Big trees

I recently read "Deadfall" by James Lemonds. Interesting history of PNW logging, focusing on Southwest Washington and Weyerhauser. The logging of today is waaaaaay different.
Trees like that are a thing of the past. But man, they are impressive. I can't imagine how tough those guys were.

I don't remember where I found this pic. There was a time when this was the norm. I often wonder what my property looked like before it was logged the first time.

A bit from our local history book ... we never had trees that big! Photos of logging ops are from the 20s & 30s so many of our large white & red pine were already gone. A lumberman's camp in NW Ontario http://www.ourroots.ca/e/page.aspx?id=1022368

Edit: Have to go to page 281...

begreen said:

This would take a while to noodle. Looks like they had to weld together a special saw to cut it. It's a shame that almost all of these were taken down in the name of progress.

View attachment 181958

Click to expand...

Looks like they had less than two feet of throw on that 18 foot blade, at mid-cut. Chip clearing performance must have been poor, making this job even more work.

A shame they didn't leave many standing, for us to see today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you ever get out to California, put Kings Cannon and Sequoia parks on your agenda. Alternatively, google "giant sequoia" in image mode.

my friend and a friend and i were snowshoeing/peakbagging near darrington, WA a few years ago in a place called cedar basin. we came across some beauties including the largest cedar i've ever seen. pale in comparison to the trees of yesteryear, but still really awesome.

yep. they're some big trees out there on the coast. unfortunately, on their last legs...

It is not just the giant redwoods that are impressive. I took this picture of my grand-daughter in Oregon standing in front of a fir.

I used to live on Vancouver Island and the red cedars were truly incredible


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow some huge trees ! Simply amazing to look at the size of those trees

begreen said:

We're still losing them. These will probably end up as picnic tables and adirondack chairs.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/20...es-okd-for-lumber-harvest-despite-objections/
http://gualalariver.org/forestry/fl...lan-approved-extraordinary-public-opposition/

Click to expand...

The only rationale for this type of logging would be to create fire breaks to deter wildland fires ... hopefully there are still untouchable areas of redwoods of that size. We've seen a lot of forest fires take out some pristine woodlands this year ... One fire - Nopoming Park in Manitoba & Woodland Caribou Park in Ontario. That's just the ones that are near where I live. Fort Mac and others out west...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/forest-fires-continue-1.3599230

Do they have reforestation plans in place that are actually implemented.

Was out cutting today and saw a bunch of old cedar stumps like this. Several of them had recently been worked on. Says something for old growth cedar when a stump is over a hundred years old and the wood in it is still worth money for shingles.

A different kind of large, but always spectacular to see in person.

for anyone that's been to ross lake, here are some pics of the stumps at the north end of the lake near british columbia.

Longstreet said:

A different kind of large, but always spectacular to see in person.
View attachment 182114

Click to expand...

Had a mulberry tree which almost that size and spread, just adjacent to the corner of my property, when I moved in. Neighbor cut it down to install a new driveway. What a shame. There has been a house on this property since at least 1738, so there's no telling how old that tree was.

begreen said:

We're still losing them. These will probably end up as picnic tables and adirondack chairs.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/20...es-okd-for-lumber-harvest-despite-objections/
http://gualalariver.org/forestry/fl...lan-approved-extraordinary-public-opposition/

Click to expand...

That one sounds like private land, and second growth. Hopefully the potential to harvest will spur more private land planting and long term growth of them. Unless I'm mistaken, one of the factors in their decline is that modern control of forest fires prevents redwoods that die from being replaced, since a forest fire clearing out competition in the former understory is important for allowing young trees to get established before they get shaded out.

blacktail said:

Was out cutting today and saw a bunch of old cedar stumps like this. Several of them had recently been worked on. Says something for old growth cedar when a stump is over a hundred years old and the wood in it is still worth money for shingles.
View attachment 182112

Click to expand...

I was on a trail near Steven's Pass recently and near one of the many old stumps (this one probably 6-8' DBH) was a sign calling attention to it. The text of the sign speculated it was mostly likely cut during the construction of the first railroad to Puget Sound. That means 1893 - 120 years later in a very wet climate and it still has a long ways to go before it rots entirely away.

I knew red cedar heartwood makes significantly higher quality shingles than the sapwood. I wasn't aware companies were cutting old stumps to retrieve long-forgotten heartwood. Very cool.

Thinking about it, there could be a lot available in a stump. With so much wood available, and the shear amount of labor it took to fell trees, they tended to leave very tall stumps behind so they could cut well above the root buttresses.

begreen said:

Our greenhouse is shingled with old growth cedar taken from stumps they helicoptered out from the Olympic Rain Forest. It is from trees cut a century ago. Beautiful stuff.
This is the back (north) side.

Click to expand...

Beautiful yard and greenhouse! Nice that even the stumps are utilized but helicopter out would make it more costly...

I know what a pain it is to shingle and stain cedar shakes ... 2 story house as my Dad's helper. My sister and I got the "pleasure" of staining it all ... some in pretty cool weather.

iamlucky13 said:

I knew red cedar heartwood makes significantly higher quality shingles than the sapwood. I wasn't aware companies were cutting old stumps to retrieve long-forgotten heartwood. Very cool.

Click to expand...

We have thieves that will do this at night. Some take maple burls, some take cedar blocks. It's a quick buck for a tweaker.