Cutting the Appalachian Timber

The logging companies would remove all of the trees in the area that would produce suitable lumber at the sawmill. In some areas, this meant that all of the trees were cleared, with little or no vegetation left behind. It was not until the conservation movement of President Teddy Roosevelt's administration (1901-1908) that logging companies were required to replant the areas that were harvested of trees. This actually worked out better for the lumber companies, because it ensured more harvestable lumber for the future.

After the camp was completely moved and set up, the loggers would then move into the forests and begin work cutting the trees, using axes, handsaws, and crosscut saws (see picture) to remove the trees. As technology advanced, the loggers began to use fuel powered saws, which greatly increased speed and productivity. The loggers were skilled at their craft; with the right kinds of cuts with an axe, they could make the trees fall in any desired direction so that the falling tree would not harm any person or damage any other tree.

After a tree was cut, the limbs and leaves would have to be removed from the tree so that it could be transported easier, and the logs were taken to the "log landing," the place where the logs were held until they were taken to the railroad for shipment to the sawmill. In many descriptions of the quality of trees, scouts would say how high up the tree that the limbs started. For example, the giant redwoods and Douglas firs of the Pacific Northwest have around 150-200 feet of trunk before the limbs begin to sprout. In the Appalachians, trees do not grow as tall as the trees of the Western United States, but some individual trees do come close. One species of tree from the Southern Appalachians that does occasionally grow to enormous heights is the yellow poplar. When the loggers were fortunate enough to find trees this size, they often wanted to have their photographs made with it after they cut it down, for two reasons: (1) to give a reference point to the actual size of the tree; and (2) to show proof that they were the ones that had cut the tree.