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Loggers/Snow
Mon Mar 29, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. Tales from the North Woods say that Paul
Bunyan's big blue ox Babe refused to haul logs unless there was snow on the ground, and in
summer, Paul would trick her by whitewashing the roads. A degree of truth underlies this
story, however. Loggers, and the Timber Barons who employed them, prayed for good and lasting
snowfalls each winter.
In the days before machines invaded the industry, winter snow and ice provided the best means
of hauling logs out of a forest. Oxen, horses and sleds were the main means of transportation
from the felling site to a rail spur or river. For them, a dense, deep snow cover reduced
friction and smoothed the path, providing a much more efficient hauling surface than the bare
forest floor or even a cleared road.
During the latter half of the Nineteenth Century, large logging operations often employed
crews to ice and roll pathways within a woodlot (to further aid the moving of heavy logs.)
Snow rollers and water carts comprised their heavy equipment.
A smooth surface was not the only reason that loggers prayed for substantial, lasting
snowfalls. In areas where rivers flowed through the forest, cut timber was often moved onto
the river ice during the winter. When the ice thawed in the spring, logs would be carried by
the river flow downstream to the awaiting sawmills. A good winter snow season, when melted in
the spring, provided the needed water force to float the great log booms.
And finally, snowy winters also lessened the risk of summer forest fires by keeping the soil
and underbrush moist and trees healthy.
Meteorologist Keith Heidorn sent in today's story. Thanks to Subaru of America and the
National Science Foundation for support of our show.
Today's Links
Winter Logging
http://clean-water.uwex.edu/upperchip/history.htm
Swedish River Logging
http://members.tripod.com/~Sloat_Lumber_Co/swedish/swedish.htm
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