Kenny's Loggin' – Working For Cox Logging Part 2

Apr 19, 2023 - 2 years ago

Cox’s had another steel spar, a “Skagitt telescoping” tower. Jeff would run this tower until Norm the new operator showed up.

Kennys Loggin Cox Logging Part 2 — *GW Cox & Sons Logging’s camp in Fanny Bay, around 1995. Bruce. G. Flanagan photo.*

We rigged this one up in a setting with about five feet of snow on the “felled and bucked” timber. We had a hell of a time, if the logs were too small they just broke, if they were too big the choker broke. We weren’t getting much wood for Dick, the TL 6 operator, and plane pilot to load.

A few days into the shift, I was on the bank unhooking the turn, when a loud “BOOM!!!!” scared the crap out of me!! It was the Snow Birds; this was the area over which they practised their acrobatic maneuvers. I think they were toying with our emotions. You never knew which direction they were coming from or what time, they were really close, you could almost see the pilots grinning. Many times they flew below us. They used a pretty big area for practise; I wondered if they toyed with any other logging sides around the area?

The heart of most camps was the cookhouse and Cox’s had a great cook — Don Wocks was his name. Most cooks would have a pot of oatmeal on the stove in the mornings. I would have oatmeal, half of grapefruit and maybe a couple of pieces of french toast. On steak night I would eat 4 steaks with all the mushrooms, pan fries and onions to go with them and then a half of a pumpkin pie. The cook asked if everything was good. We said the pie would be better with whipped cream. The next day we had whipped cream. Dick the loader operator would fly the plane to town every day he would pick up parts and other stuff that was needed. Dick’s wife had been one of my teachers in school and I hung out with his son, Eddie. We would skip school and hang out at their place.

There was a native guy, Bill Johnston, who worked on the boom. He would get a piece of cedar about 2 inches thick, 2 feet wide and about 6 feet long. Every shift he would carve a ceremonial native canoe paddle which he would sell for $100. His room was full of cedar shavings and the made the bunkhouse smell great. I’ll always remember I went into the shitter one day, sat down and Bill in the next stall said, “You full of shit too, ehh.” “Not for long,” I said.

At the end of one shift, there was a howling southeaster blowing. We we worried if the planes would be flying. Mike Kelly, the boom man, said he had room in his speed boat would I like to go. It was a pretty nasty boat ride. The plane had even more trouble flying just above the water in heavy fog. They finally put the plane in at Elk Bay and got the airlines to send taxis to Elk Bay.

Logging wasn’t going so good one night Norm quit, I’d had enough so the next morning both of us were on the sked.

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.