Steam vs. Oxen: The Mechanization of the Woods
A steam donkey engine on the Wishkah River is putting traditional logging methods to shame with double the output.
One of the latest additions of the new appliances to logging on the Wishkah is the steam donkey engine which is in operation at the camp of C. W. Blackwell, and has proven its superiority to oxen by doing nearly double the amount of work, and by the cheapness of its operation. On a test trial, over fifty thousand feet of logs were put in the river in one afternoon. It requires skid roads in but very few instances, and will haul a log twelve hundred feet with ease. Mr. Blackwell has the only one in operation on the Wishkah, although Frank Miller is making arrangements to put one in his camp before winter sets in.
“Proven its superiority to oxen by doing nearly double the amount of work.”
The transition to steam-powered donkey engines fundamentally changed the scale of timber extraction in the Pacific Northwest, mirroring today's debates about how automation and new technologies impact traditional labor sectors.
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