Small Craft Route - Swanson Bay Handloggers - Mile 462

There's an old chimney sticking up on the east side of Graham Reach at Mile 462. It's about all that's left of what used to be one of the biggest pulp mills on the coast. It only operated between 1909 and 1919, though there was still a post office here until 1943.

But before chain saws and big four wheel drive skidders to haul logs through the woods, this was the land of the handloggers. These were tough, tough men, often just a couple of guys with a rowboat, axes, screw jacks, and no fear of heights. This steep country was perfect for cutting down the giant hemlocks, spruces and cedars, and letting them slide all the way down into the salt water. The logs would be assembled into a raft, and then the men would row to Swanson Bay , and a tug would come to tow the raft to the mill. The process of cutting down enough trees, get them all down to the saltwater and make up a fart with them would sometimes take months, and they would only get paid when the logs finally got to the mill. However, it was in the mill's interest to advance food and supplies to the handloggers, and this was often done.

'Handlogger Jackson' was a well known Alaskan logger working in the steep country south of Ketchikan. The story is told of when he had been cutting a particularly large spruce on the very edge of a high bluff over the saltwater of a deep and winding inlet. He had just put in the wedge to get the tree to fall toward the water, and hammered it home and stood back to watch it fall, when he heard the sound of an aircraft engine. And looked in horror as a floatplane belonging to the 'fish cops' (The Alaska Department of Fish and Game) flying low along the water hoping to catch some poachers in the act! He held his breath as the tree slowly leaned over and began its fall, as if slow motion. Fortunately the alert pilot, sensed something amiss, looked up just in time, and was able to bank away and miss the falling tree!

Handlogging in the steep country of the Northern Canyons near Swanson Bay. The trick was to cut the tree so that it would slide all the way down to the water. If it jammed on the way down, it could be some hard and dangerous work with levers and screw jacks to get it going again!

Alaska has always been a bush pilot's dream - with settlements so scattered and few roads or runways in the early days, it was a land made for floatplanes. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) was quick to see the advantage of using floatplanes to patrol the vast waterways of Southeast Alaska for poachers.