Modernizing the Woods
The shift from oxen to steam power and wire cables is changing the face of the logging industry along the Wishkah River.
A visit to the scene of action presented a different sight from that usually witnessed. There were no oxen and no artistic profanity. A donkey engine, an engineer, a man tending spool and a three-quarter inch wire cable took their place. When a log was ready to be hauled to the water, the dogs were driven in, the wire cable given the proper lead, hooked on, and the chugger, chugger, chugger of the puffing engine took the place of the man with the goad and a voluminous vocabulary.
“The chugger, chugger, chugger of the puffing engine took the place of the man with the goad.”
The transition to steam-powered logging marked a massive technological leap that industrialized the timber industry in Washington, ultimately leading to the intense environmental and economic shifts that still define the region today.
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