Vancouver Island, BC. Logging at its Best!

[Hallback]

Wes looked like a man that truly loved his job. Rest in peace Wes.

 

[Hallback]

Just curious why you guys up north don't use standing Skyline yarders and long span systems? Sure cuts down on road building cost!

 

[wornout wrench]

Just curious why you guys up north don't use standing Skyline yarders and long span systems? Sure cuts down on road building cost!

Good question.

I know about 35 years ago it was all the rage to get a big ole Skagit or Madil and a couple of sky cars. Cut down on road building, full suspension, all kinds of reasoning. The out fit I was working for bought an 046, mounted it on a rubber tired carrier. I was quite involved with it but I left that company, went to a place where they had no interest in logging that way.

When I came back the Vancouver Island 2 years later, everybody just seemed to have quit using them.
To expensive I heard.
I never really got a decent answer.

Pretty much every logging company I have worked for all run grapple yarders, they might have 1 tower, maybe.

Hoe chuck (shovel log) and skidder where you can, Grapple yarder where the chuckers can't reach and some heli. Bit of Supersnorkle here and there.
But mostly hoe chuck and Grapple yarder.

Hoe chucker = 1 man
Grapple yarder = 2 or 3 men
Highlead is what 5 guys plus you need a loader right there
How many guys on a skyline crew including the riggers setting up the next road, 8?

 

[camptramp]

Dave Whiskin Collection Timberwest HBO Div. Braden Cr. 1999 #40-124 HDX Hayes Logging Truck 1st picture friend and Photographer Kathleen Fitzpatrick and Dave Whiskin 2nd picture Kathleen Fitzpatrick 3rd & 4th Picture Dave Whisken

 

[camptramp]

Dave Whiskin Collection Timberwest HBO Div. #40-124 HDX Hayes logging truck crossing Lower Gordon River Bridge . Dave Whiskin truck driver Photo's taken by Kathleen Fitzpatrick .

 

[camptramp]

Dave Whiskin Collection Timberwest HBO Div. 1999 #40-124 HDX Hayes crossing Lower Gordon River Bridge Truck Driver Dave Whiskin photo's taken by Kathleen Fitzpatric .

 

[Hallback]

We run a seven-man crew that is including the loader operator and the processor operator. We do not run a chaser as we have electronic chokers. The hook tender and one rigging guy makes whatever coils they are going to need in the morning while the other guys are out there sending the First turns in. It seems to work very well and they get a lot of logs doing it. One reason is we routinely are yarding 1000 to 2,000 feet where a grapple yarder is done by a thousand feet.

 

[wornout wrench]

During my time away from the island, MB at Kelsey Bay had a big Skagit running. I'm not a Skagit guy so I might have the numbers wrong here. I think it was a BU199, does that sound right. Big thing.

Now don't quote me on this, and maybe one of the Kelsey guys that were there can straighten me out, but I believe they had 8000 feet of skyline on it. Not logging out that far, but to get the span in. It was some crazy number like that. Maybe it was 5000, IDK just it was a crazy number.
Used helicopters to run the strawline out.

I missed all of it, by the time I got back the experiment was over and everything was being sold off.

 

[Hallback]

A Skagit BU-199 is the largest production yarder Skagit ever built & MB had one. Wayne Stone has two of them and is logging with one of them down on the Oregon coast right now. They were capable of hanging out eight thousand feet (with skyline extensions of course) and when I worked for Fred Moe we routinely hung out six thousand feet plus.

 

[GYYARDEROP]

More Pictures

In the spirit of Vancouver Island Logging

First picture is in George creek 1980 First 7280 ever built I&J Logging.. I was chasing ,second loading.

 

[camptramp]

Dave Whiskin Collection Timberwest HBO Div. 1st picture Dave Whiskin driving #40-124 HDX Hayes waiting to dump at Honeymoon Bay DLS 2nd 3rd & 4th pictures Dave Whiskin driving #40-124 loading trailer on truck at DLS trailer reload .

 

[camptramp]

Dave Whiskin Collection Timberwest HBO Div. 1999 #40-124 HDX Hayes 1st picture Loaded at Landing 2nd picture Kathleen Fitzpatrick standing under load 3rd picture #40-124 leaving landing starting to go around a switch back .

 

[camptramp]

Dave Whiskin Collection Timberwest HBO Div. 1st picture Meeting an empty #40-127 HDX Hayes preloader heading out to the woods 2nd picture looking down hill at a bridge on haul road below (Note cable laying on side of road where log trucks are passing over it , a flat tire waiting to happen , also handy for Road Grader to damage it) 3rd picture a bridge on the Edinburgh M/L crossing the Gordon River 4th picture a long has fallen off load and hung up in cinch cable .

 

[petepilot]

Dave Whiskin Collection Timberwest HBO Div. 1st picture Meeting an empty #40-127 HDX Hayes preloader heading out to the woods 2nd picture looking down hill at a bridge on haul road below (Note cable laying on side of road where log trucks are passing over it , a flat tire waiting to happen , also handy for Road Grader to damage it) 3rd picture a bridge on the Edinburgh M/L crossing the Gordon River 4th picture a long has fallen off load and hung up in cinch cable .View attachment 213159 View attachment 213160 View attachment 213161 View attachment 213162

how did the driver remedy that log off situation?

 

[dirty4fun]

Hallback, what was the diameter of the cable when you worked for Moe, being strung out 9K feet? Had to be a quite heavy load. If you have time explain the steps of getting that cable strung and ready for use. Thanks!

 

[Hank R]

Just a question did Kathleen Fitzpatrick go on to become a school teacher, She looks like one of our school teacher here now retired.

 

[Hallback]

The furthest out I have been was 6800'. We had an old Skagit BU-50 mounted onto an off highway Autocar with a drive axle in front for pulling out the layout. We strung a single leg of haywire to the truck (truck was tied off to stumps also) and then pulled the 1/2" line from the truck to the landing with the tagline drum of the yarder. We then attached the skyline extensions to the line horse and pulled out the big line. The skyline was 1.5" swaged. It took 30-32 sections of 3/8"wire from yarder to line horse.

Hallback, what was the diameter of the cable when you worked for Moe, being strung out 9K feet? Had to be a quite heavy load. If you have time explain the steps of getting that cable strung and ready for use. Thanks!

 

[dirty4fun]

Thanks Hallback, over a mile of 1.5" cable was quite a load in it's self. Still seems like a good way to pull a lot of loads of timber without the expense of building a road and maybe having to remove the road when done.

 

[camptramp]

Dave Whiskin Collection Timberwest HBO Div . April 1999 Honeymoon Bay DLS #40-124 HDX Hayes being dumped by "Push off" method .

 

[camptramp]

Dave Whiskin Collection Timberwest HBO Div. 1999 #40-139 P16 Pacific driver the late Art Nickerson ( one of the best drivers I have ridden with using standard 4X6 mixing sticks) dumping using push off method .