Hard Hat Junction - Ken Swanstrom

Can a chainsaw evoke memories?

I know, helluva subject when there are bombings and shootings and fuel prices and a whole list of subjects that should be on the docket.  Instead of talking about an old, oily yellow piece of pot metal with a starter rope.

At the MLA’s 50th party in Butte earlier this year - I flashed a photo of a young me holding a large heavy saw - mostly to show how much change can take place in 50 years on a human.   Putting that photo into the slide show has brought about some memories since then and I will share a few with you today.

1975 saw me actually round up enough grades to graduate from high school in Kalispell.  A miracle of sorts!  July that summer I turned 18 and was legally employed in the woods for Clyde Smith. Starting at the absolute bottom, as a knot bumper on the landing. Basically, a slave to the loader operator and the cat skinners.

That fall, one of the many sawyers that was camping at Boisverts asked me if I wanted a saw in a box.  Had a ruined piston and cylinder.  Boisverts was a mecca for all the loggers working west of Kalispell. Cabins, camping, food and beer.  Ernie Tarbert was the man's name and I had gotten to know him at Boisverts after work.  The saw in the box was a Super Pro 125 McCulloch - I couldn't say yes fast enough! 

They were a big heavy (24lbs) powerful saw made in the early 70s.  As soon as I had saved some scratch and got a commitment from Dad that he would pitch in on this joint venture, I packed my box full of parts into Kalispell McCulloch and by then I already had a relationship with Aaron Quade, the mechanic.  As dad and I had been in that shop lots. Aaron instantly had a gleam in his eye and was making plans for this saw, right away.

Aaron got to shopping for parts that week and soon had located an 8 cubic inch go cart piston and cylinder for it - a half cubic inch upgrade.   Well, geez, what young lad could say no to that?  McCulloch had been a big player in the go cart scene in the 1960s.

Somehow money was saved and the bill got paid at the Mac shop and two months later I walked out the door with this large yellow saw.  My dad had been building on the family log home, right there on McGregor Lake for years and by 1975 there was still plenty to do. He bought the original model Alaskan chainsaw mill guide to mill boards with that saw. Dad and I were logging then and buying stumpage from Champion.  We would drag out a nice big Ponderosa snag and he would go to milling while I continued falling trees and skidding. I would guess a couple afternoons a week were dedicated to milling. He was making the door and window jams, the stairway and a large kitchen table.  He milled all that stuff quite thick and Ponderosa was perfect for that.      

This photo shows what our work truck looked like going home.

All told I have no idea how many hours that thing worked at making boards. 

February of 1980 saw my dad and myself without work.  That was a tough year and Champion Timberlands pulled way back on their plans. We had to sell our skidder.  I fell back on my old standby breakup survival tactic of going back to Wisconsin and helping my cousin on his farm.

Good food and a roof!!   His parents also farmed, but about 20 miles away. Both families had dairy cows and I liked the milking chores. That fall, a friend of my cousin said a sawmill at Lacrosse, Wisconsin was looking for a sawyer in the woods, felling trees.  I couldn't make that call fast enough!

An arrangement was made to interview for the job. How many of you have ever sat down for woods job interview in an office?  His name was Glenn Werner and he was a very nice and knowledgeable fella. Webster Lumber Co was the mill and they primarily cut railroad ties and treated them, from the prettiest hardwood logs you've ever seen.

I had brought a couple saws and my tool belt and tape to Wisconsin as there was lots of firewood cutting for both families, so saws were needed.   Glen had lots of good questions that I could answer with confidence. He told me on the spot that I had the job and that he would accompany me to the job and spend a couple days with me down in the woods.  Also, would show me the boarding room where I could stay.  Turns out the job was in Minnesota, in basically the breaks along the Mississippi River.

The job was on farmer owned timberland. Corn fields on top and timber down into the breaks and coulees.  Incredible hardwoods.  Red and White Oak, Shagbark Hickory, Black Cherry and several more hardwood species.  Glenn told me that Webster Lumber had 9 of these two-man teams working all over.   I would fall the trees and scribe them where they fell with my Husqvarna and leave it down in the woods. Then at the end of the day I cut up the day’s work with that big heavy yellow saw, up in the frozen corn field.  

I had a room at the boarding house in Plainview MN.  Small farm town of 2,000 folks. Glenn introduced me to the 80-yr old owner lady when she came to the porch.  She told me the rental rate and looked me in the eye and said “Sonny those work boots of yours will never come past this porch, take them off rite here!”  You just don't forget things like that. Nice warm room with a big steam register for heat.  After a few weeks there, I learned the town had a city owned tavern.  Was the only tavern, so they got all the business!   The bartender told me he was a city employee and all the profits went to city projects, which is cool. Over the course of the winter, talking to this man he knew where I was working over by the river and what I was doing.

About the middle of April, when it started warming up, he asked me one night “seen any Rattlers down in there yet?”.   Apparently, there are Timber Rattlers down in there and I had been crawling over rocks and ledges and I had no idea.   I called Glenn the next day and said I'm sorry Glenn but I'm outta here - no snakes for me! 

So, when I sat down at my table in Butte, this spring after my slideshow thing,

Keith Olson says to me - remember when you cut Gov. Ted Schwindens steak with a saw?  Another show Olson had dreamed up at the Outlaw Inn - involving a roadkill deer, I believe. 

That's right, my big ole yellow McCulloch again! 

And yes, I still have it and I make sure and start it once a year and cut a couple blocks of firewood.  Turns out an old free saw can stir up some memories.