Providing food and lodging for loggers in the early 1900's was not always easy, particularly in remote areas not served by rail. With each logger burning 5,000 calories and more each day, this meant finding a way to get food to the camps daily - and it better be good food or loggers would just pick up their bag and head to the next camp. Setting up a kitchen at each camp was not always practical since camps were moved frequently. The answer, at least until logging railroads were built, was to bring in fresh "cooked" food daily via wagon following the same skid roads used to get timber out.
Photo courtesy Museum of History & Industry and University of Washington Libraries, 1998.10.31, circa 1910's
At least the cooks had umbrellas to keep them dry (and the food dry) when it rained. As logging railroads extended their reach and more permanent camps were built, life for loggers improved immeasurably.
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