THE LOGGERS | the-last-whistle

THE LOGGERS WERE A TOUGH HARDY BREED OF MEN WHO WORKED THROUGH ALL KINDS OF WEATHER AND ADVERSE CONDITIONS. STEEP GRADES, FIRES, RAIN, SNOW AND ICE. THEY STILL WENT OUT EVERY DAY UNLESS THE SNOW GOT JUST TO DEEP TO WALK AROUND IN.

George Smart: A Loggers Logger

George Smart's own story:

In 1948 the skidder went to the Hillcrest shop, managed by Andy Klevin and Paul Stone and was converted from steam to diesel. A Cummins diesel engine was installed, 12 cylinders and 600 horsepower. A more powerful logging machine has never been built. The railroad undercarriage was replaced by solid wheels allowing it to be moved on a logging road. In 1949 with the skidder changed to high lead logging I became the High Rigger and raised and rigged all the spar trees for the logging operation. In the busiest year I raised and rigged 52 spar trees. My second rigger was Joe Bowman. In 1954 I was promoted to Logging Foreman, in charge of the logging operation. The Forester was George Forslund who with his assistant, Roger Atchison laid out all the roads and logging settings. In 1959 I was appointed Manager of the Logging Division and held the job until Hillcrest closed in 1968.

Editors Note: George Smart and Frank Vanyo were instrumental in starting the Hillcrest Reunions initally only with the loggers. After a couple of years the sawmill and planer workers were invited to attend also. Doug Stone took over the organizing in 2004 and I joined Doug at that time. In 2005 I took over the reunion duties. Since then we have been been holding the reunions at the Mesachie Lake Hall.

Below is George's story told in his own words.

This is the Lidgerwood skidder:

From left: Sid Smith-chaser, Gordon Buck-Loading Engineer, Unknown, Gordon Whan- Head Loader and George Smart, Logging Foreman.

The Lidgerwood Skidder.

Above is a photo of George Smart at the crown of a tree that will be used as a back spar.

Here George Smart is topping the tree. Pehaps 160 feet high or more from the ground.

George Smart is standing on top of the tree after being topped. The top of the tree could be 3 feet across.

George Forslund pictured on left was an excellent forester with Hillcrest for many years.

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The photo above was sent to me by Mike Scudder from Mission B.C.

Hello there. I am currently involved in the process of scanning and archiving boxes of photo negatives that belonged to my grandfather Albert E CADE. I came across the attached picture and googled HILLCREST and consequently found your website. I thought you might like to have this picture for heritage reasons. Sadly, as these are negatives and I don't have a vintage labelled copy, I can't tell you who the gentleman is in the control seat or exactly when the picture was taken, although I suspect from the context of the other negatives that it would be the middle to late 1940's. My g-grandmother lived in Duncan for a time, so I presume my grandfather was visiting/working in the area at the time as he logged all over the mainland and Island locations over the years.

Kindest Regards;Mike ScudderMission, B.C.

A Note From Al Lundgren who worked on the rigging at Hillcrest:

This little machine was adapted from an old loading pot and was used to log small hard to log areas left behind by the larger machines. In those days (up until the camp closed) Hillcrest logged with either wood or steel spar high lead methods. This little machine could be set up almost anywhere. It was quite a pain to keep it in lead though. All the rigging was incredibly small and light to handle, which made it fun to log with. We could pick up the rigging and toss it around to get enough slack to set the chokers. One guy would carry a tail block, strap and the end of the straw-line, while the other would carry the similar block and strap and the end of the little haul-back line when we set the thing up for logging.

There were many operators over the years. I remember Roger Atchison, his dad Andy Atchison and a number of others, but their names escape now. I imagine most of the engineers had a go at it when their main machine was down for repairs. Looking at the machine again, it looks as if it was being used as a goat in the photo (used to raise the wood trees) as the ‘A’ frame is not attached on the front. Most of the machines were moved with a cat in those days. Al

A Note From Bob Crawford who was a faller at Hillcrest re: the identity of the machine operator:

Here are my two guess’s. Ray St. Dennis, or the guy my dad referred to as the Iron horse man, his name slips my mind as all I knew him as that. Note the old Rio wood bus in the back. Great picture. Bob

This photo of Al Lundgren was taken outside the old IWA hall on Brae Road in Duncan BC. At that time all of Wilmer Gold's historic photos were stored in the basement and Al was in charge of looking after them. They have since been moved to the Kaatza Museum in Lake Cowichan where Al and Barbra Simpkins museum curator have digitized them.

To view Al's video please click on the arrow in the centre of the black and white photo.

To view it full screen click on the square in the lower right hand corner.

Work Safe BC and the Labour Heritage Centre made three videos of which this was one in 2012/13. It was filmed at the Kaatza Museum in Lake Cowichan BC. The others included Jack Munro and Verna Ledger (past Safety Director of the IWA Canada National Safety Council). Jack decided who was to be filmed and the direction the videos were to take. Some descriptions were taken slightly out of context over the 6 hour filming for 6 minutes of film as per usual in a project of this size. Al Lundgren

Bob Alberts falling a big fir.

A sidehill after it's been logged.

Henry Lundgren bucking a big fir.

Doug Cleough setting chokers

George Forsland was Hillcrest's forester.

Frank Vanyo building logging roads on a bulldozer.

John Davies and Earl Belcher

Various blocks, cables, and lines at the top of a spar tree.

Ernie Peacock getting ready to set tongs onto a log for loading onto a truck.

Loading logs onto a logging truck using a heelboom..

A heel boom used for loading logs onto the trucks. From left: Doug Cleough, Gus ZBoyce, Ernie Peacock.

THE SAGA OF LEN CLEOUGH

A FEW WORDS BELOW FROM AL LUNDGREN WHO WORKED WITH LEN CLEOUGH

Just a few thoughts about working with Len Cleough. At the time of this photo from 1967-68 we were working up near Frost Lake at Hillcrest. The landing crew was made up of Len as engineer on the machine or yarder, Jim Waldi as chaser, Gordy Buck ran loader, and I was second loader.

The rigging crews changed fairly often and I can’t remember any names that come to mind including the Hooktender although it may have been Malcolm Bennet. By this time, the old time Hooktenders like Harry Money and Ralph Godfrey, had decided to take landing jobs as it was far easier on the legs.

The machine was based on an old Hayes truck frame making it easy to move from sight to sight. It also had another feature that came into play whenever the logging got tough. Len would power up the machine to go ahead with the turn and he could lift the front wheels high into the air from the torque of the engine. We learned to stay clear when the going got heavy. More than once we had to wait until the next turn to retrieve the ladder from under the front wheels when it fell from all the action. It was our little poorly kept secret from management.

Len was a character and had a great sense of humour. It seemed this was a prerequisite to work on this landing crew. He had fun stirring up Waldi who was a fiery little terrier and then could calm him down just as quick once the joke was over. Actually thinking back, every member of the Hillcrest Logging Crew was a character and as individual as could be. It was a pleasure to work with Len.

GEORGE SMART - A LOGGER'S LOGGER

HIGHRIGGER - WOODS MANAGER

George Smart on left. On right George is shown with Doug Stone, a grandson of founder Carlton Stone. This photo was taken at a Hillcrest Employees Reunion in 2004.

George Smart's own story:

I started with Hillcrest as a 22 year old newlywed in 1947 and was the Skidder Foreman on the railroad logging operation. Tony Yurkin was the operator and Gus Armand was the fireman. The Steam Skidder operated with a crew of 25 and with a skyline could reach out 2500 feet. The Steam Skidder was manufactured by Ligerwood, an American company and was one of many imported from Georgia in the 1930's. Hillcrest used the skidder on the railroad from 1943 to 1948 when the terrain got too rugged for a railroad and truck logging took over. In 1948 the skidder went to the Hillcrest shop, managed by Andy Klevin and Paul Stone and was converted from steam to diesel. A Cummins diesel engine was installed, 12 cylinders and 600 horsepower. A more powerful logging machine has never been built. The railroad undercarriage was replaced by solid wheels allowing it to be moved on a logging road. In 1949 with the skidder changed to high lead I became the High Rigger and raised and rigged all the spar trees for the logging operation. In the busiest year I raised and rigged 52 spar trees. My second rigger was Joe Bowman. In 1954 I was promoted to Logging Foreman, in charge of the logging operation. The Forester was George Forslund who with his assistant, Roger Atchison laid out all the roads and logging settings. In 1959 I was appointed Manager of the Logging Division and held the job until Hillcrest closed in 1968.

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George is at the crown getting ready to top it

George has made the final cut and the top is falling.

Here George is standing on the top of the tree waving his hard hat.

Len Cleough at the controls of the yarder he operated in the Hillcrest woods.

A FEW WORDS BELOW FROM AL LUNDGREN WHO WORKED WITH LEN CLEOUGH: Just a few thoughts about working with Len Cleough. At the time of this photo from 1967-68 we were working up near Frost Lake at Hillcrest. The landing crew was made up of Len as engineer on the machine or yarder, Jim Waldi as chaser, Gordy Buck ran loader, and I was second loader. The rigging crews changed fairly often and I can’t remember any names that come to mind including the Hooktender although it may have been Malcolm Bennet. By this time, the old time Hooktenders like Harry Money and Ralph Godfrey, had decided to take landing jobs as it was far easier on the legs. The machine was based on an old Hayes truck frame making it easy to move from sight to sight. It also had another feature that came into play whenever the logging got tough. Len would power up the machine to go ahead with the turn and he could lift the front wheels high into the air from the torque of the engine. We learned to stay clear when the going got heavy. More than once we had to wait until the next turn to retrieve the ladder from under the front wheels when it fell from all the action. It was our little poorly kept secret from management. Len was a character and had a great sense of humour. It seemed this was a prerequisite to work on this landing crew. He had fun stirring up Waldi who was a fiery little terrier and then could calm him down just as quick once the joke was over. Actually thinking back, every member of the Hillcrest Logging Crew was a character and as individual as could be. It was a pleasure to work with Len.

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