Kent/Agassiz (John Henry Oliver) – This is the first of three podcasts with longtime Agassiz resident Bunk Mackay discussing his 50 years as a logger. Growing up on Seabird Island, Bunk wanted to be a logger since he was a boy. Photos used courtesy of the Agassiz-Harrison Historical Society, the Agassiz-Harrison Museum, the Fraser Valley Historical Society and various archives.
The Memories book Volume 1 features logging on pages 207 to 219. In this series, Bunk uses numerous logging terms such as picaroon or pickaroon, crummy, springboard, yoke, and corduroy.
Here’s a shortlist of those terms followed by a link to a website with more information. Picaroon: A wood-handled, metal-topped log handling tool. It is distinguished from a pike pole by having a shorter handle, no metal point, and an opposite curve to its hook. Crummy: A vehicle used for crew transportation to and from the woods. Springboard: A block of wood ready to be cut into shingles. Yoke: A wooden beam normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do; some yokes are fitted to individual animals. Corduroy road: Or log road is a type of road or timber trackway made by placing logs, perpendicular to the direction of the road over a low or swampy area.
For a complete list of logging terms, visit… http://www.soperwheeler.com/about-us/…
This is a non-profit project. For more information on historical events in the District of Kent, see http://www.agassizharrisonmuseum.org
