Kenny's Loggin': BC Gulf Island Logging in the 1950s

Jul 14, 2021 - 4 years ago

Supply Post would like to introduce our newest column, "Kenny's Loggin'". We found a fascinating video on YouTube recently; a digitized version of an old, scratchy 8mm film of logging in action, with a descriptive narration. We were intrigued, and had to know more about it. We caught up with Ken Wilson, whose father Dennis recorded the film, and Ken’s son Clayton who uploaded it to YouTube. By Linda Horn and Ken Wilson

“I grew up on Vancouver Island, BC,” said Ken, who started logging at age 14, working for his father and other logging companies. “I worked in logging for 50 years before retirement from Western,” he said. Ken joked that his favourite memory of logging in B.C. was receiving his pension when he retired!

Ken’s father, Dennis Wilson from Duncan, BC, also logged straight out of school. Dennis worked for Phil Whittaker, who at the time was a tutor for the logging companies, and can be seen high in the tree tops in the video. “My father recorded the film in the 1950s,” remembered Ken. “We had this film, and a number of others converted to digital after he passed away,” he continued. In this video, you can hear Ken’s son Clayton narrating. It really was a three-generation effort!

Ken describes the action in the video in detail. “We see the landing barge approaching the beach with the ‘donkey’ on board,” Ken explained. “The ‘donkey’ was a machine used for logging. It had winches, gears, cables, and motor constructed on a sleigh which was built out of logs,” he said.

“Previously, the crew had been up the hill pulling straw-line,” Ken continued. “’Straw-line’ was the smallest cable used to pull the other cables around. It was either 3/8” or 7/16” in diameter. ‘Mainlines’ were 1-3/8 diameter or bigger. ‘Haulback’ was 7/8. ‘Chokers’ were usually one inch or 1-1/8, and ‘guy line’ was 1-1/4,” he explained.

“The workers went up the hill with the straw-line and back down to the beach,” Ken said. “They hooked the straw-line to the mainline,” he continued. “Then, they pulled the mainline up the hill and hooked to a stump. The winch then pulled the ‘donkey’ up the hill to the setting,” he said.

“Once the ‘donkey’ is in place, you can see a Cat dozer in action and a ‘high-rigger’ up the spar-tree preparing it for yarding,” Ken explained. “We can see him topping the tree and securing the guy-lines and bull-block to the tree. They have a small block up the tree which the straw-line is put through, and used to pull up the other cables and blocks,” he continued. “The guys on the ground are hooking up the guy lines to send up to the rigger to hook to the tree.”

The workers secure the guy-line to a stump with railroad spikes. “There are six to eight guy lines up top, and some buckle guy lines a bit farther down,” said Ken. “The worker goes up on the pass chain to thread the lines through the blocks,” he explained.

The yarding begins with some logs. “The men follow with 2-man power saw, scaling a log and falling,” Ken explained. “Then it looks like quitting time!”

Next comes the booming; boring holes in the end of boom-sticks with the auger. “These logs were 66 feet long with a hole in each end,” Ken said. “Fourteen logs were then chained together to form an enclosure for the logs. They pulled swifter logs on top of the boom to secure them. Then, the boat would take the logs to the mill,” he said.

To watch, “Early Logging Video w/ Educational Narration” on YouTube, watch below:

Ken Wilson worked in the logging industry in B.C. for over 50 years. Ken is a regular contributor to Supply Post newspaper with his column "Kenny's Loggin'", and resides on Vancouver Island, B.C.