<p>To the people who used them, steam donkeys and other logging equipment made their livelihoods possible. From its beginnings in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, to its heyday in the twenties and thirties, to its decline and extinction in the 1950s, steam logging captured the imaginations and hearts of generations of Oregonians. In Search of Steam Donkeys traces the development of the machinery that made steam logging possible-and sometimes dangerous, sometimes lucrative. It describes the surprisingly creative methods that old-time loggers used, modified (and sometimes misused) the equipment they worked with daily; the sometimes funny, frequently poignant, tales of living and growing up in a logging camp; the reminiscences of those who still remember working as whistle punks, riggers, donkey doctors, and hooktenders.</p>

In Search of Steam Donkeys: Logging Equipment in Oregon

History

Johnson, Merv

Americas

Timber Times, Inc.

<p>World War One expanded the use of airplanes from observation platforms to viable fighting machines. As the air war expanded, Allied aircraft manufacturers turned to America as a source of airplane lumber. Primarily, they sought Sitka spruce, a strong, lightweight wood found in the coastal rain forests of Oregon and Washington states. When the United States entered the war in 1917, the Pacific Northwest lumber industry was supplying the Allies with the majority of airplane-grade lumber. The U.S. Military Draft, beginning in May of 1917, caused a dramatic reduction of experienced personnel from the woods and mills, who could not easily be replaced. In August, violent labor strikes across the Pacific Northwest virtually shut down the lumber industry. To address these problems, the U.S. Army formed the Spruce Production Division. The Division was designed to provide for the labor needs of the lumber industry and to act as an armed deterrent against any further labor disruptions. The Division also formed the Loyal Legion of Loggers &amp; Lumbermen union in order to address the severe labor unrest within the lumber industry. Soldiers in the Woods is the story of the U.S. Army s Spruce Production Division, and that of the men who worked in the forests and mills of the Pacific Northwest, producing enormous amounts of airplane-grade spruce lumber for the war effort.</p>

Soldiers in the Woods

Rod Crossley

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Books by Timber Times, Inc.

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In Search of Steam Donkeys: Logging Equipment in Oregon

Soldiers in the Woods