2x4 Art Welcome

2x4 Art Welcome

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Early Days

When did this love of logging, sawmills, forest products and art begin? My earliest memories were being about 7 or 8 years old waving at log truck drivers as they came rumbling down a small hill near our home on the Klamath River in the rough and rowdy logging town of Happy Camp, California. The photo is of me keeping my art and design muscles in shape during the summer while in college. I am tightening the "wrappers" (cables) on a load of ponderosa pine on the first trip of the day as a log truck driver for Bly Logging Co., owned by Bob Kennedy, Grant March and Ellison Henderson at Klamath Falls, Oregon. This was between my junior and senior years at the University of Oregon. I am sure I was a rare breed as an art/design/education major working my way through college as a logger. I always figured it kept all that academia balanced with what is "real" life. Of course, getting up at 4:30 am could take a little romance out of the logging. The romance was restored when I came down off of Sun Mountain south of Crater Lake with a big load of pine as the day was just beginning for all those folks in Klamath Falls. The crisp mountain air and the fragrance of manzanita made the woods spectacular at the dawn of day.

1 comment:

  1. What an incredible photo! Great of you, and look at the size of those logs. Thanks for sharing this.

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