Clearing 1953 windblow in Deeside
Photograph courtesy of Sandy Tough, Huntly.
One of a series of 7 high quality photographs showing the blown timber clearing up operations progressing after the devastating storm in Jan 1953 that wiped out most of the medium and older aged forests in North East Scotland. The location is not identified but thought to be somewhere in Deeside and the people featured are unnamed. Any help to identify location or people would be greatly appreciated.
This image shows a horseman guiding his Clydesdale so that the load on the drag chain just misses the rock in the extraction path. The trace chains running back from the hems on the collar to the swingle tree are certainly heavy duty and in this case not used with a back band. The drag chain around the five or so logs is a simple chain with a hook on the end. Not seen clearly in this picture but at the middle of the swingle tree there was sometimes a plate with a keyhole slot that the end of the drag chain could be pulled through until the load was tight against the swingle tree and then locked in the slot. This arrangement catered for the amount of chain used on different sized loads whereby the load could always be kept close to the horse so that there was a bit of lift to the front of the load when it pulled.
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Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Gale 1953, Horses at work in Forests, Northeast Scotland , Tools, equipment and clothing