Logging was vital to the local Northwest economy from the start. The above is a photo of a 1910 logging camp in California. Click the image to see a larger version. Click here to see a post card of a logging camp that can give you an idea of how things must have looked.
When easterners talk about "old growth" I doubt that they realize just how big old growth virgin timber was. It is now pretty well gone except for the National Parks and wilderness areas. When the environmentalists speak of of "old growth" now they mean second growth timber, not the trees that were hundreds of years old found in the Northwest when Europeans first arrived. The above image was taken in Oregon in 1905. (Click on the image to see a larger version.) For one image of the "old growth" from 1908 in the Mt. Rainier national park, click here. You can still see this kind of timber in the park, which is never disturbed, unless by natural causes. Click here to see a post card that illustrates how large the original timber was.
Logging was hard and physical as you can see from this detail.
He is part of a team of men and animals needed to cut and move the timber in Oregon in 1891.
To see a much larger image of the above photo, click on it.
History of the Catholic People of the Upper Cowlitz River
The Road from Yakima to Packwood | Local Volcanoes
Main Index - site map | East Lewis County Catholic Community
Other links of Interest
Washington Forest Products Association --- Forestry and Logging Occupations
