John Schnabel’s name resonates deeply within the annals of Alaskan history, particularly in the rugged world of logging. Born in 1920, his life story, as he himself recounted, is a testament to grit, determination, and the pioneering spirit that shaped Alaska. This is the chronicle of John Schnabel, an old-time logger who carved his path from meager beginnings to become a significant figure in the Alaskan timber industry.
John Schnabel’s early years were rooted far from the Alaskan wilderness, in New Almeno, Kansas. However, the family’s westward migration when he was three years old set the stage for his future. He spent his formative years in Klamath Falls, Oregon. The year 1937 marked a turning point when his father, Frank Schnabel, returned from a work-seeking venture in Alaska during the Great Depression. Frank brought with him a proposition that would alter the course of young John’s life. He spoke of a dilapidated sawmill – a boiler, engine, and carriage – available for a mere five hundred dollars. To Frank, this rusty machinery represented an opportunity for his family to escape the cycle of manual labor. John, then a senior at Klamath Falls High School, could scarcely imagine the sheer effort, hardship, and triumphs that lay ahead.
After graduating in 1938, John Schnabel took a job at Weyerhaeuser Timber Company. This wasn’t just to earn travel funds; it was a crucial apprenticeship to understand the intricacies of sawmill operations. Meanwhile, his father and brother James journeyed to Haines, Alaska, to acquire the sawmill components. They relocated the weathered iron from P.B. Allen’s property to a leased twenty-acre plot at Jones Point. There, they constructed a small cabin, a humble twelve by sixteen feet, which would serve as the family’s home until 1947.
In March 1939, John Schnabel embarked on his Alaskan adventure. Leaving Weyerhaeuser, he traveled by train to Seattle and then boarded the Alaska Steamship SS Yukon, bound for Haines. With a set of tools and just thirty-eight dollars in his pocket, he was a steerage passenger, traveling below deck. The SS Yukon was laden with spring supplies for Southeast Alaskan canneries, and John quickly found work handling cargo at each port. This not only covered his passage but also modestly increased his dwindling funds. Upon arrival, he faced an immediate financial setback, using his earned cash to retrieve a C.O.D. package from the post office, leaving John Schnabel essentially broke once more in a new land. The cabin at Jones Point offered no luxuries – no running water, no electricity. The sawmill itself was a stark contrast to the massive operations of Weyerhaeuser. Instead of processing a million board feet of lumber daily, the Jones Point Mill relied on a single steam engine to power the saw. Logs and lumber were moved manually, a grueling, back-breaking process.
John Schnabel’s initial task was operating a hand crank connected to a log windlass, which in turn moved the carriage. His job was to inch the carriage, with a log in place, towards the saw blade. The engine’s limited power demanded a slow, deliberate pace to prevent the drive belt from slipping off the pulley. The aging boiler, plagued by leaking tubes, struggled to maintain consistent steam pressure, causing fluctuations in the engine speed. This inconsistency led to the saw slowing down, losing tension, and cutting boards with inaccuracies. To counter this, his father would signal John to reverse the carriage while dousing the saw blade with cold water, attempting to restore its straightness. On a productive day, the mill might produce two thousand board feet of lumber in an eight-hour shift. To supplement their income and gather resources, John’s father and Uncle Tony worked on constructing the new school gymnasium in town during the day and operated the mill at night to produce lumber for the next day’s construction. John Schnabel also sought additional work. Despite initial skepticism from construction foreman Jack Ward about his qualifications, John secured a job when he mentioned his comprehensive set of carpenter tools, including an adze. This busy year, filled with hard labor and valuable learning experiences, concluded with John boarding the SS Yukon again in late September, heading south to Weyerhaeuser to earn enough money to sustain him through the coming year in Alaska. This seasonal pattern became his routine until the onset of World War II in 1941. In 1942, John Schnabel enlisted in the Naval Air Corps.
John Schnabel in his younger years, showcasing his early days in the Alaskan logging industry.
The conclusion of the war in 1946 saw John Schnabel, along with his brother George, return to Alaska, resolute in making their sawmill venture a success. The war had brought an unexpected benefit: the construction of the Haines Highway, connecting Haines to the Alaska Highway, which opened up a vast new market for their lumber. However, their return to Jones Point revealed a disheartening scene. Heavy snowfall had collapsed the mill building, leaving the site in disarray. Adding to their woes, Mr. Benson, who had leased the Native allotment land, had passed away, and the lease was no longer valid. Investing further into the mill without secure land tenure was a considerable risk. John Schnabel traveled to Juneau and consulted with the solicitor for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He was assured that the Benson heirs would be identified within six months, and a lease renewal would follow. However, a year later, the search for heirs continued, eventually uncovering forty-two individuals. Securing an agreement to purchase the property became a protracted and expensive legal battle, costing over ten thousand dollars in attorney fees. Even after reaching an agreement with all heirs and obtaining an appraisal, they encountered another hurdle. Transferring a Native allotment required approval from the U.S. Congress. Alaska, still a territory, was represented only by a delegate in Washington. Delegate Bartlett managed to persuade a congressman to attach a rider to a bill, authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to sign the deed. The deed languished on the Secretary’s desk for over three years, finally being signed in 1966.
Despite the legal and bureaucratic quagmire, John and George Schnabel pressed on with rebuilding. Thirty-five miles west of Haines, they discovered an abandoned gold mine at Porcupine, which included the remnants of a sawmill. Owned by Carl Bjornstad, this mill became their next acquisition. Transporting the Porcupine mill to Jones Point was another significant undertaking. The route involved fording the Klehini River at the thirty-three-mile mark. With the assistance of Budge Mcray, the territorial road foreman, and the use of a lowboy and tractor, they managed to move the mill over the summer. By fall, the relocated and rebuilt mill was operational, now capable of producing ten thousand board feet per day, a substantial leap from their initial output.
Haines in 1946 was a small, nascent town of approximately two hundred residents, spanning just four by six blocks. Basic infrastructure was severely lacking. Sidewalks, streetlights, a sewer system, and an adequate water system were non-existent. Streets transformed into mud in spring and fall and dust in summer. Medical and dental care was absent, relying on weekly mail boats to Juneau or Skagway and a monthly freight boat for supplies and connection to the outside world. In 1946, the Army’s expansion of Fort Richardson in Anchorage created a surge in lumber demand. For two consecutive summers, barges arrived at Jones Point, transporting all available lumber from the Schnabel mill. In 1947, the brothers purchased an old truck and began hauling lumber via the Haines Highway. As T.C. Richards constructed the Whitehorse Inn, the Schnabel mill became a primary supplier. When Canada imposed an embargo on imported lumber, John and George shifted their focus to supplying Fairbanks. The six hundred and seventy-mile journey on the unmaintained road was arduous, with basic lodging consisting of rooms with a wood stove and a bucket of water.
The year 1959 marked a period of significant change. John’s father passed away, and his brother George married and invested in the Haines Light and Power Company. John Schnabel assumed sole responsibility for the mill. He secured a $100,000 loan to modernize operations and began supplying Fairbanks with substantial quantities of lumber. However, a devastating setback occurred. Neglecting to obtain fire insurance, a worker’s torch ignited a fire the day before the upgraded mill was set to restart, burning it to the ground. John sold his Fairbanks lumber inventory, repaid the bank loan, but found himself financially ruined once again. Forest Young offered a lifeline, a $2,000 loan. Leveraging this down payment and his reputation, John Schnabel acquired enough equipment to build a small portable mill. He strategically placed it in the woods, producing cants for the Japanese market. This venture proved highly profitable, and within a year, John was debt-free. He then sold the Jones Point Mill site, which was subsequently acquired by Dante & Russell of Portland, Oregon. They established a large-scale mill with a production capacity exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand board feet per shift.
Dante & Russell’s arrival changed the landscape of the local timber industry. Their aggressive timber bidding practices began to squeeze out smaller operators like John Schnabel. Ultimately, they pressured the Commissioner of Natural Resources to shut down John’s portable mill operations, citing the lack of a waste wood burner in the woods. At this point, John Schnabel operated two portable mills, producing a combined one hundred thousand board feet daily. Undeterred, he decided to build a new mill at Lutak Inlet and commenced logging in the Tongass National Forest near Petersburg. Within six months, the Lutak Inlet mill was operational, complete with its own dock for loading ocean-going ships bound for Japan. Ironically, Dante & Russell eventually faced bankruptcy due to poor timber quality and market fluctuations. John Schnabel’s Lutak Inlet mill became a major employer in Haines, providing jobs for over 120 people, making him the largest employer in the region. By 1982, John Schnabel’s career in logging spanned longer than anyone else alive in Alaska at that time. He served as a director of the Alaska Logging Association for over 15 years. The 1970s brought a wave of challenges to the Southeast Alaskan logging industry, including increased environmental regulations, declining timber sales, and rising operating costs, eventually leading to widespread industry shutdowns.
John Schnabel retired from logging and acquired a mine in Porcupine, redirecting his energy to developing it as a tourist attraction and RV park. Even at 86, his work ethic remained undiminished, waking up at 5:30 am daily to work at the mine, including building an eight-mile, two-lane road. Reflecting on his life, John Schnabel expressed a sense of satisfaction. He acknowledged the difficult early conditions in Haines, recalling that “people didn’t have much. We didn’t have much either but we built a little mill and we were able to cut lumber that they needed to build houses and things that they wanted.” He emphasized the positive impact on the community through job creation, stating, “People wanted jobs so we were able to expand the mill and we employed people so they felt comfortable with living here. In other words they could make enough money to enjoy life and live in a place that was more satisfying to them.” He concluded, “I feel we provided a benefit to a lot of people through the employment opportunity. So many young kids out of school would come to the mill and we’d give them jobs so they could make money to do whatever they wanted to do with it. I don’t pat myself on the back but, I feel comfortable with the way I’ve lived.” This was the remarkable story of John Schnabel, an Alaskan logging legend.
Managed Timber
The period from the 1950s through the 1970s was a formative era for both timber purchasers and the Forest Service in Alaska. Cooperation and bilateral contracts characterized this time. Disagreements were resolved through dialogue between parties. Under Forest Service oversight, purchasers designed road layouts and cutting units for long-term timber sales. Issues related to fish stream management were addressed collaboratively by the Forest Service, State Fish and Game, and purchasers. Starting in 1959, the Alaska Loggers Association established a standing committee that regularly met with the Forest Service to discuss appraisals, permitting, logging systems, road construction costs, timber sale designs, and other cost-impacting factors.
In the mid-1970s, the Forest Service assumed responsibility for designing and marking cutting units for long-term timber sales, concurrently adopting a 100-acre cutting unit limit. This restriction significantly reduced the harvestable timber volume per mile of road constructed, thereby increasing road building costs and diminishing stumpage and potential profits. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the industry responded by developing markets for sawn products to enhance manufacturing integration and financial returns, mitigating some of the cost increases from cutting unit limitations. While spruce lumber was the primary sawn product previously, hemlock, the region’s dominant species, became the focus of market development. This effort proved successful, establishing a market for hemlock cants and flitches. This satisfied Forest Service primary manufacture requirements and catered to the Japanese market’s desire to process Alaskan timber in their own sawmills. Logs unsuitable for cants or flitches were typically chipped for pulp mills. Today, the federal timber sale program in the region has shrunk by approximately 90%. The Tongass National Forest encompasses about 93% of Southeast Alaska’s timberlands, resulting in a drastic decline of the timber industry, which significantly impacted local economies, towns, and families, eliminating a vital industry and source of employment.
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