Glossary of Logging Terms

Chance: The area which a cutter is given to work.

Clean-up chance: An area to be cut which has been cut over at least once before.

Cookee: The cook's helper.

Contractor: The link between the companies and the workforce. They hired the men and took care of the day-to-day work in the woods.

Cutter: The main link in the logging industry, the person who cuts the trees.

Driver: The man who directs the cut wood down the river or stream to the mill.

Haul-off: Time in winter when the teamsters bring the cut wood to the streams and rivers.

Loader: He helps the teamster load his sled.

Scaler: The employee of the company who determines how much wood a cutter should be paid for.

Teamster: The man who brings the cut wood to the bank of the river or stream with horses and sled.

Van: A man's personal supplies in the logging camps: tobacco, clothes, stamps etc. Also the building where these things are sold.

Note to Instructors

"'Those Eighty-Eight Unfortunates': Logging in Newfoundland in the 1930s" is appropriate for discussion of various work related topics. Students should be encouraged to compare the working conditions and attitudes towards work of the past, with those of today. Welfare, workfare and the impact of recessions on the social fabric of a community should also be examined. Other related topics are attitudes towards the poor in the past as compared to today, the social responsibilities of big companies and corporations and the role of government during difficult economic times.