Forget about Paul Bunyon, the real forest heroes (and arguably the toughest folks around) were the Canadian lumberjacks who helped to define our nation. These (mostly) men worked from sunrise to sunset, six days a week in one of the most dangerous jobs around, where falling trees, falling out of trees, log rolling mishaps and razor-sharp axe accidents were all too common.
From that rough and tumble life there came our own heroes – men like Joseph Montferrand who, without the need for a giant blue ox or other fanciful nonsense, became a Canadian legend. He, and others like him, have left a lasting impact on Canadian culture and history.
But anyone who makes the mistake of thinking that lumberjacks are just a page in history need only go to the Saanich Fair (Aug. 30 to Sept. 1 at the Saanich Fairgrounds) to discover how wrong they are. The West Coast Lumberjack Show is coming to the Fair and partner Darren Dean guarantees an experience like no other.
“We’ve been doing these shows for 17 years, but the show itself has been around since 1982,” said Dean. “The events are rooted in the history of the forest industry, and even though some of the skills aren’t used that much in today’s industry, the skills live on as they’ve been passed down generationally.”
The highly skilled events include tree climbing where two climbers race up the climbing trees to a height of 40 feet and then come down at a speed that seems almost impossible. Then, there are events like the underhand chop where a lumberjack from each of two teams stands on top of a horizontal log and chops between their feet using an axe that’s so sharp it could be used for shaving. Once they reach the halfway point, they turn around and chop through the back side of the log. The lumberjack whose log is cut in half first (and who hasn’t chopped off an appendage) wins.
Another event – and one of the most dangerous – is the Springboard Chop. A lumberjack from each team will use an axe to make a notch into a standing tree butt. Then, they place a wooden springboard into the notch, climb on the board and then chop a second notch. A second springboard goes into the second notch and the lumberjack, now balancing some 10 feet off the ground, will use that razor sharp axe to chop the block off the top.
Okay, it sounds insane but remember, these were skills that real lumberjacks had and regularly used.
“Sure, these are things that lumberjacks had to do. Take the axe throwing, for example. A lumberjack would take down a tree and want to move onto another one, but had too much to carry and didn’t want to lug his axe over, so he’d throw it into the tree to save himself the trip. It was a practical skill, and not just for show,” said Dean.
The same applies to log rolling.
“This was a skill learned by the men working the log booms where they had to balance and move quickly to guide the giant logs that were floating on what was often fast moving, icy cold water. It’s a fun event to watch but it was a tough, dangerous job in the past.”
All these skills will be on display at the Saanich Fair, where the West Coast Lumberjack Show will take centre stage three times a day throughout the run of the fair.
The shows are sure to be crowd-pleasers and is destined to become one of the main attractions of the Saanich Fair for years to come.
Check out www.westcoastlumberjacks.com for more information.
