Redwood Saga (1940)

[Music] the logging of California's giant redwood trees is a big job even before the trees are felled a railroad has to be built to take the trees to the Mills to be cut into Lumber surveyors lay out the lines that are followed by the railroad the ties and the rails are laid even before the trees are failed the X means that this tree will itself be used in moving other trees as soon as they are brought down and cut into logs the topper will cut off the top and the tree will be rigged with cables and pulley for most people a job like this would seem too dangerous but then logging is a hard and dangerous work and these men take pride in their strength and courage they are the men who fell the trees and get the logs out of the woods so that we may have lumber for houses for furniture for the Thousand uses of wood and all in his day's work over goes the top of this tree the job of logging is well underway donkey engines are brought up to lift the big logs haul them around and place them on railroad cars heavy cables and huge pulleys are needed to lift logs weighing up to 50 tons the actual felling of a tree begins with the making of a scaffold for the axemen to stand on as they work then they begin their cutting cutting their way into trees that may be as old as our civilization for the redwood trees of California are probably the oldest of living things the Redwoods that grow along the coast live to be 2,000 years old they are young at 350 years they are mature at 1,000 years and they reach old age at 1,500 years all of the world's history since Christ was born could have occurred during the life of perhaps one of these redwoods but just as the tree itself is able to live through centuries to live even through forest fires so when the axes the wedges and the saws bring it down the lumber will last for many many years that is why it is very valuable as Lumber insects and fungi do not hurt it and it actually resists fire so the saws keep working and the axemen bring the tree down figuring the fall carefully so as not to hit other trees and Splinter the wood when the cutting is finished the men get away fast from the base of the tree as it falls for sometimes trees twist or fall in a way not expected but usually they fall just as the axmen figured and sometimes the axen figure very closely closer than one would imagine so down they come some of the world's oldest biggest and tallest trees trees that grow over 350 ft High trees that may be over 20 ft thick at the base trees that are so big that more than 20 houses can be made from just one tree but don't think these Giants are being completely destroyed many of the oldest and the biggest of the Redwoods are being saved parks with thousands of Acres of redwoods are set aside for our enjoyment but now the logs are cut to the lengths wanted by The Mills and the Carpenters and started on their way to becoming boards useful to mankind but the journey is not quick simple or easy the logs must be snaked out by big tractors and loaded onto heavy trucks or dragged by the tractors out to the edge of the clearing where they can can be picked up and carried overhead toward the railroad the logs look small as they swing easily through the air notice the big tongs like ice tongs that are used in lifting and moving the logs and the Booms that swing the logs onto the flat cars but with the arrival of the logs at the railroad a second part of the log's journey to the mill is begun trees that were living and growing a few days before are now on their way to be saw into Lumber these Coast redwoods are used for lumber but there is another species of Redwood which is not it is the Redwood of the Sierra Nevada mountains the scientific name for both is Sequoia the name of a famous Cherokee Indian the Sierra Redwood is even bigger than the coast Redwood it grows to be as much as 40 ft thick at the base and it it lives longer it may live to be 4,000 years old redwoods are today native only to California and a small section of Oregon but thousands of years ago they were to be found throughout Europe and Asia they grew in countries that are now cold but were at one time warm places like Alaska Iceland and Greenland their history goes back millions of years to the time of the dinosaurs but here at The Sawmill the Redwoods are just big logs that have to be unloaded into the Mill Pond and the straight arm that is used in football is found here to be simple and efficient train load after train load comes to the mill to meet the huge demand for Redwood in this country and abroad the demand for a wood that will not rot that turn ites will not eat that fire cannot easily burn into the Mill Pond they go one huge log after another each one meeting the demand for a wood with its special advantages here are the Timbers that won't rot in wet mines or the railroad ties that won't catch fire when burning Cinders fall on them and here is a mill where the logs are brought from the forest and stored in a Mill Pond where they can be easily moved as fast as the mill can cut them they are floated over to the conveyor belts and brought up into the mill the bark is removed and ground up for use as an insulating material against heat then the big saws begin cutting off enormous boards the whole log is moved past the band saw as each board is cut the log moves back and then comes forward for the cutting of the next board after this the boards with bad parts in them are cut the trimmer man in the Angel's Roost as it is called can raise and lower his saws to cut out out the bad sections and save the rest then the boards are checked and graded for qualtity from here on with the drying and the seasoning our redwood trees have become Lumber instead of enormous trees miles away in the forest we have Timbers and Boards being sorted and piled stacked as high as a small tree by this hky piler and when the wood becomes seasoned it will be shipped all over the world taken from Mills like this and transported to wherever Redwood is needed but when we look at stacks of Redwood Lumber we may well be reminded of its ancient history for this is lumber from a species of tree that has survived for millions of years trees that can withstand the insects and diseases that kill off other species trees that can withstand fire trees that to more over 350 ft trees that live to be 2 and 4,000 years old the tallest biggest oldest trees in the world and so the lumber from such trees gives us a wood that has the same enduring qualities also the wood that has a beauty which we enjoy in our homes for its richness and warmth of color for just as the Russians discovered at the time when their old Empire extended into California and they built this stade and block house at Fort Ross Redwood has not only Beauty and endurance but a strength born out of the ages the world's biggest and oldest of living things the coast and Nevada redwoods continue to live in our use of them just as they continue to live and grow in our forests today [Music]