GING BOOK ON B.C.

“you can look out almost
ny window in British
Pdumbia and see logging in
the very shape of the land-
scape, but you can search B.C.
Jibraries in vain for a book on

logging.” an
This sorry situation
respecting the nation’s leading

industry is one the new maga-
zine on B.C. coast history,
Raincoat Chronicles, sets out
to rectify.

One is immediately relieved
by the approach — contempo-
rary, fully conscious, but free
of ecological drum-beating.
The writers of these vivid
essays and reminiscences
tackle their subject with an
unburdened sense of adventure.
and genuine admiration for the
old style logger, ‘‘a  true-
breeding North American
species that evolved through
300 years of lonely and brutal
confrontation with the conti-
nent’s wilderness, to be
swallowed in the end by the
civilizing tide that followed
him west.”’

The lead article, written by
logger-author Pete Trower of
Gibsons, offers a sweeping
panorama of the industry’s
development, from its begin-
nings amid ox teams and bull-
punchers ‘“‘who drove their
charges to exert themselves
with a goad-stick and a ready

repertoire of thunderous cuss-
words,” clear through to the
steel spars and trackloaders of
the present day.

Trower moves swiftly over a
zone of vast change, but moves
with sure understanding, and
little that is colourful or
significant is missed. There
are the mile-long log chutes,
setting logs afire with friction,
the vertical spool steam
donkeys and wise line horses
that wore cork boots and ate
with the crew, and the first
spar trees, which were climbed

via stairways of springboards,

instead of spurs. Booms ‘to
barges, oxen to helicopters —
old loggers not accustomed to
thinking of the trade as having
any special logic or direction

will be amazed by the sense it -

all makes in retrospect.

The remaining articles focus
on separate aspects of the
logging story. Scott Lawrance
offers a lucid rundown on the
famous old Climaxes and
Shays of the railroad days and
former trucker Frank White,
in a tour-de-force of real logger
language, recalls the one-log
loads and melted brakedrums
of the early trucking shows. A
second article by Trower opens
the bunkhouse door for a look
at the booze, bruises and bore-
dom of old style camp life.
There are four surprisingly

1-367 SCHOLARSHIPS

The officers of Local 1-367

IWA Haney, have announced:

the rules for High School
‘students interested in applying
for the Annual Scholarships
awarded by the Local Union.

The Local -awards $200.00 -

Scholarships each year to a top
Student on an academic course

and a top student on a
vocational course.
To be eligible for a

Scholarship a student must be:

(a) Enrolled in a High School
within the geographical area
Covered by Local 1-367, ,I.W.A.

(b) A legal dependent of a
member of Local 1-367, or a
ri of Local 1-367 of the

tai Have completed Grade

Applicants will be judged on
the basis of scholastic ability

and academic achievement. -
Applicants applying for the .

Academic Scholarship will be
judged on the marks received
on their written Government
Exams. :
Deadline: Completed ap-
plication forms for these
scholarships must be received
by the Financial Secretary of
Local 1-367, I.W.A. on or before
May 30th, 1973. :
Application forms are
available from the High
Schools within the boundaries
of I.W.A., Local 1-367 or by
writing to the Financial
Secretary Local 1-367, I.W.A.,
Maple Ridge, B.C. (22558
Lougheed Highway).

Pioneer makes things easier
for the professional with the
Super 3270

,

15% more power to weight
than the first 3270.
50% quieter, too.

ern Pioneer Chain Saw Sales
rall St., Vancouver — 684-1822

fine logger ballads, the real - <3 :

story of North Vancouver’s 417-
foot fir tree, and a grating
encounter with Baker, an
ornery old gyppo in Knight’s
Inlet remembered by prize-
winning logger playwright
John Kelly. The volume is
rounded out by ‘‘Marryin and
Barryin Logger Style,”
humourous recollections of a
wedding where the bride wore
cork boots and a funeral where
the headstone was a whiskey
bottle, from the famed sea-
going parson, the late Canon:
Alan Greene.

In addition to the usual
dramatic logging photographs
the book is elaborately illus-
trated with ink sketches and
paintings, and the skillful use
of off-white paper and brown
inks makes it as reviewer
Homer Hogan has said, ‘‘a
work of art from beginning to

x

end.’ Itis the sort of treatment
B.C. history has- received all
too rarely.

Raincoat Chronicles is
produced with a little help
from the Local Initiatives
Program by the B.C. Coast
Historical Society, Box 119,
Madeira Park, B.C. The two
previous issues (now unavail-

March, 1973 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER eee ts

able) dealt. with such subjects
as B.C. coast whaling, the
artist Paul Kane, lighthouses,
towboating and rum running,
while upcoming issues promise
articles on coastal ghost towns,
the Victoria sealing trade, and
the fishing industry. Copies are
$1.75 at your book dealer,
subscriptions $4.00 for four
issues from the publisher.

| theSecreto
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Now brewed under licence in British Columbia.

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