Out Of The Forest

VIDEO HERE  (13:19 minutes)

“Out of the Forest” is a silent, educational black-and-white film, part of a series called “Fox Hour Everyday Geography,” presented by William Fox, founder of Fox Film, also known as Fox Studios. It explains how wood is harvested from the forest, transported, then cut up into planks. The film begins with a view of a forest against a dramatic sky full of clouds (0:35).

At 0:47 we see a grand mansion. It is a fine example of a house built out of wood. Another example is the log cabin at 1:01. There is thick snow everywhere, and a pack of working dogs rest in front of the cabin. A man comes out from the cabin, and the dogs begin to pull him in a sleigh.

At 1:30, a long shot of a great forest with a lake just beyond it. Lumberjacks ride into the forests in their horse-drawn sleighs (1:48). At 1:59 a man hacks at a tree with an ax as his partner watches. At 2:05, they cut down the tree with a two-man saw. The tree falls (2:12). A team of men work together to parcel up the fallen tree into smaller logs (2:18). They transport the logs using a horse and sleigh (2:33).

Sometimes big logs are sent down a chute into a lake (2:55). They glide effortlessly away, falling into the lake with a large splash. Sometimes trains take the logs directly to the mill (3:30) -- the locomotive here appears to be a narrow gauge Climax locomotive. Other logs are left on the river bank until the ice melts in spring. At 4:08, a man stands on a pile of logs, as he steers his two horses, and at 4:17, men manually roll the logs down a pair of makeshift tracks in the snow.

The film shows lumberjacks having a good time while they wait for the spring break-up. Four men dance exuberantly in pairs (4:40), as spectators clap (4:46). They range from the very young to the old.

Once the river ice has melted, the men shove the logs into the river, and they float down to the sawmill (5:09). But at 5:34 we see what happens when the logs get jammed. Four men are running about frantically amongst a giant, slow-moving slough of logs. At 5:42, we see a complete log jam.

At 6:17, a man carries a bundle of dynamite sticks tied to a stick. He lights it, then throws it betwixt the logs. He looks twice at the camera before hurrying off, though not too hastily, as smoke rises from within the heap of logs. Explosion at 6:34. Logs fly. 

From 6:41 the dislodged logs are flowing swiftly again down the river. At 7:44, men wedge open the river dams so that more water can rush down to carry the logs onward. The waterfall intensifies, and the white waters increase in their volume and might (7:50). From 8:05, more footage of logs drifting downriver.

At 8:26, black smoke billows in the background, as logs are pulled up into the sawmill. At 8:49, a man operates a large circular blade saw, cutting the logs lengthwise. The planks are transported by waterway to the lumber yard (9:29). From 10:09 a vertical machine with rotating arms lifts the individual planks so that workers can easily assemble them into very high stacks of lumber. 

Men are sowing baby trees in an open field at 11:15. Most are wearing flat caps, once popular headwear for the working classes. The man at 11:32 is in gloves and overalls. At 11:52, one man is shoveling; another is smoking as he squats down to plant another baby tree.

Builders working on scaffolding made of wood at 12:16. At 12:31, they use nails and hammers to fashion wooden planks together to make the wall of a future home. At 12:57, the camera pans over a row of houses with smoking chimneys. All of the wood that has gone into constructing these houses have come from the forests.