Logging Camp Life

Logging Camp Life

Summer 2017 The Hidden History of Western Western Washington Logging Camps:  St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company’s Camp #5 ca. 1934-1947

 Kayley Bass Central Washington University, bassk@cwu.edu 

There were a large number of occupations within the logging industry, and these changed as the years went on. In the 1930s, around the time of Camp #5, there were an estimated 350 different jobs in the timber industry including management positions, camp support staff, and the men who completed the logging operations (Melton 1939: 95-109; SPTLC 1941). It should be noted that several of the 350 job positions had more than one person who completed each task and the number of employees depended entirely on the scale of the logging operations and the technology being used.

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To help make life at logging camps easier, there was a support staff who assisted with tasks such as food preparation and camp cleaning. Camp life was difficult on camp cooks, as they were expected to provide hearty meals to the lumbermen, who consumed approximately 8,000 calories a day (Williams 1976:144; University of Washington Libraries 2017a). To help alleviate some of this pressure, the camps employed a second cook whose first tasks of the day included stoking fires and filling the men’s bins with fresh water to allow them to wash up before breakfast (SPTLC 1941; Williams 1976:142). The larger camps also employed bakers to help with the food demand In addition to the kitchen staff, the camp hired waiters, waitresses, and dishwashers (see Figure 14) to assist with food preparation and clean up (SPTLC 1941). In small camps, an employee known as the flunky completed a combination of tasks, including waiting tables, dish washing, and preparing lunches (Melton 1939:97). The flunky was responsible for packing, usually in a bucket, the lumberman lunches (Melton 1939:97), which consisted of “meat sandwiches, boiled eggs, fresh fruit, and a dessert of pie, cake or doughnuts” (University of Washington Libraries 2017a). In larger camps, bedmakers were employed to assist in keeping the bunkhouses clean and orderly (SPTLC 1941). Other support staff positions included the drag saw man, whose job was to cut wood used for the cookhouse and bunkhouses, and the bull cook who assisted in splitting wood and completing general camp chores (Melton 1939:97). These positions worked exclusively at the camps, never venturing out into the woods. Even though they were not involved in the actual harvesting of timber, these positions were integral in ensuring logging operations functioned properly and efficiently. 

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The daily life of Pacific Northwest lumbermen at about the time of SPTLC Camp #5 (ca. 1930-50) has been described in several contemporary reports and retrospective biographies (e.g., Melton 1939, Kurelek 1974, Stier 1995, Van Syckle 1980). This section attempts to provide a view of the life and daily routine of a lumberman at the time of Camp #5. Lumbermen and other company employees worked long hours, typically 10 to 12 hours a day, Monday through Saturday (Morgan 1982:68; University of Washington Libraries 2017a). Logging was a year-round job with few instances of cancellations due to weather, except for pine logging (Pinus sp.) which was completed at higher altitudes where snowfall was inevitable. To help ensure a steady income during winter, pine loggers would turn to what is known as “cold decking,” the practice of stacking up logs to be used when logging operations were shut down due to snowfall (Melton 1939:110). Employees were usually woken by the sound of a flunky banging on a triangle, and after dressing, they would head to the cookhouse for breakfast, see Figure 19 (Kurelek 1974:5; Van Syckle 1980:54). Most meals were taken in complete silence as eating was reserved for eating only; if you missed a meal or overslept, you would have to wait for the next meal (Kurelek 1974:5; Van Syckle 1980:55). Before heading out to the forest for the day, the men would grab their lunches from the flunkies. After work, the men would return to camp and wash up before heading to dinner. Before the installation of washrooms at camps men dipped old rusted wash pans into water barrels kept under the roofs of bunkhouses (Engstrom 1956:25). Following dinner, most men would return to the bunkhouse where they would hang up any damp clothing and then turn in early (Van Syckle 1980:54). This was not the case for all of the men. On the far end of a bunkhouse, you could find men circled around the stove, playing cribbage until the early hours (Van Syckle 1980:54). In a survey of ca. 1930 logging camps in the Northwest, the following items were regularly on the menu: “corned beef, ham, bacon, pork, roast beef, chops, steaks, hamburger, chicken, oysters, cold cuts, potatoes, barley, macaroni, boiled oats, sauerkraut, fresh and canned fruits, berries, jellies and jams, pickles, carrots, turnips, biscuits, breads, pies, cakes, doughnuts, puddings, custards, condensed or fresh milk, coffee and tea” (Williams 1976:143-144). A statistician once calculated that a 1930s logging camp consisting of 1,000 men could consume “1000 pounds of meat, 200 pounds of smoked meat, 900 pounds of flour, 600 pounds of sugar, 190 pounds of butter, and 240 eggs” in one day (Amato 1992:34). Camp cooks began their days at 4:00 AM in order to have breakfast prepared by 6:00 AM (Melton 1939:97; University of Washington Libraries 2017a). When meals were not to their liking, lumbermen would often move to another camp that was known for better meals. However, before leaving, they would often spread the word that the camp cook was a “gut robber” and would nail the offensive food to the outside of the cookhouse (Williams 1976:146). Lumbermen were extremely proud of their clothing and not only wanted the best clothing around, but spent hours mending their clothing (Amato 1992:10; Van Syckle 1980:56). It was not unheard of for men to spend their paychecks on new clothing with specific requirements on material and stitches (Van Syckle 1980:56). Thick clothing, especially a heavy shirt, was preferred year-round to protect oneself from scratches and insects (Kurelek 1974:13). To help cope with the wet weather that is inevitable in the Pacific Northwest, men took to wearing “tin” pants, or waterproof pants made of a thick, canvas material (Van Syckle 1980:54). All lumberman’s pants, usually with the familiar round outline of chewing tobacco tin, were worn just to the top of their work boots in order to keep them from getting caught while working (Kurelek 1974:25; Van Syckle 1980:56). Those lumberman who chose to wear overalls while working were affectionately referred to as “sheepherders” (Van Syckle 1980:59). Lumbermen also wore several pairs of socks during the winter months and only one pair during the summer (Kurelek 1974:25). At the end of the day their clothes were hung on lines found throughout the bunkhouses to dry (Van Syckle 1980:54). Sundays were primarily reserved for laundry, although some men were also known to go hunting (Williams 1976:129). In the 1940s, some camps were lucky enough to have their laundry sent out to a laundry service, but in cases where lumbermen did not want to pay for laundry, it was done at camp. Every man did their own laundry; as the saying in the woods went, “six days shalt thou labor, and on the seventh wash thy dirty socks” (Kurelek 1974:25; Van Syckle 1980:76). However, not every man washed his clothes, which contributed to the typical bunkhouse aroma of tobacco juice, saw oil, pitch, and pungent socks (Van Syckle 1980: 77). Aside from their work clothes, most lumbermen did own at least one dress suit. It was not uncommon for a tailor to visit camp the month before Christmas with two cases: one filled with sample suits and another with whiskey. After his perspective clients were friendlier, he would measure them for suits (Van Syckle 1980:56). These suits would be worn on the men’s two annual trips to town, the first trip occurring on Christmas Day and the second on the Fourth of July (Van Syckle 1980:56). 

Apart from the bunkhouse, the only other place for men to convene was the dining hall. On Saturday nights, men could be found playing intense poker games, gambling away their paycheck. If the camp was lucky, they might have a “shindig” in the dining hall where lumbermen who were musically inclined would grace them all with a song or two on the fiddle or harmonica while the other men danced (Van Syckle 1980:55). Men would dance the parts of both the women and the men with a handkerchief tied around their arms to signify if they were playing the part of a woman (Van Syckle 1980:55). Those who did not participate in the shindig would often sit around and share stories of women and past logging experiences. Depending on the proximity of camp to towns, lumbermen would travel to the nearest town’s bar. Lumbermen had two outlooks on life, the first being: “work hard, save up, then go to town and, in a few days let the women and taverns clean out your pockets,” and the second group of lumbermen would save their money to invest in their families (Kurelek 1974: 27; Stier 1995:106). When they did venture into town, the men always made sure to let the generous saloon keepers know they were heading back to the woods as they would customarily send a bottle or two of whiskey back “for the boys” (Van Syckle 1980:55). At Camp #5, though, this was not likely as it is about 10 miles to the nearest saloon. I 

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Injuries in the Forests Injuries are all too common in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and unfortunately, lumbermen have faced these perils of the forest since the beginning of the 59 timber industry. However, these dangers turned regular men into legends of the forest. Logging companies of this period were not known to employ any medical staff at camps, and as logging camps were miles away from any hospitals or medical attention, any seriously injured lumbermen often took their last breathes in the forest. In fact, hospital records from both the Providence Hospital in Seattle and St. Peter’s Hospital in Olympia, two of the closest hospitals, have very few records of lumbermen making it out of the woods and into surgery in the 1930s and 1940s (Prouty 1973). Doctor Shields, a notable Pacific Northwest doctor who occasionally published articles in the industry journal The Timberman, believed that logging camps should not be more than 35-50 miles away from a doctor or surgeon (Prouty 1985:88). In 1911, the lumber industry led Washington state in most fatal accidents, accounting for 157 of the 279 fatalities that year (Prouty 1985:143) Most injuries occurred during the felling of timber. If the crown of a tree were to get caught in the branches of neighboring trees, the trunk might not fall the way desired by the fallers. The tree could then kick back before the fallers could get out of the way (Williams 1976:145). One such accident occurred in Whatcom County, where a tree kicked back and struck a man, Frank Bloomquist, with such force that his body was cut in half (Prouty 1985:91). Accidents like these were unfortunately inevitable, no matter the amount of experience a lumberman had under his belt.