Coweeta Hydrologic Lab Celebrates 75 Years

In 1934, the Coweeta Experimental Forest was officially established on the Nantahala National Forest.  Occupying nearly 4,000 acres just north of the North Carolina-Georgia border and renamed the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in 1948, the site would prove to be the source of some of the most influential research on forested watersheds done in the world.  This week a symposium to mark the 75th anniversary of Coweeta will look at the development of watershed science and celebrate the important research which continues to be done there.

The story of Coweeta begins with Dr. Charles R. Hursh, who was hired in 1926 as a researcher at the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station (now the Southern Research Station) in Asheville, NC.  Much of Hursh’s work was in streamflow and erosion studies, which led him to formulate broader theories of forests and water supply.  Hursh identified the Coweeta Basin (in the Appalachian Mountains just south of Franklin, NC) as an ideal spot to locate a permanent research station to study the impacts of forest management practices on soil and water.  Hursh was given access to the site and began informal research there, during which time an order establishing the Coweeta Experimental Forest was signed on June 1933 and then officially approved by Chief Ferdinand Silcox on March 28, 1934.

Coweeta Experimental Forest entrance sign with administrative building at right, 1942.

Workers from the nearby Civilian Conservation Corps Camp in Franklin, NC (CCC Camp NC-23) built roads, buildings, testing stations, and other installations on the site.  With limited resources and staffing, Hursh was still able to turn the site into an extensive hydrological laboratory and research station.  Early studies looked at the effects of logging, farming, and woodland grazing on forest watersheds.  Data gathered at the site was also used for important research in areas such as riparian vegetation and water supply; the properties of groundwater movement through soil; relationships between the atmosphere, environment, and forest watersheds; and the use of road banks for erosion control.

Image of rain gauge recording instrument at Coweeta, from a 1953 USFS publication (click to view full page).

The laboratory’s profile was further raised in 1955, when the Forest Service produced the film “The Waters of Coweeta” to increase nationwide awareness of the importance of watershed management and research.

The arrival of researcher Wayne T. Swank at the laboratory in the 1960s ensured the continuation of Coweeta’s influential work.  Swank spent more than 30 years at Coweeta, serving as project leader from 1984 to 1999, and helped to expand the successful research operations at the site.  Cooperative work with the University of Georgia’s Institute of Ecology began in 1968, and produced an ongoing valuable partnership.  Coweeta also became a National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research site in 1980.  More recent years have seen the work shift to new areas of study such as water quality research, acid rain, invasive pests, and prescribed fire.

Through the years, Coweeta has maintained its importance as one of the oldest continuous environmental research studies in the world.  The hydrologic research there has shown how forest ecosystems can be responsibly managed without ruining valuable water resources.  Significant research in new areas ensures that Coweeta will remain as a center of forest research long into the future.

For more information on the history of the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, see the following FHS resources:

• “Forest Watershed Research in the United States” by George G. Ice and John D. Stednick, from Forest History Today, Spring/Fall 2004
• Oral History Interview with Wayne T. Swank, conducted in 2005
• “Waters of Coweeta” USFS publication, 1953
• U.S. Forest Service History Collection watershed publication files
• USFS Collection Biographical File on Wayne Swank

When Timber Engineers Brought Ski Jumping to Chicago

With Chicago’s recent failure to become host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics, we here at Peeling Back the Bark were reminded of a little-known chapter from Chicago’s sports history which can be found in the FHS Archives.  Should Chicago have also submitted a bid for the Winter Olympiad?  Possibly.  We submit for your consideration this image of preparations for a ski jump competition taking place in Chicago’s Soldier Field in the year 1937.

A ski jump is readied for competition at Soldier Field, Chicago, 1937 (from FHS Archives).

Of course, this begs the questions: Why was there ski jumping in Chicago? And what does this have to do with forest history?  To answer both questions it helps to dig into the TECO company files in our archives, where this image came from.

The Timber Engineering Company (TECO) was formed in 1933 as the timber research subsidiary of the National Lumber Manufacturing Association (later known as the National Forest Products Association, and today as the American Forest & Paper Association).  TECO immediately established a wood products research laboratory in Washington D.C., and began its pioneering work in wood engineering and forest products testing and development.  The most notable early innovation was a unique brand of timber connector called a “split-ring.”  TECO purchased the rights to the split-ring connector from a German manufacturer in 1934, and further developed the product for use in assembling large timber tresses for building construction.

TECO timber connectors  proved to be a revolutionary development in wood construction, and were used in thousands of building projects such as schools, churches, theaters, warehouses, airplane hangars, lookout towers, bridges, and much more.

World War II U.S. Navy blimp hangar (1,000' long, 153' high) built using TECO timber connectors (FHS Archives).

That list of TECO engineered timber structures also included ski jumps, the largest being a 180-foot tall wooden ski jump temporarily erected outside of Soldier Field on more than one occasion.  A little known fact about Chicago’s sports history is that the city has hosted several large-scale international ski jumping competitions.

Brought to the U.S. by Norwegian immigrants, ski jumping was a very popular sport in the early 20th century, especially in the Northeast.  The sport of skiing was more directly tied to jumping at this time rather than downhill racing.  The 1932 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, also helped to further spread the sport’s popularity in the U.S.  It was this popularity which facilitated the staging of ski jumping events in large American sports stadiums.

In February 1936, Soldier Field first hosted such a competition, which proved so successful that a larger ski jump was built again the following year.  In 1937, 140 jumpers competed in the event in front of nearly 60,000 spectators.  Soldier Field hosted another competition in 1938, but then not again until 1954 (Wrigley Field would also host a jumping competition in 1944).

Prefabricated, demountable 180' TECO timber connector-built wooden ski jump tower at Soldier Field, February 1937 (FHS Archives).

Chicago was not the only city hosting international ski jump events during this time period.  Surprisingly, California also hosted several similar events in equally unusual places.  TECO was not involved in their construction and wood was not always the main material used, but large temporary jumps were built in several California cities.  Using snow machines and crushed ice, ski jumping competitions were held in Berkeley in 1934, the Hollywood Bowl in 1935, at the San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in 1939, and in Los Angeles Coliseum in both 1938 and 1939.

Construction of the temporary ski jump at Los Angeles Coliseum.

While the decades following this “golden age” of American ski jumping have seen a decline of interest in the sport, TECO has maintained its presence in the wood products industry.  Celebrating its 75th anniversary last year, TECO continues to provide important work for the industry today through the testing and certification of building products.

For more information on the history of TECO, see the following FHS resources:

• The National Forest Products Association Records, 1902-1986.
• The Wilson Martindale Compton Papers, 1918-1966.
• TECO Company Files in the FHS Library.
• TECO subject file in the FHS Photograph Collection.

Ken Burns’s other “Best Idea” – Using FHS photos in his PBS film, “The National Parks”

We recently received an advanced copy of the new Ken Burns film, The National Parks – America’s Best Idea, which begins airing on PBS starting Sunday, September 27.  You can see images from the FHS Archives in the first three episodes and our name in the credits.  (By the way, if you can’t get to your TV when those air, the PBS website will be streaming the video of each episode after it airs.)

As we watched here at the Peeling Back the Bark World Headquarters for our images to appear in the film, we got to talking about other films in which our moving footage and still images have appeared.  Of course, tops on the list is The Greatest Good: A Forest Service Centennial Film.  (Normally, I’d say, Buy the book – don’t wait for the movie. But in this case, I say, Buy them both and now!)  Footage from the two films we’ve produced, Up in Flames and Timber on the Move, has appeared in a number of documentaries and television shows over the years.  Our images have appeared in films as varied as Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues to Fungi: Pennsylvania’s Hidden Treasures.  Below the photos that we think appear in The National Parks is a partial list of video projects with images or footage from our archive.

The other thing we discussed is how FHS expertise has been used in productions.  Sometimes it’s in a very hands-on manner, as with The Greatest Good.  That was fun because two of us were involved in reviewing the script and rough cuts of the film, and we were listed individually by name in the final credits.  Other times, we’ve been asked to do research that finds its way into scripts.  The latter is true for an upcoming History Channel show, America: the Story of US.  You can see the results of that in the spring.

Here are just a few of our images to look for in the Ken Burns film.

And here’s a list of some of the other productions in which our archival material has appeared:

- On PBS, from the American Masters series – Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues.  Hank briefly worked as a logger.

- Firestorm: The Fire Suppression Paradox, follows a firecrew from Ontario who joined with firefighters from the U.S. and other jurisdictions to fight a fire in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana, in the summer of 2000.

- Chief Mountain Hotshots: Firefighters of the Blackfeet Nation tells the history of one of the most respected Hotshot crews in the country.

- The Forest Where We Live – The Series (Louisiana Public Broadcasting)

- The Ultimate 10 Dangerous Jobs (“Ultimate 10″ series on TLC) – has footage of smokejumping from Up in Flames.

- Fungi: Pennsylvania’s Hidden Treasures is an award-winning full-length documentary produced by the State of Pennsylvania’s DCNR’s Wild Resource Conservation Program and Commonwealth Media.

- The Lord God Bird documentary film is about the ivory-billed woodpecker.

- The History Channel Toolbox Series – the episode on Mechanic’s Tools and Chainsaws.

- The History Channel series Modern Marvels – “Logging Technology” episode has footage from Timber on the Move.

- And for the upcoming 12-hour series on the History Channel, America: The Story of US, we conducted research and provided background material on 19th-century log drives in the upper Midwest.

It’s “Talk Like a (Log) Pirate” Day

In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19, we here at Peeling Back the Barrrrk bring you the dramatic tale “Log Pirates of Puget Sound.” Although “Log Pirates” is an article by Stewart H. Holbrook that appeared in the January 1937 issue of American Forests, it reads like a pulp thriller/film noir from the 1940s, complete with a put-upon hero more married to his job than to his first wife, criminals with names like “High Pockets” and “Dark Moon,” cops on the take, stakeouts and undercover disguises, and keen detective work with a lot of gumshoeing. The film version would have starred Humphrey Bogart as William E. Craw, the battle-hardened former police captain-turned-log patrolman who suffered neither love nor corrupt loggers lightly.

This is how we envision the film having been cast if it were produced by Warner Bros. back in the late 1930s. If written as a swashbuckler, Robin Hood-type film, Errol Flynn would have made a great log pirate, stealing logs from villainous lumbermen along with the heart of a mill owner's daughter played by Olivia de Havilland.

What a great subject for a noir film this would be. Log theft was a major problem in the 1920s in the Tacoma, Washington, area. The high demand for lumber both in the U.S. and overseas had driven up prices, making piracy quite profitable and leading to the organization of gangs. The timber industry turned to the State of Washington for help. The legislature passed a law but did little else.  Desperate, seven timber companies came together to form the State Log Patrol in February 1928. They hired Craw, an ex-Marine with combat experience. He quickly assembled a crack squad of men and boats to start patrolling the waters and bust up the crime rings. Holbrook’s discussion of the use and abuse of log brands to identify ownership of logs is fascinating. The story of how Craw busted “High Pockets” Peterson because the ex-cop just happened to know about the properties of iron is straight out of Sherlock Holmes or, today, CSI. When the price of lumber dropped during the Great Depression, Craw had little crime solving to do and tried to start his own electronics shop to put food on the table for his second wife and children. Craw, his wife, and one of his two daughters were killed by a drunken reveler on July 4th, 1941, just a few months before lumber prices shot back up due to America’s entry into World War II and put the Log Patrol back in business.

Incidentally, Stewart Holbrook’s article was an excerpt from his book, “Holy Old Macinaw!”, which he brought up to date for the magazine. The article is a much better read. Once you’ve read “Log Pirates,” feel free to dig in a little deeper to the story over at the Washington State archives’ “History Link” website. Meanwhile, my piratical friend, hoist a tankard of grog to the memory of Cap’n Craw. Even a pirate must respect a lawman who can beat them at their own game.

Our thanks to American Forests for their permission to post this article!

New FHS Social Media Ad Campaign (poll)

Help us choose the brand new ad that will appear in an upcoming issue of Forest History Today magazine promoting the Forest History Society’s new social media tools.  Take a look at the ads below (click on any of the ads to enlarge them) and select your favorite in the poll at the bottom of the page.

The ad campaign features exclusive photos from the FHS Photo Collection.  Choose your favorite!

1. Hungry Man:

2. Saw Lady:

3. Flex Your Muscles:

4. Looking Up:

5. Makes No Sense:

6. Left Out in the Cold:

Smokey’s Sixty-Five Years of Vigilance

This month marks the birthday of Smokey Bear, who has acted as conservation messenger and protector of America’s forests since August 1944.  As part of a fire prevention campaign, Smokey’s visage on posters, signs, buses, and television commercials has encouraged Americans to complete the phrase, “Only you…”

In honor of our anthropomorphic advocate, we’d like to share just an abbreviated timeline and just a few of the Smokey Bear-related items present in our archival and photographic collections.

1942 – The U.S. entry into World War II following the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor made America keenly aware of the vulnerability of U.S. soil and left the homefront bereft of experienced firefighters, many of whom joined the armed forces. Protection of the country’s forests became a national security matter. With the help of the War Advertising Council, the Forest Service organized the Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention (CFFP) Program with the National Association State Foresters and launched a fire prevention campaign.

Recap of the First World Congress of Environmental History

The first World Congress of Environmental History concluded two weeks ago in Copenhagen, Denmark. There were more than 500 attendees from all over the world. In addition to sending two people to the conference, the Forest History Society was also a sponsor.

I’m happy to report that forest history is alive and well and thriving in all four corners of the globe. In nearly every one of the ten sessions there was at least one forest history panel—not just a paper but an entire panel. In addition, other panels had forest history papers sprinkled among them.

Many areas, regions, and eras were examined and discussed, from ancient Mediterranean forests to German forests in the 1980s and 90s.  While the breadth of topics was impressive, it was also enlightening to learn how historians are making use of research from fields like archeology, geography in its many forms (cultural, agricultural, etc.), and ecology, in addition to traditional document and image research. Given the new tools and information about forests coming out of these other disciplines, it is important to share the observation of Richard Tucker from the University of Michigan: More and new research needs to be done on logging companies and their role in the forest. I agree—it’s time to revisit this topic and move beyond the traditional institutional accounts and look at what, where, and how they operated in the forests. The intersections of forest history with other fields like military history were also great to encounter and point to new, exciting areas for forest historians to explore and consider.

It was also energizing to see how well attended the sessions were. A couple of panels in larger rooms had standing-room-only crowds. Lively discussions took place in the sessions and afterward. And, in fact, in two countries! (Okay, so Saturday’s sessions were held across the Baltic Sea in Sweden. But it still counts!)

I encourage you to look at the abstracts of the papers presented at the conference and you’ll see what I mean when I say forest history is alive and thriving around the world.

August 5, 1949: Mann Gulch Tragedy

On this date 60 years ago, the Mann Gulch fire in Montana’s Helena National Forest was first spotted.  This devastating wildfire would eventually claim the lives of 12 U.S. Forest Service smokejumpers and one fire guard, as well as burn close to 5,000 acres of timber and grasslands.  The tragic events surrounding this fire ensure that August 5, 1949, will forever be remembered within U.S. Forest Service and wildland firefighting history.

Hot weather and lightning storms the previous evening put Forest Service rangers in the area on notice that day, and around noon, the Mann Gulch fire was first officially reported.  Shortly thereafter, a plane carrying 15 smokejumpers was dispatched to the fire from Missoula, Montana.

At the time of Mann Gulch, smokejumping was a relatively new practice.  The Forest Service’s Aerial Fire Control Experimental Project had moved to the North Pacific Region (Region 6) in 1939 and switched its focus from aerial water drops to experiments with parachute jumping.  The first operational use of smokejumpers by the Forest Service occurred in 1940, but prior to Mann Gulch, no smokejumper had ever died fighting a wildfire.

Forest Service smokejumpers dropped over Sherman Gulch, Lolo National Forest, Montana, June 17, 1954.

After landing on the ground a half-mile from the fire, the 15 smokejumpers were met by James O. Harrison, a fire guard from the nearby Meriwether Canyon Campground, and the group headed down the gulch towards the nearby Missouri River to stake a safer position.  The dry conditions and high winds, along with a change in wind direction, caused the fire to suddenly expand.   The men’s route was cut off, forcing them back uphill while trying to outrun the swiftly advancing fire.   It was later estimated that during this blow-up stage, the fire covered 3,000 acres in 10 minutes.

The Fall of Timber Sports?

This past weekend saw the Lumberjack World Championships take place in Hayward, Wisconsin.  The annual event of sawing, chopping, climbing, and log rolling contests celebrated its 50th anniversary this year.  While the golden anniversary is cause for celebration, signs of the sport’s decline in popularity seemed to be more evident than ever.  A New York Times article covering the championships addressed this issue, noting the lack of television coverage and the drop in participation levels.  The number of big-time contests held in the U.S. has also dwindled. It’s now virtually impossible to make a living from winnings on the American lumberjack contest circuit.

For decades the Lumberjack World Championships were a featured television event — from ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” in the early years, to ESPN and the Outdoor Life Network more recently.  That all ended this year, when the event was given no national TV coverage.  Some former champions are questioning whether the lumberjack sports themselves are dying.  “The best years are gone,” seemed to be a common refrain.  While the glory years of the sport may in fact be behind us, there are still many talented young lumberjack athletes — such as J.R. Salzman, an Iraq war veteran who lost part of his arm to a roadside bomb in 2006, and returned this year to win his seventh log rolling championship.

With others looking towards the past, though, this is the perfect time to highlight some of the visual documentations of lumberjack competitions from yesteryear found in the FHS Archives.  Below is a small sampling of images documenting the sport’s past, as well as some of the larger-than-life figures.

Lumberjack legend Paul Seals (left) with his son Max competing in a tree felling contest.

Paul Searls competing in his specialty event, log bucking. Searls was a world champion log bucker from 1932 to 1952, as well as a former Guinness World Record holder in the event. On May 28, 1937, Searls also helped dedicate the Golden Gate Bridge by sawing through a 34" redwood log in record time at the bridge's opening.

A three-time International Log Rolling Association Champion and leading competitor from the 1930s through the 1950s, Jim Herron prepares to perform his infamous log rolling striptease as his alter-ego "grandma" character.

The axe throw event at the Albany (Oregon) Timber Carnival in July 1958.

Clive McIntosh (left), with partner D. Mann, examining their saw after winning the World Championship Doubles Sawing Contest at Sydney, Australia. McIntosh was an Australian lumberjack legend, as well as an influential axe and saw designer.

The selected photos here come from both the FHS Photograph Collection and the American Forest Institute Records.  If interested, also take a look at this 1920-era log rolling film footage from the FHS YouTube Channel, as well as the previously posted Loggers–Rodeos photo subject gallery.

Special thanks to Jeffrey Stine for telling us about the NY Times article that inspired this entry.

July 20, 1822: “Father of American Forestry” Born

On this date in 1822, Franklin B. Hough was born on the western edge of the Adirondack Mountains in Lewis County, New York.  Hough would become the first forestry agent of the U.S. government, the first chief of the Division of Forestry, and one of the most influential figures in early American forestry.  Gifford Pinchot himself would refer to Hough as “perhaps the chief pioneer in forestry in the United States.”

Portrait of Franklin B. Hough by Rudy Wendelin (from FHS Archives)

Franklin Hough began his professional career as a practicing physician, but retired from medicine in 1852 in order to pursue his research and writing interests.  Hough wrote several histories of the Adirondack region and also oversaw the New York State census in 1855 and 1865.  While compiling census data for the latter, Hough was alarmed by the declining trend in available timber in the state.  This discovery led to the cause of forest preservation becoming his life’s work.

In the 1870s, when his calls for allowing active forest management in the proposed Adirondack forest preserve went unheeded, he turned his focus to the federal government.  In 1873 Hough presented a greatly influential paper, “On the Duty of Governments in the Preservation of Forests,” to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  Hough’s paper revealed the depletion of America’s eastern forests and declared the need for forest preservation and forestry education.  The paper was especially notable because it called on governments to aid in forest preservation efforts, a radical departure from American free market ideals.  Hough recommended that laws be passed to protect forest growth, and urged the scientists in attendance to bring to the attention of Congress and their state governments “the subject of protection to the forests, and their cultivation, regulation, and encouragement.”  The following day a committee was appointed, with Hough as chair, to petition Congress about the critical national need for forest preservation.

The actions of this committee, as well as Hough’s own work, would lead Congress on August 15, 1876, to create the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to assess the state of the forests and lumber in the U.S.  Commissioner of Agriculture Frederick Watts appointed Hough to this position on August 30th.

Over the next year, Hough traveled the country and began preparing his detailed report on the nation’s forests.