Just found this site recently and had a few short looks......enough to get me to register and say hello.
I worked in the forest industry here in BC starting in 1967 and ending in 2000, more or less, and saw a few different things and met a few old guys along the way too. I grew up on property that was logged by oxen around the turn of the century (1900) and remember the remnant old trails left behind by those loggers. As well, my Grandfather worked at Fraser Mills for many years and was a well known character back in the '40's and '50's around that area.
I started in Gold River in the pulp mill built there mid '60's by Tahsis Co Ltd. as a warehouseman in Mill Stores. Within a year I was Assistant Receiver-Shipper and then Receiver-Shipper, the highest hourly job in Mill Stores. In 1969 I took over the warehouse at the Gold River Logging Division as the Warehouseman/Buyer and spent the next four years running it.
From there I went to the Charlottes for MacMillan Bloedel, then to Port Renfrew for BCFP Ltd. and later to the Charlottes again for Husby Forest Products. That evolved into opening a one man store in Sandspit selling heavy duty truck parts for Island Mack Truck Sales out of Nanaimo for 3 1/2 years whereupon we shut that store down and I moved here to Campbell River and worked as the road salesman covering Vancouver Island north and west from here. When that ended I worked for Lemare Lake Logging running the Kilpala warehouse for a short period before leaving and taking up what I do now.
Got in on the beginning of grapple yarding here in BC and the first ever Skagit SST Grapple Yarder, serial #1001, belonged to the Gold River Logging Div.
I think a contractor named Chum Carley had #1002 and then later I worked for BCFP Ltd at Port Renfrew and they had #1003.
Two of those ended up later with Lemare Lake Logging out of Port McNeil, where I finished off my career in logging in 2000.
I must say there are some great old pics posted on this site and kudos to you guys who share them. Great stuff.
I knew a few oldtimers who logged during the '30's and '40's and my boss at the logging div. in Gold River actually had his picture on a 50 cent stamp. The picture is of him and another faller leaving the base of a tree as it's coming off the stump. The pic was a still from a film about the new powersaws that were coming out just at the end of WWII. The Pathe News Agency sent a film crew to Stillwater, near Powell River, and they filmed Ed and his partner falling a big tree with their new saw.
I spent a very good night in the bar at the old Gold River Chalet listening to him and another oldtime Hooktender named Harry, (40 years in) talking story one night. I just kept buying rounds and they kept the stories coming.
Great stuff.
Not having any sense of the history of this site yet I'm hoping some of you are open to swapping stories.....true ones or otherwise.......true from me though.
I'm at a busy time in my life right now as I'm handfeeding 20 baby birds every four hours or so, so can't spend a lot of time here, but I am looking forward to meeting some new friends and I'll respond as best I can to any questions.
In the meantime....
Take care.
Dave
I worked in the forest industry here in BC starting in 1967 and ending in 2000, more or less, and saw a few different things and met a few old guys along the way too. I grew up on property that was logged by oxen around the turn of the century (1900) and remember the remnant old trails left behind by those loggers. As well, my Grandfather worked at Fraser Mills for many years and was a well known character back in the '40's and '50's around that area.
I started in Gold River in the pulp mill built there mid '60's by Tahsis Co Ltd. as a warehouseman in Mill Stores. Within a year I was Assistant Receiver-Shipper and then Receiver-Shipper, the highest hourly job in Mill Stores. In 1969 I took over the warehouse at the Gold River Logging Division as the Warehouseman/Buyer and spent the next four years running it.
From there I went to the Charlottes for MacMillan Bloedel, then to Port Renfrew for BCFP Ltd. and later to the Charlottes again for Husby Forest Products. That evolved into opening a one man store in Sandspit selling heavy duty truck parts for Island Mack Truck Sales out of Nanaimo for 3 1/2 years whereupon we shut that store down and I moved here to Campbell River and worked as the road salesman covering Vancouver Island north and west from here. When that ended I worked for Lemare Lake Logging running the Kilpala warehouse for a short period before leaving and taking up what I do now.
Got in on the beginning of grapple yarding here in BC and the first ever Skagit SST Grapple Yarder, serial #1001, belonged to the Gold River Logging Div.
I think a contractor named Chum Carley had #1002 and then later I worked for BCFP Ltd at Port Renfrew and they had #1003.
Two of those ended up later with Lemare Lake Logging out of Port McNeil, where I finished off my career in logging in 2000.
I must say there are some great old pics posted on this site and kudos to you guys who share them. Great stuff.
I knew a few oldtimers who logged during the '30's and '40's and my boss at the logging div. in Gold River actually had his picture on a 50 cent stamp. The picture is of him and another faller leaving the base of a tree as it's coming off the stump. The pic was a still from a film about the new powersaws that were coming out just at the end of WWII. The Pathe News Agency sent a film crew to Stillwater, near Powell River, and they filmed Ed and his partner falling a big tree with their new saw.
I spent a very good night in the bar at the old Gold River Chalet listening to him and another oldtime Hooktender named Harry, (40 years in) talking story one night. I just kept buying rounds and they kept the stories coming.
Great stuff.
Not having any sense of the history of this site yet I'm hoping some of you are open to swapping stories.....true ones or otherwise.......true from me though.
I'm at a busy time in my life right now as I'm handfeeding 20 baby birds every four hours or so, so can't spend a lot of time here, but I am looking forward to meeting some new friends and I'll respond as best I can to any questions.
In the meantime....
Take care.
Dave
