Our Heritage
Discover the rich history and cultural legacy of Pennsylvania’s lumber industry. From historic logging camps to the rise of sustainable forestry practices, explore how the region’s forests shaped communities, industries, and traditions. Explore the stories of early loggers, the evolution of timber technologies, and the enduring connection between Pennsylvania’s forests and its people.
Wood On Glass
This image is a typical composition by Clarke when photographing the camps; people, posed but relaxed, in the foreground, living quarters behind them, and the towering forest all around. Read more
Wood On Glass
This is Locomotive number 242, a Shay, built in 1888 at the Lima Machine Works, Lima, Ohio. It is pulling at least six loaded log cars. A Shay locomotive, with its special gears driving the train, made it superior to other types on steep inclines and switchbacks. Some of the m... Read more
Wood On Glass
Teamsters were responsible for driving and taking care of the horses that pulled logs to the nearest stream or railhead. “When we heard the cook downstairs, we got up. We did not wake the rest of the men. We had to feed our horses and get them ready in the morning. Also, afte... Read more
Wood On Glass
A large load of logs stacked on approximately twenty rail cars is ready for hauling, leaving behind stumps and desolate hillsides. Toward the end of his PA sojourn, Clarke often documented the devastated, barren countryside; sometimes called the “Pennsylvania Desert” by Henry W.... Read more
Wood On Glass
Card playing was a favorite way for wood hicks to spend leisure time. These nattily dressed men have improvised teeter-totter chairs and a barrel table. The 4th of July was a favorite holiday, marking the end of bark peeling. Competitions between camps were another form of rec... Read more
Wood On Glass
This was known as the Shacks. Built on platform cars to be transportable to follow the flow of work. Consists of cooking, dining, lobby, and sleeping rooms, as well as cars for horses. This solution for temporary housing probably was as efficient and commodious as the stationar... Read more
Heritage
Discover some of the lumber and forest related stories of Black Americans in the Lumber Heritage Region and throughout Pennsylvania. Combatting injustice, breaking barriers, and contributing to the forests and places we hold dear today, explore just a few of these fascinating st... Read more
Heritage
Explore what 'Moon Trees' are, what they represent, and the connection between the Earth's Forests and the night sky. Learn more about this unique heritage and some of the places it continues to grow within the Lumber Heritage Region under some of the darkest skies East of the Mi... Read more
News & Updates
Van Wagner’s 53rd tree climb in Jefferson County highlights the importance of Pennsylvania’s forests, their connection to our heritage, and the role of sustainable management. Hosted by the Lumber Heritage Region, this climb was part of his mission to ascend the tallest tree at t... Read more
Wood On Glass
Two men work together with a crosscut saw, removing a trunk section of a peeled hemlock tree that broke when it fell across another tree already down. A break like this was undesirable, for sawmills could not create boards from the tree unless the damage was removed. Loggers prid... Read more
Wood On Glass
Bark peelers sometimes used bark shacks as a temporary dwelling. They constructed a wood frame and covered it completely with large hemlock bark slabs. By overlapping the slabs, the men had a relatively rainproof place to sleep. Bark peelers were no doubt used to harsh living ... Read more
Wood On Glass
Clarke photographed this group of unidentified children in a series of images made during the winter. Posing them on a “rough and tumble” log pile was dangerous. Logs could shift suddenly and break bones or instantly crush a person. Children no doubt were cautioned not to climb t... Read more
Wood On Glass
Slides were used to move logs to the rail heads wherever practicable in North Central Pa. Water was used to ice the slides in cold weather. Spikes were often placed at critical junctures to slow the speeding logs. Where slides could not be built due to terrain problems, teams of ... Read more
Wood On Glass
Clarke made a group of images of the Norwich Millpond & Sawmill for the Goodyear Lumber Company. This view from that series. The Norwich operation sawed its first log in 1912 and cut its last lumber on August 20, 1921. Operations consisted of long hours six days per week, only pa... Read more
Wood On Glass
The growth of Cross Fork was phenomenal after a large sawmill opened there on May 3, 1894. Four months after the mill converted its first tree into boards, the local newspaper, the Tribune, boasted that Cross Fork had: “2 drug stores, 3 meat markets, 5 grocery stores, 3 millinery... Read more
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