A Standard Service

Now that judge Porter has retired I'm not afraid to head back up to that country. LOL

Growing up in Port Angeles in late 70's early 80's, my ambition was to drive Log Trucks, at that time you still had trucks with only 3 logs on, I am guessing the economy tanked in 85/86, and the spotted owl was a big deal at that time.

1989 is when the Owl crunch started to happen and was in full swing by 91.
Big yarders were scrapped, parked and worthless by then.

Remember it well. In 1989 or 90 I went to work for the Komatsu dealer and started on the circuit of Weyerhaeuser Cosmopolis and South East Alaska. The owl made private timber that could be exported a lot more valuable. Do you remember the year that they shut down the Tongass?

Oh do I ever! 1997 is when they closed it down, that is when Ketchican pulp folded up and tore down everything in Ketchikan.

John C. said:

Remember it well. In 1989 or 90 I went to work for the Komatsu dealer and started on the circuit of Weyerhaeuser Cosmopolis and South East Alaska. The owl made private timber that could be exported a lot more valuable. Do you remember the year that they shut down the Tongass?

Click to expand...

1989-93 was a huge export Boom for the northwest. I remember 12 inch plus Japanese logs selling for 1300 per thousand.

All the "drive fast" comments remind me of "real" log trucks like I drove; "engineering trucks" we called them, you had to drive a stake to measure their progress up a hill. It wasn't mph, it was sth (stations per hour.) It took 30+ minutes to climb up SR 18 the "Echo Lake Cutoff Road" from I 90 on our way to Tacoma with a load of export, 74,000 pounds. Of course, in those days almost all logging roads had no adverse. Top end on my 66 KW with a 5x4 double over was 58 mph. Unless you were headed home down grade empty. Then in Georgia overdrive, you could hit 70 and keep up with the cars.