This is evidence that wives had important roles in lumber company towns. (McLean sawmill site, Vancouver Island, BC.)
Mark
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
SpaceMouse wrote:Depends on the lumber company and the era. Some companies would take the men to town to see their wives on Sunday, but wouldn't allow them any other day. Sometimes women worked in the kitchens.
And as documented in my "Dinkey Creek sawmill memories" thread, lumber camp towns could have kids in addition to wives, as well as schools.
Of course a "Lumber Camp" and a "Lumber Town" aren't the same thing. Here in MN heavy logging was generally done only in the winter (due to the swampy areas the trees were often located in) with the loggers often being farmers or Great Lakes sailing men earning extra money during the winter. The log camps were often a long way from civilization, and loggers normally woudn't see their families from November to March while they were at the camp.