Medford mail tribune., October 19, 1958, Image 15

MedfordTribunb
MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1958
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Lumber Jills
The logging and lumber industry, mainstay of the economy of Jackson county and Oregon, is no longer Just a man's world.
Women are to be found working with their husbands and employers in many phases of the exciting operation which converts
the growing tree into a piece of finished lumber. Driving one of the big logging trucks is usually a man's work, but attractive
(Mrs. Alford Cooper of Shady Cove has been wheeling one of the mechanical monsters over the county roads for more than six
years. Here Mrs. Cooper, known to her friends as Mickey, checks in with Joe Madden, Medford, log scaler at Elk Lumber
company. Mrs. Cooper, who works with her husband, even throws and fastens the heavy chains which hold the logs on the
truck, and has averaged three loads a day all this season. Like every good log truck driver, Mrs. Cooper says she gets out
and inspects the load about three miles from the landing, and then again after reaching the main highway. In spite of the
fact that the Coopers get up about 2:30 a.m. in the summer months in order to take advantage of the daylight hours, and
that sometimes they are not home again before 7 or 8 p.m., Mrs. Cooper does all her own housework.
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This pretty young mother, Mrs. William Shadwick of Shady
Cove was a "cat skinner" in her husband's logging operation
for several years before baby Jeff was born. In addition to
operating the logging tractor, Mrs. Shadwick worked at other
logging jobs and Mr. Shadwick proudly says "she can set
choker or do anything." Little Jeff, 10 months old, has bright
blue eyes and pink cheeks.
Many in the lumber industry in the Rogue valley maintain that "we couldn't get along without Mrs. Simpson." Martha Simpson
is the wife of Lewis. L. Simpson, executive secretary of the Southern Oregon, Conservation and Tree Farm association, and the
association, plus Mrs. Simpson, operates "a 24-hour radio service for the 35 companies.' The member firms and their employees
can order needed machinery parts, gasoline, mobilize fire fighters, summon an ambulance or relay personal emergency mes
sages in time of family tragedy through their mobile units and the Simpsons. During office hours the radio facility is operated
from the association office; the rest of each day at the Simpsons' home, 801 King street, where Mrs. Simpson is pictured witfy
the main set and microphone. This station is linked with about 100 mobile units, making it the largest single industrial band
base in the United States. It was the first such cooperative industrial' radio '. system in the country, has .been widely
. publicized and served as the pattern for others. in the nation. j
Mrs. Lucille Lowman is said to be the
only woman wholesale lumber buyer, in
southern Oregon. Mrs. Lowman and her
husband, J. A. Lowman, have an office
in their home, 1033 Ingrid street. She
operates as a commission buyer, her
husband as a salaried representative.
Mrs. J.owman buys for wholesale firms
in Texas and several mid-western states.
She has been "in lumber" for about 12
years, starting out first as an invoice
clerk for a local firm and then later
going into the commission buying with
an office in the Medford hotel. Mrs.
Lowman says she deals mostly in fir,
since she is more knowledgeable in that
field.
Mrs. Leo Hoag of Trail says she is the "general flunky" for the logging business which
she and her husband have operated as partners since 1950. Mr. Hoag manages the
woods operation, and his wife Lee does the bookkeeping, running of parts and sup
plies, secures permits to move the "cats" and then flags while they are being moved
and runs countless errands every day. She averages about 100 miles a day in the car,
and keeps in touch with her husband by mobile radio. She is secretary-manager of the
Oregon Log and Lumber Truckers' league. .
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