Popular culture




In popular culture, the stereotypical lumberjack is a strong, burly, usually bearded man who lives to brave the natural environment. He is depicted wearing suspenders, a long-sleeved plaid flannel shirt, and heavy caulk boots, and is often characterized as having a voracious appetite, especially for flapjacks. He works by cutting down trees with either an axe or with the help of another lumberjack and a crosscut saw, as opposed to the modern chainsaw.

Folkloreedit

The most famous depiction of a lumberjack in folklore is Paul Bunyan. Several towns claim to have been Paul Bunyan's home and have constructed statues of Bunyan and his blue ox "Babe".

Known for their many exploits, many real life loggers have become renowned for their extraordinary strength, intuition, and knowledge of the woods. Men such as Jigger Johnson, the Maine woodsman who supposedly kicked knots off frozen logs barefooted, and Joseph Montferrand (better known as Big Joe Mufferaw), the French-Canadian known for his physical prowess and desire to protect the French-speaking logger, have been celebrated as folk heroes throughout North America, and have contributed to the myths of the Lumberjack.

Literature, Film, and Televisionedit

Booksedit

  • Blackwater Ben, 2003, by William Durbin, about a boy who gets to live with his father as a cook in a lumberjack camp
  • Sometimes a Great Notion, 1964, by Ken Kesey (1964), about an Oregon family of gyppo loggers
  • Lumberjack, 1974, by William Kurelek, about his days working in a logging camp.
  • The Alphabet of Manliness, 2006, by Maddox, lists the lumberjack as one of 26 examples (each corresponding to a letter of the alphabet) of the pinnacle of manliness

Filmsedit

  • Come and Get It, 1936 film directed by Howard Hawks and William Wyler
  • The Howards of Virginia, 1940 film directed by Frank Lloyd
  • Wild Geese Calling, 1941 film directed by John Brahm
  • The Enchanted Forest, a 1945 film directed by Lew Landers
  • The Strange Woman, a 1946 film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer
  • The Big Trees, 1952 film directed by Felix E. Feist
  • Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, 1954 film directed by Stanley Donen
  • North to Alaska, a 1960 film directed by Henry Hathaway
  • Sometimes a Great Notion, 1970 film adaptation of the novel of the same name, directed by Paul Newman
  • Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, 1992 animated film directed by Bill Kroyer
  • Fargo, 1996 film directed by Joel Coen
  • X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 2009 film directed by Gavin Hood

Televisionedit

The lives of loggers have been featured on the following American television series:

  • American Loggers on the Discovery Channel
  • Axe Men on History
  • Here Come the Brides
  • The Pink Panther cartoon short, Pink Campaign
  • Wacky Races
  • Gravity Falls
  • Dexter

Musicedit

Songsedit

  • Lumberjacks rapidly developed their own distinctive musical culture of work songs. Many were based on traditional European folk tunes, with lyrics that reflected the lives, experiences and concerns of lumberjacks, with the themes of cutting, hauling, rolling, and driving, as well as narrative songs that involved romance.
  • Big Joe Mufferaw, a song recorded and performed by Stompin' Tom Connors, one of Canada's most prolific and well-known country and folk singer-songwriters, about legendary folk hero Joseph Montferrand, a French-Canadian logger. This song appears on the album Stompin' Tom Meets Big Joe Mufferaw (1970), on the live album Live At The Horseshoe (1971), and on the album Move Along With Stompin' Tom (1999).
  • The Log Driver's Waltz, a 1956 song by Wade Hemsworth on his album Folk Songs of the Canadian North Woods
  • Lumberjack, a 1960 song by Johnny Cash on his album Ride This Train
  • The Lumberjack, a song by Hal Willis
  • The Lumberjack, a song featuring a chainsaw solo, by the American rock band Jackyl
  • The Lumberjack Song, a song by Monty Python, known for its refrain: "I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay / I sleep all night and I work all day. ..."

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Evolution

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Tie Hacking edit A specialty form of logging involving the felling of trees for the production of railroad ties was known as tie hacking. These lumberjacks, called tie hacks, used saws to fell trees and cut to length, and a broad-axe to flatten two or all four sides of the log to create railroad ties. Later, portable saw mills were used to cut and shape ties. Tie hacking was an important form of logging in Wyoming and northern Colorado and the remains of tie hacking camps can be found on National Forest land. The remains of flumes can be seen near Dubois, Wyoming, and Old Roach, Colorado. In addition, a decaying splash dam exists near the Old Roach site as well. There, tie hacks attempted to float logs down to the Laramie River for the annual spring tie drives, and the splash dam was used to collect winter snow-melt to increase the water flow for the tie drive. Modern technology edit Modern technology changed the job of the modern logger considerably. Although the basic task of harvest
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