This photographic research guide illustrates the loggers’ work environment and some of the methods they employed during the early days of logging. Most of these photos were taken in Montana or north Idaho and most were taken during the days of the Logging Camp, before the advent of the chainsaw.

Each section of this guide contains questions for use in the classroom, as well as a link to an extensive set of photographs on the topic.

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Logging in the Early Days

The demand for logs and timber came about as soon as the first settlers arrived on the East Coast. Wood was necessary for building ships and boats, homes and furniture, as well as for cooking and generating heat. The demand for timber and lumber only increased as America grew, and logging companies and crews were attracted to the heavily timbered areas of the Western states.

• Note the massive size of the equipment and machinery, as well as the logs.
• In what ways did the terrain and landscape make logging operations more difficult?
• Are there any details about the terrain and landscape that you think could have made logging operations easier?
• What was the purpose of a mill pond?
• How were loggers able to continue working through the winter months?
• What appear to be some of the most dangerous aspects of logging?
• If you were a logger, what part of the job or position would you be most interested in?

Link to a collection of photos of logging in the early days

For more information about logging in the early days and the history of logging:
https://www.woodsplitterdirect.com/blogs/wsd/the-amazing-history-of-logging-in-the-united-states


Photo at right: Logging in Bitter Root Valley, between 1910-1920

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Logging in the Early Days: The Loggers

Logging in the old days was a very difficult and physically demanding job. Loggers had to deal with harsh terrain, all types of adverse weather, poor hygiene, long hours, and low pay. While on the job loggers lived in logging camps and had to be away from their families for months at a time.

• What proof can you find proof in these photos that these were very tough individuals?
• What was the most common tool of the logger?
• Could this work be accomplished by small crews of just a few loggers?
• How long do you think it took to remove some of these large trees from the woods?
• What does the loggers’ clothing tell you about the job?
• Does anything about the job look fun?
• Does anything about the job look miserable?

Link to a collection of photos of the loggers

For more information about loggers in the early days of logging:
https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/economy/loggers.php


Photo at right: Two men on springboards and one in undercut

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Logging in the Early Days: Logging Camps

Welcome to the Logging Camp. This is where the loggers ate and slept. A typical logging camp would have a kitchen, dining area, one or more bunkhouses, an office and a company store. Some camps may have had a barn and shop. These camps, in remote, heavily forested areas, had to function like a very small settlement with only bare essentials available.

• Why did loggers have to spend the logging season living in logging camps?
• What do you think was the most important function of the logging camp?
• Who was the most important person in the logging camp?
• How do you think loggers spent their time in the logging camps?
• Who built the camps?
• Do you think logging camps were safe? Dangerous?
• How often do you think they loggers were able to leave camp and go home?
• Do you think visitors were allowed in camp?
• Was there any privacy in a logging camp?

Link to a collection of photos of logging camps

For more information about life in a logging camp: https://iowahist.uni.edu/Social_Economic/LumberCamp/life_in_a_lumber_camp.htm

Norman Maclean’s story Logging and Pimping and “Your Pal, Jim” also shares firsthand details of life in a logging camp bunkhouse.


Photo at right: Anaconda Copper Mining Company logging crew at dinner camp on Elk Creek near Greenough, Montana, 1929

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Logging in the Early Days: Horses

The earliest large-scale logging was done near rivers so that logs could be moved downstream via these waterways (logs float). As logging operations moved further away from rivers, loggers used horses to haul and drag logs out of the woods and forests.

• Aside from moving logs, in what other ways would horses have been useful to early logging operations?
• Could logging in the early days have been successful without horses? How?
• Could there still be advantages to using horses for logging today?
• Do you think horse logging is still being practiced today? Where? Why? (There are very good reasons for this…)

Link to a collection of photos of horses involved in logging

For more information about horse logging:
https://www.filson.com/blog/field-notes/brief-history-of-horse-logging/

For more information about modern horse logging:
https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/horse-logging-zmaz06djzraw/


Photo at right: Photo claiming the "Largest load ever hauled by horses, 50,580 feet, 250 tons, 9 car loads, with 15 miles to haul to the landing. Pine Island, Minnesota, 1909."

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Logging in the Early Days: Trains

The use of trains and the construction of railroads in America expanded greatly during the 1800s. Freight trains had the potential to move massive quantities of timber. Advances in railroad technology and design allowed railroads and locomotives access to heavily timbered areas as well as the ability to haul logs to the sawmills.

• What advantages did trains have over horses, rivers, and mill ponds?
• What regions of logging territory would have been best served by rail?
• What did (early) train locomotives require in order to operate (think fuel)?
• During what period of history did the railroad thrive the most? How did that coincide with the history of logging?
• How did logging and the development of the railroad impact the history of America, especially the West?

For more information about logging railroads:
https://www.american-rails.com/logging.html

Link to a collection of photos of trains involved in logging


Photo at right: Great Northern log train, locomotive 3115 (2-8-2), Warland, Montana, 1948

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Logging in the Early Days: Trucks and Tractors

The introduction of trucks and tractors to early logging operations made the industry begin to look as it does today. Logging trucks cost much less than railroads and trains. Logging trucks could actually drive up into the woods and haul logs directly to the sawmill. Road construction greatly increased during the 1900s and literally paved the way for hauling commercial materials and products with trucks and tractor trailers.

• Is a logging truck a common site in your town or neighborhood?
• Who is responsible for building logging roads?
• What changes in the logging industry called for the use of semi-trucks for hauling logs?
• How are logging trucks loaded?
• What methods of transporting logs can you think of that were not depicted in these photos?
• What methods of transporting do you think will be used in the future that are not used today?
• Do you think the logging industry is here to stay or will logging someday disappear entirely?

Link to a collection of photos of trucks and tractors involved in logging

For more information about the use of trucks for hauling logs:
https://www.ruraltech.org/pubs/reports/2008/log_trucks/section_1/index.asp


Photo at right: Steve Russell's truck loaded with spruce logs, leaves Swede Cut, the first advertised commercial National Forest timber sale in the upper Lochsa, August 1953

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Created by: Dave Pickering

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