Jacks, Jobbers and Kings: Logging the Adirondacks 1850-1950

Rating:
Summary: Scholarly yet very readable
Review: This is a very readable account of the logging industry in the Adirondack Woods from the totally exploitative days of the 1850s to the conservative and preservative methods a century later. This well-researched book interestingly discusses the initial primative methods of rugged and colorful men with axes and horses cutting and clearing the woods and driving the timber down rampaging and deadly spring rivers through to the industrialization of the process with power saws and diesel trucks beginning in the 1920s. The introduction of trains into the Adirondacks, the difficult life of the logging camp with adversity and pestilence, the ever-present danger of forest fires, the logger barrons more interested in profits than preservations, it's all in here, along with dozens of photographs that alone are worth the price of book. The only reason I didn't give it five stars: No map, which is a major ommission, especially since many of the locations have outdated names that can't be found on current maps. It's inconceivable that the publisher couldn't see the necessity of even a single map. But, beside that single fault, this is a very good book.

Rating:
Summary: Scholarly yet very readable
Review: This is a very readable account of the logging industry in the Adirondack Woods from the totally exploitative days of the 1850s to the conservative and preservative methods a century later. This well-researched book interestingly discusses the initial primative methods of rugged and colorful men with axes and horses cutting and clearing the woods and driving the timber down rampaging and deadly spring rivers through to the industrialization of the process with power saws and diesel trucks beginning in the 1920s. The introduction of trains into the Adirondacks, the difficult life of the logging camp with adversity and pestilence, the ever-present danger of forest fires, the logger barrons more interested in profits than preservations, it's all in here, along with dozens of photographs that alone are worth the price of book. The only reason I didn't give it five stars: No map, which is a major ommission, especially since many of the locations have outdated names that can't be found on current maps. It's inconceivable that the publisher couldn't see the necessity of even a single map. But, beside that single fault, this is a very good book.