That’s a wrap on our series, Logging Lessons, featuring images and history from the Potlatch Lumber Company in North Idaho! At the beginning of this series, we discussed how early logging companies in Idaho felled trees - with a crosscut saw. Then, we discussed different methods of transporting logs from...
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Logging Lessons
A series featuring our logging collections
10 Posts
The Final Product
Logging Lessons
Today, we’ll discuss the process of turning a log into a piece of lumber that can be used to build many of the items and structures that we use and rely on today!
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Trains
Logging Lessons
Last week, we learned about using the powerful forces of water to transport logs from a central point to the lumber mill. This week is light reading - trains were one of the most popular methods of transporting logs to lumbers, as they could transport large quantities of logs relatively...
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Water
Logging Lessons
Last week, we learned about tractors as a form of transporting logs from the forest to the railroad track or water formation (such as a river or flume). Once the logs have been transported to the railroad track or water formation, a few options remain for getting them to the...
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Crawlers
Logging Lessons
Last week, we learned about jammers. This week, we’ll learn about the tractors that largely replaced other forms of transporting logs, including manual horses and steam donkey engines (which we covered in previous weeks!). These tractors were colloquially referred to as “crawlers,” “cats,” and “caterpillars.”
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Jammers
Logging Lessons
![Potlatch Jammer [1]](https://objects.lib.uidaho.edu/phs/phs132.jpg)
Last week, we learned about using steam donkey engines to transport logs from the forest floor to a central staging area. This week, we’ll learn about a railroad staging area and the use of ”jammers” or ”loaders” to load logs onto railroad cars.
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Steam Donkey Engines
Logging Lessons
Last week, we learned about using horses to transport logs. This week, we’ll learn about one type of mechanical skidder, steam donkey engines!
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Horses
Logging Lessons
![Skidding Logs [1]](https://objects.lib.uidaho.edu/phs/phs75.jpg)
Last week we learned about the science behind felling trees with crosscut saws. Over the next few weeks, we’ll learn about the variety of ways that the Potlatch Lumber Company transported logs once they had been cut and cleared!
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Felling Trees
Logging Lessons
This week, we’ll learn about felling trees with the popular crosscut saw.
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Welcome to Logging Lessons!
We’re starting a new series featuring one of our strongest collecting areas: logging in North Idaho. We’ll be focusing on one lumber company in particular, the Potlatch Lumber Company, which is extremely well-documented within our collections and an important part of logging history in North Idaho. It was operational from...
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