Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Tuesday TwitterdeeFLUMES



I'm not exactly singing "Hallelujah's" this morning, but I am feeling a giant sense of relief. 


Seems the 24-Hour "News Circus" and its abundance of ridiculous side shows do not influence ALL the minds in this country, and that realization to me on this "morning after" is a good thing.


Yay, to Iowa citizens, for not swallowing all the garbage we've seen dribbling out of the mouths of numerous political circus stars via cable news throughout the endless lead-up to yesterday's caucuses.  


Before anyone gets irate about the comments above, please know that I am one of those voters who hasn't the slightest idea whose name will get my X in November.  Seems from talking to friends,  I'm not alone either. 


I do know, however, that some candidates did get a taste of humble pie yesterday, and I'm glad.  


Plus, I may not have to move to Ireland just yet.  We'll see what the next few weeks and months bring. The option's always open.   


That said, I shall move on to this Groundhog Day.  Why are some declaring it a holiday?

  
Seems I've seen that characterization on TV and in several Facebook posts, with cautionary comments about being careful "while staying home from work or school on this holiday." 

Is this a result of the 24-Hour News Circus where if you hear it often enough, it eventually becomes true?


Anyway, it looks like a fairly nice day here, and I think we North Idahoans don't pay much attention to whether or not the groundhog sees its shadow in Pennsylvania.  We get what we get and live with it the best we can. 


On this Groundhog Day, both Bill and I will be staying home and trying to be careful, but not because of a holiday.  It's because of the new normal where Bill doesn't take off at the same time to go to work every morning.


And, since that's the case, and I know that he now has more time on his hands, I'm posting a video, which I saw on a Facebook friend's page yesterday. 


My longtime horse friend, Leslie Jachetta of Priest River, has a deep-rooted interest in the video because of all her relatives who worked for Diamond Lumber Co. When I saw the word "amazing" used in reference to the video, I was hooked from start to finish. 


After watching for about 14 minutes, all I could think was that Bill was gonna love this if he'd never seen it before.  


Plus, I think anyone who has an interest in logging, which drove the economy in North Idaho during a major part of the Twentieth Century, would enjoy the production. 

The video is pretty basic in its narration but very informative as it takes us back to the days when lumberjacks and those associated with the logging industry made up a large percentage of our work force. 


As a lead-in to this video filmed by amateur photographer and diesel mechanic Ralph Morrow in the 1940s, I'm also including a couple of paragraphs from a story written by Michael Brodwater for the Spokesman-Review newspaper July, 25, 2010.  


http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/jul/25/evidence-of-logging-past/


This isn’t about effects of modern logging but rather a time when axes, springboards, two-man cross saws, flumes, splash dams, steam boats/locomotives/donkeys and horses were used. By means of what we would call primitive equipment huge trees from old growth forests were harvested. Looking at historic photos, the logging of just one of the massive trees and transporting it to a far-off mill was a major undertaking. It seems that many who worked in the woods lived up to the legendary Paul Bunyan and his blue ox.

The many streams and lakes in the area were used for the transportation of logs because there were no roads. Getting the logs out of the mountains was accomplished by horse, flumes, or something called a splash dam. Flumes were built to send logs downhill like a water slide from a wooden dam upstream or creek. Horse-drawn logs were skidded to the staging area at the flume. They were then rolled onto the flume with a hand tool called a peevee. Water was released and the logs were sent one at a time to a lake or river. Either a mill was built there and the milled wood was barged out or the logs were tied together and towed down the lake by way of a steam powered tugboat which burned wood.


Logging was done this way along Indian Creek on Priest Lake. A 3-mile wooden flume with a dam 3 miles upstream was used to send logs down to a mill owned by Diamond Lumber Company. The mill is long gone and the land is now part of Priest Lake State Park and Indian Creek Campground. There is a short section of a replica of the flume displayed in the campground. But there are parts of the original flume scattered along the creek. Farther upstream, the dam still is recognizable. Up the east shore at Priest Lake and north of Indian Creek is the state park group camp. The buildings were and are still used as a dormitory and kitchen. 

Hope you and Bill enjoy the film as much as I did. 









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