I am a olde man now. I still have me broadaxe which I used to build log homes. Hand forged. Fin style homes. Cut off the outer layers to expose the hearts of the log. Olde school but effective against beetles and rott. Third generation home builders. My joints are wore out. Many a surgury. I still live in the high country n breathing is good. I loved the art. All the homes we built are still occupied and beautiful. I mayed funiture after I could no longer push or peel log. My draw knives are still sharp. Once n a while the peeling "songs" the knives would make and there is no other satisfaction. I no longer have that "pinsSol" smell my wife fell in love with. My hands don't work as well. I rock in a old chair I made a long time ago. Had to double up on the cushon! All you hear off in the distance nowdays are those chain saws....but once in a while..... a familiar ring...a song that needs no words, tells that story, of a broadaxe well in tune, and some olde soul of times past....takes the time...to "tie one on"! and navigate a stream of flow, a balanced step and a jam undone, and new bendels in the river in of life....flow...flow...flow!

Fifty % of the internet is trash but programs like this is why I love it. Videos like this should be shown in schools to show some of the people that built America.

Holy smoke, I'm 57 and I thought us IRONWORKERS worked hard building bridges, skyscrapers and such! Damn these were real men and women!! Little wimps and mammas boys now days should be required to watch this in school! Most of the younger generation doesn't know what work is what alone knows how to do it! Thanks for posting it was awesome!

"Amazingly, in thirty years of tie drives no one was killed". It took some skill to manage that. A LOT of skill.

Great story telling! I found a tie hacks axe in the high mountains of the Wyoming range. Sitting right underneath the last giant stump at the very end of a long forgotten trail ...a prized possession for my mind! The trees are just now becoming old growth after nearly 100 years of no logging...even with modern equipment it would be an undertaking to do what they did, where they did. Amazing.

"... there was no doctor, you either got well or died!!' Brilliant. Thanks for the fascinating documentary.

THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL MOVIE THANK YOU TO ALL INVOLVE , TO BRING US THIS

jeez man..learn't something new again. Would never have seen this if it wasn't for youtube bringing this valuable history to my home. Thank you PBS and the internet.

It’s hard to believe the difficulty and amount of work that these puny humans could do. Those ties are stacked so deep and so high! Just remarkable. Thank you PBS Wyoming.

Ma was born in SW Virginia in 1925, and grew up on a small farm w/11 brothers and sisters, and she told me she would get an apple and an orange at Christmas and was thrilled.

all the young pups nowadays,need to watch this.

My grandfather and my father worked in the woods in California, Oregon, and Washington. When I was 15 I won a physical fitness contest over 3000 other kids. Of course I didn't tell them that my dad who was a woodsman and 55 years old two days earlier had out ran me, oh did i forget to mention He was running backwards and he gave me a head start . Ya he was pretty tough alright. Thanks for the story. good job.

Absolutely wonderful. That’s the thing about UKposts. So much of it is trash. Then you have gems scattered about. This is one of those gems 💎 among gems 💎

This dude that chopped the notch and sawed the tree down, you wouldnt want to tangle with that old man, he would tear you up. Incredible work for a guy his age and you can bet back in the day, he and his crew could definitely work you into the ground.

That was a good company those men worked for. Most companies, then and now, look at workers as disposable. This company seemed to care about their workers, even when they were too old to work.

love this videos - the historical consept - my dad came to US of America in 1923 - he was 21 years old - and he came right from a drama - when the tall-ship went down , round terra del fuego patagonia ... they was headded for Antofagasta in Chile - but around the cape horn the sailship went down - a gaocho rode to a little village and telegraph to Buenos aires - so a british navy boat came and get them up to New York - where my dad worked in the harbor on tug boats ... he was in beautiful America for 12 years - and had work all the time...he passed away in 1990 ... greetings from Norway - sorry for my lousey english :

Good food makes just about any difficulty more endurable.

I love it when she said, they call it cross country skiing. We called going to school... LOL

The guy who is wearing the Red petticoat junction cracks me up being so serious😂🤣

I love listening to the old men speak. Their voices remind me of my grandpa and how he would talk.

Wonderful look at the past; and so much history of what it took to make America great! These folks came to build; not destroy. These are the "little things" that contributed to the building of America.

Logging camps ("savotta") in the winter and homestead farming in the summer was how most Finns earned their meager livelyhood up to the 50's. First came the civil war 1918 and then Soviet Union attacked in The Winter War 1939 and right after that in 1941 came The Continuation War. These wars were part of WW2, obviously. Then these same veterans had to support their family, rebuild much of Finland and pay the war settlements for Soviet Union, which required Finland to build up the industry. Some territory was lost as well. So, there were men who were veterans of ALL three wars. Last of them died somewhere at the dawn of the new century, I think. What some people had to go through during the 20th century is unbelievable.

If kids were still taught how to do this they wouldn’t cry every time there is a minor inconvenience in their lives. I grew up spending most of my recreational time in the woods doing stuff like this. Crazy the mentality you pick up when you know you don’t need other people to survive.

The lady who keeps naming all the extreme hardships of this.time for common people followed by..."it was nice,"... Some may grow weary of these generations lording it over us how much better, but harder it was then, but I am just glad that some truly appreciate how much better they had it in spite of, or possibly because of the fairly straightforward nature of the hardships they faced

Wonderful program, especially the vintage images. I'm 82 and wonder where you would find men today that could do that kind of difficult and dangerous work.

"We didn't go do the doctor, you either got well or died." I feel you lady.

Brilliant, I can't get enough of this, what an incredible time in that day

I was born and raised around tye hacks, sawyers, and skidders from Sweden, Norway, and Czechoslavakia in the Snowy Range Mountains west of Laramie, just after World War II. How great to see this video-brings back so many memories.🙋🏼‍♀️🏔🌠

Wow I am starting to fall in love with Wyoming history. Thank you

Grew up on a ranch in the Dubois area, Ken Miller was one of my HS classmates

This was a tremendous program. I had so much to do but sat mesmerized by this story. It reminded me of my days framing houses with the last of the American framing crews who had a love and pride for all we built. What an experience that must have been to work those ties! Thanks so much for your post. I love your videos, I wish the internet looked a lot more like this!

this is one of the most inspirational videos about the past on youtube, as to how the west was built and overcoming obstacles with engineering, and what technology at the time to achieve it.

MY FATHER FROM SWEDEN WORKED FOR A WHILE IN A LOGING CAMP. HJELMER A NILSSON. HE TOLD ME ABOUT THE HARDSHIPS. WOW!

My mother was born on a ranch in Saratoga on the South Platte. I remember her talking about my grandfather floating ties down the Platte to build their home.

My grandmother, a WAVES, was a Norwegian too that came to Montana. My parents met and fell in love at Yellowstone.

What kind of person would rate this a thumb down? This is a privilege to see.

Oh heck NO. I would seriously hurt myself something bad like. Those men were certainly in good shape, even these men in this video telling their life story about working way back then are even still in better shape than most of men in their 20's, 30's, and 40's. Much respect for these fellows..

What a wonderful video of American history and construction materials used for the railroad. A Buddy of mine was born in Riverton.

I remember my grandfather talking with his brother about doing this, when they were young, in Wyoming, with "Sweeds!"

My Dad hand hewed Crossties in the 1920's and early 30's in southern Arkansas.

I love this. I miss my Wyoming. I used to live in Riverton, some, among several other Wyoming towns.

There's nothing like a good PBS documentary.

i'm feeling exhausted just watching him take such big chunks out of the wood!

Jesus, what strong backs these guys had! Amazing film-thank you!🙋🏼‍♀️

Thanks for showing this forgotten skills of day's gone by !!!

Thank you for this very informative Documentary on how the railroad ties were made before modern equipment made it much easier. One has to see real time demonstration to appreciate how hard men had to work to make these ties, back breaking work to say the least. A valuable part of Railroad History that few people knew about, thank you Wyoming Public Television.

In Australia they were known as Sleeper cutters, because the ties were called sleepers, like a long row of sleeping people I suppose. They were also cut by hand but the trees are hardwood. it took a real hard person to take on the job, especially in summer when it could reach 40 C out west. Today they have wood chopping competitions and one of the sports is cutting sleepers from a bare log. The sleepers are all concrete today as our climate and insect life is too hard on the wooden ones :-)

It seems to me that generations of men are produced, to perform certain remarkable tasks and achievements, to benefit succeeding generations, who in their time, couldn't perform the same endeavor.

My great grandfather and great grandmother came from Norway. 1886. They got some farmland and were fruitful and multiplied. She had 19 children. No cable

That's some size of an axe. What strong hard working people they were, and the hardships they had to endure, bless'em all.

One thing for sure; none of these guys had a membership to their local gym. :)

Thank you for this video. It was a good use of my time.

Great people of American history .. Thank You All ,and your families .

This was worth watching. Thank You.

One of the best video I've ever seen! Very interesting..

Happened upon this when researching firewood. One of the most fascinating documentaries I've ever watched. Kept my interest from beginning to end. There is a tremendous amount of wisdom that could be learned from their communal lifestyle.

An amazing story. Thank you to all involved.

Love these style of documentaries!!

when i was away in service my dad signed me up for the post office test. I was a postman till i retired ten years ago. that was a blessing. these guys are killing themselves.

Thanks for educating today's generation about how things worked in yesteryear. Life was simple, but family meant everything.

Thanks for the video it was great much enjoyed.

Great to see this historical story. Grew up in the high country Colorado Rockies. Learned the art of living yearound at high elevations. Broadaxe working on new fallen pine trees make a real man out of you by the second week. Problem is most fellers dont last passed the first 6 day work week. A new fallen pine tree is full of pine sap, called a "sappy" tree. Hard to chop, and heavy as as all hell to lift or carry. Amazing life if you got what it takes, they stopped making these kinds of men about a generation back.

Fascinating documentary. Thank you for this! It is a wonderful tribute to some hardworking people.

Awesome piece of history 👍🏼 Ax chopping, metallic sawing and lively fiddle music.

Fascinating, very well-done slice-of-life history of the great western RR tie-industry and its frontier resource-mining culture economy in the middle-to-late-stage of the booming industrial revolution. In 30 years, the western mountain states probably produced upwards of 15 million RR ties, a large part of making the US railroad industry and America's manufacturing prosperity. Next to the incredible engineering feat of the high-canyon flumes, what stands out is that in 30 years no one was killed on one of these massive tie drives. Too, its really something, that skilled broadaxe tie-makers could earn 3 or 4 times what a ranch-hand, cowboy, truck-driver, farmer, carpenter/construction-worker, clerk, accountant, cook or tradesman of the day did. Maybe even more than a lawyer, statesman pol or Doctor. This docu is a real fine tribute to the hard-working decent men and women of that era, when striking a fine-line balance between idealism and pragmatic realism wasn't such a big deal, as it was still considered a natural part of the working-class can-do heritage, in the time-honored tradition of the expansive-and-generous American spirit.

An amazing story....true men and American heroes.

A time almost forgotten, a trade nearly lost. A time when ships were made of wood and men and woman were made of IRON. We, man, have grown weak and now use machinery to do what the strong did by hand. A history and legacy they leave behind, only to be forgotten and or tossed aside by our youth and what we call progress.

I love this, it gives life to everything my dad spoke about. . .👊

Fantastic . .. thank you for the upload

We have old tie flumes in our mountains the Big Horn mountains I know of a couple places where they did this. One above Sheridan also. These people had to be hard workers. Love this history of Wyoming

Hey Wyoming PBS, thanks for the great content. I'm Texan, but this is my favorite channel, and my favorite state. Can't wait to return! On another note, I bet there were a lot of Scandinavian's missing toes in those crosstie camps.

I grew up in the '50's but one of my fondest memories is going to the butcher shop. There was thick saw dust on the floor, meat, weiners, sausages all hanging from the ceiling. And oh the aroma!! My goodness, it set your mouth to watering. The Butcher always gave my sister and I a weiner from what was hanging from the ceiling. It was so good!!!! Loved it!!

very interesting. Thank you for sharing!

Excellent history lesson.

Amazing. Makes one appreciate what those men built that laid the groundwork for modern life. Thank you.

My great grandfather road the logs down the Wisconsin river in the 1800's , My grandfather was a lumberjack and timber cruiser and woods boss in Northern Wis. back in the teens , cutting off the big pine . I cut some of the last virgin hardwood timber in the Upper peninsula of Michigan . Working in the woods was one of the joys of my life even though I lost 2 good friends who were killed by large trees . Not a job for Millennials .

I've stacked railroad ties in a mill in Morton Washington right out of high school in 1984, l weighed about 140 pounds, after a few months of doing that l looked like a miniature Mr universe lol.

ty this was a great documentary. I enjoy history.

Thank you, a huge thank you!!

I’ll never look at a railroad tie the same way.

A great Documentary- the events portrayed are dramatic enough!

I appreciate your documentary, thank you

Great slice of history.

Badass Men. Bless their memory and spirt.

really good history. thank you.

Great documentary!!! It’s crazy how hard and dangerous these guys worked back then, I’m so grateful we have machines and technology now. Much respect to the guys still living and the ones that have pasted on. Most ppl don’t know what hard work is now days, they just work the system and collect checks. Tree work isn’t for everyone, but the few that have it in them can make a great living and provide a good life for their families. 🌲

I enjoyed watching this video. It's part of America's legacy and the REAL history of what made us great. the hard working people. Seeing ONE log completely finished is one thing, but to do all of that "from daylight to dark" -- those had to have been strong men. With high endurance. So amazing when you think about it.

3toed Oly! My 3x great grandfather immigrated in the mid 1850s from Vik, song OG Norway to South Dakota. Oly Eide was his name and logging has been in our family for a few generations now. I grew up in Oregon.

I’ll finish watching tomorrow great video I enjoy watching these now

Growing up in Oregon we had chain saws it still was very labor intensive

I love your show.

Absolutely fantastic! So much respect for those wonderful men! Thank you PBS

So much work! When did people have the time to protest public health measures?

I love these shows to that's what my kids get to watch when I watch TV and they like it as well thank you so much now we have places to hike to and the kids know what we're looking at.

I have a 1920 train track in my back yard. It still gets used occasionally.

Great video. A look at the past.

When America was still America if I had a time machine this is when I would go

I moved around a lot and worked many jobs. Almost took a job as a choker one time but it didn't pan out. I live near the Oregon border in California and we still see logging trucks once in a while but nothing like they used to see. We had a 21 mile long flume that floated the logs to town from the mountains. It was about 70 feet high and made out of logs like a train trestle. It eventually burned down. Men used to ride logs the whole way in.

Very well narrated.

Those were the beautiful people, not the Hollywood muck.