Kenny’s Loggin – Logging, Lunching & Learning Loaders

Jun 22, 2022 - 3 years ago

Easter was coming up, and with four days off from school, I had no idea what I was to do for these days. At breakfast one Monday morning, Dad said, “On Thursday, Mom will pick you up from school and bring you to Kelsey Bay where I’ll pick you up.”

Nories had moved their logging operation to Port Neville and the crew were working a 10 & 4 shift. Dad was leaving for camp on Monday afternoon. I was pretty excited — I couldn’t wait until Thursday!

Kenny’s Loggin – Logging, Lunching & Learning Loaders — *Helping on the skidder.*

After the drive to Kelsey Bay, Dad picked me up in Nories’ 30 ft. fibreglass boat with two 100hp Mercury outboard engines. Pretty high speed in those days!

After about a 45 minute boat ride, we got to Port Neville. The camp was just up the inlet a little ways on the left, beside a point that jutted out. This point was called “Robbers’ Nob” and there were native petroglyphs there.
We got to camp just in time for supper. Jack Kruse was the cook, well-known on the coast for his camp cooking. There were so many choices, I didn’t know what to eat! I finally decided on the pork chops with mushroom sauce, with apple pie for dessert.

After supper, we went back to the office where Dad I were to stay for the next four days. “Here’s a brand new pair of Dayton caulk boots for you,” he told me. “You can grease them up in the drying room.” Wow, I thought, I guess I’m going to be doing more than just riding in the pickup.

“You have to sign these papers and apply for a social insurance number,” Dad said. “You are going to work to pay for your caulk boots, gloves and new evergreen rain gear.” This was thick, heavy rain gear. It had to be that way, or you would rip it to shreds walking through the brush. This was fantastic — I was having so much fun, and I was also going to get paid! The caulk boots where $33, the gloves where 90 cents a pair and the rain gear was $13. I was going to get paid $2.56 an hour.

At 6 am the next morning, we headed for the cookhouse. Dad said, “We order breakfast, and then we make our lunch.” It was a pretty hectic scene in the cookhouse; men all over the place preparing their food for the day. I quickly ordered porridge or “mush” as we called it. Then I turned to lunch table, and WOW I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! Fresh bread, ham, beef and onion slices, a bowl of salmon and onion mixed with mayo and another with tuna, even some of the pork chops from last night’s supper. There was lots of jam, honey, peanut butter, cookies, and cake. Apples and oranges were the only fruit available. Bananas fresh off the freight boat didn’t last too long, and were made into banana bread. I kind of liked the baloney and cheddar cheese sandwiches mom made me for school. You had to use soft butter on the fresh bread because the hard stuff would just rip it apart. Apple, cherry, and raisin pie were also available for lunch.

I settled for a ham and cheese sandwich with a slice of onion. I saw Dad making one, and it turned out to be way better than cheese and baloney. My lunch preparation was completed with a piece of raisin pie and an apple.

“You’re going to give Chris a hand on the skidder today,” said Dad. “We are short handed and we’re waiting for the plane to come in with a new man.”

After driving for four or five miles up the road, we came to the setting; a lot of cedar logs in a cedar swamp.
“Put on your new evergreen rain gear,” Dad said. What awaited me was lots of mud and rain, and that brought out the ‘no see ‘ems’. Dad never told me about them! They just swarmed around a guy like a big cloud. There were so many ‘no see ‘ems’ that you could actually see ‘em.

I helped on the skidder until Dad met the plane and brought the new man in. Bruce was his name. I was sure glad to get back in the pickup.

That night it seemed like I’d just fallen asleep, when a loud blast on an air horn woke me.

“Thats the freight boat,” said Dad. “Let’s go.” It was 2 am, we went down to the dock to help unload the boat. There were lots of parts and boxes of groceries. Some of the groceries had to be put in the cooler right away. The next morning, we unloaded the rest of the stuff and put it away. The chokers went in the rigging crew’s crummy, and the parts in the ‘parts room’.

After a while, a load of logs came in, and I watched the driver and Dad run the dump machine to dump the loads.
It was pretty hectic pace, so I fell asleep pretty fast.

Kenny's Loggin – Logging, Lunching & Learning Loaders
The next day, I had to put on my new caulk boots. The crew where rigging up the steel spar and Dad said, “You can give them a hand and maybe you’ll learn something.”

Well I learned that even when it wasn’t raining, the swarms of bugs were still there. I also learned to stay behind the ‘rigging slinger,’ that way you won’t step on his hand with my new caulk boots like I did — oops!

The next couple of days I hung around the shop helping the mechanics, running for parts to the parts room, handing wrenches, and helping to dump the loads.

I would jump on the running board of the trucks and get a ride to the dump. The truck drivers taught me how to run the dump machine to dump loads, and load trailers. I was also taught how to run the ‘scoop-mobile’, which was a front-end loader used for lifting heavy things around the shop and cleaning out the dump.

Monday afternoon came too fast. We hopped in the speed boat for the ride back to Kelsey Bay, where Mother picked me up. Going back to school didn’t seem so exciting after my weekend in camp; there was lots of learning crammed into four days. Logging was so much like the team sports I’d been playing and that was fun. School letting out for the summer couldn’t come fast enough, because I knew I was going to camp for the summer and earning a paycheque!

To be continued!

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.