The Logging Industry Comes to Washington

If you visit Port Ludlow today you won't see the remains of the once booming logging and sawmill town. The "mansions" do not still stand, though they did not compare with what we would call a mansion today. You can still almost feel the ghosts of the past in the town. Logging and sawmilling's heyday began an opulent life there; it is now but a shadow.

You can still witness a bit of the logging community in the town of Forks where a Hickory Shirt festival is held the first weekend in October, Morton where a Morton Logger's Jubilee is held the second weekend in August or in Aberdeen, Washington.

Loggers have earned their solid reputation. I don't remember the year, but I do remember when the loggers of Forks ran the Hell's Angels bikers out of town after a big brawl. You don't mess with the logging culture.

THE PEAVEY, LOG SKIDDERS AND SAWS

When the loggers came they brought their tools. The peavey tool, invented by Ira Peavey, came west along with second generation Gary Peavey to Puget Sound. As did the Patent Log skidder Horace Butters of Michigan invented in 1886. Up until the time the logging culture moved west, loggers in Washington State had used axes as their tools; when the "back East" loggers arrived in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, they brought and used saws to cut timber. This was a major change in the industry standard as Washington loggers switched to saws.

READ MORE

If you're interested in reading more about the logging industry, history and tools of the trade, I recommend you read Holy Old Mackinaw by Stewart H. Holbrook, first published in 1938 by the McMillan Company. It's logging history in the rough, but certainly paints the picture of the logger's life - first back East, then in our beautiful Northwest.

It's not for the squeamish! Be prepared for a jolt of realism about the colorful life in the woods and surrounding towns, and the bordellos set up nearby. It's life in the rough, life as a logger. It's a tough life, but a proud life.

A PERSONAL STORY

My family was involved in logging when times were tough and it was a way to earn a living. For as long as I can remember, logging stories have been in my family.

My mother and father logged, along with my aunt and uncle. My Dad was a tree topper, which

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