Re: NNG - steam donkey / Ax Men

Hi Rruss,

Yes I have seen Ax Men. The show gives people "The Feel for working in the woods" using a Yarder and a sky line rig.

The clearcut style of logging shown on the show is very diffrent from the form that Big Creek and my family has done in the Redwood country of central California. Out here The way it done is called Selective harvisting, This is a form of resource management. Basically it is a form of thinning a forest only taking a relitivally small percentage of timber and leaving the rest.Then, going back in for the clean up and erosion control. The idea is to keep the forest productive and healthy for years to come. Still No matter what it is still full of danger. One has to be always on the alert otherwise someone can get hurt or killed.

My family has worked for such lumber outfits like the Santa Cruz lumber Co. The Monterey Bay lumber Co. and Big Creek Lumber just to name a few. To this day may family has a great respect for the redwoods and we have gone out of our way to save many old growth trees. Why take down what has stood for such a long time.

Unfortuantly I am the last of my family to work in the woods. However I have keeped the lagacy alive. My first steam job at age 16 was to fire a double drum steam donkey. I Grew up around Roaring Camp eventually becoming An engineer and Mechanic for them. I still am a Shay engineer by trade and tradition, although currently the outfit that I am working for has only rod locomotives.

Phil Reader