Author Description

Maine was the birthplace of the forest industry as a major enterprise in the United States. Woodsmen, Horses, and Dynamite , by C. Max Hilton, describes the methodology and costs of producing massive amounts of pulpwood in Maine’s northern forest, using manual labor aided only by horses and an occasional stick of dynamite. This book, first published by the University of Maine Press in 1942, details the management practices of this resource at a key juncture in its history--just after forest tractors and other motorized vehicles were first put into use, and while horses were still a major part of logging operations. Waterway modifications are described, as are the building of tote-roads, which were the basis of the extensive private road system in the northern Maine woods. This historical account from a contemporary point of view will be of interest to historians, foresters, loggers, students of management, and environmentalists. All materials, labor, and supplies are detailed in careful tabular form. In addition to its authoritative text, the book’s sixty-three plates of logging equipment, many of them fully dimensioned, provide an excellent and unique source of information on the technology of traditional forest work.