I could go on all day, dead right on on both points. For me it breaks down about like this, granted the loggers always paid less than the construction guys:
Every dump truck or log truck shown represents one lost $15-18.00/hr job.
Every piece of hydraulic equipment represents a lost $20-25.00/hr job.
Every yarder-tower represents 7 lost rigging jobs ranging from $14 to $20.00
Doesnt even take in all the cutters and boom men.
One outfit-Silver Bay- seen here, employed over 600 men full time.
Now in my late 50's, I was a young roughneck when the oil boom of the 70's came to a screeching halt...
The flurry of drilling accomplished in the decade prior, made certain that there would be enough holes in the ground to last the decade following... Their roughnecks moved on to other occupations except for a few of us whom were either to stubborn to move on, or too stupid, there they where... These "stacked rigs" sitting in the weeds, rusting, freeze/thawing, their technology slowly succumbing to the elements, where in every oil producing state within not only our nation, but all over North America.
And although the adult in me was hurting terribly for the job I'd just lost... The "kid" in me, who spent 100% of his jr high and high school "free time" roaming junk yards... I was in Heaven...
These rigs were being sold at auction for scrap prices... And although I was penniless, the fact the iron sold for scrap, meant that every "stacked rig" represented my "opportunity" and thus, needed my complete inspection. I would dream 24/7 of my "ressurecting" these old rigs from the scrap heap they'd become, to provide the basis for my own "drilling company"... That dream continued when I moved to Alaska in 1990, and in fact, one of those old derelict "stacked rigs" became my opportunity, when Warner Bros and Steven Segal came to Alaska to make "on Deadly Ground, which I supplied them rigged up and on location in Valdez ready for filming in the spring of 1992...
And although I made a profit for my and my crew's involvement, but that "big adventure" is still firm in my memory as one of the best time's in my life!!
Now let me be clear, I don't forsee the opportunity of "big company" logging to returning to the Tongass, like the oil industry returned to Texas, Oklahoma, and Wyoming... And I don't forsee a movie opportunity with Warner Bros paying the bills on the immediate horizon either...
But the kid in me still sees the "old iron" as it was when it was new... Looking upon your photo's of these "iron dinosaurs" I can still "feel" them providing the professional's that ran them with not just a "means" with which to exist upon this earth. But with the memory of the comradery, the sense of their combined adventure, the pains of their struggles, as well as the joy of their hard earned rewards!
You see for me, that old rust still represents an "opportunity" for adventure and possibly enough money for at least one more meal.
Thank you for that... Its a really good dream!!