Help Support the Camp 18 Logging Museum & Loggers' Memorial
With Our All New Camp 18 Logging Museum Licence Plate Frames!
New! Promotional license plate frames for the Camp 18 Logging Museum and Loggers' Memorial. These plastic frames are designed to bolt directly to your license plate and permit full legal visibility of the lower-corner date tags. Your purchase of these frames helps support the ongoing historic artifact and display recreation activities at the Camp 18 Logging Museum and Loggers' Memorial in Elsie, Oregon. The frames are available in the gift shop at Camp 18, or you can purchase them online for $10 per set, at TrainVideosAndParts.com.
Camp 18 hosts logging competition!
It was a gorgeous, sunny spring day at Camp 18 with a good-sized crowd of participants for
the museum’s first logging competition/exhibition.
On May 8th, Camp 18 hosted its first logging exhibition. The event consisted of logging skills-related competition that pitted high school students against working loggers. In many cases, the high schoolers held their own or came out on top.
Teams from area high schools including Knappa, Philomath, Scio and Sweet Home participated in the event which took place on the grounds at the museum and restaurant. The students competed against working logger crews from Evenson Logging, Gustafson Logging, Nygaard Logging, Teevin Logging and Wayne Stone Logging.
The teams and individual entrants competed in various events related to historic or present-day logging industry practices. These events included two-person crosscut and individual power saw bucking, choker setting, tree climbing, axe throwing, log rolling and cable splicing.
Equipment dexterity was key to doing well in the loader competition. Log segments with color-coded ends must be stacked in order, and doing so with a large, powerful piece of equipment requires skill, practice and a bit of luck. Ben Reed of Wayne Stone Logging came out on top of this event.
A logging competition wouldn’t be complete without a felling accuracy event in which competitors cut poles, set in the ground for the purpose, and tried to bring them down on a small target placed some distance from the pole. David Evenson took the most accurate shot in this competition and the Kenny Ness Transplant Fund was the beneficiary of the $1,241 that resulted from auctioning the poles.
Nygaard Logging earned 49 points for overall company team competition and Evenson Logging went home with 39 points and second-place honors.
Camp 18 owner Gordon Smith, second from right, watches over the proceedings
with a few of the younger attendees.
The historic displays at Camp 18 served as appropriate
backdrops for the event.
The sturdy steam donkey adjacent to the Camp 18 spar tree makes
a fine perch for observing the activities.
Custom-embroidered coats were prepared for the event participants.
A student crew stands ready to compete in the crosscut saw event.
Logging company teams did their best against the student competitors.
Student competitors put their shoulders to the wheel during the
crosscut saw event, and the working loggers had their jobs cut out
to stay ahead of the young crews.
The tree falling accuracy event brought out some
interesting hardware including this early-vintage two-man
antique power saw.
A sharp chain and well-tuned engine help a
student power saw competitor rip through the log.
The student competitor crews include a fine
group of young women who take on the best,
or worst, the events can throw at them.
Careful preparation is key to a safe high climb. This
student climber performs his due diligence as he gets
ready to head up the tree.
The climber heads into the wild blue as he expertly
scrambles up the tree during a demonstration event.
During competition, two climbers ascend the
trees at once in a demonstration of speed, strength and agility.
It takes time in the seat of a loader to give a logger the ability to
accurately stack the blocks during this part of the logging competition.
This lad is inspired by what he sees the “older” kids doing. He may make a fine logger someday.
The Camp 18 event included displays of antique equipment
including this operating drag saw.
Camp 18 Logging Museum & Restaurant, 42362 Highway 26, Elsie, Oregon 97138
Phone: (800) 874-1810 or (503) 755-1818
