Image provided by: The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; Warm Springs, OR
About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1978)
PAGE 8 MAY 5, 1978 D esp ite The R isk s . . . I ’d R a th e r R e L oggin g TEXT AND PHOTOS BY CYNTHIA STOWELL his d e p a rtm e n t’s loan lim it is $100,000, but he has assisted logging hopefuls in finding the balance elsewhere. Less than a week into the The Small Business Admini 1978 logging season and break stratio n h as been a reg u lar downs a re alre a d y p a rt of the source for loans and some log routine. Before November the gers have even, received grants loggers can expect much more from the BIA’s Indian Business “ down tim e ,” heavy turnover Development Fund. In a couple among their crews, the chance of cases loggers went to banks of a bad sale and bills up to their off the reservation where inter hardhats. est rates are inevitably higher. But every productive minute Proving himself to be a good of th e ir 10-12 hour days m eans risk can be as much as a two cash and fu rth e r proof th at “ I year project for a starting log can do it.” ger. First, Warm Springs Forest At least five green loggers Products must acknowledge the have “done it,” with a new outfit need for another outfit, then thè about to prove itself this season. prospective logger must put to On May 1, a fte r m eeting with geth er a .d etailed “ p ack ag e,” BIA Timber Sales Administrat including a three-year projection ors and piling last year’s slash, of incom e and expenditures A lbert Comedown, Zane Jack- based on the expected number of son, J.R . Smith and Johnny loads p er day balanced with such ongoing costs as payroll, Guerin sent their fallers, skid- ders and loaders out to finish up m aintenance and licensing. A good accountant becomes a ne sales abandoned when the snow began to fly la st fall. Tommy cessity early on. Smith and Levi G reene have Once the business is under taken over the la rg e r half of way, borrowed working capital Russell Smith’s logging empire might be a way of life and there and will be tackling his huge are always improvements to be quota. made with equipment. For most of the Indian log Finch, who works closely gers the romance of the woods with som e of the loggers each faded long before they launched summer, said of logging, “It’s a their own outfits, but being boss very high risk business. Every is an especially la rg e dose of thing is in big figures when it reality th erap y . Y ears among h ap p en s.” And yet none of the the logging crew ran k s have loggers are behind in their pay m ade woods operations quite ments, he noted. familiar, but becoming business Inflation is always looking men and decision-makers often over the loggers’ shoulders. In proves to be a new experience. ten years equipment costs have The initial search for capital more than doubled and p a rts Zane Jackson owns one of the la rg e st logging outfits on the reservation, cutting 21 million board feet each season. Inflation in equipment costs has not prevented him from upgrading with this Northwest log loader, nor has it kept him from smiling. CDS Photo separates the men from the boys have gone the same route. But rig h t aw ay. To get into the machines must be reliable and woods now a logger must look at as Zane Jackson said, “Although 6-figure sum s. New D-6 cats it’s costly to repair and replace, s ta r t a t about $100,000 and a that’s money well-spent.” Log ru b b er-tired skidder can cost g ers, am ong o ther things, a re $65,000 or more. And then for the quite skilled check-writers. grand schemers there are such Keeping a logging outfit in “frills” as shovel-type loaders business is a bit of a balancing th at can be as high as $200,000 act. L oggers find them selves and log trucks that run around working within a structure dic $65,000. tated by fixed allotm ents of Loggers can enter1 the busi board feet (from 8 million board ness at very different levels. In feet for Johnny G uerin to 24 1966 R ussell Sm ith started , out million for Russell Smith’s re with one tractor and one front- tiring outfit) and comparatively end lo ad er. This y e a r Tommy low log p rices ornthe re se rv a and Levi Greene are taking on tion. Businesses grow to a point an o u tfit of five c a ts, th ree and then must stabilize and stay skidders, one loader, five trucks ahead of inflation by increasing and a crew of 24. But regardless efficiency. Johnny G uerin in of size, it involves lots of capital fact, has “grown sm aller” after and as Albert Comedown said, making the mistake of starting “Lots of talking.” too big. D uring the first five T rib al C redit h as helped years of logging he was tempted each of the loggers to g re a te r to “ sell it all and skip the and lesser degrees. Credit Man country,” but his trimmed down ager Bob Finch explained that outfit is finally paying off. Logging is a year-round business, with all the planning, bookkeeping and maintenance that m ust be done. The four or five off-season m onths a re not vacation time for most owners who can be found mechanicking under a cat, juggling, books, pouring over log sale maps and work plans, riding sales on snowmobile or upgrading their equipm ent. The quiet months m ight also be spent “ visiting other loggers and kicking our problems around,” as one owner said. If lucky a logger and his fam ily m ight fit in a trip to Disneyland or Reno. When logging season starts, every day counts. Loggers agree that the biggest w orry during the season is Breakdown, with a Although logging outfit owner J.R. Smith works right in the cap ital B. As A lbert said, log woods along with the crew, he says being an owner is “ a lot different gers try to “plan” their break than being foreman.” J.R., who is starting his third season, said, downs for the two-week m ill “ You take more pride in your work.” shutdown in July, but they learn hard hours which Albert Come single-m inded devotion can to expect the unexpected. J.R. Smith, who is starting down says “ you m ight as well bring logging out of the category his third season after buying out put in for y o u rself.” Guerin of business and into the realm of the smaller “side” of his brother takes pride in his after-hours lifestyle. It is often a life apart mechanicking, saying “ I know — a world created and sustained R ussell’s business, estim ated th at when his shovel quits on I’m helping myself.” Once bitten by the logger and his family. him h e ’s out $4000 a day. A by the bug of self-employment, a And of course, th ere is the logger usually can’t imagine any unfading hope of striking it big, broken swing sh aft (which he other way of making a living. which some have indeed done. A has replaced four times already) Loggers are a fiercely inde rising standard of living is one of costs $1600 and in the' down time h e ’s losing 16 loads a day and pendent lot for whom toeing the the tangible rew ards th at is line is intolerable. It is that worth the rocky times of insec still paying his whole crew. spirit of independence that drove urity and red-figured ledger Most loggers count crew turnover and absenteeism a-, them into logging ventures and books. But behind the dream lurks mong their seasonal headaches. continues to provide them with Aside from a sm all nucleus of their chief source of satisfaction. the plain fact th a t for many With the exception of a loggers the woods are what they skilled, reliable employees, log gers must face persistent crew councilm an and a real estate know best. The reasons for investor among the ranks, the risking can boil down to Albert changes. N ature also has a way of loggers tend to maintain a low Comedown’s simple statement profile in the community. Their — “I ’d rather be logging.” throw ing w renches into the works. Bad w eather can m ake movement in the woods difficult or impossible, and the length of the season is dependent on n a ture’s whims. A bad sale can take years to recover from, too. Loggers nego tiate with WSFPI for sales and they don’t alw ays <:ome aw ay with the ideal units -- those with high volum e, few defects and easy te rra in . A strin g of bad sales can b reak a beginning logger and can even be difficult for a veteran to absorb. Guerin, who says he’s only had four good sales in his eight years of logg ing, remarked, “ It’s up to you to pull it out of the bag,” So a prospective logger takes the big gam ble and de cides to run the obstacle course of owning a business. He finds himself saddled with responsi bilities bigger than the out of doors he loves so well and he trie s on half a dozen different hats in his roles of businessman, m echanic, financial analyst, personnel counselor, and as one logger suggested, “wet nurse.” Why does he do it? Eleven-season veteran Rus sell Smith, who says he’s getting too old for the hassles and wants to give younger guys a chance to make it, pointed to the sense of accom plishm ent th a t derives from the business. “I dedicated everything towards working in the woods,” he said, and spoke proudly of the many equipment operato rs he had train ed through the years. Russell’s successors, J.R., Tommy and Levi, are standing Albert Comedown, like all the loggers, does as much repair work a t the o ther end of the logging road and calling that same jour as he can rig h t in his own yard. J u st before the beginning of the season Albert (right) and his woods boss Don Waldrip repaired the ney a “challenge.” CDS Photo In betw een a re the long, track on a cat.
