FMC The Heavy Mover
(1976) The FMC timber mover has only been available for a year or two, but several area logging outfits have already bought one, even with a hefty price tag of almost $100,000. Some of the early models were recalled for improvements as they were tested in the field but the latest ones are meeting tough standards.
Sid Houghton had a brand new FMC delivered to his log landing in the Bull Run watershed last month. There was one problem. He set up his equipment on the south side of the Bull Run River and the timber was on the north side. There was no access to the fallen trees by logging roads, so he had to get the 27,500 pound FMC across the mile wide canyon whose bottom was about 1800 feet below the log landing where Houghton had placed his yarder and wooden spar tree, on a 1 & 3/8th inch cable.
A skyline was stretched across the chasm to a haul back at the clearcut site. They wanted to use the FMC to drag the wood from the whole unit to one point where the choker setters could hook it to the skyline, and send it back across the canyon to be loaded onto log trucks and driven out. It took all morning to detach the sky hook and attach a block and tackle and work on the mechanics of the move. Finally the machine was slowly raised up in the air until it was high enough to clear the edge of the landing. It headed slowly across the canyon while everyone watched.
"It's all yours now, Sid," said the FMC salesman when it was on its way.
"Not until it touches down on the other side," replied Houghton.
After it arrived safely and was detached on the other side, the machine operator followed it across on the same line, clinging to a single horizontal log like a makeshift carnival ride. After the day's work was done he returned the same way, and sang the praises of the new machine. It's faster than a cat and can pull heavier loads, he said. The arch on the back raises and lowers for moving logs over and around all sorts of obstacles. The logs can be pulled up to rest on the metal of the arch and can be dragged quicker and easier over the ground without chewing it up.
Houghton said he planned to get his money's worth out of his new purchase during this logging season.