Nice video. I lived my first 10 yrs in Lewiston and my relatives were some of the first settlers in the valley owning and farming the land where the mill sits today. My grandpa and his dad were part of the crew leveling the site for the mill using horses with drag boxes dropping the dirt down through an overhead trestle into Model TT trucks parked underneath. My other grandpa was a log scaler in the woods, a few cousins and an uncle worked at the mill.
My grandfather swam from Saranda Albania to Corfu Greece to escape the Ottoman in 1905. He reached the states in 1907 and settled in Lewiston Main. Where my father was born. I'd like to visit the twin cities eventually.
There used to be a large book in the reception area at Potlatch in Lewiston that was a photo and prose telling of the last log drive. It was a fascinating record and made waiting for an appointment worthwhile. Growing up on the Columbia River almost underneath the Broughton Lumber Co. slough (see Disney’s Charlie the Lonesome Cougar) we would watch mile long log rafts being towed downriver almost hourly. Who knew in the 1960’s the timber would be gone by the 1980’s?
In the 1950's I lived a small community west of Orofino, ID. Peck, ID was my home and each year we got to see the log drive down the Clearwater. I thank who ever posted this video, it was great to see the way it was done then.
My Uncle Tom Kiiskila was a bush pilot in Orofino and also ran the White Hotel. He worked on these log drives and was featured in some great photos by Ross Hall in his July 1951 National Geographic article Idaho Loggers Battle A River.
*- When the 18 year old's were at work on that last drive, I was on top of Mt. Washington using a propane torch to cutting H-Beams with flanges 3 inch thick to disassemble the Jet Engine Testing Laboratory at the end of WW2.* *- I suspect that I would have been on the river if I lived out there.*
I have fished, hunted and floated this river. Wish I could have seen it before the damned dam. If you like this movie, go watch Disney's Charlie the Lonesome Cougar.
I'm a 69 and did construction all my life, mostly on the East coast. This is about the wildest job I've seen. I mean WILD. All those guys probably ate 6,000 calories a day to keep up. Didn't see any that were overweight. I MIGHT have been able to hang with those guys in my prime. Not sure, though. Cheers from South Carolina!
You missed my point. I said most Americans, not all. The tradesmen you speak of can understand how hard and dangerous being a river diver was. If you put on some waders, in cold fast flowing current, and had to push jammed logs…almost no Americans can relate to this because they never had to work a job like that. Yet they are very comfortable living in the buildings that were built from these same logs.
@@markkirschling9340grew up in Orofino, knew Red MacAlister the drive foreman, went to school with his son Lee. They didn’t wear waders like they were fishing. The waders of those days may well have kept them dry until they fell in, filled up and drowned. That’s why wool under and over garments were worn. Even wet it would keep you warmer.
@@magicone9327 Thanks for the insight. Makes sense as I’ve always wore wool next to my skin when winter logging. Eventually after all the sweat and cold snow, you’re body tires out and you get cold so you’re day is done. Start up my Pickup truck and turn on the heater and head home. River driving looks more hazardous than chainsaw logging and cable skidding.
So very cool! I grew up in Enumclaw, Washington in the 70’s and 80’s when it was a logging/dairy farm town. Kinda makes me sad seeing the end of that era.
I’m from DuPont back when it was a company town surrounded by forests. My grandparents lived in Buckley. Those days are gone my friend but we got to experience them and that’s amazing!
Great history in Clearwater County. I wish folks would do more research before bad mouthing critical industries. Most be don’t realize the areas these logs were harvested from are being harvested again through proper management. Before timber was harvested and in areas not harvested massive wildfires would make history and reset the lifecycle in the mountains. Next time you need a restroom or enjoy a nice warm nights rest in a timber framed house thank the hard working men and women in the timber industry.
It is not awful. It was "filmed" either with film or video tape, and I guess you missed the part that this ended in 1971. Some of this may have been filmed years before that. I have slides and other film from the 60's and '70's. Very few of them have survived with any quality at all
