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Many moons ago whilst living out of the old Mr. Emily log'n camp in eastern Oregon, I was cutt'n timber for a man known as R.W. He resided on a little ranch near a place called Cove. I was the last man standing – that is – last timber cutter on the job and he was the cat skinner. Anyway, we are out to lunch together and one day he fessed up to a crime of sorts the fall before. Like they say, "confession is good for the soul" - so they say. The story continued. Lots of elk would come down in the...
Yup the climate has changed all right. Think of what it was like back when Eastern Montana was a swamp. The proof is in the dinosaur bones found there. All that goes back to the great flood of Noah’s day. Course we can deny that too. Twerent no cars or planes back then….hmmm. We now have a 29-year-old expert telling us we have 12 years to save the planet. We’re doomed. Personally, I think it’s laughable. If we did away with trucks, store shelves would look like a third world country in no time. Or like Venezuela eating our pets. All these s...
SEELEY LAKE – As I was reading about the Newspaper Association Contest in the June 13 issue, the judges said the story about the elusive Bigfoot won for “originality and imagination.” Sounds like they thought it was a made up story. That story was true. In fact all my stories are true. I hate fiction! But I do change some of the names to protect the innocent....
Ya hear a lot these days about bullying in schools. Nothing new under the sun. There was a lot of us who went through it. Some older boys and girls are just plain mean. And tweren't raised right either. Along the back trails of my memories there was a family from the coal mines of Pennsylvania. The Dad had black lung. They ended up as far as their old jalopy would take'em, right at a dilapidated, run down homestead shack owned by a Mennonite farmer. They just moved right in with what little...
Won't be long now many will be look'n to head on down some trail. There's noth'n quite like it - horses and mules and good company. Many moons ago Will Kats and Paul Ossowski and I headed for the Chinese Wall. From Owl Creek to the Pendent and then down the Holbrook to Murphy's Flats. Anyway, while rid'n down the Holbrook, Paul was rid'n the mustang Shadow I'd sold him. This here horse would stop at a mud hole and try and drink. Seems like where he came from in Wyoming, he never saw a real...
Back in the day when I was a lad and ol’ Shep was a pup, if anyone got angry and said something off color, most grown ups would say “watch your language!!!” or threaten to wash our mouths with soap. However, just up the road from the old homestead where we lived was another homestead where two older brothers lived. I can still see them with the team and bobsled heading for the timber to get wood. The older one named John would demean the younger one and cuss at him til the air was blue. Taking the name of the Lord time and time again. It did s...
Everywhere I went this last winter seems like everyone sez "Are you tired of winter yet?" Ya, I guess the older I get the more I long for spring. At about the 21st of March, the red, red robin came bob bobbin along (wishful think'n) snow banks everywhere. Of course the humble chickadee and the upside down Nuthatch were with us all winter. I've fed'em. I see'um sneak in the barn a lot. Some Grosbeaks showed up after the salt by the back steps. Why? I have no idea. There has been bunches of Pine S...
Every spring followers of The Way celebrate the risen Christ. “Up from the grave He arose!” so the old hymn tells us. And I believe it. Should one of the two greatest events in human history be shared with Peter Rabbit? I’ve been around the woods a long time and I’ve never seen a rabbit lay eggs. Just say’n. Ya know, leading up to the Lord Jesus overcoming death, let’s think about His awful suffering. The agony in the garden, the betrayal, mock trial, the crown of thorns, the scourging, nails driven through His hands and feet, trying to b...
This past winter we had some normal cold spells. It's winter in Montana folks. Watching the TV and to hear the weather people ramble on you'd think we lived in the Arctic. Oh, that's right all the ice is melting up there. Those folks spend most of their working days go'n from a heated house to a heated car, to a heated workplace. Those who log or work over in North Dakota know what hardship in the workplace is, don't ya see? I can remember a couple of bad ones. Many moons ago I was working over...
Cutt'n timber all over the country you get to see and hear some things that you'll never forget. On that burn over at the North Fork of the Blackfoot where me and Elden Rammell were sentenced to cut, a sorta comical comment from a dude sticks in my mind. I was falling along an old road and here comes an outfitter out for a day ride with a bunch of dudes. Not wanting to scare the ponies, I sat on a stump to let them pass. I guess I was a sorry look'n sight, black from one end to the other. The...
Sometimes because of my log’n days, I wake at 3-4 in the morning. I just lay there think’n about the body of Christ. Here in America we have thus far such freedoms – a good life style, for the most part, and go to church of Saturday or Sunday, depending on your persuasion or denomination or non-denomination. When people ask me what religion I am, I tell them I’m a follower of the Way – I get funny looks from many. Christians in a lot of foreign countries who suffer terribly for Christ may think Americans are playing church. Pastors in those...
Can’t remember if I told this here story many moons ago or not, so here goes. Me and Butch was cut’n timber near Haines, Alaska. When we quit the job we decided to drive down the Alaska Highway. Haines Junction was the first stop in the Yukon Territory. The place, in them there days, looked like a frontier town. I inquired where the bank was and was pointed to a Chevy van across the way. Not wanting to ask too many questions, over we went. Yup, there both side doors open and set’n behind a card table with money in little stacks was the bank...
Many moons ago we lived for a spell in the old Mount Emily railroad logging camp near Starkey, Ore., not far from Ukiah. Anyway, I was cutt'n timber up the Grande Ronde River. It paid 57 cents a log – we had to hustle. We ended up near an old gold mine. The lumber from the camp had long been packed away. Except for one. It was the house of ill repute. I guess no one wanted to admit whatever they rebuilt with it where the lumber came from. The road was maintained by the Forest Service. Every t...
We’d have to be marooned on a deserted island or live in a hellhole like North Korea to not know the great Billy Graham passed away. Of all his preaching the one thing I remember most was how it changed the life of one native. I was at a men’s retreat and listened to a man whose testimony was so striking you’d never forget it. His mother left him as an infant on his grandmother’s porch and walked away. Raised without a father or mother, his best friend became John Barleycorn. Passed out on his couch after a drinking spree, he later woke staring...
A strange event once took place near the northern California town of Burney. It happened in the Shasta Trinity National Forest, the town's claim to fame was Bigfoot and was sure to be found there. The helicopter logging outfit I worked for was logg'n near there and on the cutt'n crew was a wild, free spirit named Jack. Anyway, he somehow got a bigfoot suit and decided he'd scare one of the other cutters up on the side hill. Having stuffed the crazy suit into his knapsack when they flew him up to...
My first trip to the great land, many moons ago, took me to Haines, Alaska. There to cut timber for an outfit called Alaska Forest Products. And Leo Smith was in charge of us out there on the Lynn Canal. Me and Butch stayed out there in a plywood shack. Leo's D-6 was barged there and a huge arch dragged the logs out on low tide and rafted to the mill. There was his supply trailer and sez Leo, "That's my 30-06 if the bears bother you." He rode his boat from town everyday. So one weekend we...
Many moons ago, when I lived on the Summit, Beaver Creek drainage was my main haunt. Got to know it, like they say, like the back of my hand. So one fine September day, MC and me, you remember M.C. whose castle was a Eucalyptus tree, decided to bow hunt up near Gray Wolf Lake. Anyway, early in the morning we packed up at the trailhead. I was pack'n Ol' Buck mule and rid'n Honest Abe mule. As we were leaving MC sez "my fish pole." Now against my better judgment I let him shove it into the top of...
Many moons ago, before computers took away good men's jobs, Allen Chaffin read the meters around the area. We'd have a talk whenever he caught me at home. He tells me his wife Mildred wanted to convey to me to keep writing, she really enjoyed it. Coming from her it was a great compliment. Anyway, I have her wonderful little book, "Once Upon a Life Time." I wonder it's still in print – such a treasure. If not, someone with the means should get it reprinted. She, like my Mom, came from the p...
While not a complete authority on the Canyon Creek fire in 1988, I was there to cut snags and later me and Elden Rammell were sentenced to cut that burned timber. That fire camp there looked like a reunion of retired Forest Service people. I’m sure they donated their time. I’m thankful someone finally admitted that is a “let burn policy.” Apparently the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing because they’re still doing it with most fires. A certain person who “sat” and got paid to look at the Rice Ridge fire told me the state fire...
It was another one of those timber tramps over Idaho way for Columbia Helicopters. Just this side of the grade that goes up to Grangeville, there's a Forest Service road to the left. Up, up through a lot of switchbacks to a big burn they were trying to salvage. Anyway, the cutters were staying in Grangeville, a two and a half hour drive one way. Gett'n up at 3 a.m. cause you had to be on the job at 6 to get flown in. Not me sez I, I'll camp out. The only problem was rattlesnakes abounded....
Back when I was a lad and Shep was a pup, one of my greatest desires was a week camp'n out in the wilderness. And so one summer it came to pass that myself, brother Tom, cousin Snuffy and last but not least was cousin Johnny, a dyed-in-the-wool city slicker, planned our outing. Soon, however, Mom got involved. She sez, "You boys, all under 14 and no adults - You might get lost." I could see it coming. Mom being a lover of the things of old Mother Nature, as she called it, was not about to lose...
On down the highway through Prince George and Vanderhoof, logging trucks appeared, Fraser Lake and Burns Lake. All the way to Prince Rupert seemed like every third rig was a logg’n truck. Motor’n through Smithers, B.C., I spotted a gigantic igloo. It was called Adams igloo, as big as a house. Need’n a break I stopped to investigate. It was closed so I went to the house. “Yes,” the men said “But see’n how you stopped, I’ll open it.” Inside was every mounted animal from Canada. It was impressive. Seems like the ol’ boy was quite a hunter. Come to...
We'll just call him M.C. I don't remember where I met him but his story was quite fascinating. He sez he was living in a eucalyptus tree down California way. Working just enough jobs to keep him in weed and some chow now and then. Let'n the world go by. Anyway, one day as he was smok'n his dope, he heard a chain saw nearby. So climbing down from his castle he found a man cutt'n a dead tree. Upon asking how much he got to cut that tree, the man said 350 dollars. Well, thought M.C., I could do thi...
I started the winter helping plow and shovel – like everyone else. Mostly I hung around then maybe catch another wolf. What's that about the best-laid plans of mice and me? So anyway, I didn't plan on jealous people to sabotage my traps. My only alternative was to call in the game warden who proved to be of little help. I was disappointed to say the least. Not wanting to take matters in my own hands, thus lose my Christian witness, I decided to head for the land of coyotes and cactus – rat...
Many, many moons ago on an early spring day, I ventured forth on one of my many trips to Alaska to cut timber. Up into Canada through Banff I drove singing and rejoicing in the Lord for my new life in Christ. Only those who have experiences this passing from death into life know how I felt. Looking onto those impressive Canadian Rockies reminded me of the last time I drove this way late at night. The stars all shined friendly and then the magnificent aurora – “the dance of the spirits” as the Cree call it. It was a sight to behold it was....
