Spar Tree Rigging Fully Rigged Spar Pole (1977)  Few logging outfits use the wooden spar tree anymore. It's considered old-fashioned. Most crews now use steel towers which are mounted on trucks and moved to each site. They can be raised or dismantled in one day and are easily portable to new log landings. A wooden spar tree represents a good deal more work.

First a tree near the site has to be found that is high enough and sturdy enough for the job. It's cut down and dragged to the log landing, then lifted upright and tied down. B&E Logging Company set up a new spar pole on a high ridge along Fish Creek in April. Three cats were attached to the tree with cable and pulleys. As the early morning sun rose, so did the pole. When the spar stood up straight cables were stretched out in every direction and anchored to stumps, wrapped three times, pulled tight by a cat and fastened with spikes.

It took three days to ready the new landing. By then the old landing on a nearby ridge was through being logged and the yarder, shovel loader and trucks moved in to begin again in a different spot. Bill Anderson said he'll continue using a wooden spar tree. "A new yarder and steel tower would cost around $500,000. For a lot less than that, I can keep three or four men working. Rigging a new tree takes time, but we usually work it out right so a new landing is always ready and the crew works steady."