Old-time logger has axe to grind with modern

WHEN HE was !0 years
old, Curley Chittenden was
given a bucket of grease
and told to lubricate the
skid roads used by his log-
ger father to horse log the
forest on the family farm.

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

By 17, the young Chittenden
drove tie and tumber trucks in the
Bradner-Abbotsford area. He
spent the rest of his working life
as an independent logger.

Today, at age 78, the West
Vancouver resident is walking his-
tory. And he is hauling around
books these days instead of
lumber. .

Chittenden has written two
books on B.C. logging activity:
The Fraser Valley Challenge (An
Iflustrated Account Of Logging
And Sawmilling In| The Fraser
Valley) and The Harrison-Chehalis
Challenge, ‘’a brief history of
Harrison Lake and Harrison Mills
touching on the part played by
mining and_ sternwheelers, but
concentrating on the evolution of
the sawmilling and logging in-
dustries and some of the individu-
als involved in this development.”

While active as a logger, Curley
Chittenden took photos and col-
lected inforriation about logging
activity at the time.

“EF took pictures with all these
crazy little cameras. Al! my life
I've taken pictures — mainly loge-
ing and outdoor life. 1 had al! this
material and newspaper clippings
and | finally got around to doing
something.’’

While looking for somebody to

A]

RETIRED LOGGER Curley Chittenden shows a photograph taken
in 1934. The picture was snapped at Harrison Lake. Curley

“*type this out’? he connected with
Arnold M. McCoombs, the son of
a logger. The result is two books
thick with detail and photographs

chronicling early logging practices.

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sugg.
retail

But Chitrenden views today’s
logging practices with dismay. He
has an axe to grind.

“After the little guys were
bought out by the big companies,

Wednesday, January 30, 1991 - North Shore News - 39

methods

NEWS photo Nel! Lucente

Chittenden is seated left. To his right is Red MacDonald. Stand-

ing is Shorty Hambly.

you go around to where they’ve
logged the way they do now in
B.C., there’s nothing left. We us-
ed to leave strips of green trees,”’
he said, adding, ‘‘l have always

supported the people who are try-
ing to save a few trees.’’

Chittenden’s books are available
at most North Shore book stores.

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