May 17, 1973 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
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May 17, 1973 |
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A THIRTY-INCH LOG was brought down in seven minutes and 241/2 seconds
by Lewis Layton, first-place winner in the first Forest Festival logging show.
He was 50 years old at that time.
THIS LOGGING TEAM belonged to Lewis Layton's father. When he was 14
years old, Lewis graduated from greasing skids to drive the horses.
By JAN DANFORD
The famed and flourishing
Forest Festival of the present day
has matured through the years
from an initial pageant staged in
1945, and in May of 1947 the
now traditional logging show was
for the first time featured.
It was then that Lewis
Layton, of the Skokomish Valley,
representing the Stevens Logging
Company of Hoodsport and
performing as a single-jack failer
brought down a 30-inch log in
seven minutes and 24½ seconds to
claim first-place honors. He was
50 years old at the time.
Layton was born in Toledo,
Washington in 1896 and at the
age of 13 years began his career as
a logger by greasing skids for his
father after school and during
vacations• The following year he
drove a team and by the time he
had reached the age of 16 years
he was a whistle-punk in the
woods• He set chokers in another
year and he was falling timber as a
23-year-old.
"I sure remember when I
started driving the team," Layton
announces• "1 wrapped that black
snake whip around my neck a few
times before I learned how to use
it!"
While second-falling at Camp
3 under Bill Grisdale, Lewis
Layton, working diligently, was
tapped on the shoulder by a
friend who silently took the saw,
motioning Layton to the other
side of the huge tree where his
partner lounged lazily.
"That did it," Lewis Layton
reminisces. "When I found him
resting when he should have been
sawing, I decided I might as well
work as a single-jack failer."
Highly skilled in the handling
of an ax, Layton in his logging
days could throw for a full 30
feet and imbed the tool in a tree.
"I remember one time when a
scaler cheated me," he relates. "I
lost my temper and threw my ax
at him, but fortunately for both
of us that was one of my very few
misses."
After the episode, Layton
quit his job in remorse but was
promptly rehired.
Following his Forest Festival
win as the only single-jack faller
entered in competition with many
sets, Layton took part in
demonstrations presented at Fort
Lewis.
Layton, who came to Mason
County in the late 1930's, retired
at the age of 65.
"I ended my falling-career
with a power saw," he says.
and Valley
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LEWIS LAYTON, right, who began his logging career by greasing skids when
he was 13 years old, was falling timber when he was 23 years of age.
3rd & Railroad
Phone 426-8215
Thursday, May 17, 1973 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page 15