West Coast Logging Camps, Shops, Barges, etc.

[johnson]

This camp has bean sitting in the Ward cove in front of the old Ketchikan pulp mill for some time now.

 

[johnson]

This is one of the Gildersleeve floating camps one of the biggest floating camps ever.

 

[johnson]

more Gildersleeve

 

[johnson]

Last round

 

[tugman]

I've just joined the page & will put a few images for your enjoyment, 3 or 4 at a time. My brothers and I have spent our entire time 50 + years in the logging, fishing and marine industry. I will put up a couple of our oldest, Howie's A-Frame camp a little later. Next is Buddy about to retire at 72, now the longest "ships pilot" having served now into his 39 year as a pilot. I own a tug & barge. Lorne is a captaing for Gowlland Towing, Campbell River. These pictures are, store at Dawsons Landing , Rivers Inlet. The old Good Hope Cannery Rivers Inlet, and a Interfor barge camp I'm taking back from Mackenzie shipyard to Drury Inlet..

 

[MagnetGenerator]

Nice, Glad you are joining the conversation. Great pics. Do you have some pics of your own tug & barge? Do you do most of your work in BC?

 

[tugman]

I'm hoping these will show up ok. They are photos on the walls in our home entrance. Professionally done by a photographer at Howie's camp in Smith Inlet, 1972. "This was logging" shown in the logging museum in Duncan, Vancouver Island BC. As you may see, (I hope) 3 pictures are superimposed on top of each other.

 

[tugman]

Nice, Glad you are joining the conversation. Great pics. Do you have some pics of your own tug & barge? Do you do most of your work in BC?

Thank you for your reply, yes I'm happy to show my tug&barge. I'm hoping to sell in the next year or so. It's just time for me to retire. This little tug is ineresting. Built in Shreveport Louisiana in 1946. Spent most her life in New Orleans. The army core of engineers designed these little tugs. They are built of corten steel. I f you research this, inerestingly it has a lot of copper & iron in it, so ther is no rust. I repowered in 08 with a S6B3 Mitsubishi, rebuilt Twin Disc gear /12. I have pretty well renewed everything in this ship, including just installing a new hydraulic spooler on my winch. The barge also is refit, and just now I am redoing the deck with concrete, as the old wood wear deck is getting pretty rotten. I am extending the ramp 15 feet and installing a new lift engine.

 

[tugman]

To continue, Here are a few more to add. Many of the photos you fellows have displayed here are camps that I move, for Helifor, and Interfor. Here are a couple of shots of Pacific International Heli Log in the Head of Seymour Inlet. A Lama taking fertilizer off the barge I'm towing, fertilizing trees in Okisolo Channel. A barge camp that used to be Frank Bebben's in Haida Gwaii, now belongs to Brian Baker, (Tri X timer) he's a road builder. I placed it here in Spiller Channel. The last is the old "Sir James Douglas", retired coast guard ship. Now owned by Wakash Logging from Campbell River. Used for a 25 man logging camp. I'm just towing it out of MacKenzie Sound. Your first questions may be "Why are you towing it?" The engines are apart. To fire them up, and crew this ship just to move it, as well as the insurance is too costly.

 

[tugman]

End of an Era

Just a couple more, then I'll get out of the way and leave you fellas for a while. This is the head if Rivers Inlet, know as RIC.Old brother Howie, & I (in yellow rain gear). Howie managed Trans-Lake for the last 20 years of existence. The logging in Owikeno Lake, bargeing fuel and equipment to the 3 campas up the lake. Towing the wood down the lake to the reload. The 5 mile haul to where you see my barge. We are loading out all the old iron. The smoke you see from the old D8 I'm running up on the pile, is because the turbo was siezed LOL. I ate so much carbon, I had to go and breath oxygen for a while.

 

[tugman]

Post your pictures of logging camps, shops, etc. on the West coast of North America!

Trakloader; As you come from the islands, I'm wondering if you have ever told our friends around the world here the story of the "Golden Spruce". Besides the fact that it is a wonderful story I aslo am wondering if you are aware of how they took a piece of it after that crazy fell it, and they used the piece in the building of now a very famous guitar. Along with a liece of a paddle that was Pierre Trudeau's canoe paddle. All this information is available here on the net, just google "Golden Spruce"

My personal interest, is my brothers and I all play music. My youngest brother and I both have recorded CD. My brother has a very interesting website, as he has quite the recording studio. As he is a tugboat captain, he has some real cool videos on his site..........desolationsoundstudio.com

 

[SPMiller]

That scrap barges makes me sad. I hate seeing the old equipment disappear

 

[tugman]

That scrap barges makes me sad. I hate seeing the old equipment disappear

Yes sir, I agree with you. Many times now when I'm loading and hauling this equipment it makes me feel old. My brother and I were two of the last guys standing up wooden trees for logging on track sides. I guess like this equipment we will fade off into the distance.

 

[tugman]

Johnson; The camps you have put up here are camps I move a lot of the time. The little green camp in the middle is in Mereworth Sound, I put it there. Belongs to RSD Road Building, (Dennis Swanson & Rodney Vorila) I move their equipment all the time.

 

[tugman]

I am getting the hang of scanning pictures from my albums now. We are realy going to go back in time. These are some pictures from Jenny Inlet. The truck dumping is at Fogg Creek in Dean Channel, about 7 miles above Jenny In. Each day I had to tow the bag of the days production down to storage in Jenny, as there is nowhere in Dean to hold wood. Then we are loading the Seaspan Rigger in Jenny. I am towing the Bentick Tide camp out to join up with the big tug when we had finished. This was December 1999.

 

[Dave Hadden]

Thank you very much for sharing your pics here.
I rue that I never took pics during my working life, particularly when I recall some of the great sights I've witnessed.

Really digging yours.


Take care.

 

[tugman]

Thank you very much for sharing your pics here.
I rue that I never took pics during my working life, particularly when I recall some of the great sights I've witnessed.

Really digging yours.


Take care.

Thank you Dave. I'm happy that you are enjoying them. Makes it worth while. At the end of the day when all the old iron is gone, all we've got is each other.

 

[HDX]

tugman That HDX Hayes shown dumping in post 75 Was that originally a PreLoad truck converted to pull a conventional trailer? It has the set forward front axle and just smacks of a preload. If so is it the one in the picture being dumped off the barge going to the scrap yard? Was she originally an ex Crown Z truck??? I know So many questions By the way Welcome to the site HDX

 

[tugman]

tugman That HDX Hayes shown dumping in post 75 Was that originally a PreLoad truck converted to pull a conventional trailer? It has the set forward front axle and just smacks of a preload. If so is it the one in the picture being dumped off the barge going to the scrap yard? Was she originally an ex Crown Z truck??? I know So many questions By the way Welcome to the site HDX

I'm sorry I can't help you too much Bud. The one shown dumping logs, is a contractor from Courtenay, That was in '99,(at Fogg Creek for Inerfor). I believe his name was Dan Black, I'm not positive. The wrecks on my barge are from Trans-Lake in Rivers Inlet. I wish now I had paid more attention for this forum, because all you guys are very interesting. I'm sure you can appreciate, running up and down this coast pretty steady at times, getting dog tired, putting this stuff on, taking it off very often a guy isn't paying the attention he should. In the next while if I have time, I know where there is an old Madill on the side of the road up near Lund, I'll get some pictures of. Some of the old iron I dropped at Stillwater may still be there. Another place, down at "Hillside" by Port Mellon, my old friend Sandy Gibb has got so much old iron there it is mind boggling. I've almost talked him into scrapping some now and then. Sandy is a funny guy we've know each other since we were kids. He is just like his Dad. All this old junk of his is like old friends he just CANNOT let it go. I'll have to get down there and take some pictures.

Here are a few more from Rivers Inlet. Now the old D9 here on my barge is a great story. Some one got it stuck in the mud out by the airport perhaps 30 years ago, and left it there. Now I guess this just bugged my brother Howie all these years. When we came up to scrap the place out, Howie had this all planned. He got Rick, who came up with me from ABC Recycling and Rick's 330 Cat, and Howie had one of those big Rego Wagners. They cut the blade and horseshoe off. Cut the drivers so the tracks would free wheel and they drug it out. Got it on the lowbed and brought it all down. In the end that old thing I think was 53 tons, so at the price right then, it was worth just about $14,000 delivered to Campbell River.

The last part of this story. The week before I got up to Rivers, I was in Puerto Vallarta laying in the sun. This was now the end of January, snowing and blowing. I almost cried.

Now here

 

[tugman]

The Swiftsure Prince, (now deceased) coming out of Smith Inlet with a load of Helifor wood, towed by the Sea Warrior. Another Interfor camp, I'm taking up Boswell Inlet. I forget the name of that camp, (I'd have to get my log book). Just another one on a rotten old ship hull.