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Logging crew on a steam donkey,
ca. 1926
(#D-04986, courtesy of B.C. Archives)
Used by Brooks
Scanlon & O’Brien at the Stillwater operation. In those days, this size crew
would be the regular complement for one side of logging. Today the same
amount of wood can be hauled out of the woods by four men. |
Steam power was
introduced to logging operations in the early 1900's in the form of a small
steam donkey that replaced bull teams and horses.
Steam donkey engines created the steam that powered winches. They were used
to yard and load large logs from the woods to the railway landing. Some were
very big, with several steam engines and single large boilers on one set of
timber skids. See an anatomy of a steam donkey here
Steam also powered other logging equipment such as steam shovels for road
construction and steam locomotives to haul the logs by rail.
In the 1930's, steam donkeys were replaced by gas/diesel-powered machines.
By the 1950's, steam had disappeared from the forests.
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