oe ihe bubble didn’t st, though. By the early: 1960's Sande arid ther small apathtars were in
trouble: Sande v was ‘forced. to close his mill i in’ 1965: due’ to an. insufficient: supply. of timber. Prior to that,

behind, jimmy ¢ didn’t like what they were doing in-the Kitimat valley, but it wag the only decent work *
available i in the area and the money wasn’t bad.

4 - “Crown Zellerbach and MacMillan Bloedel had been granted timber licences i in ‘the Kitimat
Valley in 1 1912, and following the Alcan development i in the valley i in ‘the 1950's they began. tapping
that resource inearnest inthe 1960's. Ss: ce

‘Neither Jimmy or his father fully blamed the two companies, The “fibre slaughter”, as Lars
called it, was “symptomatic of the times”. They province had given Crown Zellerbach and Mac-Blo
the “wholesale” timber licences because, in the first place, the timber up here wasn't worth
much anyway, and in the second place they wanted to encourage investment and. .
growth inv the north. . |

But there were no timé frames or limits to what they could cut, with the
exception they were not allowed to cut any timber that was not mature when
the licence was granted. And there was nothing that said any silviculture work
‘was required after the timber was cut. The two companies were free to clearcut
the valley the day the licences were granted, or 200 years later. It didn’t. matter.

And they didn’t have to replant-a single tree.

‘So over a period of about 10 years, much of the valley was “slaugh-
tered” in ‘the most economical possible way and every stick of wood that was.
cut was sent south to provide jobs in lower mainland pulp and sawmills.

“And I wasa part of that,” Jimmy shook his head sadly,

“It was wrong,” Lars agreed. “But most people didn’t.see it that way =
at the time. Most people saw it as jobs. They gave no thought to the number”
of jobs that were.actually being shipped south with those millions of logs. Most
people saw it as jobs and never gave any thought to the long-term damage to
the environment,”

_ , Jimmy shuddered at the thought of environmental damage. Most of the
logging was done in the winter, on roads of packed ice and snow, and there was

‘little harm done. Logging was done year round in “dryer” sites, though.
Jimmy could remember the roads well, two foot deep ruts in the mud of
the silty soil... dragging logging trucks through the mire with cats. a
“Tt, was an experience, dad,” Jimmy said. “But my real”
_ problem began more recently. When I bought

the million dollar grapple yarder...”

“Go ahead son,” Lars .
invited. ‘Tm all ears.”