Logging Artifacts on Flume Mountain

[Forester Jake]

A few weeks back I had an opportunity to do some bushwacking off of our adopted trail, the Osseo Trail. My goal was quite basic... not only get a feel for the remote lay of the land but (hopefully) also stumble across some cool things. As an experienced woods worker all my life, I've kind of inherited from my father a "knack" for reading topography and locating unusal things out in the woods. And find some things I did! Not only some cool boulders and trees, but also some excellent designed log skid roads and the jackpot, an old log loading deck that yielded these incredible tools!! They were all burried under the leaves or lying among the boulders. Again, a reminder that it is ILLEGAL to remove any artifacts from the National Forest. After shooting a few pictures, I returned the tools to their resting place & I drank a hearty toast (a lukewarm Long Trail ) to these rugged, nameless hard working loggers who over a century ago worked long, hard days up on these equally rugged mountainsides, with huge risk to themselves, to provide a living for their loved ones at home a long distance away...

Tomorrow we, FisherCat and his wife KlutzyKat, me and my wife SunsetGirl, are headed up the Osseo to do some fall trail maintenance work... as we admire the raw beauty of the Flume Mountain landscape, appreciate the wonderful grade of the long lost Incline Railbed of the lower Osseo, these rugged individuals will always be present in my mind...

 

[Driver8]

A few weeks back I had an opportunity to do some bushwacking off of our adopted trail, the Osseo Trail. My goal was quite basic... not only get a feel for the remote lay of the land but (hopefully) also stumble across some cool things. As an experienced woods worker all my life, I've kind of inherited from my father a "knack" for reading topography and locating unusal things out in the woods. And find some things I did! Not only some cool boulders and trees, but also some excellent designed log skid roads and the jackpot, an old log loading deck that yielded these incredible tools!! They were all burried under the leaves or lying among the boulders.

Cool stuff, Jake. I wonder if the UNH history or archaeology depts. would be interested to know where you found these artifacts. Would be neat if they were.

 

[Andrew]

Seeing the grubs was it possibly an old trail tool cache or too far from any old/new trail? Although you do need to dig outhouse pits and level areas for a logging camp site.

One time at Grand Monadnock a guy showed me a very rusty rock bar he found far from Pumpelly corridor, he was so excited to have found an antique that he assumed was from the original construction of the trail. I seized it from him and returned it to the ranger who I knew it belonged to so he could stash it back in his hiding spot. In the past I have had more than one cache going and managed to lose track of a spot.

 

[Creag Nan Drochaid]

well-presented photo

Thank you for sharing your find with us. The variety of tools suggests to me that these were left by the loaders on that landing, not by any trail crew. Today's pick-mattocks have points that are longer and thinner than the two examples in the photo. Modern ones are of steel, these are probably wrought iron, more easily bent, thus needing to be of thicker cross-section for strength. Also, trail crews are more likely to want to excavate rocks in one piece, which means get under and pry, whereas loggers were just smoothing roads to be used by teams of horses after snow fell and was rolled smooth. Thus they may have preferred picks in this shape to just break points and edges off rocks that were to be left where they were. Purely speculation by me.
The three peavies have seen varying amounts of use. One difference from today's peavies is that the point of the hook is reversed, or rather is at only 70 degrees to the hook rather than 90 degrees as we can buy today. They may have come from the Peavey factory that way, or the camp blacksmith may have re-forged them to order for the user. They may well have been set at that angle because the men loading logs on a two-sled from the landing rolled them up other logs at a right angle onto the top of the load. Several at a time would roll each log so there were always half the crew holding the log from rolling back down and killing them while the other half reset their peavies lower on the log so take their turn rolling it up the ramp. The logs were large (one order called for 42-inch spruce) and the loader would hold the hook against the handle to drive the hook into the log securely before he dared put any force to it. Therefore these points were at the right angle for the work., which had to go fast to benefit from any momentum the men had gained in rolling the log.
Log loaders had the most dangerous job in the woods after the river drivers.
My source for these guesses is "Tall Trees, Tough Men" by Robert Pike. People who compete in today's woodsmen contests probably know better than I do.

 

[erugs]

Seeing the grubs was it possibly an old trail tool cache or too far from any old/new trail? Although you do need to dig outhouse pits and level areas for a logging camp site.

One time at Grand Monadnock a guy showed me a very rusty rock bar he found far from Pumpelly corridor, he was so excited to have found an antique that he assumed was from the original construction of the trail. I seized it from him and returned it to the ranger who I knew it belonged to so he could stash it back in his hiding spot. In the past I have had more than one cache going and managed to lose track of a spot.

I can vouch for that - lost a tool past the stream crossing on the East Pond Trail from the Kanc side last year.

Just wondering - did you grab the tool and run or 'splain yourself?

 

[Fisher Cat]

I can only attest to FJ's uncanny sixth sense that leads him to these places. It is a wonder to watch.

The mattocks are definitely smaller in dimension to anything you find today, but once you pick one up you cannot believe how heavy they are. They are much heavier and one can only imagine the shoulders that put them into motion.

 

[Andrew]

I can vouch for that - lost a tool past the stream crossing on the East Pond Trail from the Kanc side last year.

Just wondering - did you grab the tool and run or 'splain yourself?

He was reluctant at first, but after explaining it was truly someones active property that taking amounted to theft of, he understood.

I got to wondering why we so often find these abandoned tools in the woods, keeping in mind that hard working men are very difficult to seperate from thier tools. Many things make sense such as camp goods or heavy machinery that break down and just can't be gotten. I'm sure there may be many accounts from historical writings that would give some answers; was the pace under the like of bosses of Henry so fast that it was more efficient to cut and run and not pack out, or did a storm suddenly drive the men never to return- or bury all evidence under too much snow to bother to find again.

I know a friend who used to cut pulp in the Pemi before the highyway and before he was shipped off to fight in Vietnam. I asked him one day which was the most miserable and grueling, his answer came quickly and easily that he would have taken Vietnam anyday over the toil of the Pemi.

 

[RoySwkr]

He was reluctant at first, but after explaining it was truly someones active property that taking amounted to theft of, he understood.

Surely removing antiques is also illegal on Monadnock

I used to cache a shovel on my section of LT/AT and instead of using one of my old shovels that someone might think was an antique bought a new one with a plastic handle, it was only found once and apparently used digging at that mudhole

I got to wondering why we so often find these abandoned tools in the woods, keeping in mind that hard working men are very difficult to seperate from thier tools. Many things make sense such as camp goods or heavy machinery that break down and just can't be gotten.

A well-known young forester and I once found a logging camp site in Baxter Park that had not just old tools but also what were apparently packages of new crosscut blades. My guess is that camp was temporarily left idle and then just never reoccupied.

 

[Sunshine Chris]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing all that great information and pics. I love learning about our past.

 

[Dave Bear]

Creag, Sometimes when rolling logs on a log brow you draw the small end around with the peavy to keep it rolling square to the intended load. A sharper angled hook like the top one in the photo is an advantage at this. Other than that method you would use the pike to stall your end while the other gent in the crew rolled forward. Plenty of oppurtunities to get hurt or damage the tool. Sometimes a tool would be cast aside with a damaged handle waiting to be rehung.

 

[Jason Berard]

Very cool find! Thanks for sharing.