Has anyone today any conception of the grandeur, the extent, the million board feet a day production...the entire meaning of the forests of the Pacific Northwest-the "Big Woods"? The photographs alone in this absorbing book will instantly transport the reader into this former world. Here was the greatest stand of Douglas fir timber in existence and here was labor for the Poles, Finns, Swedes and Norskies lured out of the Midwest to convert the mammoth trees into the lumber that helped build the West Coast cities. Ralph Andrews presents a fascinating subject-the hope, courage and tragedy in the lives of the men and women who opened up the dense native forests or as the loggers said "brought daylight into the swamp," and converted the trees into the lumber which built the West Coast cities. Here are many nostalgic scenes showing high climbers, fallers balanced on high springboards, yokes of oxen and up to eight spans of horses dragging logs on skidroad, yokes of oxen and up to eight spans of horses dragging logs on skidroads to flumes, rivers and salt water, early donkey engines, railroads on steep grades, logging camps as well as devastating fires. Andrews' style of writing is graphic and spirited with strong emphasis on human interest.

"Someday" Big Fred Hewett used to say in his Humboldt Saloon in Aberdeen, Washington, "these pictures will show how the boys used to do it." He knew the day would come when the Pacific Northwest's "Big Woods" would be only a fog-blurred memory and the cry "Logs! More Logs!" would no longer be heard ringing up and down the skidroads. With the superb views of timber photographer Darius Kinsey, comprising more than 200 pictures made from wet plate celluloid negatives, 11" x 14", and processed by his pioneer wife, Tabitha, author Andrews dramatically presents a panorama of lumbering's great days in these woods from 1890 to 1925. Shown in sharp detail are the first axes, 12-foot crosscut saws, the first oxen and horses, the first donkey engines and "lokeys". Then the story continues into the "highball" days, the high production period with the steel tower skidders and miles of steel rigging.

This book is one man's memorial to the magnificent natural redwood Sequoia trees in California which today number only a fraction of the groves of 125 years ago. Through outstanding photographs, Ralph Andrews presents 239 different views of redwood trees three thousand years old on average at various stages of use. Straight, elegant trees are so wide 20 men touching fingers-to-fingers can stand around the trunk. These trees were used to build lumbering empires, and they kept thousands employed. Many of the lumbermen themselves are quoted in memories of their work on the old trees--hardships, inventions, earthquakes and fires, sawmills, logging camps and shipping are remembered.

The reissue of the classic history about the sawmill industry in the Pacific Northwest is rich in memories. Here is the vital and true story of the triumphant growth and its undying promise, shown with superb photography and told with exciting text. The utilitarian waterwheel, the great days of the steam sawmill, and the epic courage of the schooner masters are told in all their glory. Ralph Andrews augments his careful and thorough research with anecdotes of the men who transformed logs into the building materials of a nation. The reader takes a step back in time, as the history of the industry which has gone on continuously since 1825 is brought to life.

The reissue of this classic history allows us to once again journey into the past and rediscover for the first time the forgotten men and methods of logging history in the Northwest United States and Canada. This book contain the best photographs of a dozen famous collections: Davis and Benson rafts, river drives, hand logging spar topping big wheels in the pine, saw mills of 1890 to 1915, historical ox teams, tractors, blumes. In this chronicle of the Big Woods, bunk house ballads, humorous sketches and eyewitness accounts of work and life in the tall uncut as well as the rich photographs help the reader to actually feel the old logging atmosphere.