Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 6, 1992 — Page B3

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May 4-11, 199

our forests

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Kone 4a

porabeditiaab —

| INSIDE

Let
sanity.
reign,
Page B4

Women

in the

know,
Page BS

Smoke

eaters,

Page B6

‘Red Sand,

green

thumbs,

Page B7

In clover,
Page B7

large and one of a kind?
.No,- not Big Bird, it’s Big
Bertha, the name given to the
- only. remaining portable log spar
__ of its type:
..-Big Bertha came to Terrace by
rail in 1952 but when it was un-
loaded, it sank 3 feet in the mud
* dte to its massive weight of 50
tons, Hence, the name bestowed
‘2 Upon it,
- Long before diesel and gas
“cowere considered for use in a spar,
‘the Tyee Machinery Company of
“the United States built four ma-
chines like Big Bertha for use in
* Oregon, Washington and Terrace.
“This. innovative machine — in-
““eorporated many of the working
‘parts involved in, spar set-up in a
“single machine.

“Bark Ellis worked more than 40
: years in woods-related jobs and
“has seen many changes in that
“time. Av logging foreman when
Big Bertha arrived, he recalls
“many of the problems experi-
scenced in trying to get this new
machine. to perform the way it
Was Supposed to.

Just gelting Big Bertha to a
“working site was very trying. The
‘machine was so heavy that-it
cided. to want to topple as it was
‘moved over the crown of the
road. Eventually, with the use of
“a 20 foot by 20 foot timber mat
‘under Big Bertha to prevent sink-
‘ing, the equipment was ready lo
‘be used as a lew spar.

~<A spar is basically a tall struc-
ure to which are. altached cables
‘and | rigging used to haul logs in
“from:a.falling site, Before. stecl
towers or machinery were used, a

would. be erected to which pul-
~ leys Were altached and cables ran.

yarded because of the higher. lift.

Bertha, placed in the tall barrel

~ Stories
oe by
a Terri Elkiw

portion of the structure,
‘One .of the .most~ difficult

SHORT CAREER. Big Bertha v was impressive to look at and created quite a stir when she arrived here aspece of sett up Big Bertha,
in 1952, However, aut in the bush the then-latest word in portable log spar proved a frustrating addi- @ccoreing to Ellis, was tryiig to

tlon to the logging show. After only weeks of painfully slow progress at her first job, the 50 ton find aa suitable ree to reo ie by

ee nel,

behemoth was unceremoniuosly given a very early retirement. Rescued from a former gravel pitonthe - 3 9.4 trees before getting ‘the
west side of the Kalum in 1985, the grand old lady was given a fresh coat of paint and a place. of... “right one, ‘With ihe insertion of

‘honour. opposite. the Tourism: information Centre at the eastern: entrance - to. town, bs

3 National Forest Week

f your future!
iant in logging history ©

What is bright yellow, very |

“thee between 90. and 120 feet:
The taller the tree, the further the
area (hat could be more safcly ©

A75 foot tree was used on Big -

“3, the tree, ‘Big Bertha low became:

Meak dX MLAGL o
. wtoate

a self-contained spar.

Once Big Bertha was set up it
took 6 or 7 men to work the area
being cleared. The hook tender
was the person responsible for all .
phases of the job and site; an
engiticer was required to keep the
machine running: the rigging
slinger spotted ar checked the rig-
ging aud was responsible for the
safety of the chokermen; the 2 or
3 chokermen ‘did the bull work
such as attaching logs to the rig-
ging; and a chaser unhooked the
logs as they arrived at the land-
ing. A spar could be. set up to
work a site extending as much a
700 - 900 from the landing, the
sport from which the logs were
hauled away by truck.

One of the most frustrating
delays in working on Big Bertha
was the frequency with which
work had to be stopped in order
to tighten the guy wires or cables,
It was this failing as much as any
that resulted in abandoning use of
the equipment, After four or five
weeks of -frustration, only one-
half of a trec had been yarded,
that is, only half the area able to
be cleared in a single spar set-up.

The gray hulk of Big Bertha
was hauled away from the West
Kalum site and left standing at a
former gravel pit. It rested there
from 1952 to 1985 with trces

. growing around it, Ellis jokes that

it might have been easier to find a
tree to fil Big Bertha if they’d
tried growing one inside it,

The Terrace logging industry
returned to using tree spars and
fo new . innovations = were
forthcoming until the mid-1960s
with the introduction of the fore-
runnerto the steel towers now in
use, Despite the difficulties en-
countered with moving and sct-
ting up Big -Bertha and keeping

‘the cables taut, the machine per-

formed well when working and
no doubt inspired future inven-
tiveness in spar design,

In 1985. Dave Ritchie, of
Ritchie - Bros. Auctions, con-
vinced Terrace of Big ‘Bertha’s
significance in the history of log-
ging and resurrected the machine.

-Big.. Bertha was cleaned and

painted and moved to its present
location on Highway 16, across
from: the’. ‘Tourist “Tnforntation