My longest video yet,decided to keep it as one part.A 1960 Madill steel tower yarder that is innaccesable by road.Has a cummins engine in it.The 'Still Madill"
Thank you. i 've searched a long time what could have been the base of this thing. The tracks and all the rolling parts looked military to me as soon as saw them.
The M-4 Sherman tank was built in huge numbers, and after the War so many component assemblies were available that heavy equipment MFG 's bought them cheaply, and used them in their machinery. Differentials, final drives, suspension stations, tracks, all easily procured.
This yarder was made form an old "Tank Retriever". That's why the driver area is not enclosed or armored. The video mentions that sometimes the tower was filled with water. True. This was done during fire season. That tower would hold 1500 gallons and with the 100 foot head the water had a LOT of pressure when you attached a fire hose. Mostly we used it to fill out Wafax back tanks and for safety in case we got a fire near the landing from the Mainline or Haul-back chaffing on a log or stump.
This is a very old Madill, not a standard 009. Priceless piece of history. In this times, every Madill yarder was unique. Customer purchased own hoist unit (from Washington IronWorks, Tyee, Skagit.....) and undercarriage. Ex-military vehicles like this M6 Hi-speed tractor or M26 Dragon Wagon were often used. Carrier and hoist were delivered to S. Madill factory, where they put it together, added the steel tower "Spar 009" and guyline setup.
Funny...it's not an M8 nor a Sherman. It's an M6 Hi-Speed Tractor converted for the logging industry after WWII. They were made by Allis-Chalmers and had 2 gas engines in them. Most that were used during the war were either given to the country they were in or sent to Israel. Those that were here were sold off.
Fabulous find, skadill! I love this kind of stuff - rust and ruin on a grand scale! Where I live (Oregon), there are salvagers who haul this kind of thing in from the woods for recycling and a lot of cash. You obviously know logging and the equipment that goes with it. I'm learning... Hmm, your accent - you in Minnesota, by any chance? (Sorry) ; )
" HEY SKADILL " that thing just takes you back to the golden age of north america when everyday stuff was made in usa or canada Hell meth is only thing produced around here & bad as it is, keeps out the mexican coke i guess ? "BUT" i have respect for the men who knew how make a rugged living & made history happen with building supplies THANKS-4-GOOD-VIDEO
It's probably not even worth the effort to haul it back for scrap. It's 40 tons of dead heavy iron depreciated to nothing. As for restoration, the thing is completely trashed. Would effectively wind up making a custom duplicate.....just sad.
Anywhere else, stuff like this would've been scrapped years ago. That's the cool and unique thing about Vancouver Island. It would cost more to get these machines off the island than they're worth, so they'll be there till they turn to dust.
I know this yarder!! Just seeing her again brings back some great memories. She was the first yarder I set chockers on in '72. Later, I pulled rigging on her. Gustaff Liske was the Yarder Enginer and still lives at the Lake. Dobbie Summerville the Hook Tender and last I heard was in an old people's home at the Lake. John Svetich (Scabby John) was the Bull Bucker and lives in Duncan. Those men will recognize her and probably add a lot more about her history. I'm not sure but I think the spar was 100' and the main line 1 1/4". It's been 45 years :-) On average we could get about 195 logs a day. She was owned by TW McKenzie Logging (Buster McKenzie, Manager), now Pacific Logging. We had her setup on Len's Main in those days but it looks like she is mothballed (abandonded) on the Shaw Creek side. I had the pleasure of driving her on one move. Inside the front cab was still army green. As I recall Gus told me she was built on an old tank retriever chasis. It's the only yarder I have ever seen where driving controls were in the front. Kind of an experience to take those sticks in your hands and step on the gas and feel her lurch forward. Most of the other Madill's McKenzie's owner were controlled from the enginer's cab when we moved them. Nice memory, thanks for caring about this old lady of logging and for the video.
"Old logging stuff always puts up a fight." Great remark at the end! Looking at the stand-up operator's spot surrounded by those huge moving parts, it's astonishing how hazardous this old stuff was just to operate. As always, a great video.
Holy smoke, a 90 with a deck level operator cage, Gearmatic, band brakes and hand frictions! That operator was workin'! It's doubtful someone would go to that elaborate a job to make a temporary pad there just to set it on to wait for the barge, I'll bet it was piped up right there and used to swing wood to the beach, like you say. Well put to bed too, someone intended to take it out of there
good job. I bet i could have the Cummins running in in an hour as long as it hasn't been under water or had water in it. hydraulic pumps and motors would likely be froze up. that value laying 30 yards away would cost a grand to get going. probably wouldn't be a hydraulic hose on it now that would hold any pressure. I bet the track would roll. everything that's involved in driving it would be froze up. in the end it wouldn't be worth much. couldn't use it today without a bunch of shields. you might get lucky if a guy that hit the lottery ran it many years ago and really wanted it to put in his living room.
Thanks!yes,each piece represents wins and defeats for old company's,peoples first,worst or best job experiences,and thousand of untold memories and stories of thrill,misery,and danger.
High Lead Logging is the second most dangerous job in the world. More than a few stories of thrills (near misses), misery and much danger, expected and SURPRISE!
You need brains and heart and a little luck in the logging game,some days when you pulling strawline in the rain and cold,you think i going to git me a job back truck driving and then when the suns out the logs are going up the hill,you think man this a great job!?
I always wonder the circumstances of a piece of equipment like this being left out in the woods. Why wouldnt the company even if it was broken pull it out when they were finished?
When you bid a job your bid includes the use of equipment and the prorated life and mean times between failures is evaluated. Equipment replacement is generally not in the budget unless it is a multi year job.. the Forestry dept would have contracts regarding the looging that was done in the area. I'm going out on a skinny limb here, to say the owner may have passed on, and the will to bring her back home, was never found, by who was left.
that give me tears in my eyes! great film of old warriors. work in the logging buisness in norway and love old logging machine! keep up on the good work!
Great find and video. I own 4 acres on Gabriolla Is. and have to drive through Nanaimo to take the ferry over. I always loved seeing the logging trucks when I was a kid. I have been restoring WW2 military vehicles for almost 20 years. That yarder was built on a 1944 Allis-Chalmers M-6 High Speed Artillery Tractor. It towed the 155 mm gun. It was powered by twin Waukesha 6 cyl. engines, 190 brake horse power each. Fighting weight was 76,000 lbs. Towed load was 50,000 lbs.
That one seriously belongs at the museum in Duncan, it is probably the earliest surviving Madill spar. Notice the guyline drums are all down low, that was before they put the gear reduction on the two front quarters. Not too many had the M6 carrier with original Army cab either.
This looks like the one I see abandoned at the side of a Lake on Vancouver Island when I'm out ATVing. Always wonder why they just abandoned equipment like that.
The carrier is a heavy artillary tractor from WWII.They utilized some of the same components.The cab appears to be basicly unmodified.These tractors were faster and could carry more soldiers and ammo than the crawlers used .
So that one was sold to Western Forest Industries in 1960. I think I just might have a picture of it when it was brand new, well, a year old anyway. Got to check my slides.
Was going to ask where this was, thought it looked like Stave Lake - then I see in the comments it is. I did a timber sale in Stave, Lost Creek on the east side, many years ago. I've ran a Madill with a Skagit winch on it, but not a hand jammer.
probly the guy who was yarding the stuff off had enough freeboard for himself and had to leave the valve bank behind. We can hope he sank from a passing canoe, and had to swim back.
Yeah, well it is cool to find things like this in the woods, but to me It's an antique rusting and rotting away, I don't like to see that, I'd want to save it.
Need, is the mother of invention and this is one big mother, who's parts are made up of formerly successful mechanized products with proven reliability.
Nice video , I like it because It reminds me of our forest lake areas here in the Canadian shield . I've come across some interesting stuff way up back . Like old trappers cabins and logging and mining machinery . I could smell the cedar as I watched this .
I've fueled those old Madills in the woods back in the day, pretty sure I recall those built on a tank chassis. The parts would be expensive and perhaps hard to find for the tank part on the bottom.
skadill . I worked for S. Madill Ltd. for 26 years. they never made 009 Yarders until 1965. That was the year I started there on yarder production. Ted R.
if this is a madill 009 it is not 1960 as they did not build them before 1965. I started to work there in 1965 and worked on building the first 009's .Before that they were building the spars and using skagit or tyee yarders.
I worked on a Madill with a Sherman tank carrier back in 1986 in just out of Spuzzum in the Siwash and Anderson creek area for Cattermole timber out of Chilliwack BC top speed was about 6 mph longest move to a setting was usually not more than a mile or two otherwise we would low bed it was too slow and hard on the tracks to move any great distance.
It was hard to see, but I’m guessing it had a PT pump on the Cummins ? It would be nice to hear it barking under load at 1800. Thanks for making the effort.
