A Giant is Felled

The power saw cuts steadily into the heart of the 90ft-high white pine. The operator stops the noisy motor, and in the sudden silence, deep in the Motu bush, the first faint creak heralds the impending doom of the forest giant.

High up, the first movement of the great trunk shows in the topmost branches, gathers momentum. The faint creak grows to a tortured shriek. The man with the saw clears out with a cry of warning ("Here she comes!").

A hellish roar rents the calm air. The earth trembles, then shakes violently. Branches snap and crackle. Bush birds cry in alarm. With a final, violent thud, the monster comes to rest. Three seconds, and it's all over. ("We got a beauty this time, fella!").

These were the impressions a Photo Newsman received as he watched the big tree pictured at left crash to the ground during a recent visit to timber-felling operations near Motu.

×

 

• 

Near impenetrable bush could be negotiated only by bull-dozer.

×

 

• 

Hitched on to dozer, log is towed back to lumber camp.

×

 

• 

Power saw hacks through 5ft thick trunk.

Journey back to Gisborne is no trip for the weak at heart. Fully-laden truck has to negotiate narrow, treacherous road along Motu River for some ten miles, before reaching main Motu road.

Logging experience was a novel one for Photo Newsman, who discovered that there's a lot more to timber felling (big ones) than simply sinking an axe into the handiest lump of wood.

×

 

• 

×

 

• 

The large articulated truck, carrying a total of around 20 tons, has some stiff climbs. In one or two places the gradient reaches one in three.