Tyee Machinery Works was a big name in yarders for many years. Their products were distributed in the US as Skookum-Tyee. They vanished in the early 80's, after Edwards & Associates Logging Ltd. bought the company. Their attempt to build a grapple yarder ended in disaster, and both E&A and Tyee went broke. Here are some pictures given to me by a friend, of M&B's brand new K-166 Tyee. Machine number J-166.
Some Tyee Brochures Stuff from my treasure chest.
More Tyee Brochure Pages Continued.......
Looks like all military tank undercarriages. Cool pics, love the old Ford trucks. Ed
Tyee used the same Napco Spar Carrier that Madill used on the 009. It was lengthened and widened, to handle the extra weight. The K-114 used the long carrier with four bogies, they didn't work well. Too long, almost impossible to steer. They would creep the machine forward while the crew put brush under one track, to help it slide.
I worked on three different Skookum-Tyees,slacklines. I think the number was KC-135 all were the same. They were mounted on cat undercarriage and moved good but had a chain drive which was the weak point. All and all very good machines. They had the madill style tower, one piece tube 90'.
Most of the Tyee machines were pretty good, they lasted a long time in rough service. I'm hoping someone has pictures of the one and only Tyee grapple yarder. There don't seem to be many pictures of it. I certainly don't have any.
Tyee Hoists on Skagit Tower/Trailers I have no idea why, but I just dug into a box and looked for my Tyee pics, and the 1st batch here are all Skagit mounted hoists..... Pic 1: Tyee highlead hoist on Skagit T-100 trailer. Auburn Wa, 1991. Pics 2 and 3: Tyee Slackline hoist on Skagit T-110 Trlr. Owned by Richie Filla Logging of Toledo Washington and photos taken at Mineral Lake, Wash, 1995. Pics 4 and 5: Tyee Slackline yarder on Skagit T-110 Trlr. Formerly owned by Art Fetter of Enumclaw Wa, but photographed at Hamilton Washington in 1993. Something a little different for the thread anyway I guess. I'll round up some of the Skookum/Madill Tower on TD24 machines after while....
Slackline Skookum-Tyee yarder on the Cedar River in Washington in the bushes, owner unknown. Standard TD24 Undercarriage and 90' tower. 1990 Pictures.
Highlead Skookum-Tyee yarder in the trees near Hood River, Oregon in 1988. Owner was Winans Logging of Hood River. Also had the 2-axle dolly to slide under the rear and an actual kin-pin under the fuel-tank up front.... As you can see she hadnt moved in awhile.
Can't see it in any of your pictures but the one I worked on for Don Bell had notches front and rear to set on log bunks. You could jack it up and back a log truck under each end to move it with one truck backing up.
Contract Logger to the rescue! I knew he'd have some Tyee pics!
What can I say? When I was about 5 I knew I loved logging equipment. When I was 10 I started taking pics of it, and at about 14 the pics were worth looking at, lol. Wish I had taken more, and with better cameras. Oh, then I went logging on my own and was so busy for the first few years I took hardly any pics and stopped carrying a camera. Some of the coolest things Ive seen, I cant even show you guys. It sucks, but now I'm back taking pics so we're all good again, lol. Trackloader- I love your collection on MB stuff too!! I keep telling my old lady we need to go to the Port Clement Museum, but she isnt sold on it yet, lol.:drinkup
Contract Logger, if you come to the PC Museum, admission is on me! (And yes, your old lady, too!)
Ice came down the Naknek River today and ran me off a dredging job I'm currently on. Went cruising around while I'm waiting and ran across this old girl. Looks like they were using it to pull boats up on the ways. Funny to see it sitting so far from any trees.
Humptulips-- Mason Timber had an orange Skookum/Tyee sitting there beside the highway in Cosmopolis for years at the shop.....I think this might be that machine! Like a dumbass I never slowed down to take a pick of the Mason gear there........... What do you think here?
It could be. I hooked on that machine in 85 and it looks similar. Never did know what became of it after Mason got rid of it. Mason bought it from Johnson Bros in 84 for $40,000. It had problems with its hydraulic system when I worked on it. It was worth your life to stand it up. Hydraulics would stop the ram at the end of the first stage and you had to pull every trick to get it the rest of the way. Finally caused me to quit. John McMeekin recruted me for that job.
SOMEBODY must have pics of E&A's Tyee grapple yarder, the only one made.... It used to be pictured in the E&A Logging ad in "Trucklogger" magazine, weird looking beast, almost like a Washington, with the cab at the rear of the house. It caught fire and burned down before it could be perfected, no insurance, either.
Here's the Model and Serial plate.
Madill Spar with Tyee K65 Yarder No spar, it buckled and the top hit the cab. This one was set up as a grapple yarder.
Another K-65 Set Up for Grapple Yarding They're high leading in this picture, but this was one of the grapple spars. Many of the early Madill spars carried Tyee yarders, they were quite popular.
Still waiting for someone to find pics of the Tyee grapple yarder!
I was looking for something else and ran across this Tyee pic! The trailer/tower was built by General of Springfield Oregon. There werent many of these General setups around. They (General) built a great product for many years after this with log, lowbed, and other trailer gear.
owner was Don Walker, it was at the entrance to the Tacoma watershed, the Green river. they finally cut it up for scrap.
As soon as i get my posting's out of the way I'll get some pics of my 114 yarding some logs.
as a brush mechanic i have worked on all of them and i can tell you that the these things were a piece of junk. i spent more time working on the brakes than anythang else. when winter came along we all dreaded it. water would git on the brakes and they would not hold. me and the outher mechanic would be up there every day in the winter adjusting the brakes every 5 or 6 turns. factory mechanics could never fix it and one day a rep took me aside and told me that all there machines had the same problalim and that he had talked to the enginers about it and they said there was not a proublim.i was so happy the day it was parked in the lower yard and the boss told me to strip off all the parts we could use on the outher machines because he never wanted to see that piece of junk ever out in the brush again
We have been running this one for years around Forks and not much brake trouble or any trouble, got a pretty good operator though. Whe put springs on the band brakes the last time we relined them and the engineer has only had us adjust them twice in the last year that we ran it, but whatever.
Found a few cool old Tyee ads, thought I would share. There's even a slackline Tyee hoist there on a Skookum-Madill trailer mount!
Couple close-ups- both slackline machines.
Couple more Tyee pics.
I finally found a picture of the Tyee grapple yarder, just need to scan it now!
Tyre in Fort Brag 30 years ago G P in Fort Brag used a Skookum Tyee to yard old growth redwood, when I saw it they were loading with a Washington TL 21 track loader. There must be pictures somewhere. They pulled huge logs off the bluffs right above the ocean.
Tyee Grapple Yarder This is the only picture I could find of the one and only Tyee Grapple Yarder. I believe this was the last machine Tyee ever built.
Winch Plate from a Sparamatic Something from the side of a winch from the old M & B Sparmatic (J-87) at Sproat Lake Division. I'm not sure whether to post this in the other threads or this one, so I'll spread them around. It now hangs on my basement wall. I'll post some other shots of the details in the M & B thread.
Look closely at the grapple yarder, it has the same plate on it. A real piece of history, that!
Is that it up on the cab - about 3 feet below the window?
Good eye!
Build Plate Close-Up Here's a close-up of the of the K-65 3 drum yarder info from the bottom of the Tyee build plate from the J-87 Sparmatic.
Old K65 Anyone up for a restoration project?
Trakloader - you have got to get a complete shot of that yarder and post it - just for me. That old build plate looks like it's steel whereas mine was bronze - a little bit of aircraft paint stripper and a spray bomb made it new again - that old steel one might be a bugger to clean up. The reason I became an aircraft mechanic instead of a heavy duty was because my weapon of choice is a 1/4" drive socket set versus the 1/2" drive that they use. It also means I still have all of my fingers. Restoring an old beast like that would probably cost me a few digits. Then I couldn't type like I do and help make our book......
Sorry,but you'll have to be happy with what I posted here and in the Hayes thread. There is so much junk there that getting a complete picture is impossible. That plate is very thick iron, and is WELDED on! Similar to an old "EMPIRE" one that I know of. Serial number is 103.
The side profile of that cab and the radiator grill makes me think that this might be an old Sparmatic - do you think? The red paint makes me think that this might be another old M & B machine. I might have to head up to your neck of the wood to have a looksie at all the neat things that are laying about. We fly there everyday.
It's the same yarder as the one on the Sparmatics you worked on, a K65. QCD had two or three of them, but they were on Madill spars. This was old M&B QCD J-91. For a better description, check the Hayes thread. I posted pics and a a brief history of the unit. Our two Sparmatic were gone lonnngg before my time, J-92 and J-93. In fact, I believe they only used them for a few years. Dad said that they seemed to be parked in the boneyard soon after their arrival. One of them had a converted steam donkey for a yarder, but I can't remember what the other one was. I can check my records. Pacific Coastal?
Sparmatics were not a loved machine in my Division either and therefore I gravitated toward them. They got all the Goat shows and the foremen left you alone. I liked the extra lift from the 120 foot spar and the regenerator brake which made it easy to get slack on your rigging. Or so I was told. They must have operated for at least 25 years at Sproat Lake. Have a look through your records for any details that you may have. These animals are of real interest to me. The numbering range of the QCD machines (J-92 & J-93) make me think that M & B must have bought a bunch of them and sprinkled them around - ours were the J-87 & J -88. I'll check out your postings on the Hayes thread as well. Not Pacific Coastal - I still value my life..... Just kidding on that one. No the other guys and don't think that I mean AC. Picture of the J-88 and the L-231 back in '78. That's the back of Tom Armich - Hooker.
Trakloader - I couldn't find anything about the J-91 in the Hayes thread or even in the Mac & Blo area. Any other suggestions as to where to look?
Okay, our Sparmatics each had a different winch. One had a big Skagit, don't know what model, but it originally had twin Cummins power. The other had a big Washington, originally powered by steam, later converted to diesel, then to a V12 Cummins. They ran three 1 1/8" chokers, and I'm told that the machine could snap them like shoelaces. Dad has no idea where they went, long gone before he started. From what I've heard, the big problem with them was the weight, which was distributed over only four tires. They frequently broke through the roads, and even went through a bridge once. I don't think that the one you worked on came with the K65 winch originally. They also didn't have driver's cabs originally, you had to stand on an open platform to drive one. M&B was always big on re-building equipment, so the K65 yarder and driver's cab probably got added in the 70's. All speculation on my part, of course. M&B QCD had quite a few Tyee yarders. J-23 was built right in the Juskatla shop, they mounted a new K-166 yarder on a Hayes HDX, and used the spar from an older tank mounted Madill. J-55,56 and 57 were converted to yard with a grapple, then later converted back to conventional highlead. J-57 sat outside of camp for years when I was a kid, in fact, I believe the cab is still there. Not sure where the others went, I don't remember seeing them around when I was a kid. J-55 had a really high cab, for grapple yarding. They also had J-166 and 167, twin K-166's. And I believe it was J-26, a tank mount Madill 009, and two 009's on four axle rubber. Dad says that they were totally useless, couldn't get up the hills, so they only had them for a few years. The last spar to arrive here was J-129, a big Madill on a P-16 Pacific carrier. Probably 1991 or so.
Hayes thread, post #338.......
Holy Smoke, I read that thread yesterday and didn't see it today. Where's my brain? I agree with you on the weight issue. I drove the J-88 on the last day of work - gassed on red wine as it were - and I was cautioned not to make too severe lever inputs into the steering hydraulic toggle or she would drive right off the tires. Way too much weight for 4 tires. I never heard of them going off the road or going through but I am sure it happened. They had a real snarl. The driving cab was a stand-up affair and it was built of plywood on the sides from what I recall. Home made. When I visited that Tyee guy many years ago, he pulled out the files on those two Sproat Division Sparmatics and quoted off the specs which leads me to believe that Tyee supplied the winches from the very beginning. He wouldn't have had the specs if M & B had converted them, is my guess. I'm not sure if the geographic isolation of QCD caused them to be innovative in their machinery manufacturing. Sproat Lake was just down the road from Madill in Nanaimo and I did hear that they actually converted what became the J-73 at their factory from what someone here identified as being either the Hayes H-10 or 11. When we bought several 009's from Madill in the early '70s, they actually drove them across the Island (minus their pipes) in the early hours during weekends - that would be a fun convoy to meet.
jackd, what is the serial number on that plate you have?
S/n 406 I've got a feeling that you might have a list of all the machines that we're talking about. Am I correct? Here's the number from what I think was the J-87 or maybe the J-88. They were parked side by side and I ripped it off of one of them. Too many years ago to be sure. Tell me what you know.
Just wondering, I don't have a list, but J-91 was #403. I believe the yarder on J-91 was originally on J-56, which was a 1966. So it would be logical to assume #406 was made in the same year. I would almost bet that J-87 and J-88 were pretty close to the last Sparmatics built, someone told me that they quit building them around 1965.
January 7, 1966 That's the date on the plate. I would really like to know more about these marvels of west coast engineering. I do have a lead on some info, but it might be a very tenuous one. If maybe Contract Logger or someone else can chime in with some info, please feel free.
I do have spec sheets for some of the Tyee yarders, but I'm afraid that for everything else, that old fellow with the big cabinet would be our best hope. It really is a shame, so much of our logging history has been the victim of what I call "steam snobbery". If it wasn't steam powered, the people that were able to preserve these things didn't want them. Look at the 10-10 Lawrence, probably the most common gas donkey, yet I know of none that have been preserved. Tyee yarders, built in BC, and arguably one of the finest yarders of their time, yet none of those seem to have been preserved, either. I know of several sources of old manuals, etc. that all went into the stove, because "nobody would have wanted them..." Thank God for guys like HDX, saving some of the old trucks. I'm glad, too, that the museum in Duncan saved that Skagit 555, and the Northwest loader. Still, if not for this forum, most of the important info would be lost. We can really be proud of what this forum has accomplished. Thanks to guys like Murk, DBDLS, HDX, Truckmodeler, and Contract Logger, among others, we know how many Madill 044's, 144's, etc. were built. We know how many Cypress 7280's were built, and for whom. We know the story of the Butler Brothers logging trucks, and the story of the Madill logging truck. NONE of this info was readily available at this time last year! Probably more people know more about Hayes, thanks to Hayesno1 and HDX, than ever before. I check this forum first thing every morning, and always learn something new.
I'm going huntin' for that big cabinet early next week. It might be just down the road from where I live. It can't hurt to ask what happened to it.
Could Be A Lesson Here I just got back from my hunting trip to the bowels of a machine shop in Burnaby. This was the last known address of a caretaker of Tyee, Gearmatic and other assorted Logging Equipment - the last known address of Skookum Tyee Enterprises Ltd. The place was somewhat familiar to me and I remember why. I showed the old business card with Doug Ruxton's name on it to the new owner - a large man of about 45 years of age. He said that he had never met Doug and had bought the business in 2004. Doug Ruxton had passed away from a heart attack. With the business came the records of which I spoke. The man stated that he had kept these records but there was never a call for any parts or repairs in the ensuing 5 or 6 years. So as his shop was now in the expansion mode, room was needed and the files were pitched out. This happened 7 months ago..... He said that they contained operating manuals, blueprints and everything else that you could imagine. He didn't know that there would be historical value to it. He gave me a nice little tour of his shop to lessen the blow. The reason I remembered the shop was that I visited it a few years ago to have some machining done. It never twigged to me at that time, that this was where I had visited all those many years ago and spoke to the Man who was the Caretaker of these documents. I'm not as disappointed as I was an hour ago but I realize that opportunities to preserve this information should be jumped on early.
Ohhh..... I feel sick..... 7 months ago.....
That is such a loss, for as you may already be aware, the Sparmatic was designed by Frank Lawrence. He was one of the greatest inventors in BC, invented the Gearmatic, the 10-10 Lawrence gas yarder, etc. As far as I know, all the records of Lawrence Manufacturing and Hayes Lawrence went with the Tyee collection. Such a waste.
I Agree Yup it is quite the waste. I was reading about Frank Lawrence last night and I was aware of his legacy. I have no idea what might be in the Provincial Archives, the Forestry Museum Archives or even the Vancouver Public Library cellars in the way of historical data. Anybody have any knowledge here? Now's the time folks to speak up and try to get something happening to get all this information to safety somewhere. No point sitting on it if someone is going to pitch it out.
Glooooomm..... All that info, lost forever.... You know, until I started this thread, there was NOTHING about Tyee on the net. And so it goes with many other BC companies. Wesminster Iron Works, later Westminster- Cargate, then finally Lamb-Cargate. Are they still around?? You're close enough to find out, jackd! And Murdie in Victoria, Empire Iron Works in I believe Vancouver, Wright's Canadian Wire Rope, just a few of the well know suppliers of logging equipment. Most of these names are totally unknown by 98% of the population in this province today. We are in serious danger of losing our industrial history. I think we should also compile a list of all known logging companies in the province. For that, old copies of the IWA coast master agreement would be handy. Older issues of "Hiballer Forest" are indispensable, too.
According to the list of references in Ken Drushka's book 'Working in the Woods', the best source for technical information was "The Timberman" - some sort of publication that ran from 1889 - 1962. I'm curious if the Vancouver Library or Museum would have any idea on these.
Keep The Faith Trakloader... I couldn't have you going to bed with this information hanging a dark cloud over your head. I'll hunt down what I can about Westminster Ironworks and a few of the others because as you know, I am over here. I started this hunt back in the early '90s but child rearing got in the way. That and other hobbies. Now I can start putting more time to researching and hopefully I can bring more to this table. I hope to be out of the city in the next five years, but I will make good use of the local establishments in the meantime. Another shot of my beloved J-87.
Would any kind of manuals for equipment help? loaders ,trucks, yarders I can check around up here and see what is sitting in some of our shops I all ready have the manual for an 075.Might be able to get some others, or a least copy them.We have a 046 sitting on a skagit under carrage and pipe, I think we might have the manuals for both of them have to check though.
075 - you are a good man. Grab all that you can even if it's duplicates of what you have now. This stuff is going fast as you may have seen what happened to me today. I bought some books from a Kenworth service rep off of Ebay a few years ago and we started a short e-mail exchange for awhile. He mentioned that he would walk into some of his stops on his rounds and would scoop all the books because the places were closing down and he knew they were just going to burn them. You guys are in a better position to find these things than I am. I'll just start digging in Vancouver Library archives and what have you. Reading your post kind of picked up my spirits - I've been booting myself all day.
Okay dokay will pester the proper people
075, ANY of that stuff is helpful. Operator manuals, blueprints, spec sheets, it's all important. I have 075, 044, and 009 books.
At the next Master mechanics meeting the call will go out to all Western Master Mechanics to donate all old manuals they have, will see what happens . Who should I send them to if i get something ? I do not have the time or resoures to do any think meaningfull with them.
Gee, I guess either jackd or myself, I guess. We'd have to reimburse you for the shipping, of course.
No worrys on shipping rich logger you know!!!
Here's the deal. I'm over here for now - the stinking Lower Mainland - and hopefully for the next five years only, but the plan is to return to Vancouver Island - probably Courtenay area. So depending where you want the artifacts geographically to wind up is where you might want to send them. Trakloader has much greater knowledge and connections in regards to this historical information and I would defer to him for leadership in the matter. See what you find and then we will decide to allocate it where. Thanks for doing this!
Hope that thing had some good haulback brakes-that's a steep down hill show right to the landing.
I imagine that you had to stand pretty hard on those peddles - and as you see we ran a scab line most times. Funny thing is, one of the long time operators that I chummed with recently had to have his hip joints replaced while he was only in his mid-50s. I suspect standing on those brakes all day must have worn him out. Asbestos in the brake linings must also have been delightful to breath all day - eventually they put air conditioning in the cabs to pressurize them and to keep the dust out.
Back in the mid 80's, I worked for a logger down here in Washington, Munn Logging out of Granite Falls. Munn specialized in long span, rough ground shows, almost always down hill. Munn had two machines when I worked there, a Tyee slackline machine with a Madill tube and a Madill 052 tension yarder. We mostly used the Tyee on these long span jobs. On one job we had about 5000' of skyline out, running a "south-bend system" and side blocking as much as a thousand feet off the skyline. We were flying the logs over standing timber, a creek, more standing timber, and a road. We had so much lift that had to hang a piece of a ripper blade off a TD25 behind the fall block for weight just so we could get the rigging down. This weight was shaped like a tooth and we called it the toothache. We painted the toothache bright pink so that we could see it in the fog. We used to tie the back end of the yarder down on these downhill shows, but quit doing that when we bent the tube over in the middle one time. It was quite a sight to watch the back end of that machine come up off the ground when there was a big turn hanging on the skyline. The tracks would lift up five or six feet sometimes. I asked the engineer if it bothered him and he said not really. It bothered him more when the tube got pulled down. I worked a few times under the Madill 052, again in downhill shows. Contract logger has posted pictures of what is left of this machine on the Madill thread. We never used the slack-pulling carriage, we always ran a Grabinski with butt-rigging. People found it hard to believe when I told them that were running a Grabinski out 3500' and yarding downhill. That machine would fly a big turn of logs fully suspended all the way. Quite a sight. The only thing I did not like about working on that machine was the size of the rigging we used. 24" blocks for tail blocks. On steep ground we'd make a haywire layout just to move those blocks and straps sometimes.
The K-65 had the regen brakes, sort of an interlock, so once you got the logs up, you didn't have to ride the brake. Not like the Madills and Skagits, where the engineer would be standing on one peddle or the other all day.
Tyee Ad from old Hiballer Magazine Old ad from 1966....
The sparmatic slack line I started in woods on In Zeballos had manual brakes, just high leaded with it never did see it slack line. Did see it pull over fairlead into the coal deck pile though ,both back quarters pulled,was chasing at the time hard to find a place to hide in the landing with it going over, just pulled the ram apart never bent a thing,the pile saved it
I'm told that Grandpa knocked over one of our Sparmatics, swung the long boom into a guyline. The two they had here would have been manual brakes, too, I suppose. One was even converted from a steam yarder. The ones jackd worked on were more advanced, they had Tyee K-65 yarders. They may have been the only ones built with K-65's, I've never heard of any others so equipped.
Is there any history anywhere of Frank Lawrence - the designer of the Sparmatic? Anything in these Highballer or other period magazines? I would love to get a more complete history of when his design efforts were starting to gain ground and where it all led to. It's good to hear all the stories coming in from other forum members who cut their teeth working on these things.
I haven't seen anything other than what was in Ken Drushka's books. Same for Archie McKone, too. This province was full of inventors at one time, pretty much every camp had one.
Zeballos sparmatic had a View name plate on it .Was so long ago hard to remember little thinks. Do remember one chaser working on it , the mainline clutch had the wooded friction blocks in it and they would squeel on a hard pull , so he got upthere under the cab when they were setting a turn and took the oilcan an oilled the mainline blocks she did not squeel anymore.Funny has hell at the time
Cold Decker Old Tyee cold decker, with Mercury V8 power.
In the early 1980's the company I worked for bought a new Skookum Tyee with a 90' tube. It was a slackline model, I don't know the model number.......but K166 rings a bell. It had a Caterpillar 3408 for power. It had the regenerative brake system. Two piece, non telescoping.....eight guylines. It was all mounted on a self propelled 4 axle carrier. It didn't have a downdrive like the two BU199's we had, the carrier had it's own powerplant. I believe it was a 8V 92. The Hooktender who got it new was top notch and man could he get logs with that machine.......it was faster than the 199's. It had issues moving, but it could get logs........
As usual I don't have any pictures. Never gave it a thought at that time........regrets......only memories........and they get better with time..........
When did you work for Don Bell...?? My dad hooked for him for a bit in the late 80's.
When slacklining with this yarder you had to be careful not to load it too heavy. The skyline was the middle drum & when heavily loaded it would lift the front jacks off the pads. While on the landing one day I saw it lift 3'..........then the operator reversed it down gently. He got used to running it and it was no sweat to him. Picking a turn off the far hillside the rigging slinger had to be careful......
Moving this yarder was touchy.......it was on a four axle carrier.....with that 90' tube sticking way out front the yarder would teeter on the front axles...YIKES!! The Hooker and operator got really good at moving this thing and made it look like a piece of cake. We always moved it with a 988 and a D8 46A.When a sharp turn was needed you could swing the hind end around easily. I always worried about blowing a front tire with all that weight on four tires. Never did to my knowledge.......miracles do happen.....
Scoop is that you ?
Hi. I just found this forum and found it very informative. The company I work for currently uses a modified k114 for digging gravel . It pulles a 10 cubic yard bucket. We actually have 5 of them. One is at our shop for parts. One operating ing michigan and three more that are waiting to Come home from Washington. I believe I met Contract Logger in January or febuary last year at walsch's yard. Just saying hi. Thanks
One of two Skookum mobile spars off the Mountain Loop Highway in Washington. They have six hydraulic drums equiped with 1" wire rope as ( I presume) guys. There are three large mechanical drums and two additional smaller hydraulic drums
I was searching to see if anyone had recorded the history of Archie McKone on the internet and haven't found anything other than the short reference in this thread. I started working for him as a kid in the 1950's and ended up living in his house in Vancouver. I always wondered what happened to his 1921 Whte Logging Truck he used to drive in the PNE parade? I also see he has 5 patents registered in the US Patent office. The preload trailer among them. On the Madill machines, has anyone contacted the family to see what happened to all the records? There is one Madill guy here, Kieth Turner who is 105 years old, who still has lots of information.
I thought Archie's truck went to the Forest Museum in Duncan?
All I want for Christmas is some new pictures of an old View Sparmatic.... Anybody got any?
I will have to look in on my next pass. I remember being at his house when a call came asking if he wanted a new set of solid rubber tires on the flat steel wheels for the truck. We went to the Forest Service warehouse at the foot of Blenheim St and there were several sets that had sat there for 40+ years, being scrapped. Archie and his partners held the 2 and 4 man tractor thrashing machine setup championships for many years. He always voiced his amazement that as they got older and older (in their 70's and 80's) their times kept getting better and better. You had to have the rig moving in the field when the horn sounded. Pull the pin and drop the thrasher, make a 180 with the tractor, put the belt on, get the thrasher going and keep it going without the belt jumping off. In his later years, his greatest pleasure was to pack a lunch, go sit all day, at the end of Vancouver Airport and watch the planes come and go. Few people knew his real passion was aircraft. Thanks
Spuzzom B.C Well I am new to this thread, spent 10 years highleading in Boston Bar B.C. Back in 1996 we had 18 towers going, 1 grapple yarder, and a Heli show, that was the summer of 1996. I was wondering if anyone new of a logger and owner Bennie Halburson, Big independent guy. He had a 120 ft Tyee yarder working a skyline show in Spuzzom Creek in 1992, it was a 3000 ft downhill show, with massive deep gullies and big wood, one of the worst looking settings I have ever seen Toughest show I heard any logger who worked the side ever seen.
Where the heck is Spuzzoom? I drove truck for Jack Lowry who had previously been at Spuzzum Creek in the 1960's.
Ah the famouse question. Spuzzom B.C is located between my home town of Hope B.C and Boston B.C, about the half way point up the Fraser River Canyon. It's population at the best of times was maybe 75 people, with a gas station and a absoutley great dinner. Fred and his wife ranit from the early 1970s until the late 1990s. Your friend Jack Lowry may have know Viv Willians, owner of Williams logging who held the timber rights for all of Spuzzom Valley throughout the 1960s to the late 1980s. Viv Williams was a real pionneer, from early on at Vancouver Island in the 1950s to starting Williams logging in the late 1960s. He owned and flew his own helicopter from his home to the Valley landing close to his logging sides when able. Spuzzom Valley is big Valley going back some 45 kms with many branches, it held what most say was the biggest inland timber in B.C. 10 and 12 ft fir trees where very common throughout the Valley. She is a big yarder Valley.
You must have been on Santa's naughty list jackd ,he didn't bring you any pictures for x-mas . So i'll post a couple for you . These pictures were taken in July 1962 Port Renfrew . Brand new View SparOmatic machine # 690 .All rigged up a rdy to get some logs , I kind of miss those rig up days ,except for pulling a mile of strawline I know these pictures are not very exciting I'll see what else i can dig up for you ,enjoy for now.
My heart's racing right now! I had just about given up on my wish and then you go and post this..... Actually I didn't mind rigging up these machines. Due to the fixed/attached ram, the spar would be vertical when you ran the guy lines out, unlike the Madill 009 which would only be at a 45 degree angle. The guy lines wouldn't have any siwashes as they ran out as a result and the pucker factor only came into play when all 120 feet of the spar was standing up and you were in the process of tightening the lines. The last thing I ever did on my final day logging was help tower down the J-88 back in 1982. Many of us were getting let go that day and there was red wine being passed around..... I had the pleasure of driving that monster down off the branch to the lower roads - steering toggle in hand and feeling no pain. The operator was standing beside me - coaching me along - telling me not to oversteer or you would roll the front of the machine right off the front rubber. They were over 100 tons with all the lines on them and they wanted to go straight - they only had the four wheels to carry that load. Those were the days......
Once I get them scanned up I have a very few Sparmatic pictures. The one that was originally Katz Timber, originally owned by an Adams, later acquired along with Katz Timber by Whonnock Lumber Company, later named Interfor. Whonnock ran it from maybe 1970-ist until 1980 when a brand spanking new M4A3E8 mounted green 90 footer destined for another division was redirected to Hope and the Sparmatic, now no longer needed, sat neglected in a gravel pit less than a kilometer up Emory Creek road, getting stripped by vandals. It was, a year later, carried back to the yard in Hope where it sat in a back corner until sold to someone in the Kootenays, as a backspar. I have seen pics on this site of the machine in a field up there. When in Hope and employed up Jones Lake and Mount Hope, it was run by the remarkable operator Harold Martin. No cab, the operator sat at deck level just like the hand jammer operators of old. (it did have air frictions but no tite-air valves here, these were 2 foot long levers!) Band brakes and a 45 gallon barrel of water on the landing to cool them. The operator fed some air into the drum from time to time, to shove the water out to whizz it on the brake flanges. One day there was a terrific bong noise and the barrel was gone, just a whipping hissing air hose left. The hooker was breaking in on the yarder and he'd turned the air on and forgotten it. The badly swollen and missing end barrel was later found a few hundred feet out in the setting. That machine, pulling in a turn, was a sight. The machine shook, the operator bounced on or in front of the perch while holding some or all of his weight on the haulback band brake lever, and steam flew up beside him while he waited for the turn to come into view. Given the inconvenient location of the engineers habitat, that might be awfully late in the process. For downhill yarding there was a strategically placed square hole in the roof tin, ahead far enough that Harold didn't get rained on but just big enough to give him a hint what the turn looked like and what it might be doing. The Sparmatic had a nasty tendency for the lock ring halfway up the tower to freeze in place in cold weather, and fail to release via the air cylinder. Then the hooker had to go up and heat it until it was loose. Wrap the passchain around one guy line from the drum, slide a mattock handle through the ring and the hooker sat on it while the operator slacks that guy line and up he goes, clutching his propane torch. What would compo think of that today? I have a pic of the hooker up there doing that very task. Spuzzum. I worked there for Pete Rennie (who bought the outfit from Viv Williams) for five years. Worked for Ben Halvorsen too, on his Deutz motorized gravity carriage, running the pipe. Now that was a rig! Four of the six guylines up the hill away from the pull. Rigging slinger carried two bugs, one for the tower and the other ran the carriage winch.
ps. I have a few pics of Tyee #12 too, in it's later incarnation as a log dump machine.
Man oh Man! I'm getting lost in all this. There is so much I don't know where to post. I put up some pictures of my brothers A-Frame show, Smith Inlet, 1972. His A- Fame had a 12-12 Lawrence on it, (big brother to the 10-10) a 3 drum for slack sky line. In Port McNeill, 1966, I ran the first 009 Madill there. There was also a Sparmatic, I believe with the V12 Cummins, and 2 or 3 Burgers, (square pipe). I've been trying to find info on those Burgers, without success. I ahve a lot of album pictures, I'll have to try and scan a few. My oldest brother went to Mahatta River, (Quatsino Sound) first in 1958. He drug me up there in '61. My first job was back rigging on the tention skidder. I'm hoping some of you know what I'm talking about. The home tree machine was a big Tyee, with V12 Cummins, on a steel wheeled trailer. The home tree had 17 guy lines, (because it had a heel boom hung on it). We ran 10 chokers 5 hot, 5 cold. A hooker, & second hooker & 4 chokermen did the hooking up. With two sets of back rigging, while a road was being logged, we rigged the next back spar. This meant we HAND CARRIED the rigging from the last road, past the road being logged, dragged 4 guy lines for the next tree. The haul back blocks which at that time were called "receading blocks came apart 2 shells,the shiv, and nut & bolt that joined them. These blocks were so big, I don't have to tell you how big that shiv was. We would take turns packing it. I was 16, and thought I'd arrived in hell. Behind us was a cold deck show. I ended up chasing on that machine, a Burger on sled of course. The engineer was "Logger Bill" Erwin. Probably the fastest yarder I have ever worked on to this day, and Bill was "High Ball". You stayed right out of the way of his rigging.
Those look familiar. They wouldn't happen to be Munn's old yarders would they?
Both our J-88 & J-87 had full size operating cabs - the driving cabs were some sort of plywood sided afterthought. You had to stand to drive these things. I never saw us have any real problems with the spar locking ring freezing up - lucky I guess. I remember the Lang's Lay cable on the dedicated drum to raise the tower inside itself and how the operator would extend the tower beyond its working height to then activate the locking ring. Sometimes it took a couple of attempts to lock it, but it always did. There's nothing like seeing a 120 foot spar standing there up in the air with slack guy lines all around. If you were used to Madills, it was a bit of a transition to work on these things. I remember the band brakes and the dust that would come off them during the drier months. They finally installed airconditioning units on the cab roof to pressurize the inside to keep that nasty crap out. One operator I knew had both hips replaced at an early age - I wonder if he wore them out riding those brakes for all those years.... I still remember opening up the hatch by the mainline drum to flip the 'butterfly' gear with a pry bar to change driving directions. Nothing was straight forward like on a Madill. Still I preferred them to work on because of the regenerator brake and the ability to feed slack off the drums instead of using gravity - it made setting turns all that more easy. They were getting tired at the end but it was still entertaining to see them change gear when they were bringing a turn in. They'd start off in bull low to get things moving and then pick up speed as the logs headed down the hill to the landing. Stories were told of them walking through 1" chokers like it was strawline when you would have a hang-up, when they were new. And what a wonderful snarl they made when they open the throttle up. When I was on them, they could still pull but their years of great power were behind them. Tugman, Glenlivet & Born2clearcut - thank you for the pics/stories and glad to have you here. Your era is something I can really relate to - modern day equipment leaves me a bit cold.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_tN4wwh0fE And here's a video of the Katz/Interfor Sparmatic, where it (last?) sat.
I scanned & resized a couple of more . June 1962 - Here's a barge load of new stuff . Not sure what river they are heading up ( San Juan river or maybe heading up to Nitnat from the ocean, maybe someone knows ? ) On the barge it looks like 4 new preload trailers a Cat and 2 ViewSparOmatic eveything looks brand new . Not sure if they made differant sizes of the ViewSpar yarders, Picture #2 you can see the yarder on the right is alittle taller then the one on left , in the other 3 pictures you can also see they have differant rooster heads on top of the pipe ,the one on the right has about a 4 or 5 foot extension just below the guyline sheaves. Anyone with more info about these 2 machines don't be shy please post your info
pretty sure thats san jaun,, cool photos
Thanks for the Sparmatic pics - keep 'em coming. Another thing that I liked about the Sparmatic over the Madill 009 was the compact length of the unit when you were moving it. With the tower sliding inside itself, it made for a compact machine when you moved it. I remember the Madills with the 90 footer always digging into the upper bank, if you had to turn it around in a landing or into the top side of the road bank when we were changing landings. Not much of a problem with the Sparmatic.
Here's a couple pictures of a Sparmatic the year 1961 can't see the name company on the side of the fuel tank good enough to read ,I also don't know where these pictures were taken, but its pretty kool looking country.
that is in squamish looking at mt.garibaldi
I love the Chrysler crummy
I was thinking the same thing! I guess that was a Windsor?
Looks like it and also about a 1961, must have been the bosses ride
That's quite the treasure trove of old Sparmatic pics you got there Born2clearcut. The one of the tower base, with the winches and tire really bring it all back for me. Those were big bloody tires. It was amazing that a 120 foot tower only used 6 guy lines. It was so easy to level out the machine with those 3 big jack pads when you were rigging up - easier than a Madill. I'm just trying to figure out what that structure to the left of the tower with a drum on it is. I don't think it was the drum for raising the tower itself, our old Sparmatics had a different raising drum arrangement on the side of the spar near the bottom.
what happened to the wynons yarder up by Dee OR its not there any more.
maybe a pimp line?
Good to have you back. Pimp line - not sure what this is. Something for snubbing the machine down a steep grade if a truck wasn't available?
Pimpline is a smaller version of strawline. Strawline is usually 3/8" while pimp line is 1/4" .The pimpline is strung first then the strawline is pulled around with it. Makes stringing line easier. Most strawline extensions are about 250' long and pimpline are 500' or longer
A View Spar matic . What does the V.I.E.W stand for ??
Vancouver Iron and Engineering Works (I think ) 525isx
View 1969 shot at Squamish (borrowed net photo)
lol I can remember building those name plates in the 80's Would clean up all the edges and paint them by hand lol
lol I can remember building those name plates in the 80's Would clean up all the edges and paint them by hand lol
Good to have you onboard. Who were you working for when these were made? Those old Sparmatics are still my favourite - the sound of that HDX coming up the hill at the truck show at Duncan sounded just like the old J-87 bringing in a turn back in the good old days. Lots of good old grunt.
I worked for Tyee machinery on Granville island I guess it was in the mid 70s not the 80s now I think harder Real beast of a machine tyee put out
I moved to Vancouver just after all the good stuff moved out of Granville Island. I still remember seeing a View Iron and Engineering Works sign stuck up on one of the walls inside one of the old parking garages. I wonder what eventually happened to it. Do you have any old pics to post here? I'd like to see them.
Our highly modified 114. Kt has a kt1150 with 620 hp. This is one gravel digging machine.
Cool pictures on this thread especially the picture of BCC Tyee. I haven't seen these kind of machines. They're look like a tower.
Looks like I would be quite a gravel moving machine.
It is one gravel digging machine. We have yet to be at a pit that we have had to run it full out. P.S. we contract dig if anyone is interested. Give me a shout.
Would love to see more of this!
Tyee winch Here are a few pic's of some new rigging coming out of the manufacture. shared photos
Wow - nice - factory photos! Do you happen to have more, or know where is, material from Tyee on Granville Island? Jackd visited Tyees old place and concluded that everything (books, pictures, drawings etc) probably had been trown just a few years before.
Months before - not years. I could have smacked the self satisfied b*****d that sat across from me telling me this. Many years previous I had visited the same shop and had a entertaining visit with the then current owner of the rights to the Tyee brand. That fellow (Doug Ruxton - President of Skookum Tyee Enterprises Ltd.) pulled out construction files of the J-87 and J-88 Sparmatics and started spewing off mechanical details and other related info. I knew he had a historical gold mine sitting in his very large wooden filing cabinet, but the man at that time thought he might still have a demand for his blueprints and wouldn't part with any of it. Yes I agree, great photos you have there.
Here is the same shop, but has a Skagit BU110 winch in it. might have been a trade in? Looks old school
Born2clearcut Again youve posted some great pictures . The View Spar in posting #96 has a little history to go with it I have a black and white picture of the same #690 laying over on the high side bank with a kink in the tower .(I got the picture from the late and great Roy Johnson if your father is well and has his wits about him Im sure he,ll have a tale or 2 about Roy). Thats probably the reason the 690 had 3 safety guys 1 at fair lead and 1 on each side just back of squaire lead that were hand spiked when the tower was at vertical stage before telescoping up, when the tower was telescoped up and most of the slack was out of the guylines the safety guys were released. Theyhad the same proceduer on there Skajit towers except they only had 2 safety guys on squaire lead .(Im sure you would know Dave Thompson ,he use to hook on it before he went to work for Taylor Way Logging if any body knows about the #690 it would be Dave). In posting #104 its a picture of a barge load of equipment in San Juan Bay being towed up the north arm of the San Juan River there use to be a place where the Indian reservation is now or across the river at the old A frame dump was ,to unload barges . I remember seeing a Veiw Spar out in the bay on nice sunny summer day in the early 60s probably the same one . I dont know if one of them was the #690 or if they were going to Caycuse. The tug towing the barge is the Pacheena Prince. Im sure the posting #117 was taken at Caycuse the corner to the right of the Veiw Spar is the old locie ,later main shop at Caycuse .
Tugman posting #100 your name wouldnt happen to be Amle or Kalvin P would it .
OK, looks like this is the thread for Sparmatics, this one might even be the one in earlier posts here. Empire logging, Squamish.
Huge cab on them, the whole crew could eat lunch in there.And under it was good place for the chaser to stay out of the rain
Keep these nice pics of Sparmatics coming. I just bought an industrial size drafting table for my study and I'm going to try to loft up a set of plans for these beasts in the future.
That cab doesn't look like it has glass in it. Or window guards! d.d.
donkey doctor When I started in the woods Feb. 1966 I dont think guarding on yarder windows was mandatory, around that time I recall an incidint at an up island camp where a mainlind broke and the bight of it entered the cab causing a fatality . It must have involved a long splice as the mangement at BCFP Renfrew Div. made a recomenation that there be know more long splices in mainlines and guarding was installed on yarders and loaders.
In 1981 there was a strike in forest industry . I was living in Victoria at the time ,we hit the bricks Sunday and by Tuesday lunch time I was running a Hyster Fork Lift at Yarrows ship yard. An interesting summer , the Hida Monarch had gone up on the rocks earlier that year and was in the drydock being repaired ,its huge Ive driven under it with a Drott Carry Deck Crane it was amazing watching it being littely being cut in half sealed up . Floated out in the habuor then brought back in the drydock the damaged sections cut out and new sections installed unfortunaty I got called back to the woods before the repair was completed . While I was down there I got to go aboard the Navys work barge they use for heavy lifting around the harbuor its equiped with a 3 drum Tyee wintch which would probaby also used in the woods as a slackline yarder.
camptramp I remember those days also. I was just starting my working life at Nanaimo Lakes for CZ about 1964 and was sent to do something on a yarder with an old hand jammer winch. I don't even remember if it maybe had a wooden tree. What I do remember is standing on the deck beside the yarding engineer (no cab at all just a canopy) and watching the turn come at us. At the time I really didn't have a clue how dangerous it was. (kids think theyre invincable and I was 18) I did learn tho and retired with all my body parts. Regards d.d.
donkey doctor It could have been either a wooden spar tree or steel tower that was during a time of change there were still quite a few towers around that had an old yarder winch off a wooden sled stuck on a new steel tower . It was good enough on a wooden sled with just a wing hanging over the donkey puncher its good enough now . Stan Harrison of Harrison Logging had a Madill tower mounted on an old logging truck in 1963 he never put a cab on it . Harrison sold out to BCFP around 1971. *** Carly bought it and ran it for a couple of years at Sombieo until he could purchase a brand new 009 Madill on a rubber tire carrier .That was ***,s style he would start with what he could get by with then then replace it with first class equipment . Nices Madill I ever ran. In the spring of 1976 I went to work for Ted Shaw at Sooke running an old 60 or 70 foot Madill tower mounted on an old Hayes pre HDX logging truck ,it was a hand jammer no cab just a wing over the side ,no jacks you just back up on the pad to get over center to get pins in the front support arms. It got worse it had been pulled over there was a kink in the tower was a joy to try to get the lines in lead with the drums . The unit had been owned by the Hillcrest Lumber Co. probably worn out when they shut down in 1968. I kind of B.S.ed my way into that job and when the forman quite yelling at me and Ted quite bringing guy,s up to check out the machine , I knew I had her figured out , So a couple of months later when *** Carley phoned me up and offered me a job I jumped at it ,From the worst to best the over a weekend. Heres a little tale about Stan Harrison he was notorious for buying up almost used up equipment from BCFP Elders Kapoors he had a woodsforman handyman Cliff Haliday who could do just about anything and do it well .Also had a great sense of humor . One day he complained to Stan that his back was killing him would he get proper seat for the logging truck he was driving.Stans reply was .For Christ sakes Cliff I just gave you a new powder box last week.
Location and Owner Location was Palmer, Washington along the Green River. Owner was Don Walker of Walker Logging.
keep reading the posts-- I posted pretty much the same in #24. good to see another enumclaw local on here
Any of you Enumclaw guys know if Tom Anderson from Auburn is still around or logging??