SW Washington loggers from the 70's/early 80's............Filla,Portway,ect....

[Hallback]

Anyone here work for Roy Filla,Portway,Hadaller,Osborne and Birley or Coleman brothers...??

Anyone here remember Ron Hall (My dad),Gary Sjoblom,Jeff Shortridge,Jimmy Joe White (The ARK),Gene-o Reynolds,Hugh Herron....????

Those are all guys that I grew up around and worshipping for their talents. I would love to hear your stories of them and any other notable men or "Heros" of yours from that era.

 

[Vigilant]

I was pretty young back then, but I sure remember Roy Filla's trucks. Seemed like they were everywhere. Wasn't F. G. Peterson pretty big as well?

 

[Hallback]

With 64+ trucks Roy was the biggest Gyppo on the west coast and maybe the nation. He moved 400-500+ loads per day via 19 tower sides and numerous cat sides.

 

[Hallback]

Nobody has anything to share...???
There has to be some old growth loggers on here from SW Washington.......

 

[Vigilant]

If only the great Finley Hays had lived to see this forum. He could sure contribute to this thread.

 

[Hallback]

If only the great Finley Hays had lived to see this forum. He could sure contribute to this thread.

Finley and my dad were good friends. He was always a great wealth of knowledge.
Was he on this site...???

 

[Vigilant]

Finley and my dad were good friends. He was always a great wealth of knowledge.
Was he on this site...???

No, he died two Decembers ago, I believe. I only met him once, in April of 2002. I spent the afternoon with him at his place, by his invitation. We talked for hours about the old days, religion, etc. When we parted ways, we made plans to take up our conversation in the next life. I will never forget that afternoon, and I'm grateful. I sold a few copies of his book on Saginaw Timber for him, and in the process, hooked him up with Mr. Mark Morley, a modern-day descendent of Mr. A. J. Morley, one of the founders of Saginaw Timber. I even camped at Camp Delezene as a boy a few times. That was the site of Saginaw's original headquarters, off the Melbourne mainline, deep in Weyco country.

There's a fella on here with the handle Contract Logger whom you may very well know. He stated that he grew up with Finley Hays.

 

[Hallback]

CL and I are very close in the circles we both grew up and worked in. His brother and I went to school together. I spent more time at the Filla and Portway shops as a kid than I did at home. When my dad got the new Tyee for Filla he had the chaser carve me a chair out of an old growth fir and it was packed landing to landing as "My spot" when I wasn't in the yarder,shovel or with dad in the tail end. Those were the days and I miss them dearly.

 

[Hallback]

And yes, Finley died in December 08. The same month the issue of Loggers World came out stating he would no longer be writing "Rigging shack".
He was a great man who had seen more than I could imaging. He was liked by all and is deeply missed.

"Lies,Logs and Loggers" should be standard fare in every high school.

 

[Vigilant]

I'll bet you've been to the Brooklyn Tavern a time or two, eh? I could tell you one good story. I used to fish Fall River with my dad, right down the road.

My father spent several years with Weyco at Twin Harbors. He surveyed a lot of their land to verify the original BLM surveys. They say his name is still on a lot of paper in Cosi. He eventually went on to be Superintendent of Vail, after Carl Weiks, who, incidentally, owned a LOT of stock in Yard Birds. Oh, how I miss Yard Birds in Centralia, and Sea Mart in Oly. I still have a Spanish Mauser I bought from Sea Mart at about age 13.

But the height of my career was a few years back, when I traded a couple of emails with the great J. P. Patches himself. Yes, Julius Pierpont Patches.

 

[Hallback]

I have spent many of days/nights at the Brooklyn in years past. I live about 10 minutes from Yardbirds and when I was growing up in Morton it was a big deal to go "Out town" to yardbirds. My grandfather retired as a faller from Weyco Vail in 85.

 

[Vigilant]

Chances are, your grandfather and my father knew each other. Did he tell you about the time they dropped a 14 foot diameter Sitka Spruce? MY favorite place at the camp was the Saw Shop. Gene Sherwood was the saw mechanic. One of his sone died in the woods while we were there.

My dad was the one who was ordered to level the town of Vail in 1969.

Carl Weiks' father was the one that Weikswood was named after.

Ever hear of a legendary logger named Ira Blackwell who retired from Grisdale? We lived right behind him in Central Park. You probably recall his father, Cy Blackwell. Quite a colorful man, from what I have heard and read.

I still have a brand new 6-foot misery whip with handles that my dad bought from Shaeffer Bros. when they went out of business.

Other names you might recall from vail: Bill Loeffler, a scaler, who used to take me trapping as a kid. I saw him again in 1995, and enjoyed the reunion.

Also, Ken Hart and Phil Messenger. They used to work for my dad as well. I saw them again in 1995 also.

I spent a good deal of time fishing the Skookumchuck, from where it empties into the reservoir, upstream to where the trestle used to cross.

 

[Vigilant]

I almost got myself in a serious fist fight at the Brooklyn, because i forgot that the character Crazy Donkey was on Brakeman Bill. A faller about my age was just about ready to resort to fisticuffs over that one. So, I rang the bell, and bought a round of beer. All was well.

 

[Hallback]

I know Phil and Ken. I also have a 6' single handle bucking saw from the saw shop at vail that is brand new. I got the new general bars from there too when grandpa retired. They let him keep his tools and he gave me them when I started my cutting career. Nothing like an 056 mag II to break in with!!

 

[Vigilant]

Please tell Phil and Ken Charlie Pike is still alive and kicking. That's my dad.

I heard Jim Barrett passed. Is Ernie Kell the old lokie engineer at Vail, still alive?

And what about Art Smythe, the one who ran the reload at Vail all those years? I'm sure he's gone by now.

I recall Bob Chatwood, who used to drive truck off-highway. And Milt Emerick.

How about Ken Jones, the old Fire Warden? Did you know him? He passed many years ago. I spent a lot of time with him. I also spent a lot of time with Ed Castle, the Blacksmith. How about Bernie Kowalski and Art Nye, the dispatchers? Floyd Canfield and Jay Lynch, the shop foremen?

Henry Roberts, Claude Masten, Wardith French, Bob Smith, Ford Bentley, Carl fagerness?

 

[Hallback]

The lokie Is done to my knowledge and I knew of Carl Fagerness as his sons owned a cutting compani I believe and he worked with my Grandpa. Most of the old timers from the heydays at vail are gone but not forgotten. I knew alot of the men by face but couldn't remember names as I would go with grandpa on the weekends when they were cutting by pleasant valley for years.

 

[Vigilant]

Do you know about the Don McCune library? You might remember him as Captain Puget.

http://donmccunelibrary.com/catalog.cfm?aId=93FE86E3-C29B-57E0-856557EA2DFE76A2

The first film is about Vail, the second was filmed around Morton, and includes the 1971 Loggers' Jubilee.

Do you remember the reload at Vail, between the Mulqueen Junction and the shop? There is quite a story behind that.

They left the fruit trees when they leveled the town, and I picked a lot of apples, plums, etc. there in the summers.

I would give my eye teeth to be able to take my dad back to the Chuck, and fish it one more time. I loved that river.

 

[Hallback]

I will have to check that out!! I have hung many a skyline across the 'chuck and will be fishing it again in a month or so. I never saw the reload but heard alot about it.

How about the St.Regis camp outside morton and Ladd mountain with the wooden spar still rigged as it caught fire and the guylines were supposedly crystalized by the heat so the siderod said leave it stand and do not derig it. It was still there in the mid 80's.

 

[Vigilant]

There is some footage on St. Regis in Morton on the McCune documentary of Morton. One scene shows them finishing up on loading a brand new Kenworth 848.

I found a complete roster of all the Vail/Pe Ell lokies somewhere. I'll post the link here when time permits. There is a lot of footage on the Vail documentary of Jim Barrett on Engine 776, a GP38. My dad had 493 while we were there, but I heard the engineer on 684 over in Pe Ell on the radio quite often.

I still recall the radio repeater codes for Vail and Pe Ell. Vail was KOA424, PE Ell was KOB393.

 

[Vigilant]

More on the Chehalis Western lokies. You'll like this:

http://www.trainweb.org/cwwr/cw-roster.html

I believe 684 survived, and is now on display at a museum in Fife. The Lidgerwood skidder at the Camp 6 musuem came from Vail. Carl McGinnis, aka Skinny McGinnis, worked on that beast as a young lad. That skidder spent many years on display at Longview before it was moved to Point Defiance.