The Timber Museum at Forks

"Wounds that Time Can't Heal," is a reprint of an article in the Trumpet Call, November/December 1999 issue. This quote helped me understand the sadness still in the community over the spotted owl issue:

"With little or no scientific validity...these policies used distorted perceptions to place the welfare of birds and trees over concern for human beings."

There were handouts on the importance of the logging industry, like a flyer on a Logging and Mill Tour. Through September you can leave from the visitor center and take a two-and-a-half-hour tour. It's free, but donations are accepted.

Rayonier has supplied a flyer named, "Goods From the Woods."

Did you know medicines, ice cream, film, rayon and acetate clothing, toothbrushes and toothpaste have wood pulp in them? The logo, "From the Woods to the Goods, We're with You Throughout the Day," pops out at you at the bottom of the page.

I picked up a Dictionary of Logging Terms on the same table. I read a "busheler" is one who works in falling or bucking or both. A "faller" is a worker who saws down trees; a "bucker" is a member of a cutting crew who saws felled trees into specified log lengths, and so on. A lot of those terms are old hat to me, as I grew up in a paper mill town, Port Angeles. The language we used included those words.

A poem, on a half-sheet of paper caught my eye, "The Sins of the Logger." I read it and thought of the memorial I just visited under the wood teepee. Here's an excerpt from Loggers World, June 1999:

"...the next time you protest what you don't understand,
and refuse to educate yourself, my friend,
remember the sins of the loggers and for what they stand,
for supplying you with what your survival demands."

I paused as I read it. These folks have been through a lot.

Finally I saw a flyer I thought my grandchildren might enjoy: "Roosevelt Elk Food." I grabbed one for them, and made sure I also got other brochures of interest in the visitor center before I left the area.

Whether you are a first-time logging industry visitor or a person who grew up in the culture, you will still find something of interest in the museum.

Do you know what a drag saw is?

Do you have time to stop and talk with the volunteer as you enter the place?

Hope so.

Hours of