Skagit Iron and Steel Works, Sedro Wooley, Washington

[Contract Logger]

Skagit was really going at this time in the late 60's! Here are some GT type grapple yarding machines they were producing along with the towers.

 

[Contract Logger]

Old magazine clippings, scanned......

 

[Contract Logger]

More treasures from 1966 ads.

 

[Contract Logger]

Skagit BU199 Yarder.

By the late 1970's, the loggers were getting into the bigger old-growth and long-span sales. Skagit designed and built some big machines to attract this business. The BU199 was a large, self-contained and self-propelled 110' setup that would deal well with these conditions and requirements. 13 were built, and I believe all still exist today. I have personally had the opportinity to see, touch, and photograph 10 of them.

I have also added the original 1976 factory spec sheets for the hoist.
Jay Browning's Skagit 739 on Axe Men is a much smaller machine than this.
I'll scan some 739 spec sheets later, as well as a few pics of Jay's actual machine being built.

 

[Contract Logger]

1953 Advertisment, and an SJ-8 picture that appeared in a wire-rope ad in the same magazine.

 

[Contract Logger]

Blown-up shot of the SJ-8 above, and a couple magazine ads from 1950.

 

[Contract Logger]

Magazine ads from 1947. Skagit nearly survived a century of logging tool mfg.

 

[Contract Logger]

Skagit SJ-7R Brochure from the 1960's,

 

[Big Iron]

well heres some photos of the old girl in several different positions. we replaced the v-8 gas in the upper with a 4-71 Detroit. she yarded a lot of timber for us in the years we had her. the photo laying on her side was the result of a pulled guy line stump (this was where i learned if you think its big enough go find one about twice that size!) the loader was an old 600 Prentice it think it was more work to run than the old Bucyrus friction rig we had.:drinkup

 

[Contract Logger]

Wow, great pics! That 1st pic she looks new. Not sure what to say about the second one....other than, been there, lol. Things like that always make me sick to my stomach for a dew days. There used to be some SJ-4's and an SJ-7 down around Nehalem there on that back loop to Garibaldi, been years since I was down there though. Got any more pics? And throw in a few of the D-600 if you can. Is it on a truck or carrier? I had one on a Lanco that was a great rig for years.

 

[Contract Logger]

PS- Id love to see the Bucyrus too if you have any pics!

 

[Contract Logger]

A few Skagit pics from the web to keep the thread moving forward.

 

[Contract Logger]

BU-737 Self-Propelled.

 

[Contract Logger]

In Alaska, 2001, in an old rock pit near White River, sat this Skagit BU-739 Slackline yarder, Mounted on the Heavy-Duty T110 Self-Propelled Tower/Carrier with 8 Guylines. Thie hoist is the same as JM Browning is using on Axe Men. Jay's is trailer mounted however.

I dont know if machine lived to log again, or if it still rests there.
Owner at the time was Ludwickson and Davis, of Ketchikan.

 

[RonG]

How do they anchor the guy lines to those towers?Ron G

 

[grapple1]

In Alaska, 2001, in an old rock pit near White River, sat this Skagit BU-739 Slackline yarder, Mounted on the Heavy-Duty T110 Self-Propelled Tower/Carrier with 8 Guylines. Thie hoist is the same as JM Browning is using on Axe Men. Jay's is trailer mounted however.

I dont know if machine lived to log again, or if it still rests there.
Owner at the time was Ludwickson and Davis, of Ketchikan.

That is a awesome looking tower in my eyes. Eaton clutches, NICE!

 

[Contract Logger]

All of the later model Skagit 737's, 739's, and Thunderbirds used the Eatons. The Madills used Wichitas, but the Eaton was a better product in my humble opinion.

 

[Humptulips]

How do they anchor the guy lines to those towers?Ron G[/QUOTE

The guylines were on drums. You can see them on the front of the machine. They went up through blocks at the top of the tower. Most models attached the blocks with shackles to the top of the tower but Skagits hung the blocks off short stubs. Not sure what size line the stubs were but big like 2" and about 2' long with babbited knobs on the ends.

 

[Contract Logger]

Like he said the guyline drums are right at the base of the tower. The guylines run up, through the block at the top of the tube, and out to a big stump. Occasionally, no stump is available, so a Dozer or extra shovel will work in a jam.

This is a Thunderbird TY90 yarder, however the tube was built by Skagit, so we can post it here in the Skagit thread suppose........

Here a strap is run through a block to each corner of the blade.

 

[Contract Logger]

Found this Skagit pic and thought it was cool. Yarder is a Skagit BU-98 Slackline machine. There was a serious drop off way out in the unit, so a tree was rigged with guylines and an intermediate support. The big Boman passes it just fin, and down over the hill she goes.

This type of logging was popular with a few contractors, but is difficult and requires a very competant crew- hard to find these days.

Grim Logging out of the Sandy/Estacada Ore area used to do alot of this.

I'll find better pics to post of the operation when I can find them.