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Wood On Glass

Men and Three Safety Bicycles – In the PA Lumber Region

The American bicycle craze occurred in the late 1880’s and throughout the 1890’s. The bicycle became an object of desire and importance, even in the remote lumber region. Riders formed clubs for recreation and camaraderie. Innovations that helped make this craze possible inclu... Read more

Wood On Glass

Skidding Logs by Railroad Near Austin, Potter County

A man appears tiny atop this large temporary log storage pile. This image gives an idea of its massive size. To load the logs on railroad cars efficiently and safely, the loader operator and crew had to load each log without disturbing any of the other logs in the pile. Disturbin... Read more

Wood On Glass

Barbers, Three Miles Below Ansonia – Looking Up Pine Creek Toward Ansonia

This view from a high vantage point shows a railroad track paralleling the gentle curves of Pine Creek Gorge in Tioga County. During the late 19th century, lumber companies feverishly built railroads to harvest previously unreachable timber. The landscape changed drastically in... Read more

Wood On Glass

Along Main Street-Norwich, McKean County

The Goodyear Lumber Company began building Norwich about 1910. This image of Main Street reveals what is probably typical of a small but prosperous lumber community of Pennsylvania early in the twentieth century. Norwich met its demise in 1921, when trees in the area were deplet... Read more

Wood On Glass

Portrait of a Man – Possibly a Self-Portrait of William T. Clarke

Folklorist Henry W. Shoemaker helped secure many of Clarke’s surviving photographic negatives for the state of PA. He described Clarke as a “corncob pipe-smoking, tall, slight, affable, ardent mountaineer, possessing a magnificent soldierly figure and erect carriage, with aquili... Read more

Wood On Glass

Log Slide Through a Lumber Camp – North Central PA 1890

Clarke contracted with various lumber companies to make images of their logging camps. Pictured here is a relatively large camp with tools, equipment, barrels, baskets, boxes, a ladder, a grinding stone, a washboard, laundry, and a wagon scattered in a seemingly confused jumble.... Read more

Wood On Glass

Group Photo at Logging Camp – North Central PA 1890

Clarke’s images give insight to the material culture of the camps. A visit by a photographer was a rare and special occasion in a remote area, so for this image, women and children are dressed up. The men are in ordinary work clothing. “Store bought” goods included pails, baby ... Read more

Wood On Glass

Group of Men at an Unidentified Lumber Camp

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

Lackawanna Lumber Company Log Train – Near Cross Fork, Potter County

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

‘Snaking’ Logs – Near Austin, Potter County

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

Goodyear Lumber Trail on the Dennis Hall Farm – Two Miles S.E. of Keating Summit, Potter County

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

Lumberjacks and Their Pastime – Near Hull, Potter County

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

Lackawanna Lumber Co., Near Cross Fork

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

Wood On Glass

Scene at Wind Fall Run Near Cross Fork, Potter County – Bark Peelers at Home

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