Heading south on old highway US97 -- taking the long way from Bend, Oregon to Lake Tahoe, California -- we happened upon the Collier Logging Museum. Of course I had to stop.
In southern Oregon, not too far from the California boarder . . . The Collier Logging Museum.
I HAD to stop. I love these old machines . . .
As a child I loved trucks of all kinds.
Giant steel wheels on this ancient road grader meant to be towed by a bulldozer.
A pull along log skidder, also pulled by a bulldozer.
The front of a giant log would be lifted by this rig and then the other end dragged ("skidded") along in the forest floor.
Another approach for skidding logs . . . .
The front of a log, or logs, were lifted and then skidded out of the forest to a roadhead for loading on trucks, or small gauge rail systems.
There were many of the large iron-wheeled wagons sitting out in the forest of the museum.
Big wagons for big work in the big forests of Oregon.
Big red wagon wheel . . . .
One can imagine an old dozer chugging through the forest pulling one of these steel-wheeled skidders.
There were many old dozers sitting around in the pine straw.
Once the logs had been skidded to a landing, a crane, perhaps like this one, would load the logs onto trucks or a rail car.
Very early on, a steam powered crane/log loader would be rolled out on rails.
In the foreground is an old "mule" diesel locomotive used to push around cranes and other rail cars out in the logging site. By the 1950s and 60s, road worthy truck-mounted cranes, like the one in the rear, became more widely used.
The little "mule" diesel locomotive.
Old log trucks and log loaders to satisfy my little heart's content!
Much of the lumber used to build the houses on the west coast of the USA rode to the lumber mills on trucks like these.
Not something you would want to see in your rear view mirror while going down a steep hill!
A very old steel-wheeled log trailer.
Steam powered pumps used in the wild woods early last century.
An antique steam powered winch . . .
Steam winches mostly used for powering 'high lead' cables to drag logs up steep hills and across deep canyons.
Remnants of big steam power systems laying around. Imagine dragging these up into the woods a century ago!
Boiler tubes.
Big sled winch used for high lead logging. Nice rigging blocks.
Wheeled steam pump wagon.
Marvelous machine work from a bygone era.
1880s locomotive shed with lots of old machinery here and there.
A rail track-laying crane needed to build access rail lines into the old forests.
1912 Aultman-Taylor steam engine . . . WOW!
These lumber movers (yellow machine in the back) were still common in Oregon lumber mills in the late 1970s (when I worked in Oregon lumber mills!).
Yep, you need a saw blade ("head saw") this large to cut some of these giant trees in the lumber mill.
A well used high lead winch truck . . . Simpson Lumber Company.
ONEY, CALIFORNIA
Located in the extreme northeast corner of California, Oney is a beautiful place . . . but the winters must be severe in such an isolated place.
"The Oney Frosty In Town". -- in Oney, California. After driving a long stretch on winding two-lane mountain roads from Klamath Falls, Oregon, the Frosty was a welcome sight.
I was not disappointed! The choices were pure Americana . . . and delicious.
Dr. Jeff Harper
