What
was a logger’s lifestyle?
What was it like 100 years ago to be a
lumberjack in the forests of the Northwest?
Loggers worked and lived in logging
camps located deep in the forests. They lived in the logging camps all
year.
Loggers slept
in a bunkhouse. Men who were married
could leave the logging camp on Saturday evening to spend the night at home,
and return to the camp on Sunday.
Sometimes a
logger’s wife worked at the logging camp, too.
She may have worked as a waitress or a cook in the cookhouse.
The men who were not married could not leave
the camp until payday. When the forest around a logging camp was cleared, the
loggers left that camp behind and moved on to new forests and a new camp in
which to live. Many stayed at a logging
camp for only a few days or weeks.
During
the workweek, loggers had a 9:00 curfew. At 9:00, the lights were out and
the loggers went to bed.
On Saturday nights they stayed awake and
told stories, sang songs, or played cards. 
Sometimes
they danced jigs and reels. The lighting of the bunkhouses was
usually so poor that it was almost impossible to read.
Saturday
nights were also a time to sharpen their tools and do their laundry.
Sunday was always a day of rest.
Life
as a worker in logging camps was hard.
The log bunkhouses
where loggers lived were heated only by one stove in the middle
of the room. Loggers slept in their
clothing on narrow bunks with straw for mattresses. They had to put up with bugs in
their beds.
They all shared one washbasin and
drinking water barrel.
There
were no baths or showers in the camps.
The only pieces of furniture they had to rest on were hard wooden
benches or their bunks. Most meals were eaten in the dining hall. They worked at least 10 hours
a day. Usually they worked even in rain, snow, and freezing cold.
There were no roads around Lake
Whatcom in 1900.
The only way
that loggers and their families could travel to town and back was by steamboat. There were
three steamboats that traveled up and down the lake, every day.
The
steamboat “REGIE” made two round trips to Silver Beach every day. The trip up or down the lake took about two
hours. The REGIE left Park at 7:30 a.m. and arrived at Silver Beach at 9:30
a.m. The second REGIE trip of the day left Park at 2:00 p.m. and arrived at
Silver Beach at 3:45 p.m.
From Silver Beach,
passengers who wanted to continue on to New Whatcom rode the streetcar.
Loggers who lived at the south end of Lake
Whatcom didn’t get to town very often. It took hours to
travel from the south end of the lake to New Whatcom, Sehome or Fairhaven. A
trip to town was only for an important reason, such as a visit to the doctor or
dentist, or for a very special occasion.
Passengers
who wanted to travel to Wickersham from Park could ride the Regie Stagecoach
three miles through the woods. The
Regie Stagecoach left Park bound for Wickersham every day at 12:00 noon. The return trip of the stagecoach left
Wickersham at 1:00 p.m. daily to connect at Park with the steamer REGIE, for
its 2:00 p.m. run up the lake to Silver Beach.
Image Credit: Microsoft
ClipArt Gallery
Black and white
historical photos are courtesy of the Galen Biery Historical Collection, Whatcom Museum of History and Art