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! TALES FROM GRANDPA AUGUSTUS
The history of logging in the Pacific Northwest is an epic saga of giant trees and the rugged souls whose lives revolved around them. These legendary adventurers, mainly Swedes, conquered the ancient ...
Keywords: Tales From Grandpa Augustus, Popular
A CURE FOR BALDNESS
by Forrest Addy Illustration by Peter Martin Here in the Pacific Northwest the first generation of Scandinavians - old guys who started very sentence with "Ya," chewed snoose, ate cheeses whose names ...
Keywords: Tales From Grandpa Augustus, Popular
HIGH MATH AND THE SOARING SAW
by Forrest Addy PHOTO COURTESY OF PETER PALMQUIST, ARCATA, CA I've seen videos of the monster saws, wielded by beer-swilling mesomorphs at logging competitions, that saw three slices off 12-inch logs ...
Keywords: Tales From Grandpa Augustus
HOW DID THE PITSAW GET ITS NAME?
by Forrest Addy PHOTO COURTESY OF PETER PALMQUIST, ARCATA, CA One possibility:  Like riverboat gamblers, old time woodwrights never knew just when an emergency would crop up and they'd need a small ...
Keywords: Tales From Grandpa Augustus
HOW GRANDPA BEGAT A LEGEND...
by Forrest Addy In 1884, my great grandfather Augustus had occasion to visit Washington DC to carry support for Washington Statehood to the Territorial Commission. In those days, travel was hard, for ...
Keywords: Tales From Grandpa Augustus
HUNTING FAIR
by Forrest Addy Spring is coming after a long winter's wallow. Time to stir ourselves for the coming days of mild weather. That means readying the yard for new plantings, taking off the snow tires and...
Keywords: Tales From Grandpa Augustus
IN THE VERY OLD DAYS...
The true story of the old Swede and Goldie the ox by Forrest Addy Someone mentioned I might have a story about my great grandpa and the first coniferous tree. Story indeed! I resent any implication th...
Keywords: Tales From Grandpa Augustus
MOSQUITO SEASON
by Forrest Addy I sure hope you fellows aren't suffering as bad as we in the Pacific Northwest. I hate this dang ol' hot weather. It's been above 70° for several days now and that goofy bright thing ...
Keywords: Tales From Grandpa Augustus
PIDDLIN' MEASURES
by Forrest Addy A board foot was a fiddlin' small measure in the days of my Great Grandpa Augustus. For a time, he was a timber cruiser for Pope and Talbot. A timber cruiser measured the circumference...
Keywords: Tales From Grandpa Augustus
THE IRRESISTIBLE FORCE
by Forrest Addy A fella set up a steam sawmill on Front Street in Port Orchard, where logs from all over the county could accumulate in salt water and provide year-round employment for the mill hands ...
Keywords: Tales From Grandpa Augustus
~ Photo credits
PHOTO COURTESY OF PETER PALMQUIST, ARCATA, CA "Fallers" like these were the backbone of the logging boom in the Pacific Northwest, which began in the last half of the 19th Century. Armed with double-b...
Keywords: Tales From Grandpa Augustus
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Tales From Grandpa Augustus

The history of logging in the Pacific Northwest is an epic saga of giant trees and the rugged souls whose lives revolved around them. These legendary adventurers, mainly Swedes, conquered the ancient forests with only their wits, their axes and saws, their ingenious contraptions, and their indomitable will. They were said to be serious about only two things--work and beer; beyond that, they were occasionally known to blur--no, demolish--the line between myth and reality, giving rise to some of the most outrageous and hilariously tall tales in the history of folklore.

Here then, as a special treat for WoodCentral's esteemed visitors, is a collection of logging tales that have been preserved for posterity by Forrest Addy—friend, expert machinist and frequent contributor to WoodCentral. Forrest's great-grandfather Augustus was a real character—at times a cobbler, logger, millwright and mayor—in the early days of Port Orchard, Washington. Told in Forrest's inimitable style, Augustus's stories are sure to amuse, delight and entertain you. Enjoy them!

. . . Ellis Walentine, Host

Forrest "Frosty" Addy passed away on December 20, 2024

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