...and carry a big stick

[Snobdds]

I have some property in the middle of the Medicine Bow National Forest. This land was close to a logging camp that harvested huge old trees for the railroad to be used as Railroad ties and trestle beams out west. The land sits between two mountain peaks and it's a catch basin for water and it produces some huge trees. Not as big as the coastal regions of the west, but big for interior standards. The loggers made a road back into the high country to get the timer out. The forest service then traded about 160 acres of land to these two guys in return for access and use of the road in the newly declared national forest. My grandfather purchased about 20 acres back in the 40's. They continued to supply the railroad for another 10 years before the bottom fell out of the private railroads.

Here are some old pictures of that area...

And here is his old cabin that is now mine, which I built a new cabin on. I am keeping his little cabin and will preserve it for years to come

 

[ovrszd]

Back in the early 50's, my Dad loaded huge oak trees onto a 4 wheel trailer using an 8N Ford tractor. Logs so large that only one log filled the width of the trailer. You just need a ramp up to the trailer (he used smaller logs notched to lay on the trailer) and a couple of chains looped under the log, then pull it up the ramp and onto the trailer. You just need some good stops on the trailer to keep it from rolling off the back side which could be very bad for the person and tractor pulling it up.

He hauled the logs from his land to a mill a few miles away to be sawn into 1" boards, 12x12, timbers, 2x4s etc to be used in building our house which is still in use today.

Yep, that's how we got our building materials. Cut up the tops and limbs for firewood.

 

[ovrszd]

Snobdds, you are a Blessed man to have such a treasure. Even more Blessed to appreciate it's value to your family heritage. Thanks for the great pics.

Isn't the Medicine Bow area SW of Laramie or maybe Cheyenne. Can't remember for sure.

Jeeped South into Colorado thru there maybe? Ending up in Estes Park? Been 30 years ago. Memory loses it's accuracy.

 

[MossRoad]

I've seen a lot of pictures similar to this one as to how they loaded those huge trees onto trains and trucks.

 

[Snobdds]

Snobdds, you are a Blessed man to have such a treasure. Even more Blessed to appreciate it's value to your family heritage. Thanks for the great pics.

Isn't the Medicine Bow area SW of Laramie or maybe Cheyenne. Can't remember for sure.

Jeeped South into Colorado thru there maybe? Ending up in Estes Park? Been 30 years ago. Memory loses it's accuracy.

Yep, it's west of Laramie. It's in the Snowy Range Mountains. A person can ride all the way down from Wyoming to New Mexico and not leave the mountains.

 

[MossRoad]

I've seen a lot of pictures similar to this one as to how they loaded those huge trees onto trains and trucks.

View attachment 584687

 

[ovrszd]

Yep, it's west of Laramie. It's in the Snowy Range Mountains. A person can ride all the way down from Wyoming to New Mexico and not leave the mountains.

Yep, I couldn't remember the "Snowy Mountain Range" name. Beautiful country.

 

[Beltzington]

Picture perfectly shows what a "hinge" is. Also, ever notice there were relatively very few fat people back in the day?

 

[orezok]

The wife and I made a drive across Victoria Island BC to Tofino on the pacific rim in 1989. There were numerous bridges along the route. Most were built by laying 4' to 5' logs parallel to the roadway and then building a road on top of them.

When we made the same trip last year they have all been replaced with concrete bridges.

 

[bcp]

It's more amazing to me that they where able to load it onto the trailer.

Here's how it was probably done.

Bruce