The Logging Camp’s Oldest Hand
At 72, Richard Burnham remains one of the toughest laborers in the logging camps, defying the assumption that youth is a requirement for heavy work.
Richard Burnham was 72 years old on the 25th of last August. He has been in the woods for the past thirty-five years. He works in a logging camp, and has for the past thirty years. He claims he can do as much work as any young man in any of the camps, regardless of his 72 years.
“He claims he can do as much work as any young man in any of the camps, regardless of his 72 years.”
While modern Seattle’s labor market is dominated by tech and specialized industry, the story of the aging worker competing with younger laborers in a physically grueling trade remains a timeless, difficult reality in an era of precarious retirement.
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