Maybe they put the link just to check which contestants would press the link in order for them to form an idea on whether to employee us or not. Only paranoids survive these days yet I clicked the link.
My dad's family used to be involved in the log drives! To how he received his last name Larose 'the pink' because of how pink in the face he got from doing such a tough job! It makes me so proud to see films that depict how they did it! Thank you for posting this! For generations to admire and know the history of one of Canada's most impressive jobs!
Watching this brought back memories of loggers I knew in Michigan as a kid. I can smell the wet wool, grease & gas. Yes, most were bolt cutters who used chain saws but, they were still out in the woods, in the cold. Yes, I can see the grime around the nails , remember how they smoked those unfiltered cigarettes, swinging on a long neck of beer in the evening. I can see the red faces & furrows of skin, clothes & shoes sprinkled in the creases with sawdust & wood chips. Yep, good memories & honest men.
As several people here have asked, I looked it up: the singer-songwriter in this film IS Wade Hemsworth, the famous Canadian. The year is 1957. He worked in the woods on north Ontario as a surveyor, where he penned a number of his songs. Eventually he tired of the rough outdoor work and worked for years as a draftsman for the CNR (Canadian National Railway) in Montreal. Hemsworth played guitar and banjo, and wrote "Blackfly", "Wild Goose", Log Driver's Waltz" among others. He only wrote perhaps 20-30 songs, 20 or so actually recorded, but the handful he did record are classics. I call Wade Hemsworth a famous Canadian, but unless you're a fan of folk music you've almost certainly never heard of him. In fact, I've met musicians who know his music and still don't know his name! Wade died in 2002 at the age of 85. Do yourself a favour: search for "the Blackfly song" here on UA-cam.
No matter where I am in the world, near the end of spring when the first buzz of something flies in my ear "black fly" kicks off in my head. Thanks for the info of Hemsworth. I am so thankful to the NFB to have conserved so much great Canada culture.
My grandfather was a logger and was pinned by a falling log. He was back at work the next day. 50 years later an xray showed his back had been shattered but he held himself together and supported his family.
did that rub off on you? I have the sentiment like they don't make 'em like they used to, but the truth is we eliminate risk, and take away all the flavor from life. Im going to brand a loggers hook onto the bottom of my long board and take a paddle. Try some hills. God speed.
What they went through was inhumane even back in those days but they had no choice if not their families would have starved. I have many uncles and a grandfather that worked in them and it was wiked.
My Dad and my Grandfather logged like this in the late 40s. and used horses to pull the logs to the road. It was not clear-cut harvesting like they use now, but selective cutting. At different times my grandmother was a cook at some of the winter camps. My grandfather also lost one of his brothers in a log drive while clearing a log jam on the Montreal River in Northern Ontario.
Thank you so much for this! This should find its way into the school system to show kids real hard work and grit. Let the kids see the real magic in the world is humans, not computers or social media.
I'm from the Notre-Dame-Du-Laus area in Quebec (Val-Des-Bois (Literally translates to the Valley of Woods)). Also lived in Buckingham for many years where the drive ended up at the mill. Mister Euclid Thauvette was a legendary figure, although not uncommon. Each year (or just about) men's lives were lost in the drive and on one occasion, the river bank was so damaged that it caused a mudslide that killed and destroyed many homes.
Superb video, thanks. I showed my Dad this one. My Dad is 86. In the 1940's in New Brunswick (tetagouche) he was a "Chunker" where he sawed felled trees into 4 foot lengths after the scaler marked the tree out. He got paid by the cord, the amount the "stackers" could pile up. Then in the spring his job changes to "De-barker" where he had to peel the bark (bark peeling spoon) off the log, then shave the branch stubs off of the log. All the wood he cut was for a newsprint mill. You look at the pictures of Dad and my uncles when they were 17~19, you can tell they were just...fkin...tough...as...nails.
In the early 1950's I was a teen age kid participating in canoe trips along the border lakes of northern Minnesota and had personal experience with the immense log booms of cut timber being moved by the gator boats to the Minnesota and Ontario paper mill in International Falls. The booms were impossible to cross in Grumman aluminum canoes and the booms were frequently anchored in narrow areas between lakes. The iron rings can still be found imbeded in the granite of the lakeshores of Rainy, Kabtogama and Vermillion. As canoeists you were faced with the option of a back braking portage around an anchored log boom or, if fortunate, one could catch the attention of a gator crew to carry you through their logs. Video was a great trip down memory lane.
My wife's grand dad was a log drive foreman for Diamond Match in Northern Idaho. My father in law, and his brother worked on the log drives as well. We have some neat old 8x10 black and white glossy's that were taken by Life Magazine i believe it was. The photographer followed the log drives down the river, getting ahead of them at times to catch that perfect shot. Her grand dad was a tough old guy, and ran a really tight log drive. These guy's were tough, they had to be to just survive the trip down the river to the lake where they boomed up the logs.
My grandfather was born 1896, as a young child he was on a logging wagon, the logs slipped and he lost a leg. So as a young man he was a cook for the loggers
I was wondering like crazy..... can hardly believe he wasn't credited. Amazing writing, singing and super talented right hand for rhythms and fills....... many thanks for letting us know.
I’ve enjoyed this video immensely where I grew up there was still mill ponds and flues still standing in the bush my grandfather would talk of the shae steam engines bringing logs out 23 miles of track in the yank range I use to visit old log camp sites but soon the forestry burned them all out because of hippies and draft dodgers
This was common in Finland as well. "Uitto" as we call it. Logging camps ("savotta") in the winter and small farms in the summer. Preparing new fields was hard work as well.
For those asking below, the singer at the start is almost certainly Wade Hemsworth, one of Canada's most loved folk singers. He died just a few years ago.
Hard working men people don't realize how good life has gotten men worked as hard as horse's back then 10hours in the cold wet woods every thing was go go go most me couldn't even do this work like that in 2021 now we feel bad being midel class back then you worked 6days aweek sun up to dark and you where still poor
Our National Film Board made a lot of great films back then. As a child I loved watching them, especially at school. I became an audio-visual guy starting in grade seven: whenever a teacher wanted to play a film in his or her classroom I was pulled out of my class to find the requested film, gather the equipment and set it up because the teachers didn't know hot to. Then I stayed and watched with the class because film projectors were finicky and temperamental things. Does anyone here remember 16mm film? I was a nerd before the word was coined, and I had status as a guy who delivered entertainment to your classroom. Those were the days!
I so enjoyed this. I work hard and love it and I would have loved to have worked with these guys. Back when a man was expected to just get it done however you could.
Glen Johnson, did you think I was Canadian? I'm not, I'm from the shithole of Connecticut. You know, where there are high taxes and liberalism, and for this we receive crime, decaying infrastructure, and record numbers of people leaving the bluest states in the country. I'm willing to be I'm more conservative than you.
@@someotherdude what's sad is that l the liberals are fleeing the shit holes they created. To ruin other states by voting for the same BS they're running from.
I know there will be people thinking how sad to see the degradation the environmental catastrophe the evil. Whatever ....this is how we did it in the days of limited knowledge and industrial savvy. This is how we moved ahead and the people that did it and we learned from it .innovation was the nature of progress and it drove many to safer work and made more business and more wealth . I drove the economy for better or worse
Surprised that there were still big river drives in the eastern provinces of Canada, and our NE states as late as the early 1950's. In Minnesota, I believe they ceased in the mid-1930's. Up until then, the Littlefork and Big Fork rivers were a major highway that took millions of board feet of pine to and across Lake of the Woods to the large sawmills in Kenora, Ontario.
@@erikmallea1014 I am not aware of specific materials. I would guess that the Minnesota Historical Society in St Paul would be the place to begin: (651.259.3000 or (infodesk@mnhs.org) My year may not be correct, but I think the last big log drive was on the Littlefork River in 1936. The MNHS has it recorded on movie film. (Note: the Littlefork River and city are one word, the Big Fork River is two words, but the city is one word). My family lived in the Big Fork River valley. It was considered "The Last Frontier" as it was the last area in the contiguous US to be opened for homesteading (nearly free land) . Both of my grandfather's were early loggers and early homesteaders, about 1902 and 1910 respectively. My fathers family lived downstream from the town of Bigfork about 25 miles, and near the river. My father and his brothers would anticipate the Wannigan coming with the drives and have a pile of firewood for the cook, who would give the kids some pie and maybe a small amount of money. My mother's father and family lived in the city/village of Bigfork. He first started on log drives as a cook's helper and became a drive boss in his last drives. He told some interesting stories. Sadly, I do not recall many. But, one I do recall is one of his last years, he took the drive from upstream from Bigfork to the confluence of the Rainy River, 140 miles+, and to Lake of the Woods (Spooner, MN), maybe another 50 miles. At Spooner, they would put booms around the logs, cable them to a steam tugboat for crossing Lake of the Woods to the big sawmills (Keewatin, Norman, and Rat Portage Lumber Companies) in Kenora, Ontario. At Spooner, most of the crew would board some sort of steamboat upstream to International Falls, then ride a Backus Paper Company logging railroad to Craigville on the Big Fork River. Then they would get across the river on their own and get on another train, the Minneapolis Rainy River RR (another logging RR, affectionately known as the Gut and Liver Line, due it's noted luxury and rough grade) to Bigfork or points south. My grandpa, though, rode across the big lake to Kenora with the logs, from there he rode a CN or CP to Port Arthur, Ontario where he caught a boat to Duluth. He bought a new suit in Duluth. From there he took a train to Deer River where he caught the Mpls RainyRiver to Bigfork. But, he rode a horse drawn wagon the last 6 miles. It was muddy, so they needed to unload and load the wagon to get across many mud holes. By the time he arrived home his new suit was not fit to wear again. The reason for changing trains in Craigville is the trains did not cross the river. It was Mr Backus' prerogative to avoid interstate commerce rules which would not have allowed him to remove the rails when it was no longer feasible to run the train). In the earliest years, the train stopped short of Bigfork, in which case the driving crew walked from Craigville to Bigfork. And, from Turtle Lake (6 miles south of BF) to Bigfork.
@@erikmallea1014 Actually my father wrote a book on his memories. He and two brothers were in the sawmill business in Bigfork, it was the largest sawmill in MN in the 1950's.
Thank you Sir, wow what amazing information, really stirs my heart to want to be back there! I would love to get a hold of your fathers book. Was it self published? Can you recommend a source? I grew up on a farm on the western boundary of the red lake Indian reservation, and would cut saw logs in our woods and skid them out with my team of horses. Some of the best memories of my life! I miss Minnesota dearly
Chainsaws were the best thing that ever happened for the men who cut timber for a living, the labor saved is beyond measure. Still, modern day logging is a far cry from what the men had to do in the 1950s but still one of most dangerous jobs out there. Does anyone know when logging companies quit using the River to get their logs to the mill.?
The last drive on the Clearwater was the 70s or 80s. I think there's a video about it on here. Many places in the US and Canada still use waterways to transport log, only difference is now they're rafted together and led by a tug
1980 in ottawa river was one last few logging on river close due pollution and dams on ontario hydro cause problems.trucking change everything.the book "Lumber king ottawa valley" expose was what happen.EB Eddy was one last few use river for logging.thanks video😊
Im from quebec. They made shows back in the day about day to day life of farmers, villagers etc... This wasn't a good job. Women didn't want to let there men go work here during winter. The death rate was extremely high sadly.
I live in Northwestern Montana and I come from many generations of loggers. I was one of the last in the family and I left logging behind in 99. My wife and mother didn't like it because of the daily close calls. I knew many that were seriously injured and several that were killed including my father in 75. During the winter that I quit there had been a couple of deaths on sites close to where I was. It was very steep rugged ground so we were using skylines and I was a hooker. Daylight to dark every day traveling a bit over 100 miles one way, much of it in mountain terrain. I really do not miss it.
Used to load trucks by hand, then the boss bought a left over Chevy 4x4 from the war , put a gib on her and winch, used to get hands pricked from the wire rope, but we thought it was luxury. Then came the trucks with hi ab cranes , which gave us more time cutting in the wood, this was in Scotland early seventies , then by the end of the eighties the harvesters were taking over and by the mid nineties chainsaws were pretty much redundant apart from the big ones the harvesters couldn’t handle , ye they have it these days compared to these guys.
The only problem with using dynomite is it kills all the marine live anywhere close by. I think that industry, logging and mining has come a long long way to protecting our habitats.
Not a man alive today would last a day; not hand-felling in a Quebec winter, not walking those logs on the lake, and not for the pitiful wages those men were paid. Be glad those days are gone, when both men and horses were worked to death the same.
Ralph Averill Amen. Most men drifted into that work when they could not find work anywhere. It was a desperation move. The companies knew they had nowhere else to make money so they paid them nothing. There were always more young and desperate men willing to work like slaves for almost nothing. They were fed and housed which beat living under a bridge or on the street. Meanwhile the owners became lumber barons. Built mansions, lived like kings. It was the tail end of the robber baron era. A few people owned everything and the rest lived in poverty. The middle class was born out of such situations.
That's a firewood video.they are cutting four feet wood and stacking into cordsmy grandfauther had several cabins on the place and would give cutter a place to stay and all summer they would cut 4 ft wood and then in fall delivered to stores on main street.each cutter was issued black powder splitting wedge and powder flask
Some of the closeups were actors. They looked too soft. Probably union required. Great film though. I really respect these men. Now it’s mostly huge wood chippers filling chipper trucks.
The difference between Sawlogs and Pulp Sticks. Pulpwood is small. But, there was some of each in that drive. If you step on a Pulp Stick you will get soaked.
here bcoz of facebook hackercup 2020 bye ...now going to solve that question.....
Maybe they put the link just to check which contestants would press the link in order for them to form an idea on whether to employee us or not. Only paranoids survive these days yet I clicked the link.
My dad's family used to be involved in the log drives! To how he received his last name Larose 'the pink' because of how pink in the face he got from doing such a tough job! It makes me so proud to see films that depict how they did it! Thank you for posting this! For generations to admire and know the history of one of Canada's most impressive jobs!
Not all that long ago-amazing how much product they delivered with basically hand tools
I cannot fathom the balance it must take for the man at 20:53 to travel so gracefully down a river on a SINGLE LOG! Incredible!
Watching this brought back memories of loggers I knew in Michigan as a kid. I can smell the wet wool, grease & gas. Yes, most were bolt cutters who used chain saws but, they were still out in the woods, in the cold. Yes, I can see the grime around the nails , remember how they smoked those unfiltered cigarettes, swinging on a long neck of beer in the evening. I can see the red faces & furrows of skin, clothes & shoes sprinkled in the creases with sawdust & wood chips. Yep, good memories & honest men.
As several people here have asked, I looked it up: the singer-songwriter in this film IS Wade Hemsworth, the famous Canadian. The year is 1957. He worked in the woods on north Ontario as a surveyor, where he penned a number of his songs. Eventually he tired of the rough outdoor work and worked for years as a draftsman for the CNR (Canadian National Railway) in Montreal. Hemsworth played guitar and banjo, and wrote "Blackfly", "Wild Goose", Log Driver's Waltz" among others. He only wrote perhaps 20-30 songs, 20 or so actually recorded, but the handful he did record are classics.
I call Wade Hemsworth a famous Canadian, but unless you're a fan of folk music you've almost certainly never heard of him. In fact, I've met musicians who know his music and still don't know his name! Wade died in 2002 at the age of 85. Do yourself a favour: search for "the Blackfly song" here on UA-cam.
No matter where I am in the world, near the end of spring when the first buzz of something flies in my ear "black fly" kicks off in my head. Thanks for the info of Hemsworth. I am so thankful to the NFB to have conserved so much great Canada culture.
My grandfather was a logger and was pinned by a falling log. He was back at work the next day. 50 years later an xray showed his back had been shattered but he held himself together and supported his family.
Before power steering
did that rub off on you? I have the sentiment like they don't make 'em like they used to, but the truth is we eliminate risk, and take away all the flavor from life.
Im going to brand a loggers hook onto the bottom of my long board and take a paddle. Try some hills. God speed.
Those guys were a special bunch
Being a logging truck driving. Man I have so much RESPECT for these old timers. Man they worked hard.
enduro trucker Ernie Desjardins , what about the horse !?
Gotta have respect for a guy driving a logging truck!! Hard work and long days!!
What they went through was inhumane even back in those days but they had no choice if not their families would have starved. I have many uncles and a grandfather that worked in them and it was wiked.
My Dad and my Grandfather logged like this in the late 40s. and used horses to pull the logs to the road. It was not clear-cut harvesting like they use now, but selective cutting. At different times my grandmother was a cook at some of the winter camps. My grandfather also lost one of his brothers in a log drive while clearing a log jam on the Montreal River in Northern Ontario.
It's mostly selective logging now, where it was absolutely clearcut logging back then. You have it completely backwards.
Thank you so much for this! This should find its way into the school system to show kids real hard work and grit. Let the kids see the real magic in the world is humans, not computers or social media.
I'm from the Notre-Dame-Du-Laus area in Quebec (Val-Des-Bois (Literally translates to the Valley of Woods)). Also lived in Buckingham for many years where the drive ended up at the mill. Mister Euclid Thauvette was a legendary figure, although not uncommon. Each year (or just about) men's lives were lost in the drive and on one occasion, the river bank was so damaged that it caused a mudslide that killed and destroyed many homes.
as a lifetime logger and farmer, I missed out on so much of the good stuff. I was born 75 years too late
Those little boats seem seriously well built!
The horses they use to drag sleds of wood are amazing
Superb video, thanks. I showed my Dad this one. My Dad is 86. In the 1940's in New Brunswick (tetagouche) he was a "Chunker" where he sawed felled trees into 4 foot lengths after the scaler marked the tree out. He got paid by the cord, the amount the "stackers" could pile up. Then in the spring his job changes to "De-barker" where he had to peel the bark (bark peeling spoon) off the log, then shave the branch stubs off of the log. All the wood he cut was for a newsprint mill. You look at the pictures of Dad and my uncles when they were 17~19, you can tell they were just...fkin...tough...as...nails.
In the early 1950's I was a teen age kid participating in canoe trips along the border lakes of northern Minnesota and had personal experience with the immense log booms of cut timber being moved by the gator boats to the Minnesota and Ontario paper mill in International Falls. The booms were impossible to cross in Grumman aluminum canoes and the booms were frequently anchored in narrow areas between lakes. The iron rings can still be found imbeded in the granite of the lakeshores of Rainy, Kabtogama and Vermillion. As canoeists you were faced with the option of a back braking portage around an anchored log boom or, if fortunate, one could catch the attention of a gator crew to carry you through their logs. Video was a great trip down memory lane.
Wow great memories for sure!!
Wow amazing process from start to finish. Hard work, hard men. Incredible ingenuity. What a great documentary I can't believe the lack of views
That’s because people now days, could careless watching real men doing real work.
I was there back then. On Ontario with the KVP north of Espanola.
This is absolutely awesome! Thanks so much for publishing this historical video
Your not a farmer. Your a consumer pretending to be a farmer. Nobody likes you. Your a poser.
@@johndeerekid8490 he's a big fat phony?
@@legocreatorkid9602
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Good example of the kind of hard work rarely seen today.
Love this song. Real Folk Music about the dangers and hard work in the early logging industry. Back when men were Men and Women weren't.
Good loggin’ in Quebec
My wife's grand dad was a log drive foreman for Diamond Match in Northern Idaho. My father in law, and his brother worked on the log drives as well. We have some neat old 8x10 black and white glossy's that were taken by Life Magazine i believe it was. The photographer followed the log drives down the river, getting ahead of them at times to catch that perfect shot. Her grand dad was a tough old guy, and ran a really tight log drive. These guy's were tough, they had to be to just survive the trip down the river to the lake where they boomed up the logs.
These were working men heroes. My grandfather was a logger like these ones.
My grandfather was born 1896, as a young child he was on a logging wagon, the logs slipped and he lost a leg. So as a young man he was a cook for the loggers
The work ethic they had back then I got tons of respect
This video helped me understand the question.
Superb. Informative and entertaining, mixing folk songs with narrative, men commuted to their work
Thank you for this.
I give all these men a high five...many could never match them...
My back is getting sore just watching these men doing an honest days work.
awesome.....loving this stuff. !!
For those wondering, the musician is Wade Hemsworth -- great songwriter. He wrote The Log Driver's Waltz and the Blackfly Song.
I was wondering like crazy..... can hardly believe he wasn't credited. Amazing writing, singing and super talented right hand for rhythms and fills....... many thanks for letting us know.
I’ve enjoyed this video immensely where I grew up there was still mill ponds and flues still standing in the bush my grandfather would talk of the shae steam engines bringing logs out 23 miles of track in the yank range I use to visit old log camp sites but soon the forestry burned them all out because of hippies and draft dodgers
I agree these were real men, probably a few WWII veterans were in those groups. A fine film about a tough and dangerous occupation.
My grandfather was a logger in newfoundland back in the 40s and 50s
This was common in Finland as well. "Uitto" as we call it. Logging camps ("savotta") in the winter and small farms in the summer. Preparing new fields was hard work as well.
For those asking below, the singer at the start is almost certainly Wade Hemsworth, one of Canada's most loved folk singers. He died just a few years ago.
Great to see, Thank you danncomminc, and the musical accompaniment by 'Mulligan and O'hare' was Fantastic!
Hard working men people don't realize how good life has gotten men worked as hard as horse's back then 10hours in the cold wet woods every thing was go go go most me couldn't even do this work like that in 2021 now we feel bad being midel class back then you worked 6days aweek sun up to dark and you where still poor
Excellent production. Simply filming this was hard, and I'm sure at times, hazardous work.
Our National Film Board made a lot of great films back then. As a child I loved watching them, especially at school. I became an audio-visual guy starting in grade seven: whenever a teacher wanted to play a film in his or her classroom I was pulled out of my class to find the requested film, gather the equipment and set it up because the teachers didn't know hot to. Then I stayed and watched with the class because film projectors were finicky and temperamental things. Does anyone here remember 16mm film? I was a nerd before the word was coined, and I had status as a guy who delivered entertainment to your classroom. Those were the days!
My Grand father. These were tough men and women. Could you do this work? Great history of real life. No Mc Donalds here.
I so enjoyed this. I work hard and love it and I would have loved to have worked with these guys.
Back when a man was expected to just get it done however you could.
I find myself here every time I come across the Log Driver's Waltz.
amazing hard work and river knowledge!
When Canada was a nice, lovely country.
Yeah... What happened??
Compared to the USA, Canada is still beautiful.
@@someotherdude you can keep your high taxes and liberalism
Glen Johnson, did you think I was Canadian? I'm not, I'm from the shithole of Connecticut. You know, where there are high taxes and liberalism, and for this we receive crime, decaying infrastructure, and record numbers of people leaving the bluest states in the country. I'm willing to be I'm more conservative than you.
@@someotherdude what's sad is that l the liberals are fleeing the shit holes they created. To ruin other states by voting for the same BS they're running from.
They toss those logs around like they are hollow. 💪
15:42 This scene is unbelievable
I was born in the wrong time.
I brought a hundred 72 in logs home for fire wood this summer. Loved it
Reading the FB HackerCup problem like "No one in their right mind would actually use dynamite for this"
Yes you do when your tools consist of a couple of horses, sleds, and two man saws you use dynamite to flow them logs to the mill.
Dynamite isn't nearly as powerful as Hollywood made people to believe it is.
I watched your video and it made my old back hurt.
I know there will be people thinking how sad to see the degradation the environmental catastrophe the evil. Whatever ....this is how we did it in the days of limited knowledge and industrial savvy. This is how we moved ahead and the people that did it and we learned from it .innovation was the nature of progress and it drove many to safer work and made more business and more wealth . I drove the economy for better or worse
These trees were replaced by planting others. Major companies also know that there is an end of timber and pulpwood.
Surprised that there were still big river drives in the eastern provinces of Canada, and our NE states as late as the early 1950's.
In Minnesota, I believe they ceased in the mid-1930's.
Up until then, the Littlefork and Big Fork rivers were a major highway that took millions of board feet of pine to and across Lake of the Woods to the large sawmills in Kenora, Ontario.
That’s interesting. Any literature you can recommend on that period of logging in N. Minnesota?
@@erikmallea1014
I am not aware of specific materials. I would guess that the Minnesota Historical Society in St Paul would be the place to begin: (651.259.3000 or (infodesk@mnhs.org)
My year may not be correct, but I think the last big log drive was on the Littlefork River in 1936. The MNHS has it recorded on movie film.
(Note: the Littlefork River and city are one word, the Big Fork River is two words, but the city is one word).
My family lived in the Big Fork River valley. It was considered "The Last Frontier" as it was the last area in the contiguous US to be opened for homesteading (nearly free land) .
Both of my grandfather's were early loggers and early homesteaders, about 1902 and 1910 respectively.
My fathers family lived downstream from the town of Bigfork about 25 miles, and near the river.
My father and his brothers would anticipate the Wannigan coming with the drives and have a pile of firewood for the cook, who would give the kids some pie and maybe a small amount of money.
My mother's father and family lived in the city/village of Bigfork. He first started on log drives as a cook's helper and became a drive boss in his last drives.
He told some interesting stories. Sadly, I do not recall many.
But, one I do recall is one of his last years, he took the drive from upstream from Bigfork to the confluence of the Rainy River, 140 miles+, and to Lake of the Woods (Spooner, MN), maybe another 50 miles.
At Spooner, they would put booms around the logs, cable them to a steam tugboat for crossing Lake of the Woods to the big sawmills (Keewatin, Norman, and Rat Portage Lumber Companies) in Kenora, Ontario.
At Spooner, most of the crew would board some sort of steamboat upstream to International Falls, then ride a Backus Paper Company logging railroad to Craigville on the Big Fork River.
Then they would get across the river on their own and get on another train, the Minneapolis Rainy River RR (another logging RR, affectionately known as the Gut and Liver Line, due it's noted luxury and rough grade) to Bigfork or points south.
My grandpa, though, rode across the big lake to Kenora with the logs, from there he rode a CN or CP to Port Arthur, Ontario where he caught a boat to Duluth.
He bought a new suit in Duluth. From there he took a train to Deer River where he caught the Mpls RainyRiver to Bigfork.
But, he rode a horse drawn wagon the last 6 miles. It was muddy, so they needed to unload and load the wagon to get across many mud holes.
By the time he arrived home his new suit was not fit to wear again.
The reason for changing trains in Craigville is the trains did not cross the river. It was Mr Backus' prerogative to avoid interstate commerce rules which would not have allowed him to remove the rails when it was no longer feasible to run the train).
In the earliest years, the train stopped short of Bigfork, in which case the driving crew walked from Craigville to Bigfork. And, from Turtle Lake (6 miles south of BF) to Bigfork.
@@erikmallea1014
Actually my father wrote a book on his memories. He and two brothers were in the sawmill business in Bigfork, it was the largest sawmill in MN in the 1950's.
Thank you Sir, wow what amazing information, really stirs my heart to want to be back there! I would love to get a hold of your fathers book. Was it self published? Can you recommend a source?
I grew up on a farm on the western boundary of the red lake Indian reservation, and would cut saw logs in our woods and skid them out with my team of horses. Some of the best memories of my life! I miss Minnesota dearly
Self published. List your mailing address.
Those look like hay hooks! They use them very well.
Geez...powerful horses!
Yes they are powerful but icing the road helps greatly
Great video, thanks for sharing!
Chainsaws were the best thing that ever happened for the men who cut timber for a living, the labor saved is beyond measure. Still, modern day logging is a far cry from what the men had to do in the 1950s but still one of most dangerous jobs out there. Does anyone know when logging companies quit using the River to get their logs to the mill.?
about 45 year ago on the Gatineau river
The last drive on the Clearwater was the 70s or 80s. I think there's a video about it on here. Many places in the US and Canada still use waterways to transport log, only difference is now they're rafted together and led by a tug
@@HabeasJ Thanks for the information.
1980 in ottawa river was one last few logging on river close due pollution and dams on ontario hydro cause problems.trucking change everything.the book "Lumber king ottawa valley" expose was what happen.EB Eddy was one last few use river for logging.thanks video😊
Im from quebec. They made shows back in the day about day to day life of farmers, villagers etc... This wasn't a good job. Women didn't want to let there men go work here during winter. The death rate was extremely high sadly.
I live in Northwestern Montana and I come from many generations of loggers. I was one of the last in the family and I left logging behind in 99. My wife and mother didn't like it because of the daily close calls. I knew many that were seriously injured and several that were killed including my father in 75.
During the winter that I quit there had been a couple of deaths on sites close to where I was. It was very steep rugged ground so we were using skylines and I was a hooker. Daylight to dark every day traveling a bit over 100 miles one way, much of it in mountain terrain.
I really do not miss it.
WOW - -
OLD SCHOOL LOG DRIVERS AS OF THE TV COMMERCIAL LOG DRIVER WALTZ !
You'd be a fool to mess with these guys.
Thanks for posting this. 👍
Used to load trucks by hand, then the boss bought a left over Chevy 4x4 from the war , put a gib on her and winch, used to get hands pricked from the wire rope, but we thought it was luxury. Then came the trucks with hi ab cranes , which gave us more time cutting in the wood, this was in Scotland early seventies , then by the end of the eighties the harvesters were taking over and by the mid nineties chainsaws were pretty much redundant apart from the big ones the harvesters couldn’t handle , ye they have it these days compared to these guys.
they all are in great shape, not a fatty in sight
Best portrayal yet of a log drive! My uncle worked in Manitoba, probably Quebec too from 1945 to 1952.
Back when men were men , and sheep were scared 😱
Great vid, music was pretty awesome
Horses were strong but icing the road made the sled move much easier.
Imagine losing your footing in those rapids with logs in the mix? I bet a lot of people died doing that work.
It’s hard to imagine my father in law (83) doing this from age 15 to 17. (He said that was when he got smart and joined the army!)
In half a century men went from this to man-buns, man-bags, skinny jeans and yak’s milk cappuccino. That’s progress for you....
Could be worse you could be the one with the bun🤣
Sad but true.
Or you could have clicked on this to find its a ass pounding festival !
What do you do tough guy?
pianomoverr he pounds burros
The mosquito's and black fly's in spring and summer would have driven me insane.
facebook hackercup?
Not a man bun to be seen...
They were made into pulp
No earrings either!
Lololol
Or flip flops or sagging pants
@Big Bill O'Reilly or a candy ass Democrat, with their fucking illegal alien sanctuary cities,crying about logging
This is real work. Not using chainsaws or technology.
Back when men were men and non-filter cigarettes grew on trees in the wild.
N and B are beside each other on the keyboard, great video
When men were men awesome!
The only problem with using dynomite is it kills all the marine live anywhere close by. I think that industry, logging and mining has come a long long way to protecting our habitats.
I'd trade this day, for that day, any day..
And everyday.
We should go back...
Less carbon footprint. Look at that natural organic sweat
Not a man alive today would last a day; not hand-felling in a Quebec winter, not walking those logs on the lake, and not for the pitiful wages those men were paid.
Be glad those days are gone, when both men and horses were worked to death the same.
Ralph Averill Amen. Most men drifted into that work when they could not find work anywhere. It was a desperation move. The companies knew they had nowhere else to make money so they paid them nothing. There were always more young and desperate men willing to work like slaves for almost nothing. They were fed and housed which beat living under a bridge or on the street. Meanwhile the owners became lumber barons. Built mansions, lived like kings. It was the tail end of the robber baron era. A few people owned everything and the rest lived in poverty. The middle class was born out of such situations.
@Big Bill O'Reilly you just have to make a dumbass remark to everything eh little billy
Very good video 👍
When people _really_ worked for a living!
I'd embrace the work,I am on a roof 10 hrs a day 7 days a week
tough dudes,no snowflakes here...damn my back hurts
I want the soundtrack!!!
I am from Facebook Hacker Cup
Bad ass men and horses
And we wonder why the Salmon have all gone.
Definitely a time when men were men and 🐑 were nervous.
Casually holding a wooden stick tied to 3 sticks of dynamite lol ok
That horse is a fucking beast
Where can I sign up for the season.
That's a firewood video.they are cutting four feet wood and stacking into cordsmy grandfauther had several cabins on the place and would give cutter a place to stay and all summer they would cut 4 ft wood and then in fall delivered to stores on main street.each cutter was issued black powder splitting wedge and powder flask
the horses were some kind of strong...
WITH SO MUCH GREAT MUSIC, THIS THE BEST YOU COME UP WITH ???
this was the way it was done with the technology they had----to the complainers on here---you can;t rewrite history
Homer Simpson was a folksinger?
lol
I thought all Canadians could sing
Lmao,,sounds just like him....no one else caught that
With an impressive vocabulary to boot. ;-)
Daniel McCabe ROTFLMAO
Some of the closeups were actors. They looked too soft. Probably union required. Great film though. I really respect these men. Now it’s mostly huge wood chippers filling chipper trucks.
2:30 name of the song please
NO need for a gym membership in this video!
Here because of Facebook hackercup ..........bye bye , wish me luck.
Only slow noobs will click this link, true hackers don't even read this part :)
true shit
Guess I'm a slow noob now, cause I watched the whole vid :(
@tdenisenko Too proud of yourself eh, ya pityful virgin?
Too much slow noobs will add a comment here like you and me! And ultra legend will finish this video!
Anyone know what the song is? And who sings and wrote it? Any info at all?? Shazam and Google Song Finder come up blank.
funny how 4 foot logs grow 10 16 feet over winter. how does that happen?
The difference between Sawlogs and Pulp Sticks. Pulpwood is small. But, there was some of each in that drive. If you step on a Pulp Stick you will get soaked.