Historic Hood River
Pioneer Chainsaw
4-24-2023
Notes
I could swear I posted this about 10 years ago but it doesn’t have the obvious tag “chainsaw”. This Alva Day image is dated 1949 and labeled “Gilchrist” which could either be the person or a location. The chainsaw is an early IEL (Industrial Engineering Limited) Pioneer. I learned all about IEL chainsaws from this Youtuber. This appears to be a couple of years older than the oldest one he shows in the video, so I think this is one of the early gear drive models he mentions. We have two images of this man using the saw, one cutting down a tree an the other bucking the log. Sure enough this is one of the models where the fuel tank and carburetor rotate so the carb float can function with the blade horizontal or vertical.
Roger Sheldrake
OSHA would have a field day with every aspect of that operation today!! And then there’s the sore back!
Jeff Bryant
Elbert Vaughan, who lived in Hood River around 1902, developed the Vaughan Dragsaw, a precursor to the chainsaw. He had Vaughan Motor Works in Portland, Oregon.
ArthurB
I’ll Photoshop in some ear and eye protection and the proper clothing.
Bhuk
Looks like a snag"¦ hope he faced it"¦
L.E.
I am going to guess the facecut is already in, on the other side. Although he isn’t covered in chips, so speculation on how long he has actually been sawing.
Can you imagine man handling this saw, cutting through the tree. When you finally get to the facecut, and the tree starts to lean, you have to pull out your saw, stand up, which isn’t easy because your back is killing you, try not to get your feet tangled up in that brush while you move away from the tree.
Basaltgrouse
The other image of this series that was previously posted in 2011 is https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org?showimage=211
nels
This photo makes my stomach churn. Hopefully this was a poised photo.
Tom Kloster
Gilchrist could be the man, but my vote is for the company town he built:
https://www.worldforestry.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/GILCHRIST-FRANK-W..pdf
Greg
I have this rotating engine style with vertical carb. It’s old but clean. Never had it running.