Black Diamond NOW

Feller Bunchers - Then & Now

While driving along SR 410 just east of Greenwater, I recently ran across a logging operation clearcutting a site right next to the highway.  Always curious, I found a parking spot just down the road, grabbed my camera and went back to see what equipment they were using.  Not surprisingly, I found two Feller Bunchers and a couple of Knuckleboom loaders.  The trees were already down and a single swing loader was being used to sort and pile logs for loading logging trucks that will soon take them away.

In case you were not aware, Feller Bunchers have long been used in northwest logging.  It's just that they looked a little different back in the day.  Here's an earlier generation of Feller Bunchers:

Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 1943.42.20572, Asahel Curtis photographer, circa 1911

The above photo shows a logging crew employed by McDougal & Billideau felling a douglas firs at a site near Landsburg.  All they needed were a couple of spring boards, a sharp "misery whip", a couple of axes and two loggers - fueled by about 6,000 calories a day each.  In no time (maybe a day or so), this timber would be lying on the ground, ready for trimming branches and bucking into lengths suitable for transport by teams of horses or oxen -  felled and bunched, in other words..

Photo courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 1977.61.2, Darius Kinsey photographer, circa 1906

A crew of two and another 12,000 calories later, "bunching" for transport might be complete.

Here's are photo's of the two Feller Bunchers being used this last week.

Talk about a great place to work.  Covered cabs with heat and air conditioning too.  The scenery isn't bad here either.

These Feller Buncher machine operators don't even need to get out of their comfortable chairs.  Depending on the machine head configuration being used, they can fell whole trees, buck them to length and trim the branches - and probably log onto the internet too?  There are several types of cutting heads that can be used on these machines - disk saws, bar saws (much like a chainsaw) and shears.

At maturity, trees today are no longer so big - not like the old growth timber in the age of yore.  That, coupled with today's technology, sure makes logging safer and far more efficient these days.  Next week, I'll look at Knuckleboom Swing Loaders - then and now.

Pile Bridges - Medieval Engineering in Northwest Logging

Building logging railroads in the northwest in the early days was no easy task.  Virtually no timberlands in the Cascades or Olympics are flat and  stream beds had a way of eroding into canyons or gorges that must be crossed to get from one logging site to the next.  One solution to crossing these canyons was to borrow engineering from the Romans of medieval times and build Pile Bridges.

Image courtesy Library of Congress, circa 1914

The pile bridge shown above was built by the English Logging Railway near Mt. Vernon and advertised at the time as being the highest pile bridge in the world at 119 feet.  Pile bridges use long poles typically made of wood (piles) as the structural foundation that are hammered into the ground.  Piles are hammered until the grip or friction is sufficient to hold the load of the bridge, and in this case the locomotive and railcars that will use it.  How they determined there was enough friction to carry the load is beyond me but this was not the only bridge in the annals of northwest logging history to be built this way.  Cross braces are added to keep it from falling over.   Here's another one.

Image courtesy Library of Congress, circa 1922

The piles in the above bridge are 132 feet long with a bridge height of 107 ft. at the top of the rails.

They look pretty fragile to me, but then the first pile bridge was thought to have been built by the Romans as far back as 642BC.  Now that's an engineering technology that lasted for a while.

Steam Powered Dragsaws

The early 1900's were a time of great innovation in pacific northwest logging.  Donkey engines and the use of spar trees paved the way for high lead logging methods and technology that revolutionized the industry.  Logging railroads then extended the reach of timber harvesting deep into the remote Cascade foothills.  But it would take some years before a suitable replacement for bucking logs in the woods using man powered crosscut saws could be found.  The use of steam powered dragsaws was an early attempt.  

Image courtesy Washington Rural Heritage, LOGGMACH010, circa 1916

The above photo shows a man pulling on a wire to engage the back and forth saw motion powered by steam.  This early model was used by the Puget Sound Mills & Timber Company.  As we can see, the saws were pretty big and clunky, very heavy and far from being user friendly.  Why were they called dragsaws?  The saw blade differed from conventional crosscut saws in that the teeth were designed only to cut one way - cut, then drag back.  Steam could be bled off from a donkey engine used for high lead logging as the source of power.

The use of gasoline powered engines was certainly an improvement in the portability and functionality of dragsaws, but they too were rather unreliable and "unloved" during this early period.

Image courtesy Bella Coola Museum

At least with the above model, the dragsaw could be left unattended for a period while the operator used his axe to split the log segments bucked by the dragsaw for cordwood.  It would take until after WWII before chainsaws came to be mainstream.   For more about dragsaws, follow this link to an early post Early Logging Automation.

 

Before There Were Trucks

What would we do without trucks?  Today, trucks move approximately 70% of all goods transported in the U.S. and 71% of the tonnage.  Over 10.8 billion tons of freight were moved by truck in 2017 in an industry employing over 7.4 million people - 5.8% of all full time workers in the country.  Now, go back to 1900 and before internal combustion engines were generally available.  How were goods delivered?  Railroads and shipping accounted for a bigger share, no doubt, but the economy still largely relied on horse drawn wagons.  That is, unless you had a "steam wagon".

Image courtesy Kent Historical Society, circa 1900

The above photo shows a steam powered delivery truck used by Joe Cowan in Kent (seen on the left).  He Delivers the Goods!  Take note of the wooden wheels and the hand brake.  I wonder how if any gears were used and how they controlled their speed and braking?  Steam powered trucks generally worked OK for local deliveries, but not so well for longer trips.

Karl Benz, in 1895, is generally credited with designing and building the first truck in history with an internal combustion engine.  Trucks of this period typically used a two-cylinder engine with a carrying capacity of about 3,000 to 4,000 lbs.  With 700 heavy duty trucks manufactured in the U.S. in 1904, total production had increased to over 25,000 by 1914.  It would take until the late 1930's for diesel engines to catch on in the U.S. and as they say - it's all history from there.

Shear Power

Which engines used for transportation pack the most punch - steam power, internal combustion or electric power?  I always thought that steam engines had the most muscle but apparently not so, particularly when weight is considered.  Electric powered engines on a pound per pound basis win the prize hands down.  Following is a photo dating back to 1920 showing an electric powered locomotive on your left pitted against a Mallet steam engine on the right.  Guess who won.

Image courtesy White River Valley Museum, PO-00538, Asahel Curtis photographer, circa 1920

The electric powered locomotive won the pushing contest hands down.  The above photo was taken near the old Borden Plant in Kent and was used to publicize the Puget Sound Electric Railway that at one time provided passenger service between Seattle and Tacoma much as Sound Transit does today.  

Have you taken a ride in one of today's electric powered automobiles, like a Tesla, Nissan Leaf or Chevrolet Bolt?  Fasten your seatbelt.

Tow Trucks - Then and Now

In 1906, Washington State had 1,253 automobiles registered here.  By 1910, the number had grown to 9,311 and by 1915, there were over 46,000 vehicles licensed in the state.  But there was a problem or two or three.  Roads were terrible, cars and trucks of the time were less than reliable and drivers were not particularly skilled.  The result was plenty of accidents and vehicle breakdowns.  Alas, time to bring in a team of horses.

According to Wikipedia, an enterprising fellow in Tennessee saw the light ($$$$) and began making the first motorized tow trucks in 1916.  I'm not sure when tow trucks found their way to the Puget Sound Region, but here's one in a photo dated 1918/1921.  

Image courtesy WSU Libraries Digital Collection, circa 1918

It didn't take long for a good idea to spread.  This rig seems to be all set for rope towing.  In a few years, the back of tow trucks were rigged with a beam, making it a whole lot easier to winch vehicles out of bad places - in this case after crashing through a barrier on a road in Tacoma.

Image courtesy Tacoma Public Library, Richards Studio A1011-0, circa 1926

Some were pretty neat looking too and carried cart like wheels for trailering disable vehicles.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, SEA2839, circa 1929

Anybody remember the name William O McKay?  They were an auto dealer who started in Seattle in 1923 and continued  in business into the 1980's.  It's their tow truck shown in the above photo.  Tow trucks were a big part of their early customer service program, as it was for many auto dealers of the time.  And, of course, it always paid to be good friends with the police.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, P124816, circa 1942

Today in Black Diamond, Royal Towing provides local service.  Very nice people, but I would just as soon not have to be on their customer list. 

Lots of changes in the business these days.  Not only is Royal Towning's equipment capable of hauling big semis out of ditches, but they also operate an auction business for the sale of unclaimed impounded vehicles.  Who would have thought?  Wherever there is an unmet need I guess.

 

Logging Railroads on the Cheap

Tired of herding ornery oxen across bumpy skid roads to drag logs to a sawmill, but not enough money in your pocket to build a logging railroad?  Such was the challenge faced by early settlers in the Green and White River valleys and on up into the Covington/Maple Valley area.  Some of the timber was just too big and had to be left standing or dynamited and burned to clear land for farming.  Faced with these and other apparently insurmountable problems, our forebears always seemed to find an answer.  Here's a local logging railroad on the cheap.

Image courtesy White River Valley Museum, PO-01196, circa 1900

First step was to improve the skid road, then replace oxen with teams of horses and finally lay down narrow gauge rail so that carts full of logs could be drug along.  Certainly a whole lot faster with bigger load capacity than skid roads.  They even used small logs in the place of steel rail in some locations when they couldn't afford steel (called pole roads).  And somehow, they made it all work - until the next innovation came along.

Lidgerwood Tower Skidders Circa 1929

High lead logging revolutionized the timber industry in the northwest.  The use of spar trees followed by manufactured steel towers continue to this day (see my earlier post Tower Skidders Then & Now).  The Lidgerwood Manufacturing Company based in Tacoma introduced the first "big boys" designed to handle the big timber, steep slopes and rough railroad grades of northwest forests in about 1915.  In 1929, Lidgerwood, working with Weyerhaeuser Company, took steel tower skidders to a whole new level.  These were truly monster machines.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries and the Roots of Motive Power, Clark Kinsey photographer, circa 1929

Each skidder included it's own steam donkey engine for power and it's own rail car body for transport.  Can you imagine the weight of these machines on railroad tracks already precariously dug into the hillsides where timber was being logged?  They also required a huge crew to operate.  Today, tower skidders require only one or two operators and can go about anywhere.  Not back then.

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, CKK1015, Clark Kinsey photographer, circa 1929

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, CKK0591, Clark Kinsey photographer, circa 1929

They were expensive too and cost more than a brand new top of the line railroad engine.  The tower skidder shown in these photos reportedly cost Weyerhaeuser Company $56,000 plus another $15,000 for rigging when they took delivery in February 1929.  With the great depression soon to follow, a case of bad timing to be sure.  Somehow though, Weyerhaeuser made it through and by 1937 they had invested over $1 million in the logging railroads and $468 thousand in logging equipment just to serve their operations in the Longview area and keep their mills supplied.  Logging is a little simpler today as shown by this then and now comparison.

Then

Image courtesy University of Washington Libraries, CKK4814, Clark Kinsey photographer, circa 1929

Now

 

 

Skid Road Bridges

If we think Skid Roads were rough, Skid Road Bridges were an exercise in pure brute force.  Man over nature.  No engineers needed to build these, though a level would be nice.

Photo courtesy Washington State Historical Society, C1948.1214.8, circa 1897

As noted on the photo, this bridge is 100 yards log and 50 feet tall.  Notice how logs were pulled across - one log after another connected by cables.  Bridges like this were not the exception.  As we hikers in the Cascades know so well, ups and downs and steep ravines caused by streams that must be crossed are common and frequent along the trails.

Photo courtesy Library of Congress, n.d.

Notice the team of oxen in the background of the above photo dragging their burden across a skid road bridge before they get to this one.  And here's another:

Phot courtesy Library of Congress, n.d.

Brute force x 2 with oxen (aka "hay burners") and log bridge.

Skid Roads

I grew up thinking that a "skid road" was some kind of seedy place in Seattle where poor people lived.  Indeed, that was a commonly used metaphor that grew legs during the 1930's and Great Depression era, but the "real" skid road was no such place.  Skid roads were working roads carved out of the forests in the 1880's - 1910's by loggers to make it possible for teams of horses and oxen to drag or skid logs out of the woods - most commonly to a river or large body of water where they could be floated downstream to a sawmill.  Logs placed crosswise in the road made it possible to keep cut timber from being "stuck in the mud" as they were drug along the cleared area of road.  This consumed lots of timber just to build a road but loggers could use smaller less valuable material for this.  Pictures are worth a thousands words.

Photo courtesy Washington Rural Heritage, LOGGANML010, n.d.

Now that takes a lot of chutzpa to think they could drag that log out of the woods.  As you can see, skid roads weren't exactly smooth roads.

Building them wasn't a simple task either.

Photo courtesy University of Washington Libraries, Arthur French photographer, circa 1900

It looks like these guys built some kind of skidder or sled to pile several logs on for each trip.  That's "horsepower". 

Photo courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 2015.0.29, circa 1910

With valuable cedar trees often spread out and interspersed with other less valuable timber in the forests, smaller operators often bucked cedar logs into shorter lengths and split them by hand into shingle bolts, making it easier to transport using sleds.

Photo courtesy Washington Rural Heritage, LOGGANML008, Darius Kinsey photographer, n.d.

How would you like to make a living doing this kind of work?

A Walk in History

Inspired by the work of local photographer Robert Dobson, I decided to head out and see if I could "see" history as it was and is today.  Bob's style of using old cameras and dated film to capture images that tell a story is unique and to be treasured - and well beyond my skill level.  But perhaps it's possible, using digital technology, to catch a glimpse of the past in the present that is also pleasing to the eye.  Following is an image that first caught my attention.  Can anyone guess where and what this is?

The mix of colors, textures and shapes is what made me look twice and with barnacles growing we get our first clue as to where this might be.  Would it help if I told you that this structure is over 100 years old.  Maybe this image will help.

Oops, we've got a leak.  Things do wear out after a century of use, but it's still functional and a vital link for Puget Sound commerce.  It's also a place to view salmon as they make their way on up to the cedar river to spawn.  Here's another glimpse.

Hmmmm, we have moving parts.  Old moving parts. 

Even on this day with no salmon passing through, the cormorants still delight in seeking fish for dinner.

Here's a photo showing modern day structures at the site with all their shapes, sizes and "muscle".

Well, if you haven't guessed yet, these photos are of the Ballard Locks connecting Lake Union to Puget Sound, first built by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1917.  If you haven't visited the locks, it is well worth the trip.  They have a nice park, gardens and good trails.  Some historic buildings too, still in use. 

This nearby railroad trestle must also date back to the early 1900's.  Still using the big weighted end to lift the bridge for opening.

On my way out, I had to stop and take a picture of one of my hiking buddies - always begging to have his/her picture taken along with a snack.

 

Logging With Chainsaws

Is there anyone you know who just loves to cut firewood?  Buck logs into usable lengths with a handsaw and then hand split them with an ax?  Great exercise and who doesn't love to have a fire in the fireplace, especially on Thanksgiving and Christmas?  But, it's a whole nother matter when you must depend on wood to heat your home.  Pleasure soon turns to #@&%#<?&#$ and its no fun anymore.  But most early settlers to the northwest had little choice and it was cut your wood or freeze.  And neither did the logging industry.  For loggers, burning 6,000 or more calories a day swinging an ax and sawing monster logs by hand gets old after awhile.  Wouldn't it be nice to have some mechanical means to cut wood?

Well, it didn't happen overnight.  The precursor to the modern day chain saw dates all the back to 1830 or so and was developed by a German orthopedic surgeon.  Apparently cutting bones by hand wasn't much fun either.  The device was called an osteotome.  The links of the chain carried small cutting teeth with edges set at an angle.  The chain was moved around a guiding blade by turning the handle of a sprocket.  The "principle" for how to make a chainsaw was there but it took a long time to for chainsaws capable of cutting big wood to develop.  The 1920's is often cited as the time when chainsaws became more practical - brought over here from Germany.  Andreas Stihl, a familiar name even today, is typically credited with the first chainsaw patent in 1926.

The logging industry began experimenting with "chainsaws" some years earlier, not to fall timber so much as to buck logs into usable/transportable lengths once they were down.  Cedar logs were a prime target for experimentation both because of their huge diameters but also given the short lengths needed for shingle bolts.  Following is one of the early chainsaws being used to buck cedar logs on the Olympic Peninsula by the Goodyear Logging Company in 1919.

Photo courtesy Library of Congress, circa 1919

As you can see, the saw was a bit of a monster itself.  It probably took two men to operate it given it's weight.  I was surprised to learn than it was also gasoline powered - gas engines like this were not known for their reliability at the time.  But, you can see that they were perfect for bucking big logs into short lengths, suitable for splitting into shingle bolts.  Stihl a lot work (pun intended).

Evolution of the Gas Pump

If you were to compile a list of the ten essentials for living in the northwest dating all the way back to the early 1900's, the gas pump would have to be high on the list.  How often do you fill up today?  Once a week or more?  It has not always been so easy.

Photo courtesy Bill Kombol and  Black Diamond History, circa 1940

The above photo shows Jack's Place service station located near the Green River Gorge.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but it appears a hand crank was still required at Jack's and even a clear glass area above the pump where you could see the gas and visibly inspect it.  Apparently getting dirt, water and other contaminants mixed in with the gas was a problem at the time and you needed to see it to be safe.  I can just imagine the variability in volumes of actual gasoline pumped per crank.  

The following graphic from SafeRack illustrates the history of pumps used over the years.  Any of these look familiar?

Image courtesy SafeRack

Standard Oil claims to have established the first ever drive in Gas Station in Seattle in 1907, though the pumps and storage must have been pretty crude.  How about an open tank for storage and you measured gas level in the tank to determine how much gas was pumped.  Smokers need not apply.   If you look at other historical photos taken in and around Black Diamond during this period, you will find virtually all of the above models used at one time or another.  Follow these links to see:

• Garretts Service Station
• Black Diamond Garage
• Lake Sawyer Grocery
• Lombardinis Market and Gas Station (courtesy Bill Kombol and Black Diamond History)

So when could you begin pumping gas yourself?  On June 10, 1964, John Roscoe flipped the switch to activate the first remote access self service pumps in the U.S.  And the rest as they say is history - except in Oregon.

Choker Setter - Dangerous Job

It's not often in industry where the most dangerous jobs are also entry level positions.  You would think that new "green" hires needed some time to learn the ropes so to speak, especially in cases where safety risks are the highest.  But no, not in the logging industry in the northwest in the early 1900's.  This was a period of major change and progress in the industry.  High lead logging was the future.  The days of using teams of oxen or horses to drag logs out of the woods and along skid roads to streams and mills were numbered.  Wood powered steam donkeys arrived on the scene, providing real power that began at last to match the size of timber we have in the northwest.  Spar trees and cables rigged for handling these monster logs greatly increased log handling capability and efficiency.  Falling trees and bucking logs into transportable lengths still required high levels of skill and experience to be good at it.  But, someone was still needed to climb over all these logs and string cables around them as "chokers" so that donkey power could then be used.  These jobs became known as Choker Setters and these were the low men on the totem pole.  What you needed was lots of agility and no fear, doing what you were told to do by those with the saws or on the donkey..

Photo courtesy University of Washington Libraries, CKK1000, Clark Kinsey photographer, n.d.

The above photo and the one that follows are from Weyerhaeuser's Camp 4.

Photo courtesy University of Washington Libraries, CKK0992, Clark Kinsey photographer, n.d.

Logs might be lying on the ground but that doesn't mean they were stable.  One little movement caused by a cable or connection could easily trigger a log to move unexpectedly and if you were on the ground, you could be easily squished - and many were.  Cables and cable fittings also could snap or slip out of place.  Watch out and be prepared to duck.  Which is better, being beheaded or squished?  I'm not trying to be funny about this but rather communicate just how dangerous choker setter jobs could be.

Photo courtesy University of Washington Libraries, Lee Pickett photographer, circa 1913

Just look at the size of those fittings.  As time went on, the dangers of being a choker setter, if anything, increased.  Improvements to cable systems and donkey engines increased the range they could operate in.  This meant that Donkey Punchers (donkey engine operators) were often located where they couldn't see a crew's loggers and choker settings or were too far away to communicate.  The last thing you want is for a donkey puncher to begin moving cables while choker setters were still in the process of rigging.  Or perhaps pulling in the wrong direction and dragging logs over choker setters.  Lots could go wrong and it would be many years before radio communication became a reality in the woods.  More about this and Whistlepunks in a future post.

 

Donkey Punchers

Looking for a safe and cushy job in a logging operation early in the 20th century?  Why not become a donkey puncher?

Image courtesy Library of Congress, Darius Kinsey photographer, circa 1901

As steam "donkey" engines and high lead logging practices transformed the timber industry in the northwest, becoming the operator of a steam donkey was a job in high demand.  In time, these jobs became known as "donkey punchers", I guess because their job was akin to punching donkeys to get them to do what you wanted.  When I look at the above photo taken in 1901, I still can't believe donkey engines of the time were able to move logs around like the one wrapped in cable above.  Were donkey punchers the safest jobs in the woods?  Not by any means.

Steam donkeys had a habit of starting fires and blowing up on you.  Cables were also not all that reliable and when one broke or a fitting snapped, look out for lethal cables flying.

Photo courtesy Library of Congress, Lee Russel photographer, circa 1941

Still, most steam donkeys had roofs over your head and you were warm and out of the wet.  And a heck of a lot easier on your body compared to the daily physical exertion of falling trees, trimming limbs, bucking logs or being a "choker setter" connecting all the cables to logs for yarding and loading.  These were all dangerous jobs and donkey punchers were not immune from daily risk.

Looking at the Lee Russel photo above, taken in 1941, there appears to be little change between donkey engines used in 1900 and 40 years later.  Wood fueled steam power was replaced by diesel but there seems to be little else.  But "gyppo" loggers like the one shown didn't always use the most modern of equipment either.

Life Before GPS

I was having a conversation with Samantha earlier this morning, asking for help in finding Hidden Falls Regional Park here in Auburn CA.  Samantha is who I talk to whenever I need directions using my car's navigation system.  Though she is sometimes "indisposed" in remote locations, she sure knows her stuff.  What did I ever do without GPS and Samantha?  Born (cyber engineered) in 1995, Samantha has grown and matured over the years, but she is sure on her game today.  Was she the first of her kind?  Nope - you can go all the way back to 1932 when Italian engineers first developed an in-car navigation system for automobiles.

Called the Inter-Auto or "Iter-Avto", the device used a scrolling map and connected to the cars speedometer to maintain an accurate scrolling rate.  Once you came to the end of one map, you replaced it with another roll.

Another option was to use a Plus Fours Route Finder, worn on your wrist much like today's wristwatch made by Apple.

Finish one roll and replacement it with the next.  What could be simpler? 

The bottom line problem was paper.  You needed lots of it.  Flat maps were a better answer and it took time to track where you were.  Then, in 1981 Honda introduced what is considered to be the first non-paper map-based Car Navigation System.

This Honda device used what was called an Electro Gyrocater.  You could buy it as on option on Honda Accord and Vigor models.  To make the system work, a gyroscope had two wires in a stream of circulating helium.  When the car went straight, the helium was balanced.  When the car turned, the helium moved and touched just one wire, indicating it was turning on the navigation device.  Honda engineers also built a special 16 bit computer that would collect mileage data from a sensor attached to the transmission.  At the time, storing all of this data was impractical so Honda engineers worked with a mapmaker to produce transparent overlays.  When the car reached the edge of one overlay, the driver could manually switch to the next overlay.   All pretty neat and innovative, but ahead of it's time and ahead of the state of the art in computing technology.

It was still quite a few years for computer and GPS technology to advance sufficiently to make it practical to use in autos.  My own experience with simple Garmin GPS devices even in the early 2000's was less than positive.  Big, bulky and complicated.  I had to take a class at REI to learn how to use it.  Today, it appears that Samantha has grown to the point that she is the daughter you always wanted and can't do without - at least metaphorically.  Adjusted for changes in traffic and reroutes to maintain the quickest route, Samantha says we'll be home tomorrow night at 7:46 pm.  You might also want to get to know her app friends at Gaia GPS, REI National Parks and WTA Trailblazer.

Bank Heists - Then & Now

Tales of outlaws in the wild west and notorious bank robbers of the 1920's and 1930's have been a staple of Hollywood movie making for years.  Who among us haven't heard of Bonny & Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Ma Barker, John Dillinger, Jesse James, Baby Face Nelson and the list goes on - legends all.  And as noted earlier, we have had our own local lawbreakers staging attempted bank heists like The Shootout in Buckley Circa 1925 that left two would be robbers dead after attempting to rob the Buckley Bank.  But that's all in the past - right?  After all, robbing banks became a Federal crime in this country in 1934 with jurisdiction by the FBI, giving rise to the legends of J. Edgar Hoover.

Well, believe it or not, there were probably more bank robberies attempted in the 1990's than in the 1930's.  A lot more banks, big money and a much larger population probably account for this despite all the technology banks now have at their disposal to prevent robbery.  Banks are also more often focused on check fraud and other forms of electronic robbery than on the traditional "give me your money" heist.

According to statistics maintained by the FBI, there were 4,251 attempted bank robberies in 2016, the latest year for which data is available.  This is down from 7,465 in 2003 and much higher yet in the 1990's.  What do you think were the top four cities for bank robbery?  In 2006 as in many years, LA led the pack, followed by Boston, Philadelphia and then Seattle at number 4.  Huh?  Yep, Seattle is consistently high on the list.  You might find this 2006 Seattle Times article of some interest: Seattle ranks 4th in US for bank robberies .

For those who love statistics like myself, following is a further breakdown of 2016 data.

What security devices were maintained at the banks where the 2016 robbery attempts took place?

• Silent alarm systems           4,085
• Surveillance cameras          4,210
• Bait money                          1,942
• Armed guard                          224
• Currency dye/gas pack          709
• Electronic tracking device      595
• Bullet resistant enclosure       610

You'd have to be pretty stupid to attempt to rob a bank these days - and the data bears that out too.  Bank robber methods haven't changed much over the years.

• Demand note to a teller            2,267
• Weapon threat                          2,361
• Oral demand                            1,955

Overall in 2016 there were 43 injuries, 8 deaths, of which 7 were the perpetrators, and 59 hostages taken.  Still dangerous for bank employees.

In profiling those who attempt to rob banks, the biggest common denominators would be people without an address, either homeless or living day to day in some flea bag hotel.  Many are also repeat offenders.

Banking - From Gold to Bank Notes to Script to IOU's to Bitcoins?

I found reading John Anderson's history of banking in Enumclaw to be very interesting (see my earlier post Enumclaw - A Family Town Circa 1904).  It motivated me to learn a little more about banking here in the northwest.

The history of banking and currency has been quite the roller coaster ride.  First it was all about precious metals such as gold and silver.  Limited in supply and hard to find, coins could be minted in different denominations measurable by weight and transferable.  Easy - except they weigh a lot and aren't quite so easy or safe to handle.  They were anything but secure in pouches carried by travelers or stashed away under the bed.

No problem - let's establish banks where you can both deposit and borrow money.  Rather than transact business by trading gold and silver coins, let the banks do business by issuing "promises to pay" backed by the security of gold and silver and let them print their own bank notes.   This was how business was conducted in the early 1900's.

Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 1980.76.1, circa 1929

The bank note you see above was issued by the National Bank of Tacoma.  We also had State Banks in addition to National Banks and even business associations printed their own promise to pay currencies.  This didn't always work so well as we found out in Black Diamond when the president of the bank absconded with miners' money (grand larceny) and also during the great depression.  There were no banks anymore in some locations.

Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, C1954.291.4, circa 1933

Don't like Tenino wood currency - try some Prosser New Deal Money.

Image courtesy Washington State Historical Society, 2018.1.24, circa 1933

No pretense of security.  Just "good faith".  Eventually, of course, the country worked through the great depression and the federal government created the federal reserve system and federally printed script became the currency of choice.  The fed also began issuing unsecured war bonds.

One role for the federal reserve was printing and processing script.  The following photo shows an employee with the Federal Reserve Bank in Seattle in 1954.  

Photo courtesy University of Washington Libraries, 2000.107.165.11.02, circa 1954

Now, of course, script plays a much reduced role in commercial transactions and banking is an electronic business. 

Oops, the great recession.  Too small to succeed and too big to fail.  Hmmmm

We can always use IOU's again (aka debit cards like you can buy in your neighborhood grocery store) or you can buy bitcoins.  More about bitcoins in a future post.  Fascinating.

 

Fordson Tractors - What Happened?

The legacy of Henry Ford's mass production methods remains alive today - over 110 years after introduction of the landmark Model T automobile.  Less well known, however, is the impact Henry Ford also had on tractor design and manufacturing.  Ford Motor Company's initial foray into tractors began in 1907 but early designs gained little attention and had only limited priority within the company.  Spurred by renewed commitment from Henry Ford and perhaps WWI, Ford introduced the Model F tractor in 1917 - which proved to be the game changer.  Marketed by Fordson (Henry Ford & Son), over 750,000 Model F tractors were sold during the 1917 to 1928 period, more than any other tractor before or since (Tractor Data - Fordson).  In addition to traditional farming applications, northwest loggers found their own applications for use of tractors.

Photo courtesy University of Washington Libraries, CKK01747, Clark Kinsey photographer, circa 1923

As we can see above, Model F tractors were textbook Henry Ford.  No frills simple, not very big and inexpensive.  Tractors fitted with tracks also found a home in the northwest.

Photo courtesy Tacoma Public Library, Boland-B9801, Marvin Boland Collection, circa 1924

The above tractor was operated by the Tacoma Water Dept.  

So what's the mystery?  Why didn't Ford seek to establish/retain a dominant position in the tractor market too?  Instead, most tractors were produced by Ford in Great Britain and despite several periodic forays in and out of the market with emphasis in the U.S., Ford lost interest and walked away from the market.  Perhaps tractors and automobiles are such different products, markets and businesses that being in both businesses violated Henry Ford's keep it simple credo?  Certainly interesting.

Road Building Along Big Soos Creek Circa 1915

Road building was not a simple task in the early 1900's.  If you had flat land and didn't need to haul away surplus materials, then ok, but how much of the Puget Sound region is flat?  Not much.  Technology at the time had progressed to the point where steam shovels and donkey engines could do the heavy lifting.  Hauling away dirt and debris, however, was a whole nother matter.  Easiest solution - build a temporary railroad.

Photo courtesy University of Washington Libraries, IND0443, circa 1915

The above photo shows road building along Big Soos Creek above the Auburn fish hatchery.  It appears that the steam shovel is removing soil to create a widened and flat roadbed and loading railcars to take surplus material away.  The steam donkey engine in the background is likely being used as part of tree clearing operations, loading logs onto railcars.  It would be a while, still, before trucks replaced temporary rail lines when building hillside roads like this.  It compacts the roadbed too.