear it in his voice how he feels about logging/loggers and the construction industry. It's that "feeling" you get when you're surrounded by your peers. Working folks that when they give their word, it's gold. I must say that "Contract Logger's" links are every bit as good.
Familiar names I remember Sue and Almandinger even though I was a youngster. I remember when the FMC skidder was new there on Afognak and Sue saved my dad from being run over when someone was learning to operate it. It came out of the shop quick and Sue tackled my dad out of the way and it stopped where he was standing. I believe my dad even worked on the Sygnet for a while. I've been looking for pictures of it.
All, I've spent hrs. going thru these pages. I fully agree w/the sentiment of lost jobs, destroyed commerce and a displaced work force. I worked at Thorne Bay, the summer season in 1970. An 18 yr old kid, first time away from home, first time on a jet (Seattle to Annette Island), first time in a float plane and above all, first time working in a camp. At that time KPC was hiring load of guys, many coming and going. Guys like truck driver Nathan (Tiny) Thompson, from Coos Bay, OR. and Keith (Snooks) Underwood, west coast tribe, don't remember which, who showed be the ropes and kept for getting killed more than once. A bunch of Canadian Indian cowboy/loggers......great to work with, always joking, and NO mean stuff. In the mid 70's Greg Martin was our hook, at Green River...great guy, quick temper, but fair! I hate to see equipment just rust, a common sentiment of all of you...Here in WA, people have forgotten that the Timber Taxes, paid by the logging industry sustained our school system. In the late 80's and into the 90's I was an Ag inspector for a regional bank...Timber company auctions were everywhere, equipment going for next to nothing. Even RB wasn't moving the iron, I used to go to their auctions for valuations but finally gave up...not enough would sell (or the bank couldn't/wouldn't use the low values. My wife and I won property close to Cle Elum, 25 yrs ago, logging trucks, crummies and rigging was all over...now, nothing! Are there any opportunities in Alaska for a 60yr old guy, who can do a lot, with not much? The lower 48 have just gotten to crazy!!! Best to you all, like being in the Military, one can't tell someone else what its like, but once having experienced it you never forget! Be Safe and stay the hell out of the BITE!!!!!! BG.
Barney Huddleston (sp?), whatever happened to him. in 1970 he was the side rod for KPC @ Thorne Bay. Quite a guy! Rode a guy wire down from a spar pole with a strap.........would've fired us if we'd had tried that....but was great to see!!! Gus Okerlund (sp?), KPC's rep in Mt Vernon, WA, in 1970...............hired me to go North.
Bagswa51, I think Keith 'snooks' Underwood was from Taholah on the Quinault Indian Reservation. I might have known some of those Canadian loggers you worked with. We hired some from time to time. Ronnie Johns and Claude Priest are 2 I can think of right off. I worked for Valentine at Coffman Cove in 75. Lived in Aloha Wa. before that so camp life wasn't new, but the flights in the 'flying boat' were a new experience. Keep posting your experiences. It's great to get some reminders of what it was like 'back then.'
What's up, Mister Smoke?
Been running that KW up and down the road. Grabbed a snow hauling contract. Moving material out of the pit. Plus got that visitor headed north thanks to you, Buddy. 18 days till we meet F2F. You been a matchmaker long?
Don't thank me yet, amigo. Time will tell.
ak, good to hear..........always liked Snooks.........hope his life went well. As for experiences; my first side at Thorne Bay was atop a mtn............took 1/2 hr to hike up the hill to the landing...at the time a sled donkey was used (diesel powered) and a spar tree..........what a sight to a green kid!!! Moving that sled was something, winching from one stump to another, man that thing as huge...there was an Irish guy, Rooney, who got is leg caught between two logs, luckily didn't crush it, but put him in rocking chair for some time.....he was one of those scrappers, a not so big a guy, but one you knew, would be hell to tangle with............ ...speaking of tangling.....working with these guys taught me a lifelong lesson, that people now, don't know.........Keep your damn mouth shut and work, and if you have a problem w/someone, your have two choices, keep it to yourself or have it out......of course now, having it out means getting a lawyer........but not back then, as you all know! Have a good day all, keep the rubber on the road!
I'm thanking you now, Brother.
My Dad ran a spar tree and sled donkey until he bought a Tillman tower in 1967. Tallest spar we rigged was 235' to where we hung the mainline block. Al Smith from Taholah was our tree topper. Got it on home movies. Broke that spar several times on that setting. Was under 100' when we finished up. It was a spruce. The cedars just never got that tall. They were all school marmed out, with lots of widow makers. My uncle John Starks was killed by one of those widow makers falling for Aloha Lumber Co. Thanks for the great posts, Bagswa51, and keep yardin' 'em in. Brings back lots of memories. Mostly good. But, sometimes at night when the rain is pounding on the roof, I have dreams (nightmares) of laying in the mud, reaching for a choker knob with a numb hand and rain running down my crack. LOL.
My cousin, Azel Pellam, was faller in the Snohomish/King Counties areas of WA. for years........originally from Missouri. He was put in the hospital w/severre injurries from an Alder tree barber chairing............damn near took his head off!!! Speaking of dreams; LOL.......when my wife and I were first married, I was driving Ag cat in the Palouse.....farm all day.......drive cat all night....damned if I could ever figure out how to get that rig our of the bedroom at night.....let alone how I got it in........but there is was........running and ready to pull...... In Thorne Bay, I had flying chokers ea. and every night........nubbins getting closer and closer.......funny what tension/stress can do to you!!!
"Akroadrunner"; a quick story about Snooks.....first time I saw him was in the float plane shack in Ketchikan, waiting for the ride out to Thorne Bay. Keeping in mind I was totally green......I walk in and there sits this guy, very dark sunglasses, spikey beard, flat top. starring straight ahead and not moving....I said Hi, he grunted!!! Back in that day Snooks was one well built guy, not someone you'd want to press for conversation..so there we sat. The rest of the story; He had been in a bar fight, gotten hit across the jaw w/a pool cue and broke his jaw, which had to be wired. Talking was painful and eating was mostly soup...after a few weeks, he finally got in talking mode and told be all about this...we both laughed when he heard what I thought when first seeing him; one mean SOB, to leave alone.........we had a good season, well up until a trip to town for him left him pretty much shot....didn't sober up for a week....have a good day!
Wow great pics and that is very sad to see the old equipment rustiing away like that.
Tender Loving Care I am insulted that Contract Logger would mistake part of my fleet as left to rust!LOL See page 10, post 143 Hey, the moldboard is even shiny! Also a new perfectly straight cutting edge! Here it is doing a fine job in Oct 2011. It steers easier than my 14E.:beatsme Serial#70D
Thats is a lot of history thats is being lost. What a shame! Thanks for posting pics guys. Keep them coming
I know a lot of you Alaska boys check this thread offten. Here is a link to a Juneau crane operator that was crushed 11/4/11 under his crane. Dwan
are they free to a good home? or do they still technically belong to someone?
I am one of the members who was drawn to this site because of this thread. I have family in Sitka who went up there in the 70's when things were booming. The father in law of one of my cousins from up there logged the islands in that area after he left the military. I showed him this thread and he recognized many of the places and the companys that were pictured. He said he loved working the camps but had to quit because of family needs at home. That is as close as I'll probably get to working an Alaskan logging camp. I am too young to havegone up there in the hey day, but as an equipment mechanic I can't stand the fact that all that equipment is up there not running. I was one of the victims of the bad economy for a while, and I know every time I see equipment abandoned it means empty houses and no paychecks. Believe me if I could I would love to take my service truck up there with a barge load of supplies and make that equipment move again. It's just too bad that people and governments believe that something comes from nothing, otherwise myself and many others would not be daydreaming about working logging camps we would be doing it.
I live here in Alaska even today and logging is completely over. One USFS sale is currently active (but nearly finished now). The equipment leftover from the heyday is stashed all over the place, but is inaccessible mostly, ot it would have been cleaned up and hauled off. There's also a little Tribal logging going on but very very little. I have a photo gallery/site up that I'm adding to constantly, with one gallery completely dedicated to the leftover Alaskan logging gear - www.pbase.com/rustygrapple/rainforestrust - if you want to follow it. Every yarder parked and rusting represents 15 to 20 jobs if you include the cutters and the booming/sorting men- to say nothing of the road builders, mill workers and retailers, equiment suppliers/salesmen/mechanics, camp cooks/crew, pilots, etc that it takes to log up here..... I call it the 'Heartbreak Gallery' because it is nothing less than that! I appreciate all the interest in this thread, and Cletus- I meant no disrespect regarding your Classic and Collectible machinery my friend!
Wow! what a thread. Would like to have some of the CAT stuff & KW trucks. I guess parts in AK are nearly worthless.
hey all. I have been reading and trying to figure out whjo some of you are. i am sure that some of you knew my hard a** dad. Lou Johnson. i saw where some one mentioned tree rigs. I am looking forward to getting to know who you are and seeing more pics of the old machines. i recognize a few of them
i live in fairbanks, and i was wondering where is the closest abandoned equipment there, i would love to take some pics of it. if someone was interested in some of the equipment how would they go about getting it?
Not sure where to look in that area. You could check with the Forest service or the Dept. of Natural Resources. As far as getting the equipment, most of it has been sitting so long it will cost a small fortune to get it working againand expensive to move. Not to mention, as soon as you take posession of it, you are responsible for the environmental clean up if there is any to be done. That is, the fuel and or oil that leaked on the ground.
its sad we live a country were our goverment is against industry which is what built it
Not all of the equipment in your pictures are still in place. I've been cleaning up scrap around S.E. let me know whats still out there and I could possibly clean it up.
truckdoctor I'm looking for a mechanic if you are interested in coming to S.E. Alaska email me [email protected]
You're actually one of the reasons I stopped posting pictures. Fortunately most of it you guys can't get to so it will be safe for awhile anyway.... There are 2 other fellows who have nailed a few peices as well.
If I were to post my response to this drivel, I would surely be banned. Clean it up, you say? Yeah right.
Well put Contract Logger G**D*MM Clown Just cant leave well enough alone "Could possibly clean it up" What are you?? Probably never heard of "KARMA" but You Will !!!! Want to clean something up come down here to Victoria and go to the Parliament Buildings They are in dire need of cleaning DR
Let Live These great old pieces of battled scarred equipment are the last surviving witnesses to the greatest industy ever developed. These giants helped provide products and house people all over the planet.Some like to dive for sunken ships in the reefs to see their great remnants,others like to dig for old bones and cities,natural disasters get park protection.May these still soldiers stand forever to remind the world of the great fortitude,determination,engineering,thought,design,and sleepless hours spent by inginuitive loggers and builders decades ago who were faced with the worlds toughest conditions,the steepest ground,the biggest wood,the furthest locations,the ugliest weather,and few comforts of home.The Loggers overcame the lack in technology then, and had to actually use their God given minds to overcome and accomplish daily obstacles to provide the world with the products that were so insatiably demanded of them.May these idled beasts forever guard their territory and remind us of how far we've strayed from a simpler time in the industry when hard work was respected,jobs were valued,and the economy was fed by the risk,fortitude,determination of a rare and fading group of risk taking entrpreneurs known as the early loggers.I agree these pieces of equipment don't need to be 'cleaned up' their not ' a mess'.Their all that exists of a living history thats slipped away.The cleaning up needs to go back further to the root and cause of this catastrophe,which has little to do with equipment, or this area.Don't shoot the wounded,honor them let them stay as they are parked,and hopefully they will haunt those forever that fought to get them idled.
I would kinda think that these machines still belong to someone, or a group of someones, who would be ultimatlity responseable for them. If they wanted to cut them up for scrap, and haul them off that would be up to them. All the work involved to scrap out a machine of this size, plus the cost of getting to Seattle to a junk yard dosen't hardly seem worth it to me. I would also like to know where in the hell some Jimmy Smith like ruhtard with a torch thinks he has the right to scrap someone elses stuff?! There would be some grand theft, larceny and tresspassing involved I do believe.
Same thing happened here--Google--Adventuresinmikeslife,blogspot.com When it comes up scroll down to Blog archive 2011(86) click on that then scroll down to The Doriston Trucks After you look at all the pics go back and read what Mike had to write!!!!!
There are a few things in my life I would love to see. One being all the equipment left sitting around there, in hopes of being used again. The second I would really like to see is the logging come back and all that stuff running. With more new machines being made to keep thousands of people in the logging industry busy once again. It is a crying shame to see all the equipment and trees going to waste, do to stupidity. Just plain stupidity. It is so good to see some people rebuilding the old trucks and equipment so the younger generation can see what once was one of the greatest industies in the world.
Isn't it amazing how one miscreant can come along and stir the pot, and in the process add new life to an old thread? Now, you will notice, I didn't call him a no-good, slack-jawed, cousin-dating, good-for-nothing miscreant; just a plain old, garden-variety miscreant, in hope that the mods will let me live another day......
That really a neat find ,and very old relics,thanks for the lead HDX,one with a water tank looked Hayes like.not full enough photo though..I don't make a habit of telling where the pieces I find are either,out of a respect for the history and hope for their survival.Just recent a pair of cable dozer cats from the 30's that were around forever got cut up.I did video them though,and they're preserved in one form.
I'm of two minds on this. First I worked on a great deal of stuff that is up there. Whether it was pre-delivery on new machines, installing attachments and guarding packages, fixing up used ones to go up or traveling up there to keep the stuff running, I've caressed my share of what is there. Unfortunately if it hasn't run in two years and the brush is growing up through it, it isn't going to run ever again in its current form. While I'd like to think that the stuff has some historical value, the facts are that up there it is more of a hazard to everything around it. I've seen shovel booms up in the air with rotten lines just waiting to fall. There are the hydraulic machines with oil seeping out into the land and the streams. I've seen miles of wire rope strung out down the sides of the roads again just rusting away leaving daggers and needles to punch holes in any critter that happens to stumble on it. If anything has a chance of running again, it will only be the odd used part that happens to fit something else a long way away. While many will argue the point, if someone has the get-er-done spirit, the permission of the owner and a way to make some money for both of them, then I think it is better to get the stuff out of there. Really, when you think about it, what is the difference between the logger going up there on faith and this guy up there on the same kind of faith. There is no sentimentality in a machine. If there is no use for it, it should be changed into something else that can be used.
Give Him a Break.......... I love the old iron.......I just wish it were working, if it were, it wouldn't be getting scrapped. It is our fault as the silent majority of voters.........hard working people that want nothing more than a chance to make a good living.............how many of us don't get involved in our political process? How many of us have never called or emailed our Congressman, Senator, the White House? I would urge all of us to do exactly that EVERYTIME we see something happening that affects us in a negative way. They only listen to the loudest voice, we tend to be quiet. We tend to think we are too busy running our outfit to be involved in that stuff. Well, it costs us every time we think like that. Elections have consequences and man have we seen that in the last 20 years! Every time we sit on our duff and don't cast our vote THEY get more powerfull. We have to start at the local level, and throw the big spending liberal preservationist socialist out!! They are slowly taking over this country and us deadbeats are letting them do it!! I hate to see the big iron cut up, melted & sent to some other country to be made into some piece of inferior junk to be resold here. I grew up on big steel towers, big cats, big log loaders..... things I dreamed of as a kid. But it will all get melted down if WE as voters do not get off our duff and get involved in the process. Perhaps if the gentleman scrapper could find a good paying job in the timber industry he would be doing that instead. I'd like to think so..........
Give him a Break?? I'd better add some 'back story' for perspective: A friend of mine in Ketchikan had 2 machines stored with permission in an out-of-the-way location (in an abandoned rock pit). Plans were to eventally restore both pieces and as soon as his shop construction was finished, and when the machines would not be in the way of the new construction, these machines (large cable cranes with logging booms/modifications) were to be moved back to the shop to resume work on them. He arrived back at the pit after a couple of weeks to find scorched earth and slag where his treasures had been sitting! I had posted pictures of these items and the owner was a little miffed with me for posting in fear that someone may recognize that location- his fears were eventually realized and I felt horrible for having potentially contributed to that loss. I will state again the items were scrapped WITHOUT the owner's permission, consent, and basically they were just stolen. (I had better also point out clearly that the Ketchikan incident was someone else and NOT the above poster). 1. The fact that these persons even needs to ask where these items are sitting just proves my point here I think...? 2. If the owners were interested in scrapping they would call a scrapper, right? That just stands to reason. I don't know the above poster personally and I'm not inclined to accuse or desparage this person of any wrongdoing. That being said, after what happened to my friend I will refrain from posting or aiding in the potential of further harm. I am somewhat shocked, however, that a person would find a group of vintage-machinery fans and start the conversation by asking where they can find other peoples machinery to go cut up.....? I'm willing to listen and I'm willing to be wrong. For now, this post is basically my line of thinking. I enjoy 'long-lost machinery' hunting, but my kill is by camera, not by torch.
Thank you HDX, this is the story everyone here needs to read. http://adventuresinmikeslife.blogspot.com/2011/12/doriston-trucks.html The photos are great, and the story is all too common. Do we need to give all of our history to the Chinese, who are only using it to build weapons? I fear that someday our treasures will all come back to us- likely in the form of missiles and bombs.
These postings have been quite the eye opener for me. I had been wondering why the locations of machines had been kept a closely guarded secret by a few - now I can only thank them for their secrecy. I'll be changing my ways when it comes to posting pics - locations will not be revealed in the future.
While I hope you can keep these old treasures location hidden I hope people will continue to share the pictures of them. I am still hoping to get back to the west coast this summer, on my motorcycle. In hopes of seeing some of the old iron, and maybe see some of the newer stuff operating. Since I will be on my motorcycle, other than the memories I hope to bring back some pictures to remind me of when I lived out there for a while. Had thought about asking where to find some of the old machines but now know I would rather know they are safely tucked away.
What a Shame............. Those trucks were one with nature.........they almost looked like they grew there. It is a shame they are gone. People who steal in this way are in the same boat as an arsonist who destroys just for destruction's sake. This should be grand theft auto big time. Left alone all the so called "abandoned" equipment will end up in the same beautiful state. When I take my pictures, (of which I have posted none and will not post without the owners permission) Most of the owners down here are very nervous about the world knowing who's equipment it is and where it is.......there are too many whacko's out there who would love to mess with it. It's a sad world out there. Thank you guys for the hours and hours of enjoyment I have recieved from this forum. I am thankful that there are people out there that enjoy heavy machinery as much as I do! Thanks for protecting it as much as we can.
This thread has been a huge hit and I am taking more pictures now that ever. I'll continue to post some but I have to tell you that ordeal with the Ketchikan machines really has really made me rethink the whole thing and I surely do regret giving more information than to describe make, model, and probable year built. For now we just need to let things cool off and chill for a minute. One good thing that has come out if this is that I approach every machine as though it's my last chance to record it- and it isn't uncommon for me to take 200 pictures of a single yarder or shovel. I carry 3 charged batteries and 6 to 8 4GB SD Cards everywhere I go these days, so in another 20 years I'll have lots of pics to remember things and share with the fellows building models and miniatures. I will say this- if a person is traveling to a certain area and is looking for certain makes or models of machines, I will gladly direct you toward them via private email communication if your story checks out. Alaska isn't realistic due to insane travel/accomodation expenses but much machinery remains in Oregon, Washington, and California. I dont want to discourage anyone from the 'hunting hobby' but we do need to hold our secrets a little closer these days. I think most of you would agree and will understand. I sure hope so anyway. What's done is done and if we look backward to often we'll miss whats ahead.
Its very sad people can't leave history alone. Instead they have to destroy it for proffit. They are low life theaves in my opinion and there is lower than a theif.
Seems as though someone could get hurt pretty easily doing such things. Accidents do happen, you know......
I would like to thank contract logger for all of the great pics and specs he has posted onto this thread
Yes I couldn't agree more. Thank you very much Contract logger your pictures are very interesting and very inspiring to my model building. I am planning a build of weyerhauser number 420 in 1/25 scale. That truck has history and should be in a museum not rotting away on a beach :-(
Setting the Record Straight First off let me state that I am currently in the business of “Commercial Recycling.” I have spent the last four years cleaning up scrap metal in Wrangell as well as the surrounding areas. I’ve done this on my dime with no cost to any individual or the City and Borough of Wrangell. Ninety Five percent of the vehicles and or equipment that I’ve picked up have been contaminating the ground it was parked on by leaking oil and fuel into the soil. In your reply to me you stated “You're actually one of the reasons I stopped posting pictures,” I’m the reason you stopped posting pictures? You need to be carful what group you lump me into. I don’t use the title Contract Logger as some handle or usser name. I am a “Contract Logger.” I’ve contract Logged for Mitkof Lumber Co., Metlakatla Indian Timber Enterprises, Alaska Pulp Corporation and for myself. At one time I had over 25 mmbf of timber under contract with the US Forest Service on Wrangell Island alone. I’ve logged, built road and installed bridges all over Southeast Alaska. I’m not trying to scrap history. There are tools and equipment that are part of our history that should never be scrapped. I’m just trying to cleanup the mess that has been left behind by a bunch of trash loggers! I have personally donated hundreds of tools and equipment to various collectors and museums. I have just found a home for and I’m in the process of making ready to ship, a 12' steam driven lathe that in to days scrap market would yield $ 1500.00 to $2000.00. It was built in the late 1800's and is still in working order. It’s a piece of history that I believe should be preserved. One of the pictures you posted was of my GT5 Skagit Swing Yarder that was sitting on Mental Health Trust Land at Pat’s Creek Log Transfer Facility. The Mental Health Trust Land office wanted it off there land. I tried selling it, I even tried giving it away but in the end I was forced to scrap it. If your so concerned about the old iron sitting around rusting, I suggest you collect it and start your own museum.
Well, I think we are all pretty much speechless at the immensity of your 'woodsman credentials'. You want to crack on Contract Logger? He has contributed a great deal to this site, and maintains another site of his own, also dedicated to the preservation of this important part of history. I seriously doubt that you would amount to so much as a pimple on his posterior in comparison. He's not hiding behind a wannabee screen name; He IS who he says he is, and I suggest that you refrain from the wisecracks about him.
Guys, let's keep this thread on track please. I'd hate to see it closed due to the emotions involved with the old iron.
It's all good you guys lets just enjoy the pictures together and leave it at that. We're all adults here and while our interests are different (or maybe not that different) I think we're all better than to descend into a scrappping match via our computers and morning coffee. I don't get my feelings hurt over much of anything and I've heard everything you can imagine said about me- some true and alot not true. In the end none of it matters anyway. I don't feel slighted at all here. There's alot of different directions this thread could go from here and mostly they're not good at all. Mr Oliver kind of stumbled into a hornet's nest here and it's mostly not his fault. I called a few friends in Wrangell who told me that his efforts have mostly been directed at old dump sites, wrecking yards and not that much machinery, rather mostly cars and loose iron. If he owns the GT5 and wants to scrap it, it's a bummer but it is his to scrap after all. It doesn't sound like he's an outlaw scrapper and I stopped posting due to outlaw scrappers, not the fellow who is trying to better his community and lessen the landfill content of washers, dryers, and Ford Pintos. I'll hold the equipment close and I'll help with the cleanup as it relates to cars, washing machines, and etc- they are not in the areas where the machines are at anyway. Lets just act like the adults we all are and maybe Mr Oliver would even be willing to share his old logging pictures with us eventually. Life's too short to spend fighting over things that happened last week anyway.
Thank You for the Clarification DR Oliver It is always best to know the whole (real) story before posting, and it not easy to know what is real and what is not over the computer. We are separated by miles or thousands of miles for some of us. I apologize for the thread DR Oliver, personal attacks really have no place here. We should only be sharing about the machinery and the stories associated with them. I hope it does not come to the point where we will not be able to share pictures, I really enjoy them. I personally have a real love and respect for the big logging iron. I hate to see it cut up, melted and sent to china, they are in no way to be mistaken for friends. When someone steals a machine and cuts it up it makes me mad (as in the alledged case of the old trucks in a previous post). But if an owner chooses or is forced to because of lack of a buyer, that is another deal altogether. I may not like it, but I figure I have 2 choices, 1, I could offer to buy the machine, or 2 learn to live with it. In the case of the GT5, I am sorry, but I must just live with it. I thank you DR Oliver for your clarification, and I applaud you for trying to find a home for the machine, it is not easy in the timber industry of today. I also thank you for donating the tools and collectibles to worthy collectors and museums. Hopefully we can let all of this go an get back to the BIG IRON!!
I have a private message I would like to send too you if you could clear some room in your private message box. Thanks
I get the distinct feeling that I got the wrong impression of you, Mr. Oliver. I hope you will accept my sincere apology. As Redwood Climber said above, "Hopefully we can let all of this go an get back to the BIG IRON!!"
I was out in the brush up Fall Creek outta Springfield Oregon in 1975 and a new guy who had been in Alaska said that Barney Huddleston had died in a hotel in Grays Harbor when he found that he had cancer...I knew Barney as did most everyone that worked in the Thorne Bay area...a tougher and kinder man never lived... RIP
see my post 03 Feb, I'm new around here...I knew Barney Huddleston and his story...
I gotta say nice pics of the old machines...I only remember the old Madill and Skagit yarders and the Linkbelt, Washington and etc shovels on the landing when I was a chaser in 1976...I got handy with a D7 clearing brush when the landing got clogged...remembering packing around them blocks and straps out in the brush to change roads and cut off a section on the haulback to string for the next road... anyone heard of Clarence 'Whitey' Elmore that useta live in Petersburg around 1974? he had his old mother and two down syndrome kids to look after...must be dead now, he was in his 50s then...my first hooktender; 'LOOK OUT FER THEM FCUKIN' LINES YE DUMB PIECE OB ****E!...' I loved him...and sure enough the lifting haulback knocked me on me arse when changin' roads once...stood too close...
DR Oliver thanks for the job offer. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm working at a Caterpillar dealer , I would take you up on the offer. Since I have been at the dealership I've learned to think about heavy equipment recycling in a new way. Caterpillar offers a certified rebuild program for their equipment. Basically they take an older piece of iron replace all the components,wiring,hoses,etc. The hard components like the cab and frame are repaired and updated to current specs. It is also done at the fraction of the cost of new. It would be nice to take some of those machines up there and certify them to five them a second chance. I know the frustration of dealig with theives. A few years ago I was asked to go into an old placer mine in the California foothills and survey the damage from the tweakers going in there looking for scrap or the overlooked piece of machinery. The grandson of the mine owner was trying to restart the mine after ten years of dormancy. The mine was set up well with a really nice trommel and a set of sand screws. There were also three excavators, a 3512 cat generator, and other support equipment. The sad part was theae jerks went in and litterally ripped the radiators and oil coolers out of these machines. The generator was the worst. These butt cracks had cut all the windings out of the generator and removed the radiator. This guy is asking me I the equipment is repairable and how much it's going to cost. I couldn't give an optimistic answer. I told him flat out that the yellow iron would be possible to get running but the quarter million dollar heart of the operation was a loss. It would take more to repair the generator than it was worth. It sucks that a few selfish stinky orfices of the human anatomy can't keep their hands off someones livelyhood. Just because it is sitting does't mean it is free to a new owner. Please understand I am not trying to create more anamocity, I just realize that unfortunately there are people out there who only care about their immediate gain at someone elses expense. I will try to do my part tosave these machines on my end but I know I won't save them all.
As others have said, wow it's just sad looking at all this iron. Thanks for sharing. I also think the loss of jobs and the benefit for our economy is huge. The other thing is with all the new rules there is never a chance any of this will ever work again. What is wrong with our country?
i know it's an older thread but wow... what a shame. Why not scrap the machines where they sit and make a land train hauling out the pieces? I guess it's hard to imagine the distance to the nearest recycle yard.. but what a waste of iron. I was amazed there was still air in some of the old truck's tires.
Put the politicians on a train......... We don't need to put the old iron on a train.......we need to put the politicians who slit the throat of the working man on a train..........to the gallows. It is way beyond a shame what has happened here. Many of the pieces of "junk" iron you see here are still in working order, it just doesn't have any work available. Some is beyond repair, much of it would need some work, but if the timber were available, and the markets were there, you'd be amazed at how much of it would be fired up and headed out. For every large tower scrapped, it's gone, no one builds them anymore. We will kick ourselves if we scrap it all. The Chinese cannot supply us with wood. We grow it like crazy here..........let us log.
Yes, put the environmental whackos in the recycle bin with any junk that can't be used.
If the environmentalist found themselves short of toilet paper, they would put a gun to your head and tell you to start cutting trees down.
I doubt that runner. I don't think they use toilet paper, have you ever smelled a big group of them?:crying Their stink will bring tears to yer eyes!!!
I used old iron for a playground when I was a kid in the logging camp. My Dad had a 2 axle dump truck behind the house, on the south side. I would sit in that thing and read books when it was chilly outside. The sun shining in the windows warmed it up nice. I would do my reading in the passenger seat. My books were stored in the glove box. When I got bored with reading, I jumped in the drivers seat and 'ran it through the gears'. I remember asking my Dad why I couldn't get it into every gear. He did something. Can't remember if he moved the truck a little or rolled the engine over, but I had all the gears then. He showed me how to double clutch. I was 6 to 9 years old when we lived in that camp. I was sad when he sold the truck. Guess what I do now. I drive a Kenworth end dump. Haha.
its a shame, most kids now cant even get an auto tranny to move. LOL my uncle had an old dump in his yard when we were kids, we put many make believe miles on that truck every summer.
yellow dog, i agree what ashame. lotsa money out therre in old equip.
Man I would love to have one of those old trucks. Especially the one with the low-boy hooked to it. Thanks for sharing.
Looking to buy kenworth heavy duty rear suspensions in some pictures in alaska. any help with where the old wrecked weyerhauser bone yard is near ketchikan?
It would be cool if someone would make a map of abandoned logging camps and places where you can find abandoned equipment.
Doing that would only invite thieving lowlifes who would scrap the stuff.I agree it would be nice to see in person, but unfortunately a few have ruined it for the rest.It's a sad reality of what the world has come to.
This.
I agree with you on that one tireman,it is a crying shame that we cant enjoy seeing this great equipment just because some thief cant keep his hands to him self,if the owner wants to scrap the equipment its his choice,but just because the equipment is sitting somewhere in the forest doesn't mean its there for taking IT STILL HAS AN OWNER,and it should stay there where it is as a reminder because what happened to Alaska logging could happen anywhere in the US or the world,and it is a shame that we cant enjoy seeing this great equipment on the internet,because many of us probably won't have a chance to see it in person.Thanks for the great pictures and stories everyone especially Contract Logger.
Let's not go down this road again please.
contract logger I have sent you a few messages but your inbox is full. don't know how else to get a hold of you. just wanted to ask some questions, not publicly of course. big fan, DIESELFREAK.
Well if we cant see the pictures of the old iron,can we see the pictures of the equipment working in Alaska today,there are still a couple outfits left working up there,so if someone has pictures please post them.
Alaska Logging in action Is this the Ketchikan Skagit BU-739? I Found some action shots but I'm not shore if it's the same machine
Hey This is Rygaard a buddy sent me this . Who is the owner ? I am interested in it for parts. They only made 37 of these I have 3 of them myself. Contact me by e mail at [email protected] . Cool Pics Gabe
i am looking for a 150 ton low bed to buy so if anyone one knows where i could find one could you let me know
RE; Post 143 I hope to have it looking like this again! I was 16 when I talked my dad into buying it.
Off Road?
Hey contract logger am an apprentice heavy duty mechanic with the hopes of having my own logging equipment and the trucks and towers i see on here or beutys and need to be restored or brought back to life there history and for me living in bc most of our towns were built around the industry if i was a serious buyer and wanted to buy some trucks and equipment from one of the yards and wrench on them and restore them how could i contact some of the owners or find the yards
Might want to contact him directly at his website: Rustygrapple.com. Best of luck in your endeavors.
I really think those EX400s are really cool! Sad to see em all siting! I would like to build one in 1:50 someday... It would be very cool to see them in person. NOT IN CUT UP PIECES! Thanks for posting these pics!
This Machine originally was Ketchikan Pulp's, then it went to Seley, and now I believe Crown Alaska owns it. To answer your question yes it is the same machine, the most powerful machine I ever worked under- 23 years in the brush. I once fully suspended 2- 36' spruce, one 6'8" and the other 6'4" in Shelter Cove, with a shotgun carriage. 4200' of skyline out
This one is still logging, but I know where there is another that you can get pretty cheap
Great thread, waiting for more photos to emerge. When the 2 big mills were still working, did they work year round or just seasonal? The camps must have been rather large to house all of the men who worked the woods. Ap40
I read an article about the tongues and Senator Lisa Murkowski. She was fighting for access into the king cove area. I sent her office a link to this site in hopes she could use it. Her office replied with a thank you. Hope it is helpfull.
http://www.akforest.org/Alaska Timber Industry History.pdf
Here is what I dug up on Silverbay Logging http://juneauempire.com/stories/020903/opi_edboard.shtml Filed for Bankruptcy after a struggle to sustain a predictable timber supply. http://www.bridgestonetrucktires.com/us_eng/real/magazines/98v3issue4/v3i4fleet.asp Bridgestone Tires did an article on them
Clinton hurt us really bad. Couple of days ago the 9th circuit in Frisco reversed a lower court ruling and the Tongass is exempt from the roadless rule again! So now fish and game are trying to get the wolf on the endangered species list. Papac and Evergreen are still hanging in there, but I've already been through the axmen thing and it sucks...
How can there be no work for that machinery don't get it ?
Why Why do they not take care of there machinery
That kind of stuff presses me off the owner is showing that he dosnt give a **** about his equipment .
I made a mistake on the order of ownership on this machine. After looking at this picture again I am positive that this machine is logging the first setting on the right past Last Chance campground, Control lake, Ketchikan. The original owners of Evergreen Timber were Rick Ludwigsen, Dave Davis, and Mike Meske. Meske went to Eugene, Oregon and had this one built. It's a 739 hoist on a 98 carrier with a 110 tube. This was the first setting this machine logged in Alaska. If you look in the upper right you can see the carriage and fall block as we were bending, hanging on a cat on the road to Harriot Hunt lake. We ended up the year at Long Island, and the company made 13 million that year!! Evergreen is now owned by Alcan...
I was just about to say that i figured it out couse Seeley and Crown Alaska ran/run Linkbelt shovels and in the last few years Evergreen had a Komatsu loading under their 739 in every picture of it that I saw,not shoure on the time frame/location of the picture that your talking about this is a more recent picture I think from the Leask Lakes.When did the machine come to Alaska?I know Evergreen was on Long Island from at least 2009 but probably much earlier untill 2012,but the machine has bean in Alaska for much longer.
This picture was taken in 1996. I was there tending hook and we put the lines on the machine on March 22. This setting took about a week, and this was the 2nd company- 3rd yarder on this landing. We went to White river after this, and ended up at Long Island that year.
Ok I see the setting now I was jus looking on the wrong side of the hill,I found some pictures of logging around Coon Cove and Im trying to figure out who was logging at Coon Cove at the time do you recognize any of the equipment?I see a Klukwan Fores Products/Long Island Development service truck in one of the pictures I know they logged around Ketchikan for several years in the late 80s early 90s,they had their float camp the Miller 205 there in 1991. http://dinarvets.com/forums/uploads/1316816429/gallery_26286_470_7425.jpg http://dinarvets.com/forums/uploads/1316816429/gallery_26286_470_214665.jpg http://dinarvets.com/forums/uploads/1316816429/gallery_26286_470_54394.jpg http://dinarvets.com/forums/uploads/1310165868/gallery_26286_470_69921.jpg
I went up to Ketchican a few times to work on Komatsu shovels owned by Klukwan. That Link-Belt crane looks like what they were using to drop packets into the water. I don't remember the name of the location but it was about a twenty minute float plane ride south of Ketchican and then east. There was a big red tide that year and the cove looked like someone dumped a million gallons of transmission oil in the bay. The width of the roads and seeing a yarder being walked reminded me that they never hauled much of anything on a lowboy. One of the reasons I went one time was because they were complaining of the final drives on the shovels getting hot. When I got there all the paint was burned off of both finals on one machine. The operator told me they had walked the machine twelve miles without stopping to get to the next site. I don't recall them being around after 1992.
In 91 I was working for Alaska Pulp in Rowan Bay or APC, The Japanese owner of the Sitka mill. (war reparations) Klukwan was still operating at that time and this may have been them. I'll find out, the real Alaska Loggers are gone but I've been here for 40 years and can get info. After the axmen I've pretty much left logging, but I can still smell the spruce. We were on the Miller 205 in Long Island in 96, and I think Evergreen was in Coon in 98, but they had no 009's. Klukwan is my guess...
Mr Johnson, you are really talented in finding pictures and tracking machines on the internet! Thank you so much for your interesting posts!
Thanks TorkelH wish I had as much luck in real life I have bean seeing a lot of log truck trafic through my town this spring and last fall (took a few pictures but ther was always a lightpole or trafic sign in the way of a greart picture still took a few good ones tho) but every time I vent looking for equipment (there Is a guy running a CTL system probably the only one in the country in the little forests there are around my town spoted it a few times from a car but newer had a chance to take picture bean hunting it for 4 years) all I found was a logdeck waiting for the selfloader. John C thats a interesting story you have you ver probably on the roadsystem on Cape Fox land on the West side of lower Caroll Inlet I herd it called Shelter Cove but Shelter Cove is much more north up the Inlet,In 1992 Klukwan was at Hydaburg logging the hills above the town with Northwest Logging AKlogger I think you might be right Klukwan ran a lot of 009s with a few Skagits and Thunderbirds.When you were at Rowan Bay was Mud Bay Logging still there I kow they had a big operation there in the 1970s?
No Mud Bay was done by then. This was APC's main camp until the mill was shut down around 94-95. Alaska Pacific went back in there around 2000. I was in Shelter Cove in 95 for KPC so Klukwan was not there. Johnson is right, they logged all around Ketchikan early 90's. They had 6 towers in a row logging Whipple Creek, late 80's early 90's. While they may have been in Hydaburg in 92 that doesn't mean they weren't in Coon at the same time. Coon Cove is 5 minutes from the Cape Fox log dump in White river, which is an easy lowboy from Whipple. I think these pics are Coon Cove.
WOW 6 yarders in a row bet that was a sight to see they logged it in 91/92 so it could have bean posible they were at Coon too in 92, When I mentioned Shelter Cove this is the area I meant http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=55.402975&lon=-131.395172&z=14&r=0&src=msa I know thats not what it's called but I herd it refered to as Shelter Cove and I don't know the real name, I don't know who logged it it is possible it was Klukwan?
Lets start on the left. This is George Inlet, and is basically the back side of Ketchikan. In fact this is a recent picture, and Evergreen-Alcan is logging, and dumping at The Cape Fox log yard all the way up on the left. If you go over to that raft that's by itself, and then down 6 inches or so you'll see clear cuts to the water. This is Coon Cove. Lets go back to where we started and go up the other side, this is Carrol inlet. Where the road starts on the left is accessed by Shelter, and if you look at the beach on the right of Carrol this is Shoal Cove where the road goes to the water. Up a ways on the left there's 2 bigger lakes with a little one in the middle, follow the road to the beach and zoom- you can see the dock, Where the camp used to be, and the dump. The area you asked about can be accessed by Shelter, or Coon. This is an interesting map, and there is a 739, and a 255 swing yarder to find around the White River dump.
I made a mistake, those logs are actually in Leask Lakes LTF. That wasn't there the last time I was. Cape Fox is a little south.
Yes it is you can also see them cutting a right of way down the George Inlet through the 2nd growth thats probably when they conected the roads to Coon Cove with the areea I asked about before it was only water acess I think if you look on the Carroll Inlet side you can see a sort yard grown over by alders, it is a good map if you go to Kina Cove you can see Phoenix Logging's 172 Madill riged up by Merry Lake and a shovel side near it you can also see Evergreen shovel logging on Long Island.Forgot to ask the last time when you were at Rowan Bay with APC did they still have the Pirce PTY400 yarder there were 2 made one for KPC one for APC they were real monsters, KPC's is still around last used for dredging gravel and APC's sank on a barge south from Sitka ad I'm trying to figure out when?
Wow! Are you talking about those huge triple drum wooden A-frames?. If so the answer is no. So tell me how is it that you know so much about this area? My family moved up here in 74 to False Island for Soderberg, and your knowledge of our history intrigues me.
No not the A-Frames tho the 2 biggest A-Frame yarders were built by Washington Ironworks one for APC on for KPC and both still exist this is the PTY400 Well my knowleg of the area comes from my interest in the regions timber industry past and present,I got hooked when I was wery young I was always interested in tools and heavy equipment and I got interested in logging when my dad gyppo logged when I was like 4 but i was mostly interested in log trucking bac than,then much later through the internet I found out about diferen methods of logging and was really impresed by big yarders and the PNW timber industry,tho you could find a lot about it online untill a few years ago.
Answering your question I never seen the PTY, but it would have been awesome to work under. When I was in Rowan I worked on a 737 Skagit up in Port Camden. They did have an 044 there though- What a monster swing yarder!. I was only 21 at the time so it was all amazing to me. I've worked on the biggest yarders of Southeast in my time though. The most versatile was of course the 009, you can rig them up anywhere. Then the TY-90 and 739's. I ran an M3 Berger for Papac, but the powerhouse of my day has to be the 208 Washington. That thing would pull 1 1/8 chokers apart like rope. When I first came to Alaska Pat Soderberg had a sled yarder, made by Weisen or something like that out of Sweden. They pulled it up to the top of the mountain above camp- 3000' or more, and rigged a spar at the landing and shotgunned it backwards. He also did some balloon logging in Kake, and the sled held 4500' of main, and 6700' of haulback. Clear Creek Logging, owned by Pat started out for ALP, or Alaska Lumber and Pulp, which was the name prior to APC. Those days were the cream of the crop, and I still remember riding with my dad on Sunday's, and the Big Spruce! They ran off highway Hayes with 14' bunks, and had a P16 Pacific with 16' bunks. Those were the days...
Do you remember if the 737 you worked under was a highlead or slackline machine? I only know of one 737 that was in SE Alaska it was a rear hi-lead 737 Al Schafer had it on Afognak there is a picture of it on page 13 of this tread,whos TY90 did you work around I really like them and managed to find pictures and serial numbers of all but 2 of them the only ones I know of in Alaska that had TY90s were Alaska Pacific an Long Island Development (later sold it to Shaan Seet) and Crown Alaska has one today.The ballon logging is what Soderberg is best known for I think,I heard a story of him geting mad about it saying he logged sucsesfully all over the southeast for 40 years and is best knowon for baloon logging which he wasnt eaven that sucessful at or something along those lines. Here I found a picture of one of his Hayes loggers https://scontent-b-vie.xx.fbcdn.net...x540/12274_10151135879387352_2017464030_n.jpg And of the baloon
The 737 in Rowan was a slacker, and Frizzel Bros. had one on Klawock mountain also. AK Pacific had 3, 2 self-propelled and 1 fifth wheel. I worked under them all. Crown has Pete Papac's TTY 90 from Washington. The one that Shaan Seet had went down over the cab of the shovel and buckled the tube. It had something to do with the equalizer on the jacks. Not sure what happened to that one Richie Bros I suspect. The 5th wheel 90 that AK Pacific had is still around and either Viking mill in Klawock or Papac owns it. I believe it's in Petersburg.
After Shaan Seet logged out they auctioned off all their logging equipment in Washington, RB at Maytown(sp?) I belive, the TY90 they had never yarded a log outside of Alaska they were moving it after the auction and stoped on a soft shoulder and the thing went over, it sat at Paulsens shop wrecked for more than 5 years before they scrapped the hoist the carrier is still good.The 5th wheel TY90 was brought down to Wa in 99 or 98 and rebuilt at Paulsen and taken of the T-110 trailer and put on a T90SP carrier and sold to ALRT Corp they still have it today.
There is another 90 5th wheel in Petersburg that Ed Brower used right before he went broke 06-07. I always assumed it was from AK Pacific. Phoenix has a self-propelled at the Klawock yard also, It's for sale but they want too much. 98 I was working for Phoenix at Tolstoi, and 99 for AP at Deer bay on that 5th wheel 90. Keith Crabill was running it, so it must have been the end of 99. They took there machines south on a regular basis for sand blasting and paint etc. Well maintained machines.
Ed Brower had a 739 not a 90, Bob Hild brought it to Alaska about 1995 ; Sold it to Ed Brower (about 2002?) who left it at Tonka mtn in 2006. Evergreen bought it from the bank a few years ago but couldnt pick it up untill last year the yarder was sitting at the end of the mainline and they had to wait for Papac to come and fix the roads.Here is a picture of them loading it on the barge: https://scontent-a-vie.xx.fbcdn.net...0x720/1150181_731277860222692_149148239_n.jpg You are probably right about late 99 couse in June 2000 it was on the cover of Loggers World and the carrier was already switched.I didnt know Phoenix logged Tolstoi Bay I thought Gildersleeves did all the logging there I know Gildersleeves were ther in the early-mid 90s.
My father and grandfather worked in Rowan bay somtime in the early 90s anybody else
I was there in 91 for APC. Larry Webster the hook, Dale Coleton the push. Port Camden on a 739 3500' out, logging at least 2000' of it.
I'm not sure what they did when they wer ther I think my grandpa ran shovel thir names wer joe Sheffield and Larry Sheffield
Kake Alaska Here are a couple of photos taken while on a road construction recon trip last year.
That mixer looks like an old Rex.Ron G
I have never read such a sad but interesting story in my life.
Here are some photos taken at the Pribilof Islands.
When things get old, they are left where they are to be claimed by the weather.
Here is a photo of town and typical sea conditions. Imagine the salt air that get blown into everything to begin the rust.
That's too bad. 644E is a very good loader.
Now in my late 50's, I was a young roughneck when the oil boom of the 70's came to a screeching halt... The flurry of drilling accomplished in the decade prior, made certain that there would be enough holes in the ground to last the decade following... Their roughnecks moved on to other occupations except for a few of us whom were either to stubborn to move on, or too stupid, there they where... These "stacked rigs" sitting in the weeds, rusting, freeze/thawing, their technology slowly succumbing to the elements, where in every oil producing state within not only our nation, but all over North America. And although the adult in me was hurting terribly for the job I'd just lost... The "kid" in me, who spent 100% of his jr high and high school "free time" roaming junk yards... I was in Heaven... These rigs were being sold at auction for scrap prices... And although I was penniless, the fact the iron sold for scrap, meant that every "stacked rig" represented my "opportunity" and thus, needed my complete inspection. I would dream 24/7 of my "ressurecting" these old rigs from the scrap heap they'd become, to provide the basis for my own "drilling company"... That dream continued when I moved to Alaska in 1990, and in fact, one of those old derelict "stacked rigs" became my opportunity, when Warner Bros and Steven Segal came to Alaska to make "on Deadly Ground, which I supplied them rigged up and on location in Valdez ready for filming in the spring of 1992... And although I made a profit for my and my crew's involvement, but that "big adventure" is still firm in my memory as one of the best time's in my life!! Now let me be clear, I don't forsee the opportunity of "big company" logging to returning to the Tongass, like the oil industry returned to Texas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming... And I don't forsee a movie opportunity with Warner Bros paying the bills on the immediate horizon either... But the kid in me still sees the "old iron" as it was when it was new... Looking upon your photo's of these "iron dinosaurs" I can still "feel" them providing the professional's that ran them with not just a "means" with which to exist upon this earth. But with the memory of the comradery, the sense of their combined adventure, the pains of their struggles, as well as the joy of their hard earned rewards! You see for me, that old rust still represents an "opportunity" for adventure and possibly enough money for at least one more meal. Thank you for that... Its a really good dream!!
HammerAK, Thanks for bumping this thread. I remember when Contract Logger published it. I need to start from the beginning and re-read it. It’s a pretty good history of the Tongass. I recognize most of the names and places and have wrenched on some of that rusty equipment. 1990 is when I moved to AK, as well.
Thank you for your contact. When I moved to Alaska in March of 92', the oil industry was simply "running on fumes"... There were 6 rigs running in the state, 5 of them on the North Slope, 1 in the Cook Inlet... Upon applying for a roughnecking job with the 6 contractors doing business in Alaska, I was mortified to find out the "turn over rate" for roughnecks in Alaska, was so low that you literally had to wait for someone to die before a open position would became available... So upon my arrival to Alaska I was immediately put into a panic... I was just 28 and already a single parent with 2 kids under the age of 4 while receiving only welfare assistance for food and a place for us to live... So I began by writing letters to court the logging industry... After all I was a certified welder, could run any size chain saw, and had a class 5 chauffer's license that said I drive anything with wheels on it... But within a month of my arrival, the shutdown of the Tongass would begin... The patch on my ball cap said "Cambel's SPOTTED OWL SOUP" as I expressed my displeasure with the "tree hugger's" openly and often... I found little jobs to carry us through the summer... But I had to have steady WORK before winter!! With so much news about "environmental" issues, it was only natural I guess that the idea would hit me about doing environmental work... The Valdez cleanup was still underway somewhat in Prince Williams sound... So off I went, "I can wipe oil of rocks too..." But when I got to Valdez, there was so many people trying to get on... that they were camping along side the road in the ditches going into town... Returning to Kenai, broke and with less than a 1/2 tank of gas left... I decided to start my OWN business... I offered to dispose of any used oil or get rid of garbage drums and industrial trash from in around all of the oilfield service's businesses in the area... And as I did, I showed that I was a hard worker, honest, and helpful to business owner's... And I've been in the oilfield service business ever since. A person just doesn't know, when or how opportunity will present itself. So I've learned to be ready for it when it does.
AND here we are now, some 11 years later... The equipment still sits idle, at least that what remains of it that hasn't been sold for scrap or parted out... And what of those families whos lives and livelihood's were all so disrupted by the complete ignorance of those "ruler's of the empire"?? As Contract Logger said, "Old growth timber is just like all that equipment- the older it gets the less it is worth." So the wood continued to rot, the beetle infestations continued to grow, and the industry itself we see would be simply be consumed by the forest... Like green leaves and mushrooms on the 1st night of the fall frost, so did an entire industry... And what can be said for humanity and our combined intelligence? What can be said of our "stewardship of the land, if we can not sustain an industry, without destroying that what drives the same? I think like Contract Logger, and I truly believe we can. But, not as long as complete ignorance of the ruling class in this country, controls the narrative...
I looked around and see no sign of Contract Logger here since 2012, and little activity after 2015 on his site. I have really enjoyed this read and want to thank the keepers of this site for preserving this history. I was in the area only a couple of times, back when the logging was still going on. My friendś brother was a tug captain out of Wrangell and he had a tow of logs to make when we visited him, I want to say it was ´92. I will check my logbooks to confirm it.
Hello Skyking, Contract Logger changed his account at some point and became Rusty Grapple, he has continued posting in threads here from time to time and has an amazing website going which has same title i think "RustyGrapple.com" or something near to that.
Tobin & Riedesel has gotten the boot also as SeAlaska has shutdown all logging operations. I was speaking with Steve Tobin on Monday and he said he was able to get some of his equipment to the mainland but a lot of it is still stuck on the island out by Keat inlet. I don't know what is going to happen with at all but most likely it will add to the rest of the equipment in this thread.
Wf_d,
Interesting. Wonder what’s going on.? Ahh,.. I see, after a quick DuckDuckGo search revealed that export log prices are in the toilet and not expected to increase for much of 21. China and Japan are not buying wood from the PNW, at the moment. Sure has been a lot of drama at Keete Inlet over the last couple years. Drug raids, murder, and a OSHA fatalgram last fall.
SEAlaska has sold the rights to their timber for Carbon storage to the oil & gas companies. They got more out of it than logging & don't have any of the headaches from it. That fatality was at the T&R camp last year. The Murder was at Phoenix's camp
Sorry to hear about T&R. Southeast is a hard place for any logging company.
All the loggers get lured there by the big money contracts but unless they have logged there before they have no idea just how expensive it is. They all learn that all that gear left to rust isn't because they made so much money that they could afford to abandon it, it's because they went broke & couldn't afford to take it!
Sure. the Mob from Wa/Oregon is brutal, and then you get started and need some part. you hope it is small enough to fit in a floatplane, and then pay through the nose for that. Bigger than that and you either make it, fix it, or wait on a barge trip. You on the other hand, you might have to send a guy in a truck to Portland or Seattle.
The MO in Southeast is to show a ton of money to a contractor with an easy to fill order for the first and second year. Then the money guys throw a lot more blue sky at you and demand that you improve and increase your equipment fleet and payroll. Next year they shut everything down and you are stuck. If there is anything left that can be found, the banks and finance companies will come looking and gladly pay the barge fees to get the stuff back down here. It will then sit at some yard next to a port until it is completely written off.
California Cap & Trade carbon sequestration. Interesting. I had no idea that was a thing. 370 million sold in Alaska since 2015. Alaska Biz has an article about it that explains it. https://digital.akbizmag.com/issue/september-2019/harvesting-carbon-credits/
Sounds like an accountant's dream vacation home in Hawaii. You lock up your trees for so many years for so much money and if there is a fire or insect damage, you don't have to pay the money back? I'm wondering if the land that is locked up and paid for can be used by other states for their cap and trade as well? Could a company in California who paid for credits also count those credits in Washington or Oregon. Could a native corporation in Alaska sell the same rights on a stand of timber more than once? Who is in charge of governing all this? It doesn't sound like it's under federal control.
I wondered the same thing. SEAlaska said they weren't getting the returns on their timber they wanted.
Steve is coming to work for me on Monday to run processor.
Steve? Sorry, I don't know all the real names here.
He was a partner/owner of Tobin & Riedesel who was logging for SEAlaska.
He always seems to land on his feet somewhere.
Yes he does. He is a good man & Unfortunately let himself get tangled up with that partner of his in a money losing venture.
I think you're making a dangerous mistake, not carrying a weapon. You've become complacent and that's not safe. I'll give you that bears are curious, but they're also hungry. You forgot to mention lions, tigers and badgers. As a pilot, I've seen bears tracking humans so I know what your talking about. I've seen a wounded bear following humans, not sure if the bear was pissed, but I was concerned for the humans. That salmon's got to be 75 lb. !!! Keep up the great pictures. We love them. If you map out the locations of equipment you could sell derelict treasure maps. Maybe you could get GPS meta data from your gear for a map ? Thanks again.
I’m hearing reports in my AO, they are starting to wake up and ramble down the mountain. Looking for something to eat.
I worked with a Mike Tobin, mechanic for KGM on the pontoon job for 520 bridge. Related?
Not sure?
It appears most of these were shot in "yard areas" with groups of equipment parked together. There's just as much equipment left deep in the forest which probably broke down so it couldn't be moved back to the "yard". The result's slightly different, the deep forest abandoned equipment rusts out just as fast as the yard equipment and it's generally track mounted gear - but can't be seen from the air.
Those are the treasures you are surprised when you find.
I have a bit of time roaming through the logging camps. Some of those machines I would be happy to see rust away.
I was a 9-10 year old kid when my dad (Joe Lawton) worked on the equipment there in "Danger Bay" on Afognak. I vaguely remember some of the guys named here like Almandinger and Sue. I remember when Sue saved my dad from being run over by a new FMC skidder in front of the shop there.
I did a search and found out that John Eilertsen passed away in 2015. He was my friend's brother we visited in Wrangell back in 1992. https://www.wrangellsentinel.com/st...s/obituary-john-eilert-eilertsen-62/3032.html He was not moving the iron so much as the logs when I met him.
I was in Rowan Bay in the '70's cutting timber for Don Brown.
I cut there for Columbia
Looking through all these post and amazing pictures, make me feel like I may find ppl who knew my dad. Eric Carlson. I’m looking for stories or pictures. He logged seasonal for 8 years in icy bay, with Portway logging. He worked on the Seahawks boat. Would love to find a picture of the boat. He was tragically shot in his shack November 1992. I was told he went up there cause a family member Ron berg owned the company. If anyone has pictures, stories ect. I would love it. Thank you.
Do you have any pictures of the Seahawk? My dad worked on it as well until he was killed in icy bay logging in 1992. I would love to see the boat. Or any icy bay camp pictures really.
There are many boats with the name Sea Hawk or similar, in Alaska. I do recall the F/V Sea Hawk, which would have been plying the cold waters of Icy Bay during that time period. She had many names. An outfit in Anchorage purchased her and gave her that name. I think She was ex-Navy I remember doing engine work on her when I was working for a Detroit Diesel dealership in KTN.
You can look up the ship registry. IMO Number: 8333166. She’s currently steaming between Cuba and Florida.
Thank you for that information! I love to see the pictures. Brings life to the stories.
It’s fun to think back. The heyday of the Bay was a long time ago. I can’t recall an outfit called Portway Logging. I did work for Browning Timber. I remember Ben Thomas and Wasser. Citifor, I believe was owned by Ron Berg. So, you are related to Ron? Is he still alive?
I’ve been searching and looking into all the connections. I believe Ron is also connected to Wasser, maybe business partners… My grandfather and Ron were cousins. Ron moved to Az and passed away in 2012. my grandfather passed away in 2001, So I personally didn’t ever know Ron, But my father went up to log with them seasonally for 8 years.
What type of boat was the Seahawk? There is/was a big landing craft by that name.
I’m not sure exactly. I know he was up there for logging and worked on the boat. I’m not sure the specifics on the boat.
Citifor was based out of Longview, I believe. And Columbia Scaling, who worked the West Camp Sortyard. It was a rough camp and an equally rough environment. Tough place to get to. Yak is tough. Then, try and get to Icy. The last time I had anything to do with Icy Bay was in 2019 and was selling diesel to an outfit doing some environmental remediation or something. Loading bladders on a plane in YAK. Cheaper than trying barge it.
Bowhead Transport or Alaska Logistics has the F/V Sea Hawk shallow draft landing craft. It’s working the Yukon River I think. Around Koyokuk. That boat has been around a long time, too. There are so many Sea Hawks.
I think it was moving fuel for IDC, out of Homer last summer. I was doing a big tank job at the port and saw her.
According to tugboatinformation.com, this Seahawk was owned by a company in Virginia until 2001, so maybe not it.
If you dig deaper, 7729526, was also owned briefly by an Ancorage based company. I remember her because it was the first time I seen a 16 cylinder 149 Detroit. Do you have any recollection of what kind of boat it was? Was it a tug? Lot of fishing boats with that name, too.
Unfortunately, all I’m familiar with is that it was bergs boat from Longview with that name. I’ll keep searching for more details.
That's a brusco tug
Ron Berg has passed away. My dad was siderod for portway back in the late '70s
That must be it. Based out of Longview.
That’s better than a picture. You could probably get a tour of M/V Sea Hawk and meet the crew, if you ask the office.
Nichols Boat Works There's a Seahawk built for Wasser and Winters in 1978 down towards the bottom.
Okay thanks! I’ll look! I’ve looked through what I thought was all the pics. Not sure i seen it. I’ll check again
This might be that boat I mentioned above. Built in 1978 with a registered length of 88 feet, same as the boat above. https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:443911
Okay Great thank you!!
Do you have any more information on the logging done in Kake around the 60s-70s? I am trying to figure out when they logging for the dump was done but I keep hitting dead ends. I am not even sure if anyone is still active in this forum, but any info helps!
Welcome to the HEF, logtowne, good to have you. I’m an old SE camp tramp, but don’t have any answers to your question. I know some guys I could ask. I worked for KTC, back in the old days. I used to have a regular job. Now, I don’t go. Trying to be a rapper. But, my flow is to slow. Knowwhatimsayin?
Yes if you could ask around that would be amazing. Specifically, anything on John Day Construction for Seal Point LTF or the John Day Construction camp and the USFS logging camp. Both were located at Seal Point around Kake.
Try contacting Mike Jackson at the tribe; Organized Village of Kake.
I have; that's actually the only information I have is from his memory. I am just trying to find any physical evidence. Whether it's a photo or document. Pretty much anything other than just word of mouth that says who logged/blasted the kake dump site.
Just got back to this forum after several years. If you are still around logtowne I grew up in Pat Soderberg’s camp in Kake in the 70’s and still live in Alaska. Pretty sure I can hook you up with info.