Northern California logging

[Sidney43]

Another Royal Sierra truck being loaded. A Peterbilt, which is one of the popular trucks in this area of the country.

 

[Sidney43]

Last post showed a truck being loaded, this one shows it headed for the mill with a load of second growth logs. If you walked this area there are lots of big stumps from when it was logged twenty and thirty years ago.



Time to show some of the hard working machines that drag those logs down to the landing. This is all cat logging, no towers and at this point, no rubber tired skidders, just good old yellow iron. In this photo a D7E, one of the best all around Cats made for logging because it was well balanced and durable.

 

[Sidney43]

A photo of a choker setter close up with the area of the Cat that he is most familiar with. I did a bit of choker setting during the four summers I worked in the woods. Worked behind the D8 shown in an early post, several D7's and a Timberjack for one day. It was always a thrill when I had to get the choker under a larger log that was lying tight in a bed of fir boughs. Many times the cat skinner had to get on the other side of the log to feel for the nubbin as I tried to push it through the tangle of branches. The first thing you did before reaching under the log was probe with the choker to see if there was any rattlesnake buzz. Of course the Cat was idling about ten feet away, so it was not really quiet. Over four summers I never did run into a rattlesnake where we were skidding and for that I am thankful. On bigger logs we often had to bridle them, as the chokers were not long enough to give the Cat any space between the log and the winch. This also saved on broken chokers as it essentially halved the strain.



Here is a picture of one of the hardest working men on the crew, the landing chaser, knot bumper, whatever the job was called you had to move fast and stay alert. I often worked the landing around the Lima cable loader seen in a few B&W images. This was long before processors, so the fallers cut off limbs that they could reach, the Cats rubbed off some of them and whatever was left sticking out the knot bumper took care of. If you couldn't get them when the Cat pulled in with a skid, then the loader operator would yell at you while loading a truck and you jumped to prune it off. Between that, handling three Cats bringing skids in and unloading the trailers as the trucks came in for another trip it could get very busy. There was also the problem of all the dirt on the knots, so you were sharpening the saw chain when you had a spare moment.

Some of my fondest memories are of the sounds of the Cats and the loader, the smell of fresh dirt, diesel and the aroma of fresh cut wood, nothing else quite like it and I feel I was lucky to be there.

The man pictured hard at work unhooking chokers is Butch Jones, son of Ray Jones who hauled for the partners for a period of time. He was too busy to get him to smile for the camera.

 

[Sidney43]

A photo of the newest Cat, a D6d with powershift. A little faster than the D7's, but just a bit light in the front end for the logs being skidded, so not as well balanced. The HP was comparable, but this tractor was having problems pulling a comparable skid. To make skidding easier, a jib or arch structure was added to the winch to allow the front of the logs to be lifted off the ground, so less drag and that solved the problem.



The D6 winching logs up a very steep piece of ground. I mentioned earlier that none of this ground was tower logged, but this particular landing should have been. A grapple yarder would have been ideal here, but a deal was made with the timber managers and the side was logged on a time and materials basis, because the going was slow and slower. One of the cat skinners made a series of switchbacks down the slope and the logs were winched up a bit at a time.

 

[Sidney43]

No photos with this post. I have been talking to my brother Gary and doing a little research on Caterpillars. In an earlier post I mentioned that there were two D7e's and that was probably incorrect, although of little consequence. Probably one was a late D7e with 180Hp and one was a D7f also with 180Hp but a different engine, the first being a low RPM four cylinder and the latter a higher RPM six cylinder engine. There was other equipment, but I don't have photos of any of it, as the partners were logging two sides at the same time and it appears when I appeared on site, I went to the Anderson landings. Jerry N apparently had another D7 and the Northwest for a time and another Cat 966 plus the Timberjack skidder.

At some point around 1980 the partners did some logging for Sierra Pacific in the Susanville, Ca area. Jerry Neuenschwander decided to continue logging in this area and due to the distance apart and different timber ownership and mills hauled to, the partnership eventually split up in an amicable fashion. Thereafter the company was known as Anderson Logging until Walter Anderson retired around 1985.

I do want to pass on an interesting story about the D8 shown first in post #6. In talking to brother Gary last night he mentioned logging a forest service sale around Harris Mountain. They still had the D8 then and had found an arch to use with it. the origins of the tracked arch are fuzzy, but it is likely one of those pictured earlier in the thread near the McCloud mill since there were not a lot of them around to rent, or buy in this time period. In any case the D8 is a powerful cat for logging and with this arch it could bring in quite a large turn. One day a Forest Service timber manager came out to the logging sale and observed the D8 pulling about eleven logs behind the arch. Apparently they were cutting quite a swath through the natural reproduction growth and in his mind causing excessive damage beyond the normal skid trail. My brother says after that day the arch was not seen again.

The D8 was soon traded in on either a D7 or the D6. The reasons basically were that the logging had moved into primarily second growth smaller logs and it was not nearly as maneuverable, nor as fast as the smaller cats. Also at one time it was used to do some road building and that was no longer a factor, as all road building under McCloud and successors was done by road building specialists. Compared to the smaller Cats, the D8 was a lot louder and there was no doubt with one was coming to the landing.

More photos tomorrow, but nearing the end of Kosk Creek pictures.

 

[Sidney43]

A photo of the crew at lunch, some sitting and some a little more relaxed.

 

[camptramp]

That's one of the events that have passed into History , most logging sides in the good old day's , be it a Cat crew , Slackline crew or Highlead crew stopped for lunch. There were always a couple young fellows a senior citizen or two and several guys in between . Lunch break would have its share of Bragging , Politics , Tales and B S . It was usually entertaining and you got to know your fellow worker . In our " Mechanized World " every body has their own pickup , arrives at the work sight by them selves , out of the pickup on to their Machine and the Rat Race begins , sometimes the only contact you have with your fellow worker is with a VHF radio .

 

[Sidney43]

Camptramp's comment about the crew eating together and talking is something I had not thought about. Probably because I have not been around a logging side for about thirty years, but looking at the photos posted of grapple yarders and loaders working together I just didn't think about the changes that have taken place. Lunch, or hitting the nose bag was always an interesting half hour. Among the all the topics bandied about, there was always a discussion of how many logs were left up at the head of the cut block and how long it would take to clean up. The partner was always planning on the next move and usually sending a Cat ahead to prepare the landing and start skidding logs to have something there to load trucks out and not have too much down time. Usually there were a few shorties left over because it was pretty hard to back up a partially loaded truck, so the last full load meant it was time to move the landing. When it was time to head back from the end landing there were always logs to be picked up along the way. Planning and logistics were a part of the process of making a profit because you couldn't just run equipment all over the place to get a log here and there.

Next photo is of the crew after lunch and the equipment starting to move back up the hill. The Cat in the right foreground is just starting to move and you can just see the exhaust as a bit of discoloration of the background. It is pretty easy to tell that the closest Cat is the oldest D7 due to wear on the paint.

 

[525isx]

was Royal Sierra affiliated with Redwood Construction ? I think they were a pretty big fleet of log trucks in n.cal. years ago

525

 

[Sidney43]

Well, here are the last two pictures of logging in Kosk Creek. I am sure there are others out there, but my inquiries of people who might have some have not yielded any results so far. I will keep trying and hopefully will come up with some to post at a later date. One last picture of the three Cats that started with the crew at lunch and now the D6 is getting a skid unhooked while both D7's are headed up the hill for more logs.



This last photo has always been one of my favorite images. It is the skid trail looking toward the landing where the three Cats and crew were in previous posts. If I had been standing in this same spot the two D7's would have come right through that gap. This skid trail was used by whoever logged this area before, as it goes between two large stumps and that is probably why it is so deep as a lot of logs have been dragged through it.

 

[Sidney43]

I don't know if there is any relationship between the two trucking firms. I tried to Google for Royal Sierra and found nothing, but in talking to my brothers there was some thought that Royal Sierra might have been part of Sierra Pacific, who the partners logged for and are at this time a large timber land and multi-location mill owner. I sent an email to the contact address at Sierra Pacific, but have had no answer so far.

I do have some pictures that will be posted in a few days of when my middle brother logged one summer in the coast redwoods. I think some of the trucks in the photos belonged to Redwood Construction, but am not sure, as the photos were not too clear even after a bit of work.

 

[Sidney43]

It is always interesting to see what happens when questions are asked. The question posed by 525isx above caused me to Google Redwood Construction, which found nothing until I added trucking to the name. I found a lengthy article on the man who founded the company and about the massive truck fleet he eventually owned. Here is a link to a great article on Redwood Construction Inc who's trucks will soon be pictured here.

http://rootsofmotivepower.com/sites...otive-Power-Highline-2006-April-Vol-24-01.pdf

In reading the article, I got answers not only about Royal Sierra Trucking, who's trucks are pictured above, but Boudro Trucking that I also have a picture of. Essentially Dale Boudro was working for Redwood Construction at a shop in Hoopa, CA and in 1973 there was a supply constriction on diesel fuel for truckers, but not "new" truckers. Redwood Construction was taking delivery of 60 brand new Peterbilts and to get fuel, they formed Royal Sierra Trucking as a division of Redwood Const and put them under management of Dale Boudro. These trucks operated as far east as Klamath Falls, OR, Anderson, Burney and Placerville, Ca. The Anderson and Burney locations are of course where they hauled for my dad and his partner.

In 1978 as business declined in the redwood logging areas, largely due to the expansion of the national park, Redwood Const was selling trucks to reduce the fleet from the high water mark in 1974 of 256 log trucks and 15 chip trucks. In 1978 they sold 75 trucks to Dale Boudro who was located in Redding, CA who in turn simply renamed them and left the paint scheme the same. Unfortunately by 1980 in a poor lumber market, Boudro could not maintain the payment schedule and the trucks were auctioned off at Redding in 1981.

Thank you 525isx for your question.

 

[Sidney43]

After finding out the history of Royal Sierra Trucking and of Boudro Transport, I went back to post #29 and looked at the doors of each truck. Sure enough, on the photo of the BTI truck you can see where the circular RSI decal was removed as it left some brighter paint that had been protected from the elements. My best guess is that these photos were taken about a year or so apart, probably between 1977 to 1979.

Here are the last two equipment photos showing three Cats and other equipment at the winter shop in Yreka. The shop space was shared on a rental basis with Ray Jones, as he owned the shop and land. After Ray stopped driving log truck, he went into a partnership with another local man, Ed Meek and they bought a modern well drilling rig. Because the local area is mountainous and rocky it was a rotary rig and looked like a gas well drilling rig, although a bit smaller.

I really can't remember which one is later, or exactly what years they were taken.



This second photo shows the Early 1950's GMC that was owned by Jerry Neuenschwander and brought to Seiad Valley as a log truck when the partners started logging in 1954. After it was retired as a log truck a large round water tank was mounted and it watered road for a number of years. The tank was 4,500 gallons capacity as I recall and the truck was really too light for that much weight. When a better water truck was purchased, the GMC was converted to fuel truck duty and I pumped many gallons of diesel into the Cats from the larger of two tanks. In this picture, probably taken about 1984, it is looking a bit the worse for wear, but still running and dependable some thirty years later.

 

[D6 Merv]

good pics Sidney, cheers for sharing. Done abit of tractor logging for a few years, now just involved with forestry roading work. Liked the pic of everyone sitting down at nosebag break ! Ive always stopped and done this and always will 99% of the time. Gives people a rest and refreshes them. Even here on the opposite end of the pacific ocean, logger crews just keep going all day; 'gotta keep up production'. They have all this health and safety ******** paperwork, but something important like a break is ignored. Have a lot of accidents over here in the logging industry. Government has told the industry to 'clean its act up. or we will'. Dedicated breaks would be first place to start !

 

[Sidney43]

Just two more pictures on the Anderson Logging story and then on to some logging in the Redwoods on the California coast. The first picture shows one of the 966 loaders on a low bed being hauled somewhere. I am not sure where this was taken, but possibly at Pondosa, CA where the partners logged some small parcels one summer. Pondosa was a McCloud River permanent logging camp about twenty five miles east of McCloud and a RR maintenance depot. Don't even know who's truck it is, but as usual it is a Peterbilt.



While thinking about this thread and comparing it to all the others here that I have read, one thing stands out. My Dad's logging company was not a large operation like Edwards & Assoc, CANFOR, BCFP, or McMillan-Bloedel who had huge inventories of expensive equipment and painted them all to a common scheme. I guess he was an average logger who just bought equipment that suited a need and it was left in whatever color it was painted. The only time the company name was painted on a piece of equipment was if the dealer had it done, as was the case of the Lima and Northwest cable loaders. The Caterpillar equipment just had a dealer sticker on them, although I think the old GMC fuel truck still had Seiad Logging on the door that had not been replaced if memory serves me right.

The end of the company came in 1985 when Champion Timberlands only wanted to let a contract on one timber sale because of market conditions. Porteous Logging of Mt. Shasta submitted a lower bid and there was no point in bidding a sale just to keep the equipment busy. So, it was time to retire, as he was turning 65 that year and the employees, some of whom had logged with the company for quite a while were notified of the lack of work. After about a month Champion contacted Walter and told him they did not want to lose him as a logger because of the work he had done for them over twenty years. The said they would make another sale available at the bit price if he wanted to log it. He contacted his regular employees and found they had almost all found other jobs. He told Champion that he didn't feel he could do a good job for them with a new crew and so while he appreciated the opportunity, he would decline. The equipment was all paid for and so was sold off a piece at a time so as to not enrich the Government tax collector too much.

One amusing little story that I remember is the work PU was backed up to one half of the two car garage and the mechanic's tool box and the rest of the contents of the PU bed were deposited on the floor. They sat there until we had to sort them out after Walters passing in 1994. He never used any of the items, they just sat there taking up space until we as his sons had to deal with it.

This last picture shows what I brought home and hung on a tree by the yard. Don't know where the 16" Skookum block was used, but probably as a corner block on the Skagit SJ-4 in 1959.

 

[Sidney43]

Still in N. California, but now over on the coast in the Redwoods. My brother Gary went to Humbolt State College at Arcata, CA and one summer or maybe two (will have to check) set chokers on the big trees. This was cat logging and the D8 was standard along with a wheeled arch. The skidding Cats did not have blades, but just a bumper to push a tree out of the way if needed. The only Cat with a blade was one used to prepare a falling bed for the big Redwoods, because the wood is fairly brittle and valuable, so a lot of care was taken not to break them. He was offered the job of operating the bed prep cat, but really didn't feel he had enough experience at the time.



A lot of contrast in the photos, so not as detailed as could be.

 

[Sidney43]

Talked to my Brother when I was up in Yreka the last few days. The Redwood logging photos were taken in the summer of 1975-75 logging for Louisiana Pacific above Redwood Creek. He says these were off road trucks, but the photos do not show the trucks well enough to establish that. The trucks were from Redwood Construction, a very large log hauler, as discussed a few posts prior. These appear to be Peterbilt's.



The cable loader was a Lima shovel originally designed as a 2 1/2 yard capacity machine. The grapple configuration is very interesting and some other photos will show this in more detail. Because of the ability to move the entire grapple forward, short logs could be loaded on the front of the load.

 

[Sidney43]

Another view of the Lima cable loader sorting logs.

 

[hoechucker]

Was that a L.P.company side? Or a gypo that you brother was working for on the coast?

 

[Sidney43]

As I recall he said it was an LP company side, but I will check with him and give you a definite answer. I am trying to identify the model of the Lima shovel, but not having any luck so far. It is smaller than a 2400 which would take buckets from six to eight yards. Gary said it was a 2 1/2 yard shovel which at one time was a bigger machine and then they got really big, mostly for overburden stripping.