Collier Logging Museum

economically feasible to harvest stands in isolated forests. isolated in stands harvest to feasible economically The tongue, 36-feet long, slipped through the axle about eight feet eight about axle the through slipped long, 36-feet tongue, The usual forge, anvil and anvil forge, usual

lacksmiths – forge metal into tools. into metal forge – lacksmiths B costs associated with logging w ere reduced, it became more became it reduced, ere w logging with associated costs one of the horses, pulled wheels which wer e 10-12 feet in diameter. in feet 10-12 e wer which wheels pulled horses, the of one addition to the to addition In

harv esting be confined to established roads or railroad lines. As lines. railroad or roads established to confined be esting harv came into general use. A team of four horses, with the driver riding driver the with horses, four of team A use. general into came in early logging camps. logging early in

ment could go virtually anywher e. No longer would timber would longer No e. anywher virtually go could ment 1910, “slip tongue” wheels, able to carry much larger loads, larger much carry to able wheels, tongue” “slip 1910, In of shop which existed which shop of

greatly simplifying road building. Now loggers and their equip- their and loggers Now building. road simplifying greatly fly up, acting as a brake for the load. the for brake a as acting up, fly shed (#3) is the type the is (#3) shed

radually, blades were added to the front of tractors thus tractors of front the to added were blades radually, G mov ed forward. When going down a steep grade, the tongue would tongue the grade, steep a down going When forward. ed mov one. This blacksmith This one.

end of a load of 32-foot long logs, letting the rear of the load drag. load the of rear the letting logs, long 32-foot of load a of end tongue. A long chain pulled the tongue down level while the horses the while level down tongue the pulled chain long A tongue. could operate without operate could

much of the log bunching cost. All of these arches lifted the front the lifted arches these of All cost. bunching log the of much fastened to the rig. A pair of horses was hitched to the end of the of end the to hitched was horses of pair A rig. the to fastened and no logging camp logging no and

front end of logs off the ground. The Fairlead system eliminated system Fairlead The ground. the off logs of end front pointed straight up while a chain was placed under the logs and then and logs the under placed was chain a while up straight pointed indispensable re we

Arch (#57) utiliz ed a winch and cable from the “cat” for lifting the lifting for “cat” the from cable and winch a ed utiliz (#57) Arch hauls. This rig had a tongue 8-10 feet long. In loading, the tongue the loading, In long. feet 8-10 tongue a had rig This hauls. lacksmiths B

supported b y struts or an ar ch which carried a fairlead. A Fairlead A fairlead. a carried which ch ar an or struts y b supported bout 1900 “stinger tongue” wheels came into use for short for use into came wheels tongue” “stinger 1900 bout A

1860

The Athey Ar ch was superseded b y a cast steel boom steel cast a y b superseded was ch Ar Athey The

1900

The “GOP” steam logging locomotive. logging steam “GOP” The

carry loads up to ten tons. ten to up loads carry

kerosene lamps and a tobacco plug cutter. plug tobacco a and lamps kerosene

cast ir on ar ch. It was hard to maneuv er around trees but could but trees around er maneuv to hard was It ch. ar on ir cast

felling ax es, various types of barbed wire, surv ey instruments, ey surv wire, barbed of types various es, ax felling br oke. In 1890, steel wire rope came into play. into came rope wire steel 1890, In oke. br

type most widely used in the area. the in used widely most type eplaced b y the A they Arch (shed #5), built with a v ery heavy ery v a with built #5), (shed Arch they A the y b eplaced r

displays include peav eys (levers with hinged hooks for rolling logs), rolling for hooks hinged with (levers eys peav include displays At first, manila r ope was used but it stretched, frayed and frayed stretched, it but used was ope r manila first, At

didn’t hav e horns. In shed #5, note the four-horse log truck, the truck, log four-horse the note #5, shed In horns. e hav didn’t B The B est Arch could not take the heavy loads and it was soon was it and loads heavy the take not could Arch est B The

dismantled and reassembled at the museum. The inside The museum. the at reassembled and dismantled the line out to the logs and became known as the “line horse.” “line the as known became and logs the to out line the

eplaced the oxen. They w ere faster, more easily handled and handled easily more faster, ere w They oxen. the eplaced r flg n ydalcclnesrie h odfo h round. gr the from load the raised cylinders draulic hy and logs of

cabin was originally a logger’s homestead (#2). It was It (#2). homestead logger’s a originally was cabin slack was pulled in hand-ov er-hand. A horse was used at first to pull to first at used was horse A er-hand. hand-ov in pulled was slack

greater, o xen-pulled wagons w er e used. In the 1880’s horses 1880’s the In used. e er w wagons xen-pulled o greater, be one of the first used in this ar ea. Large wheels straddled loads straddled wheels Large ea. ar this in used first the of one be

egin your visit at the gift shop. This turn-of-the-century This shop. gift the at visit your egin engine driving a vertical winch drum or spool from which the cable the which from spool or drum winch vertical a driving engine

water where logs w er e floated to the mill. Where the distance was distance the Where mill. the to floated e er w logs where water with the 60 hp tractors. This B est Arch (shed #5) is thought to thought is #5) (shed Arch est B This tractors. hp 60 the with

(#9) had an upright boiler which tapered into a stack with a single a with stack a into tapered which boiler upright an had (#9) Oxen either pulled skids of logs directly to mills or into or mills to directly logs of skids pulled either Oxen

Logging arches with ir on wheels 10-feet high were used were high 10-feet wheels on ir with arches Logging

from oxen to horses to “cats” to horses to oxen from

California invented the original steam donkey. The D olbeer donkey olbeer D The donkey. steam original the invented California eri,rnwy eef equent. fr were runaways terrain,

standing trees. standing

ORY– ALKING THROUGH HIST THROUGH ALKING W 1881, John Dolbeer of Dolbeer & Carson in Crescent City, Crescent in Carson & Dolbeer of Dolbeer John 1881, In

steep grade. To drop the load, the action was rev ersed. In steep In ersed. rev was action the load, the drop To grade. steep S damage often they because es eserv r forest in used be cannot

timber.

back end of the logs acted as a brake when the load mov ed do wn the wn do ed mov load the when brake a as acted logs the of end back board feet at once. Ar ches can still be used on priv ate land. They land. ate priv on used be still can ches Ar once. at feet board

handling. Less men and fewer horses wer e needed to harvest to needed e wer horses fewer and men Less handling.

horses, moved forward, the logs were lifted from the ground. The ground. the from lifted were logs the forward, moved horses,

These arches made high wheels obsolete by skidding up to 5,000 to up skidding by obsolete wheels high made arches These

(#2) which serves as the museum’s gift shop and information center. information and shop gift museum’s the as serves which (#2)

team power and the invention of wir e r ope r ev olutionized log olutionized ev r ope r e wir of invention the and power team

axle. Grapple hooks wer e attached to logs and as o xen, and later and xen, o as and logs to attached e wer hooks Grapple axle.

equipment designed to go from tree stump to railr oad siding. oad railr to stump tree from go to designed equipment examples of axes and saws ar e exhibited in the logger’s homestead logger’s the in exhibited e ar saws and axes of examples

wheels, 8-10 feet in diameter, could carry logs suspended under the under suspended logs carry could diameter, in feet 8-10 wheels,

which ar e still used today. Arches were the first log transporting log first the were Arches today. used still e ar which

selves, highly skilled, trav eling from camp to camp. Some very fine very Some camp. to camp from eling trav skilled, highly selves,

s from steam to diesel to computer to diesel to steam from

wheel skidding became common. Examples ar e in shed #4. These #4. shed in e ar Examples common. became skidding wheel

scnb eni hd#,wel vle nolgiga ches ar logging into evolved wheels #5, shed in seen be can As and hammering the kinks out. Saw filers w ere a group to them- to group a ere w filers Saw out. kinks the hammering and

ORY– ALKING THROUGH HIST THROUGH ALKING W the late 1880’s, the use of “high wheels” developed and developed wheels” “high of use the 1880’s, late the In

easier b y bunching and decking the logs for the high wheels. high the for logs the decking and bunching y b easier to be kept sharp, straight and clean by hand setting, swaging, filing swaging, setting, hand by clean and straight sharp, kept be to

buncher (#39) which could mov e under its own po wer made things made wer po own its under e mov could which (#39) buncher 1880 elling axes and cr osscut saws w er e vital tools. These tools had tools These tools. vital e er w saws osscut cr and axes elling F

meant longer logs and much heavier loads could be hauled. A log A hauled. be could loads heavier much and logs longer meant through the trees. the through

ctober, 1943. ctober, O

inadequate for the 60 hp tractors. Now the incr eased horsepower eased incr the Now tractors. hp 60 the for inadequate operated b y two-men teams, w er e often not long enough to draw to enough long not often e er w teams, two-men y b operated

dinner for the crew. the for dinner Lake, a trip which took 22 hours. It operated from April 1937- April from operated It hours. 22 took which trip a Lake,

as prtdby“asinr. Bt hs odnwel eeetrely entir were wheels wooden these But, “catskinners.” y b operated lars, like match sticks. C r osscut saws, some as long as 14 feet and feet 14 as long as some saws, osscut r C sticks. match like

gav e the bulls. Oxen that had “accidents” could end up being up end could “accidents” had that Oxen bulls. the e gav

to Algoma L umber Company, 22 miles south on Upper Klamath Upper on south miles 22 Company, umber L Algoma to

The slip tongue wheels could be pulled with the 30 hp Caterpil- hp 30 the with pulled be could wheels tongue slip The olled ov er when r eleased from the rest of the tr ee, crushing men crushing ee, tr the of rest the from eleased r when er ov olled r

the skids to help the logs slip. This was about the only help anyone help only the about was This slip. logs the help to skids the is diesel-pow ered and to w ed logs fr om the Agency Lake Landing Lake Agency the om fr logs ed w to and ered diesel-pow is It

method. trees was one of the more dangerous jobs since bucked logs easily logs bucked since jobs dangerous more the of one was trees

woods for the first time w ere giv en the job of swabbing whale oil on oil whale swabbing of job the en giv ere w time first the for woods is a tugboat (#7) which was owned and operated by O. K. Puckett. K. O. by operated and owned was which (#7) tugboat a is

born. Today, “cats” can trav el ov er terrain unreachable by any other any by unreachable terrain er ov el trav can “cats” Today, born. uckers cut the felled trees into logs 16-feet long. Bucking long. 16-feet logs into trees felled the cut uckers B

bellowing men who could be heard for miles. Boys going into the into going Boys miles. for heard be could who men bellowing

logs to mills is a method still used today. Located west of shed #6 shed of west Located today. used still method a is mills to logs

and adopted the Caterpillar Company name. Modern logging was logging Modern name. Company Caterpillar the adopted and

ul recandadyoe oehr oddit fotby b effort into goaded together, oked y and chained e er w bulls economical, and sometimes the only method possible. Floating possible. method only the sometimes and economical,

economically than horses. The inv entors merged their operations their merged entors inv The horses. than economically

Blacksmith Shop – a must for logging camps. logging for must a – Shop Blacksmith bar k to make them slide easier, ov er pile-studded skid roads. The roads. skid pile-studded er ov easier, slide them make to k bar of water because floating logs to a mill was usually the most the usually was mill a to logs floating because water of

farther and carry heavier loads on steeper slopes much more much slopes steeper on loads heavier carry and farther

eams of o xen dragged huge logs, which had been freed of freed been had which logs, huge dragged xen o of eams T

early in logging history, all logging was done near bodies near done was logging all history, logging in early ry Ve

Best w ere fueled b y gasoline. These machines could travel faster, travel could machines These gasoline. y b fueled ere w Best

transporting equipment. transporting capacity and w er e soon phased out. phased soon e er w and capacity

gasoline-pow er ed engines. The first models developed by Holt and Holt by developed models first The engines. ed er gasoline-pow

The next three sheds (#4, #5, #6) house skidding and log and skidding house #6) #5, (#4, sheds three next The esigned to haul logs behind a “cat,” they lacked strength and strength lacked they “cat,” a behind logs haul to esigned D

teery12’,hre r,frtems at elcdby b replaced part, most the for ere, w horses 1920’s, early the In

examples of early blades used to build roads. build to used blades early of examples rchased in 1923, these wheels wer e an experiment which failed. which experiment an e wer wheels these 1923, in rchased Pu

1920 some of the early drag saws, forerunners to today’s chain saws, and saws, chain today’s to forerunners saws, drag early the of some One piece was not. Housed in shed #6 is the Glasscock Wheel. Glasscock the is #6 shed in Housed not. was piece One

om the blacksmith shop to the next exhibit, take a look at look a take exhibit, next the to shop blacksmith the om Fr ost of the museum’s equipment was used very successfully. very used was equipment museum’s the of ost M

shoeing stocks which w ere used to restrain animals. restrain to used ere w which stocks shoeing logs to sawmills much mor e economically than the railroad. the than economically e mor much sawmills to logs staff, which lifted the load. the lifted which staff,

hold draft animals to facilitate the shoeing process. Also note the note Also process. shoeing the facilitate to animals draft hold became appar ent that logging trucks (shed #6 and #56) could carry could #56) and #6 (shed trucks logging that ent appar became fastened to the tongue, pulled the staff forward and rotated the rotated and forward staff the pulled tongue, the to fastened

okes. In the northw est corner of the building is a sling used to used sling a is building the of corner est northw the In okes. y 1920, it wasn’t until 1930 that they became common. It soon It common. became they that 1930 until wasn’t it 1920, opl h od A h ogesipdfrad oncigrod r connecting a forward, slipped tongue the As load. the pull to

bellows, there is a drill press and a collection of harnesses and harnesses of collection a and press drill a is there bellows, lhuhsm uooi ogn rcswere sdbfre befor used e r e w trucks logging e automotiv some Although before the bumper. The end of the tongue came up against the axle the against up came tongue the of end The bumper. the before

P ARK HISTORY Scotia who had deserted their ships after sailing around Cape Horn. They added their invaluable knowledge of rigging to the Collier Logging n 1945 Alfred and Andrew Collier of Klamath Falls logging industry. To Chemult & Bend The land was raw and so were the men who packed rustic CRATER gave 146 acres of land to the state of Oregon as a LAKE 97 Williamson Museum logging camps. Two hundred men were crowded into small quarters NATIONAL River PARK memorial to their parents, Charles Morse Collier and heated by wood stoves with little to do once their 10-12 hour shifts Rogue River Jackson F. were over but sleep or play cards. Socks and woolen underwear were 62 Kimball I Lost Prospect Janet McCornack Collier. That property today is Collier Creek State Recreation washed in kerosene cans filled with water and then draped over every Reservoir Site Fort Memorial State Park. available surface to dry. Sunday was their one day off and it was Klamath Collier Memorial State Park & Logging Museum often spent hunting. The logger’s reward for hours of backbreaking 227 Klamath Agency Chiloquin The logging museum began in 1947 when the Collier labor was $30-$40 a month net, after paying for bunkhouse meals Sprague River Mt. McLoughlin and clothing at the company store. 140 Upper brothers donated a collection of antique logging equipment. Klamath Men and oxen worked tirelessly. Methods and equipment were Lake Medford 97 Their intent was to show the evolution of logging equipment much the same as those brought by early settlers to the British Klamath 140 Tour Guide Colonies in the 1660’s. Logging was hard, sweaty and, sometimes, 5 Howard Falls Prairie from the use of oxen and axes to trucks and chain saws. Reservoir deadly work.

66 Also spotlighted is the role the railroad played in the timber Logging camps were well-organized units. The “Bull of the Ashland industry. The museum is recognized as having one of the Woods” (woods boss, camp superintendent or foreman) was largest collections in the country. The outdoor exhibits are in charge. The bullwhacker open year-round, daylight to dusk. There is also a gift shop controlled the teams of oxen. The punchers spent their hours Collier Memorial State Park & Logging Museum and information center (open in summer). nailing on shoes (two plates to US 97, 30 miles north of Klamath Falls each cloven hoof), repairing the (541) 783-2471; collierloggingmuseum.org slings which went under the Check out other EARLY LOGGERS bull’s bellies and yokes, which Oregon State Parks by visiting locked their heads together. www.oregonstateparks.org The Pacific Northwest was covered with dense forests hugging The skid road builder laid out steep mountains when it was discovered by those heading west. the roads. Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Virgin stands of pine These timberbeasts required 725 Summer St. NE, Suite C and fir with trees four mountains of food to fuel their Salem, OR 97301 or more feet in hard work. Cooks prepared diameter and bark heavy, solid meals, often serving one-foot thick. three or four kinds of meat at Hudson Bay every meal. Men were called to Company trappers eat with the cook sounding the Band Sawmill – rests in museum trekked to Oregon in iron triangle. Tables were kept after 50 years of work. the early 1800’s, soon set at all times and men had followed by pioneers numbered places where they ate dogging the Oregon until full. Ore Wagon – built many pioneer roads. Trail from Indepen- Fallers, working with axes as sharp as jackknives, prided themselves dence, Missouri to on the skill used to make undercuts which determined the direction the the Willamette Valley. tree would fall. Fallers, having finished the undercut, would next saw But it was the U. S. Army’s arrival in Klamath County in the 1860’s Printed on Recycled Paper halfway through from the back of the tree and drive in wedges to keep that brought the timberbeasts. the blade free. Moments before the tree was to fall, the man with the This brochure is available in alternative formats on request. Those early logging crews often hailed from Michigan, stoutest lungs would bellow, “T-I-M-B-E-R-R-R-R-R-R.” That cry and Write to OPRD, 725 Summer St. NE, Suite C, Salem, OR 97301; Wisconsin and Minnesota, often bringing their specialized the subsequent crash could be heard for miles. Expert fallers could lay a or call (503) 986-0707 (for the hearing impaired 1-800-735-2900). equipment with them. Other early loggers were sailors from Nova tree on a dime. 63400-8712 (10/04)