THE LOGGING ENGINEER 

 ELIAS T. CLARK, Assistant Professor of Forestry 



The writer is frequently asked by men desiring to enter the lumber 

 industry, by students in forest schools, and by men engaged in logging 

 operations, "What is 'logging engineering' and how did the term arise? 

 What is a logging engineer called upon to do? How should a man fit 

 himself to become a logging engineer? What future prospects has a 

 logging engineer ?" It will be the aim of this article to answer these 

 questions. 



It is impossible to state at just what time, or by whom, the term "log- 

 ging engineering" was coined. The first time that it was used to any 

 extent was at the first session of the Pacific Logging Congress, held in 

 Seattle in July, 1909, at the Alaska- Yukon-Pacific Exposition, hence the 

 history of the term "logging engineering" and of the Logging Congress are 

 closely joined. The idea of getting together all of the men interested in 

 the logging industry on the Pacific Coast for an exchange of ideas, and 

 the actual accomplishment of the idea is probably almost entirely the 

 work of Mr. George M. Cornwall, Editor of the Timberman. For this 

 the logging industry owes him its everlasting thanks. The idea of organ- 

 izing the Logging Congress arose in Mr. Cornwall's mind some time in 

 1908 and with the aid of Mr. E. G. English, Mr. Frank H. Lamb, Mr. 

 E. P. Blake, and several others, he made the idea a fact. Sessions have 

 since been held every summer at different cities in the region and they have 

 done much toward increasing efficiency in the industry. 



The reasons for the organization of the Congress are several. At the 

 time it was started the modern method of yarding by donkey engines and 

 transporting logs from the woods by logging railroads had of course super- 

 ceded the older method of yarding by bulls, or horses to a skid road, haul- 

 ing the logs by skid road to a river, and driving the logs to a mill or 

 booming grounds. The method, however, had not been organized nor 

 developed to the state of efficiency which it has since reached. Skid roads 

 were used in many places which would now be reached by logging spurs, 

 smaller size donkey engines with light cables were used, and for the most 

 part less efficient organization of the men was obtained. At this time only 

 a few of the more progressive camps were supplying their men with 

 springs and mattresses to sleep on, instead of the hard old filthy straw 

 bunks. Practically none had thought of such things as shower baths, dry 

 rooms, steam heat, electric lights, reading rooms, hot and cold water in 

 the bunk houses, or any of the modern conveniences and comforts of some 

 of the present "Model Camps." At this time too some operators in the 

 Puget Sound, Gray's Harbor, and Columbia River Districts were beginning 

 to get away from the level or rolling topography adjacent to the water- 

 ways and the conditions which they had to encounter were becoming 

 harder and more costly to overcome. It was the usual custom at this 

 time for the logging foreman to make all the plans for the work. This 

 meant that he not only had to lead the men to work and keep them at it, but 



that he also had to get out into the uncut timber and survey the logging 







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