British Columbia Forest Products Ltd.

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Dave Whiskin Collection BCFP Caycuse Div. 1st & 2nd pictures Dave Whiskin at Caycuse Dryland Sort #6-249 HDX Hayes preloader .

 

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Stan and I get together for lunch every so often. When I saw manley Stanley I thought maybe that was him, but I must have been a few years to early.

The Stan Len and I were talking about was a couple of years before Stan Woods arrived in Renfrew Div. , I think he had been a taxi driver in Victoria . Stan Woods was quick with wit . Stan had been around the Div. for quite awhile and had worked on some pretty ugly settings and was still setting chokers . Hillcrest Lumber had shut down and I think there was some preferential hiring going on in our area to get some of their crew back to work . One fellow was hired for a Rigging Slinger's position and ended up with Stan Setting Chokers for him . We had a fellow working in Camp Guy Scott who was nick named "Joe Logger" . Anyway we were on our way to camp one afternoon on a "Pay Day" Stan turns to this fellow and say's to him " When you ask for your cheque make sure you ask for 'Joe Hillcrest" , we aready have a "Joe Logger" .

 

[Len Burton]

Crazy Carl comes to mind .

He is the one and only. I used to run with him.

 

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He is the one and only. I used to run with him.

Some fellows we worked with I vaguely remember , some I remember well , then there are characters that you never forget . Carl was one , if there was a new guy on the crew he was always pulling off some comical deed . Like sitting around a lunch fire unwrapping a sandwich , tossing the sandwich in the fire then eating the wax paper wrapper , or taking his thermos cup when know one was looking and puting a little power saw gas in . He would take a little sip and spite it on the fire and complain about the awful coffee . I never hung out with him in town , but I bet it would have been an adventure .

 

[John Shipp]

Some fellows we worked with I vaguely remember , some I remember well , then there are characters that you never forget . Carl was one , if there was a new guy on the crew he was always pulling off some comical deed . Like sitting around a lunch fire unwrapping a sandwich , tossing the sandwich in the fire then eating the wax paper wrapper , or taking his thermos cup when know one was looking and puting a little power saw gas in . He would take a little sip and spite it on the fire and complain about the awful coffee . I never hung out with him in town , but I bet it would have been an adventure .

Lol, gonna have to remember that fire trick, good one!

 

[Len Burton]

I remember when we had the Christmas dinner in the cookhouse and they put out free cigarettes Carl would take one and eat. He never ceased to amaze me with the things he'd come up with. Carls brother in law worked in Renfrew before Carl his name was Wilf Tucker and just about as haywire as Carl I hung out with him as well. Do you remember Gary Muir?

 

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I remember when we had the Christmas dinner in the cookhouse and they put out free cigarettes Carl would take one and eat. He never ceased to amaze me with the things he'd come up with. Carls brother in law worked in Renfrew before Carl his name was Wilf Tucker and just about as haywire as Carl I hung out with him as well. Do you remember Gary Muir?

What did Wilf Tucker do and was he a Langford guy . I remember Gary Muir , he was on the Grade , in line for a Cat Skinner job . I seem to recall he went to work in Victoria , became a plumber? Around 1966 -67 there was quite a "turn over" in crew . Some fellows that had been there for 2-4 years left the woods for town jobs .

 

[Len Burton]

Wilf Tucker was married to crazy Carls sister and set chokers in the early 60s. His hobbies were drag racing at the original Cobble hill. He had an injected flathead dragster that we spent more time pushing down the quarter mile as opposed to racing it He never lived in
Langford .He got Carl and Gary the job setting chokers on the skidder in Bear Creek ,Gary got me in. Gary was cat Skinner for Vern Gate. Carl went second loadingthen I went second loading.
Gary did his apprenticeship and became a certified plumber in the 70s. eventually owning his own very successful business. He's now retired and lives in Courtney. Gary and I were good friends through school as was Donny Brown and Carl. We all hung out together. Did you live in camp when the big turn over happened in 66/67?

 

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Wilf Tucker was married to crazy Carls sister and set chokers in the early 60s. His hobbies were drag racing at the original Cobble hill. He had an injected flathead dragster that we spent more time pushing down the quarter mile as opposed to racing it He never lived in
Langford .He got Carl and Gary the job setting chokers on the skidder in Bear Creek ,Gary got me in. Gary was cat Skinner for Vern Gate. Carl went second loadingthen I went second loading.
Gary did his apprenticeship and became a certified plumber in the 70s. eventually owning his own very successful business. He's now retired and lives in Courtney. Gary and I were good friends through school as was Donny Brown and Carl. We all hung out together. Did you live in camp when the big turn over happened in 66/67?

My father went to work at the Old Harris Creek Camp in August 1954 , I grew up in Beach Camp , after I started working I continued to live at home . I started working there in Feb. 1966 I took a wander around the QCI and North end of Vancouver Island summer of 1968 , returned to Renfrew Sept 1968 . If I had stayed at Renfrew from Feb 1966 (as I was the youngest member of the crew) I could have beem Number 1 on the seniority list when I retired .
There were a number of fellows left not long after I hired on in 1966 Vern Gates , Vern Walleen , a gay they called "Rat" , Danny Mclain , Martin Messer ,Ted Court , a couple I can't remember their names . It was also that year they combined the Chaser's & Second Loaders jobs and called them Chaser/Second Loader or Landing man I think the pay rate went up 10-15 cents per hour for Chase / Second Loader and 20-25 cents per hour for Landing Man . The difference was if you worked with a Landing Bucker you got the low rate .

 

[Len Burton]

I remember Vern Waleen, Danny Mclain and Rat and I can't remember what his name was either. There was Don Petrie, LLoyd Cerico, Dutchie Caspers,Howard Hyde, Rolly Kenedy, Fred Call and a lot I just can't remember. I just found a few pictures of Gary Muir and I when I first started in Renfrew, dam we were young.

 

[Born2clearcut]

Came across this today

 

[Len Burton]

That is cool !!!!

 

[Len Burton]

I just remembered the Stan I remember. He was Stan Elliott and he was a taxi driver before coming to Renfrew.

 

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I just remembered the Stan I remember. He was Stan Elliott and he was a taxi driver before coming to Renfrew.

You got it ! I wonder what became of him ?

 

[Len Burton]

I have no idea where he ended up.

 

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I have no idea where he ended up.

The other fellow setting chokers with Stan Elliot was Strict Austin , Ken Kruger was "Pulling Rigging"

 

[Len Burton]

Don Austin went by the name of "Stang", Brian Charlton punked whistles he was quite short and went by the name of "Stump". There were a few others but I just can't remember all their names. Don Austin and someone else whose name escapes me decided to go logging in Austrailia. They went by tramp steamer and had enough money to get there and not enough to get back. I later heard it took them a few years to get back. Stump got on with CNAV on the LAYMORE as an oiler. There was a Jim Conway that someone hung the name of "Jungle Jim". He passed away a few years ago.

 

[Y&L Wrench]

I wasn't around when the abandoned Diesel Skidder we hiked into first arrived in the Port Renfrew area . Its my understanding it was used in the Harris Creek area to begin with . When the Steam Skidder was scrapped in the early 1950's at the Bear Creek Camp . The Diesel Skidder was moved to the Bear Creek area to replace it . Sid "Skidder" Smith ran the Steam Skidder and took over the Diesel Skidder . Sid use to spend every second Saturday doing Running repairs & Maintenance on the Skidder , quite often he took his son Stuart with him . On one occasion I was invited to go along . The Skidder was rigged up on the "Three Rivers M/L" with a "Loading Pot" and "Heal Boom" for loading out the logs yarded by the Skidder . Stu & I spent most of the day fishing for Trout . After Sid finished his repairs , he fired up the Skidder and ran the "Bicycle Carriage" out the Skyline part ways to the "Backend" and brought it back to the Landing . In 1964 or 1965 when the Skidder finished the setting it was yarding , the "Blocks Rigging and Lines{cables}" were stripped off the Spar Tree and Yarder , the two Cummins Engines were also removed . The Skidder was left sitting on the Landing where it sat and the "Home Spar Tree" left standing . And there it remains the Yarder's Sled rotting away moss & ferns growing on it and the Home Spar Tree is rotten and collapsed . The road into it deactivated , culverts and bridges taken out , brush grown up in some areas and blow down and trees with roots have slid down off high side blocking road . A tough hike every couple of years but we made it .

Great pictures al

More from Sunday View attachment 204005 View attachment 204006 View attachment 204007 View attachment 204008

 

[Len Burton]

I just found an obit for Blaine Hanna he passed on Nov.6 2020. He was born in 1930. I met Blaine in the mid 60s in Port Renfrew. He was a high rigger/Hook tender when I worked with him. He was a great guy to work for.

 

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Blaine was a mentor to many of us that started in the Woods when Blaine was Head Rigger at BCFP Renfrew Div . He was a well experienced Logger hard worker who led by example well spoken even tempered a natural teacher who would quietly explain what he was doing to pass on his knowledge . Always did his best to show us how to do things safely and properly . I may not be sitting here had it not been Blaine and fellows like him teaching us to stay "Out of the Bite". When things got "Tacky" we knew where to be . Thanks Blaine RIP
Blaine Hanna hanging in belt below Guylines on what I think was the last Wooden Skidder Home Spar Tree in Renfrew Div . early 1960's .