What kind of tree did American lumberjacks cut with such a saw?
Interesting - 07/23/2019
Everyday affairs
Two hundred years ago, George Washington highly praised the services of American lumberjacks to the country and people. The president called them “defenders of the nation,” hinting that no military installation, be it an army barracks or a strategic ship, is completed without the hard work of loggers.
Already in the 18th century, the lumberjack profession was considered one of the most dangerous on the North American continent. The greatest risk was faced by the harvesters of “royal pines” - 110-120-meter trees used for ship masts. There have been cases when a chopped 30-ton pine tree falling in an unpredictable direction took the lives of at least a dozen people.
As a rule, lumberjacks retired before reaching 40 years of age. Many remained disabled for the rest of their lives. Even with the advent of ultra-precise technology, their activities have not become safer. Today, there are 86 “professional” deaths per 100 thousand specialists.
“We have to fight nature, and nature rarely loses to man,” says Bob Gutwick of the Northeastern Loggers Association (NLA). “In terms of safety, our workdays are not much different from the everyday life of our great-grandfathers - except that the mechanical saw has been replaced by a gasoline saw.”
As you might guess, the main cause of death for loggers is errors made when calculating the trajectory of falling trees. “When young guys come to us who have completed theoretical training courses for lumberjacks, we tell them to forget everything they were taught before,” continues Roshing. “If they are guided by one theory, they will not live even a month.” A good lumberjack must have not only knowledge of physics and mathematics, but also amazing reactions.”
According to statistics, 25% of woodcutters die from an unexpected “jump” of a tree. When the top of the trunk reaches the ground, its lower part jumps up 1.5 - 3 meters. If a person does not have time to move away, the blow may land on his chest or head. In lumberjack slang, such an injury is called an “uppercut.”
Last month, two loggers were injured by an "uppercut" in Montana. One managed to survive, the second died from a cerebral hemorrhage.
It is important to say here that qualified medical assistance to injured lumberjacks does not always arrive on time. Firstly, there is no cell service in the wooded area. Secondly, many loggers work in “closed sites,” that is, in areas located in deep forests that can only be reached by helicopter. Felled and processed trees are also transported by air.
“Our profession is completely devoid of comfort,” says Curt Perkins from Maine. – My team of lumberjacks had to stay away from home for 3-4 months, not watch TV or read the latest newspapers. We even heated hot water over a fire. Staying in isolation for a long time, at a distance of 30 - 40 miles from the nearest populated area - this is our professional fate...”
Another 27% of injuries and fatalities occur due to equipment failure. The most unpredictable device is a chainsaw. “I've seen cases where a foot accidentally falling down a rabbit hole has resulted in loggers cutting off their own arms and legs,” Perkins continues. “A person can hesitate for a moment, lose coordination, loosen his grip, and the saw will kill him in a split second.”
Last year, the chain saw company Efco was hit with over a hundred lawsuits from American loggers. The reason was that the chains could not withstand long hours of work, they broke and maimed workers. In one case, a broken chain literally tore the lumberjack's face off. After several complex surgical operations, doctors managed to save the victim’s one eye and part of his lower jaw.
“Despite the high risk of injury, only a third of loggers use a mask to protect against flying sawdust in the face,” says Dr. Marty Koester of Colorado. “Neglect of safety measures leads to the fact that during work a sharp piece of wood gets into a person’s eye, after which the victim instinctively releases the working saw, which falls out of the gap and cuts his legs or stomach.”
Loggers have become targets of conservationists in recent years. Hoping to save the trees from imminent death, the “greens” began hammering 20-centimeter nails into the trunks. When the saw collides with a nail, the chain breaks and the woodsman is horribly injured. This “nature protection” practice is especially common in North Dakota. Since the beginning of the year, over a hundred lumberjacks have been hospitalized there. One of the victims, 49-year-old Manny Flaco, argues: “Forest defenders use criminal methods to combat loggers. They don't understand that each of us does our job to get money and feed our families. If we refuse to cut down trees, then others will take our place..."
Another 10% of all logging deaths are caused by incidents involving wild animals. For example, workers in Alaska are most afraid of encounters with wild bears and wolves, which occur here quite often. In 2006, 60-year-old Lucas Hamill died because he did not hear his colleagues screaming that a bear was approaching. The lumberjack worked wearing special headphones that protected his ears from the unpleasant sound of a chainsaw. As a result, a grizzly bear snuck up behind him and mauled him to death.
Sunstroke and hypothermia are also common causes of death. Loggers are forced to work in all weather conditions - from sweltering heat to severe frosts.
The cause of 38% of deaths is a felled tree falling on a person. It is estimated that the average time for a shaft to collapse fluctuates around three seconds, and the impact force is more than five tons. Massive oaks and pines, from which loggers do not always escape, press their bodies into the ground 50–70 cm. The situation is complicated by the fact that it is very difficult to quickly help a crushed person. It will take at least 10 - 15 minutes to cut out and roll away the piece of trunk that is crushing it.
The Wall Street Journal ranked lumberjacks among the top five "most thankless jobs in the United States." Despite the enormous risk, high mortality, psychological and physical stress, on average they receive only $10 per hour. Moreover, in small northern towns their earnings do not exceed the minimum wage established by the federal government by a cent.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is more optimistic about the future of loggers. Firstly, timber harvesters will be in demand at least until 2016. It is expected that by this time their numbers will increase by one and a half times. Secondly, private companies are increasingly in need of experienced loggers. For example, today a specialist with 10 years of experience can earn $17 - $20 per hour.
…Exactly: how to become a lumberjack in the USA? That is, “not to work shifts across the Atlantic as a lumberjack, not to immigrate to the States and work in logging (although by becoming a citizen one can take into account this narrative of the article), but to become a lumberjack while having American citizenship.
This article merely informs our readers of the prerequisites that exist for citizens of the United States who wish to engage in forest work as a logger. How to get trained as a future specialist, how to grow professionally, what salaries our colleagues have and how in demand the profession is in the USA.
The information below has been translated by me from an English-language site. I allowed myself some explanations and reasoning in this translation...
Lumberjack in the States
Lumberjacks, behind the cordon, are often called lumberjacks. The functions are the same: fell, trim, and transport trees for processing. Felling trees, for obvious reasons, has never been considered environmental work, but is a necessity. Like us, Americans motivate this need with banal facts: “...look around and see how many things are made of wood... Trees supply us with paper products and lumber. Things like pencils, furniture, buildings, houses, documents, books and desks are all made from trees (wood).”
American loggers work deep in forested areas, in heavily wooded areas such as: Oregon, Washington, Montana, British Columbia, or in California. There they set up a base camp and began work - felling massive trees. At first glance, this job among Americans seems simple, but statistically it is one of the most dangerous professions in the United States.
The development of logging sites is quite tough work, so fellers, as a rule, are strong, in good physical shape, and must have a quick reaction. They work as a team to cut down more forest, stockpile the trees, and transport them to trucks, helicopters, or barges. Standard equipment for a feller includes: chainsaws, helmets, reflective vests, pike guards, axes, and spiked shoes.
Logging operations are identical to “ours” and consistent. The first step in logging involves cutting down trees. Trees intended for harvesting are often hundreds of years old, grow up to several tens of meters in height, weigh several tons, and cost several $1,000. Trees are felled using a chain saw. Felling wedges are used as an auxiliary lever for felling in a given direction. Ideally, a multi-ton tree should lie in the desired direction, but this does not always happen. Loggers are at risk with every tree they cut.
Before he can level up to become a feller, he must work as a choker for some time. The American choker is in greater danger than the feller. Not only do they have to avoid falling giant trees, they also have to literally climb through a field of huge logs to choke fallen trees to transport them to loading docks. If hooks break, the steel cable can whip around and cut a person in half.
“Tractor drivers,” due to the high diameter of the trees, cannot always ensure the safety of their choker partner. Once the trees are removed, they are typically loaded onto trucks using heavy equipment such as cranes. The harvested timber is then sent for processing by truck. It is impossible to delay with each individual sequential operation - if one of the team members slows down the procurement cycle, he thereby puts an end to his career.
Development of logging sites is risky work. Not only do loggers have to constantly worry about being cut in half, crushed by a giant tree, or crushed by broken and falling scraps; they also have to worry about the enormous distance of their work site from populated areas. Loggers work in the middle of uninhabited areas. Sometimes it takes several hours to travel in the event of a tragedy at a logging site to the nearest hospital.
Global deforestation is leaving the earth looking like a patchwork quilt. To limit environmental impacts, the logging industry works on a project-by-project basis with leases to secure future forests.
It is interesting that the advantage of the profession of an American lumberjack is the reward for his work, a certain adventure, risk, and life in the open air???!!! Logging is a physically demanding, never-ending job. In the States there are no formal requirements to become a logger. Any large lumber company needs hardworking, determined, tough lumberjacks.
However, the sites provide some information: in order to become a logger in a logging company, you must have a secondary education. Then practice (internship) at the workplace. It should be noted that the work of an American lumberjack must be at least 12 hours a day.
Logging salaries vary, but typically an entry-level arborist earns about $25 per hour, or about $30,000 per year. After several years of work, they can reach up to $80,000 per year. As a rule, experience and skill are acquired from experience and from “tips” from senior mentors and colleagues. Accordingly, by acquiring new practical knowledge and applying it in practice, you “grow”, and therefore “your salary grows.” Before you dedicate your life to logging, tune in to a historical profession, you need to watch and watch educational American documentaries “Lumberjacks” on the Discovery Channel, or purchase tickets to the World Lumberjack Championship.
Loggers work long hours outdoors to ensure wood products reach every home and community. It's a dangerous job, but someone has to do it, why not you?
Brief information about logging operations in the USA
Profession: lumberjack
"Office": forested deserted wilderness
Specialization:felling of trees, pruning of branches, choking and transportation of trees for subsequent processing
Certificates/Education: no, no formal education required
Required skills: physical endurance, hard work, preference to work outdoors
Potential employers: logging companies
Salary: $25 per hour, $30,000 to $80,000 per year.
The best and worst professions... and why the lumberjack profession is not popular
The logging specialty is at the bottom and scores 10% of all ranking methodologies where it is used, including: environment, employment forecast, exercise and stress, excluding income, where it has 25%. The predominant part of a logger's life is spent outdoors.
“Unemployment among loggers is very high, and demand for their services is expected to continue to fall through 2016,” the website states. “All work takes place outdoors, you need to have a strong will when working as a lumberjack, which is why this profession is considered not only the worst job, but also one of the most dangerous in the world.”
Among the "losers" on the list of jobs are: farmer (dairy production), military personnel, oil rig worker and, er, newspaper reporter. “As the digital world continues to explode... the need for printed newspapers and daily news releases is diminishing.” CareerCast notes the following factors in the reporting profession: stress, unemployment and low income as details influencing the decline of the “fourth estate” (journalism) career.
Results
What's the best? It would seem that there is nothing surprising in the above, given the spread of digital technologies, a software engineer comes out on top in the CareerCast ranking. “Their salaries are high, their specialty is in demand, and working conditions have never been better than now.” Demand in the labor market is also relevant for actuaries, human resource managers, hygienists and financial planners.
At first glance, CareerCast's methodology seems to make sense and is fair: the analysis was conducted using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, where possible. However, there are ranking places that are accepted without controversy; In this ranking of the top 10 most stressful jobs, CareerCast lists event coordinators and PR executives that rival jobs like doctors.
Best Jobs
- Software (engineer);
- Actuary;
- HR Manager;
- Dental hygienist;
- Financial planner;
- Audiologist;
- Occupational Therapist;
- Internet advertising manager;
- Computer systems analyst;
- Mathematician
Worst Jobs
- Lumberjack;
- Dairy farmer;
- Serviceman;
- Oil rig worker;
- Reporter (newspaper);
- Waiter/Waitress;
- Reader;
- Dishwasher;
- Butcher;
- Broadcaster
Most Stressful Jobs
- Soldier;
- Firefighter;
- Airline pilot;
- Military general;
- Police officer;
- Event organizer;
- Official;
- Corporate executive (manager);
- Photojournalist;
- Taxi driver.
Perhaps there is not enough information about the lumberjack profession in this publication. But if you, dear lumberjacks, like the topic, then we will continue to consider the life and work of foreign colleagues in the future. Share your thoughts, subscribe to the newsletter, and for now, post how to become a lumberjack in the USA I am finishing.
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Lumberjacks in front of a Mark Twain tree cut down in California, 1892.
Before the advent of modern chainsaws and logging equipment, the hard work of the forestry industry was done by the strong hands of loggers.
They felled huge trees by hand with axes and saws. The trunks, cut down and cleared of branches, were transported by horses to the railway or floated down the river. With the invention of motorized vehicles, chainsaws and other equipment, the old methods became history.
1899 Loggers pose with a Douglas fir in Washington.
1902 Loggers pose with a spruce tree in Washington.
1901 Lumberjacks pose with a spruce tree whose trunk is 3.7 meters thick.
1918 Three loggers with a large Douglas fir in Oregon.
1905 A lumberjack and two women pose in front of a tree near Seattle, Washington.
1917 Loggers with a saw and a giant sequoia in California.
1902 Loggers and the giant sequoia in California.
1917 Loggers and a team of 10 mules prepare to fell a giant sequoia tree in California.
1892 Loggers stand in the trunk of a tree cut down in Tulare County, California. The tree was registered for the World's Fair in Chicago.
1904 Lumberjacks pose on the stump of a tree that was featured at the St. Louis World's Fair.
March 15, 1904. A lumber crew walks among felled pine trees in Vernon Parish, Louisiana.
April 28, 1937 Lumberjacks walk on harvested logs. Littlefork, Minnesota.
August 1907. Logging in rural New York State.
1910 Loggers float lumber down the Columbia River in Oregon.
1917 More than 100 people surrounded a giant sequoia log in California.
Photos by A. R. Moore/National Geographic Creative/Corbis; Underwood & Underwood; Library of Congress.