"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...

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...

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...