Summary
Comments
Excerpts
Logging Activity
Photo Gallery
Teachers
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Summary:
America's logging industry began
almost as soon as the first European settlers stepped ashore, and it remains
a major industry today.
Timberrr… focuses on northern New England, where logging
was vital to colonial survival, and where conflicts arose with Britain
over pines for ships' masts.
Learn how loggers cut trees, transported logs down rivers,
and sawed them into lumber. Eleven colorful vignettes portray the day-to-day
lives of woods workers.
Industrial advancements are introduced. The book concludes
with thought-provoking issues about the future of our forests.
This 128-page history features more than 50 photographs
and drawings, and includes a timeline, a glossary,
and a map.
Comments:
• REVIEW. Booklist, November 15, 2003
.
Gr. 5-8. "Drawing from dozens of sources, [Cowan]
chronicles logging's history and methods... Generously illustrated with
black-and-white photos, ... this will spark or support a plethora of research
projects, as well as give readers a vivid picture of a colorful, now nearly
vanished way of life." John Peters.
Read the complete review.
• from a professional forester in southern Maine:
"You did a great job and I believe it will be very
helpful for children and adults alike to gain an appreciation for logging
in Maine."
• from North Maine Woods Association:
"…it is a great history of New England forests. It
will be a fantastic educational resource for elementary aged students!"
Excerpts:
from Chapter 1, "Trees Everywhere!"
New England colonists found a wide variety of
evergreens and deciduous trees. It was, however, the white pine, pinus
strobus, that drew their attention. You cannot miss pine trees. They
dominate the landscape wherever they grow. … To the colonists, those pine
trees were monstrous, much larger than any trees they had ever seen. …
Cutting and moving those pines was a mammoth undertaking.
… Settlers who learned to harvest that timber became America's first lumbermen
and river drivers.
from vignette, "A Day in the Life of
a Mast Logger"
Two choppers are going at it, in perfect rhythm—CHOP-back,
CHOP-back. Chips fly through the air. Soon the men scramble off to the
side, yelling "TIMBERRR!" Slowly, the mighty pine tilts, then falls with
a thunderous roar. … "Yaa-hoooo!" everyone roars, jumping around and swearing
a blue streak. "By cracky," roars Clem, "she's sound! The last nine or
ten sticks were hollow t' the core."
from vignette, "A Day in the Life of
a Chopper"
It's 5:00 A.M. "ROLL OUT!" the cookee yells into
the bunkhouse. You, and dozens of others, groan. But if you don't get up,
Moose will be blazin' mad. He's the head chopper and he means to cut wood.
…
"Don't bother to splash your face this mornin'," you yell
to the others. "There's thick ice in the pail again."
from Chapter 9, "Managing Our Forests
Today"
Gone are the old-time loggers and river drivers.
Gone are the oxen and horses and log haulers. … Today, trees are harvested
by huge machines—feller-bunchers, skidders, and cut-to-length harvesters.
…
We know a lot more about managing forests than we did
a century ago. … Forest management involves much more than trees. It involves
listening to public interests and concerns as well. There is much to learn.
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