Logging Equipment- Dead at Mt. St. Helens!

[sluggo]

I never realized how bad it was..these pix's really bring it home,makes ya sick to your stomach, what a waste..

 

[Ozz]

I never realized how bad it was..these pix's really bring it home,makes ya sick to your stomach,what a waste..

Not really, yes a LOT of iron was lost, but it was a calculated risk. The loggers knew that it would go at some point, but tey figured they could move some serious timber before it blew, so they went for it. I would have gone after St. Helens at that time.

 

[JeremyM70]

This machine, along with a Cat D8H, a Madill 009, and some KW fire trucks can be seen and touched by hiking the South Coldwater Trail at Mt St Helens. It is a 3-mile hike in to this rig with a gradual elevation gain of about 900 feet I would guess.

I would recommend this hike to anyone in the area who loves equipment. There are coyotes and elk herds running through the area regulalrly as well, adding to the enjoyment.

Heading up there tomorrow

 

[Contract Logger]

Heading up there tomorrow

Been thinking about you and wishing I was there hiking with you. Anxious to see recent pics, and hoping you took water....:drinkup

I went up in April but snow was still too deep to see anything even through the spotting scope!

 

[JeremyM70]

Was a great hike! I found the 009, the D8, and the Ford water truck down at the bottom. Couldn't find the KW water truck or the Bycrus Erie, may not have gone quite far enough to see the loader. I had just barely enough cell service on my Crackberry to log into the Weyco Google Map and take a look at the layout while up there. Took lots of pics will upload them tomorrow night after work, was a beautiful day up there, not too hot. It's going to be pushing 100 down here tomorrow

Headed for Castle Lake a few weeks ago and found the trail, but was by myself and didn't feel like risking life and limb all by myself. Tried to look for the GT from the road, but no luck.

 

[Contract Logger]

Was a great hike! I found the 009, the D8, and the Ford water truck down at the bottom. Couldn't find the KW water truck or the Bycrus Erie, may not have gone quite far enough to see the loader. I had just barely enough cell service on my Crackberry to log into the Weyco Google Map and take a look at the layout while up there. Took lots of pics will upload them tomorrow night after work, was a beautiful day up there, not too hot. It's going to be pushing 100 down here tomorrow

Headed for Castle Lake a few weeks ago and found the trail, but was by myself and didn't feel like risking life and limb all by myself. Tried to look for the GT from the road, but no luck.

The KW is right off the landing below the 009- standing at the yarder looking toward the visitor's center it's off to the right of the tower tube. The 30B is another mile- maybe 2- up the road. Glad you got there! I always liked to make that hike leaving the parking lot about 6:30 am. Back to the car by 10:30 or so, beat the heat and enjoy the lake.

Look back through the thread at my pic of the Ford fire truck being pushed by the D9- it's still right there where you were today! Hard to believe....

Again- Glad you got there, and wish I was there! Now you'll be addicted and going back often, like I used to.

The Castle Lake hike is a whole different ballgame- worth it- but wow, what a climb! And way to rough to go it alone. Take 4 or 5 tough people, one whiner will ruin the trip! Its really tough going.

 

[Speedpup]

:notworthy:notworthy:jawdrop:woohoo:drinkup

 

[woodhauler]

Brings back memorys! this site will keep me going for hours! Glad i found it!

 

[Gyppo Logger]

I was working a clearcut near Stevens Pass when the mountain blew. We only had a light dusting of ash, but the boss made us change out all the air filters at the end of the week.

 

[hoedugit]

those are some a-w-e-s-o-m-e pictures...thanks for posting them....

 

[Contract Logger]

Still Standing:

Weyerhaeuser Yarder 231 (Madill 009 on rubber) and Shovel 105 ( Link-Belt LS98TL with the old-style Young boom) were working above the North Toutle on Coldwater Creek off the 3100 road.

Below the ridgeline, the tower stayed upright but was sandblasted by the winds and the grapple wound up on the yarder there. Several other yarders also survived this way.

The yarder was salvaged out buth the shovel was worn-out before the blast ahd was scrapped and replaced with a new (hydraulic) machine.........

 

[MattR]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Greg]

I was on a commerical airline flight between Los Angles and Seattle about 4 or 6 weeks after it happened. Weather was beautiful that day and the pilot did a circle over the St. Helens crater so we could see everything. What a site only could not see the total devistation away from the mountain itself very good. Mother Nature at her best, or worst which ever you want to call it.

 

[Contract Logger]

Yarder 233 and Shovel 120--

Weyerhaeuser Yarder #233 (a Madill 009 SP) and Shovel #120 (Link-Belt LS98TL with Young boom) were working in the Schultz Creek area and were inside the blast zone but also below a ridgeline, escaping being completely destroyed. They did get the heat and high-wind treatment, and sustained heavy damage.

Also working the same drainage and road system 1/2 mile away was Shovel #104, a Bucyrus-Erie 38B with Young boom and wooden snorkel on top.

Weyco used quite a few of these snorkel setups at Longview before the eruption, and alot of BE 30B and 38B shovels too.

 

[Contract Logger]

A year and a half later, road was rebuilt into the area and Yarder 233 came out under her own power, and Shovel 120 was also made to run and went to town loaded cross-ways behind Kenworth #422.

Both were rebuilt and aided in the big blowdown salvage effort. Shovel 120 was later replaced by a hydraulic shovel, and Yarder 233 was parted out at Headquarters Camp in 1994. I believe her bones are at Ramsey in Chehalis today- they were a couple years ago.

 

[bitner1970]

I've been fascinated with Mt. St. Helens since I was a kid. I was 9 when she blew, and living in Eugene Oregon. Amazing the power behind the blast. I never realized there was equipment right across the lake from the Coldwater Visitor's Center. I've been up there several times and never knew it was there. Can you see the yarder from the visitor's center with binoculars? Awesome pics!

Cheers:

Bill

 

[Contract Logger]

I've been fascinated with Mt. St. Helens since I was a kid. I was 9 when she blew, and living in Eugene Oregon. Amazing the power behind the blast. I never realized there was equipment right across the lake from the Coldwater Visitor's Center. I've been up there several times and never knew it was there. Can you see the yarder from the visitor's center with binoculars? Awesome pics!

Cheers:

Bill

Yes- the yarder, Cat D8, and 2 fire trucks are easily visible from the Coldwater Visitor Center. Once you see them you'll wonder how in the heck you missed them all these years! You can see them with the naked eye even. There's alot of iron left out there. After all, there's alot of equipment they havent found yet- and some right there in the Coldwater (new Cat 235 and Bucyrus-Erie 325HL Log Loader in the lake).

 

[akroadrunner]

We lost our equipment and 2 men on that day. Ross & Sons Logging. We were logging on Shultz Cr. just below Hanaford Lake. One ridge behind Coldwater. If the blast had happened while we were working, there would have been 9 widows in our family. I've been to the visitor center twice since the blast. Cried both times. Teared up looking at your pics. I knew half the people lost that day, including my newly wed neighbors, John and Christy Killian. My dad found Christy's body a few months later while out searching for her and John with John's dad.
My Dad, brother, and I hiked into our equipment 2 days after the blast on an overcast day with the mountain not visible and still rumbling. We had to hike many miles through hot ash. We were hoping to find survivors, but that didn't happen.

 

[dirty4fun]

It is very understandable why you would get tears, akroadrunner it was quite a loss. Thank God it wasn't a normal work day, for you and so many others. Maybe someone was looking over so many, from high above.

 

[akroadrunner]

The folks at the Toutle church had been praying that the mountain would not erupt while we were working. My mom pulled out of her driveway that morning, headed to the church. She had felt the earthquake a few moments before. When she looked to her left for traffic, she saw the eruption. Instead of going to the church, she went to the Toutle fire dept. where she worked, and set off the alarm to evacuate Toutle. Later we all watched on TV at my house in Vader, as the wall of mud a debris came down the valley. The were saying it was hundreds of feet high. I asked my dad how far above the river their house was. He looked at me and said "186 feet". Fortunately the debris spread out before getting to Toutle and their home and my brothers was saved. My dad flew into the blast area the next day with the Nat. Guard. Hard to tell where he was at even though he often flew in the past to look at timber sales. Later on, Ralph Killian, the father of John whom I mentioned earlier, landed in a Weyerhauser chopper in a hay field separating our homes. He had flown over our equipment. My dad asked if he had seen anything of our timber fallers, Tom Gadwa and Wally Bowers. Ralph told us that if they were at the job site, there was no chance for survival. My dad then asked about the equipment. Ralph, who was dealing with his own emotions looking for his son and wife Christy who had been trout fishing at a lake near our outfit, looked at my dad and said, It's all gone Keith, all gone". I'll never forget the look on my dad's face.