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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
February 15, 2024     Shelton Mason County Journal
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February 15, 2024
 
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Babe Mun e NovembersDecember I 1976 issue ofthe Simp- son Magazine included a story titled “Babe Munson: Boom Boss of the Water. Log- gers.” This story is based on information in that story. In 1889, Albert J. Manson and his wife, Esther, moved from Steilacoom to Shelton, where Albert opened a furni- ture and stationery store and served in several public offices, including deputy sheriff, county clerk, city treasurer, justice of the peace, police judge and postmaster. Albert and Esther’s middle son, born in Shelton in 1892, was called “Babe” for the first few weeks of his life. Although his parents eventu- ally settled on the more formal name of Harold Eugene, he was known as Babe for the rest of his life. During the summers of his high school years, Babe fol- lowed on the heels of George Grisdale, Simpson’s logging superintendent. He blazed trees, cut paths and performed other woods jobs while Grisdale cruised the timber (estimating the volume of a stand of trees to determine if it could be profit- ably harvested and transported to the mill). Straight out of high school, Babe joined a crew of “water loggers” who jockeyed logs HISTORY AT A GLANCE I out on the Simpson boom. In those days, no Simpson mills were on the waterfront —— the company was simply a “log- ging outfit.” Loggers cut trees in the surrounding foothills and loaded them onto the com— pany’s steam—powered railroad to be hauled through downtown Shelton and splashed into the bay. There, water loggers such as Babe sorted and moved the logs into rafts, which were towed up the waterways of Puget Sound to be processed into lumber, plywood and other products. The novice “pond monkey” or “boom cat” learned to sink the spikes ofhis caulk boots into the slippery bark to keep his footing on a rolling log while picking out a log suited to the particular raft he was making, snagging it with the spike and Invest in your pet’s health, wellness ' and happiness! FARM , mom mm. mum Journal @ér @W' KW <3” (PM 7 “MM A [MILABLE For more information, please visit our website at www.pyrhopefarm.com 50“ book of his long pike pole, and guiding it to the raft. When the United States became involved in World War I, Babe took a break fi‘om Simpson and joined the US. Navy, where he was a wireless operator on the second biggest oil tanker then afloat in the Atlantic. When he enlisted, he stated his occupation as “tim- ber cruiser,” but the enlistment officer found that difficult to accept. The Navy man was fa- miliar with all the cruisers in the fleet, and none of them was named “Timber.” When Mark Reed built the first Simpson sawmill along the Shelton waterfront in 1926, Babe was there with his pike pole and peavey to help corral, seit and feed logs into the “hun- giy teeth of Simpson’s pioneer Sawmill One.” He earned the respect of that special breed of water loggers, and was pro— ‘ meted to succeed boom boss Frank Fredson, his esteemed “professor” on the pond. It’s estimated Munson “boomed” over 51/.) billion feet of logs dur—, ing his 37 years on the Shelton waterfront. For recreation, Babe took to the woods. Hunting was his hobby, and together with Mark Reed’s son Frank, he worked to establish a duck—hunting project at Cranberry Lake near Shelton, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024 — Shelton-Mason County Journal — Page 7 i ,Q, It 3 Left, Early log boom, Shelton, date and names unknown Below, Babe Munson on a Simpson l dock, Shelton, 1976. Photos courtesy Mason County Histori— cal Museum which included helping the US. Fish and Wildlife Service plant wild rice for water fowl. He was also among the Simpson em- ployees who, in the early 1940s, furnished local sixth—graders with red hats and sweatshirts and commissioned them as J u— nior Foresters to join in protect- ing the forest resource on which their community depended. Babe Munson died in Shelton in April 1977 at age 84. I Jan Parker is a I'esearclwr for the Mason. County Historical Museum. She can, be reached at )nchspai‘kerffiLWWil.com. Mem- bership in the Mason County Historical Society is $25 per year. Fora limited time, new members will receive a fro ’ copy of the book “Shelton, the First Ccntmy Plus Ton.” - GET ROOF RAINY SEASON READY NOW! FREE Estimates - Zero Down Financing Available (o.a.c.) CALL THE ROGE DOCTOR! (360) 427 ~86] I 1131 W. Kamilche Lane Licensed and Bonded DISCOUNT ‘r-r'” ROOFDI 163N8 13913