神马文学网【美国历史】美国伐木史
来源：百度文库 编辑：神马文学网 时间：2024/05/23 12:21:30
来源History of Logging — Historycom Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts
译者moonstruck
Logging's roots in America stretch back to the early 1600s. From the arrival of settlers in Jamestown in 1607, lumber was essential to the North American economy. Shipbuilding fueled the need for lumber and the demand increased exponentially with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. By the early 1830s, Bangor, Maine, was the world's biggest shipping port for lumber, with over 8.7 trillion board feet moved out of the area between 1832 and 1888. In the mid-1800s, the process of making paper from wood pulp was established. William Rittenhouse founded America's first paper mill in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1690, but until the middle of the 19th century, paper was produced from rags and other materials.
伐木业在美国可以追溯到17世纪初。自从第一批移民在1607年到达詹姆斯敦以来，木材就成为北美经济中不可或缺的一部分。造船业促进了对木材的需求，而工业革命的到来更是极大刺激了需求的增长。到19世纪30年代初，缅因州的班戈成了世界上木材装货量最大的货运港，1832至1888年间共有8.7万亿板英尺的木材从该地运出。
19世纪中期，用木质纸浆造纸的制作程序确立。1690年，威廉·里腾豪斯在宾夕法尼亚的日耳曼顿建立了美国第一家造纸厂。然而在19世纪中期以前，纸都是由碎布和其他原料制成的。
Throughout the 19th century, Americans headed west in search of new land and natural resources. The passage of the Homestead Act in 1862 tempted settlers into making the long and arduous journey west by the promise of 160 acres per family on which they could work and live. These plots were often heavily wooded, requiring homesteaders to clear the land before it could be used. Around the same time, the timber supply in the Midwest was dwindling, forcing loggers to seek new sources of "green gold." By the start of the 20th century, the Pacific Northwest was well on its way to becoming the place for quality timber. The region had its first sawmill in the late 1820s and by 1890, logging companies in Washington harvested over 1 billion board feet of timber annually, according to the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest (CSPN). CSPN reports that in 1905, Washington became the top lumber-producing state in America and in 1926, the state's lumber harvest hit an all-time high of 7.6 billion board feet (by comparison, 4.1 billion feet of timber were harvested in 2000).
纵观19世纪，美国人深入西部，开辟新的土地，寻找新的自然资源。1862年通过的《宅地法》许诺每家可以领取不超过160英亩的土地用于工作、生活，由此吸引移民长途跋涉向西迁徙。这些土地通常林木繁茂，需要农场所有人清理土地后才能用于耕作。
大约在同一时期，中西部的木材供应量缩减，迫使伐木人寻找新的“绿色黄金”。20世纪初，太平洋西北部地区朝着成为高质量木材区稳步迈进。19世纪20年代，该地区第一家锯木厂建立，根据太平洋西北部地区研究中心（CSPN）的数据，到1890年，华盛顿的伐木公司每年收获超过10亿板英尺木材。CSPN的报告显示，1905年，华盛顿成为美国采木量最高的州，1926年，华盛顿的采木量达到历史最高——76亿板英尺（相比之下，2000年的数据为41板英尺）。
Early loggers and settlers cut timber near water and moved farther away as the wood supply on that land was depleted. The water made it easy to move timber to mills and overseas, but as loggers were forced farther inland, they needed to develop new methods of transporting their product. One popular technique for hauling lumber was to use horses and oxen to drag logs over skid roads and rough tracks through the woods. Log flumes, now known as theme park rides, got their start as a way to move logs via manmade troughs. If loggers were working near a stream, log drivers could be used to guide logs to more substantial waterways, where they were tied together in rafts. (The sport of logrolling, in which people compete to see who can remain standing the longest on a rolling log in the water, grew out of the loggers' actions.) Another method for moving lumber to market was via crude railroads constructed from the very lumber they were designed to transport. Once the logs reached a main waterway, they were sent to sorting yards and then either to a mill, where they were transformed into a usable product or exported to places as far away as Australia and China.
早期的伐木工人和移民在水边伐木，后来随着土地的枯竭而逐渐远离水边。有了水，将木材运往加工厂和海外市场就更加轻松，但随着伐木工人被迫深入内地，他们需要开发新的运输方法。
搬运木材其中一种流行的技术是，在森林里的木材滑送道和颠簸的路上，用牛和马拖运木材。原木流送槽(现在变成了主题公园的游乐项目)是一种用来移动原木的人造槽沟。如果伐木工的工作场所接近溪流，木筏工人可以将其绑成木筏的样子，将其引向更牢靠的水道。比赛谁让对方先落水的水上踩滚木游戏就是从伐木工人的活动演变而来。
另一个移动木材的方法是通过简陋的轨道，而这种轨道就是由它们所运送的木头打造而成。原木一旦到达主要的水道，就被运往调车场，有的前往加工厂被加工为有用的产品，有的则转运海外，远至澳大利亚和中国。
Loggers worked in all-male crews and had their own vocabulary. A "bucker" was someone who cut trees into manageable pieces after they'd been chopped down by the "faller," while the "whistle punk" relayed information between the worksite and the area where logs were dragged for loading. Loggers relied on axes, handsaws and draft animals before the advent of steam engines and gas-powered vehicles, along with chainsaws and harvesting machines such as the feller-buncher. (Although methods of logging have evolved, it is still considered one of the world's most dangerous jobs. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, in 2005, there were 91 worker deaths in the American logging industry, which had 106,000 employees.) Throughout the 19th century and early decades of the 20th century, loggers lived in remote camps near their worksites. The hours were lengthy, the work difficult and migratory and the accommodations rough. Camps were often infested with lice and other diseases and it wasn't uncommon for loggers to wear the same clothes for months on end. These tough conditions inspired an image of loggers as men of immense strength and might. Over time, labor unions demanded better conditions for loggers and as things improved, wives and families moved to the camps, establishing schools and other community features.
伐木工人都是男性，有一套自己的语言。"faller"指把树砍倒的人，随后将树交给"bucker"，也就是把树进一步砍成便于操作的小段的工人，而"whistle punk"则在伐木场所和装运原木地点之间传递信息。
在蒸汽机、蒸汽动力机车、电锯和伐木归堆机等工具问世之前，伐木工人依靠斧头、手锯和驮畜进行作业。（尽管伐木技术有了发展，但伐木业依然被认为是全球最危险的工作之一。根据国家职业安全健康机构的报告，2005年，拥有10.6万雇员的美国伐木产业共造成91名工人死亡。）
在整个19世纪以及20世纪头几十年，伐木工人住在工地附近偏远的营地。工作时间漫长，工作艰苦而且需要奔波，食宿条件简陋。营地通常虱子成灾，疾病频发，伐木工几个月不换衣服是很平常的事情。艰苦的条件成就了伐木工人充满力量和勇气的形象。随着时间的流逝，物质水平的增长，工会要求伐木工人的工作环境得到改善，让妻子和其他家庭成员住到营地里，并建立学校和其他社区设施。
译者moonstruck
Logging's roots in America stretch back to the early 1600s. From the arrival of settlers in Jamestown in 1607, lumber was essential to the North American economy. Shipbuilding fueled the need for lumber and the demand increased exponentially with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. By the early 1830s, Bangor, Maine, was the world's biggest shipping port for lumber, with over 8.7 trillion board feet moved out of the area between 1832 and 1888. In the mid-1800s, the process of making paper from wood pulp was established. William Rittenhouse founded America's first paper mill in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1690, but until the middle of the 19th century, paper was produced from rags and other materials.
伐木业在美国可以追溯到17世纪初。自从第一批移民在1607年到达詹姆斯敦以来，木材就成为北美经济中不可或缺的一部分。造船业促进了对木材的需求，而工业革命的到来更是极大刺激了需求的增长。到19世纪30年代初，缅因州的班戈成了世界上木材装货量最大的货运港，1832至1888年间共有8.7万亿板英尺的木材从该地运出。
19世纪中期，用木质纸浆造纸的制作程序确立。1690年，威廉·里腾豪斯在宾夕法尼亚的日耳曼顿建立了美国第一家造纸厂。然而在19世纪中期以前，纸都是由碎布和其他原料制成的。
Throughout the 19th century, Americans headed west in search of new land and natural resources. The passage of the Homestead Act in 1862 tempted settlers into making the long and arduous journey west by the promise of 160 acres per family on which they could work and live. These plots were often heavily wooded, requiring homesteaders to clear the land before it could be used. Around the same time, the timber supply in the Midwest was dwindling, forcing loggers to seek new sources of "green gold." By the start of the 20th century, the Pacific Northwest was well on its way to becoming the place for quality timber. The region had its first sawmill in the late 1820s and by 1890, logging companies in Washington harvested over 1 billion board feet of timber annually, according to the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest (CSPN). CSPN reports that in 1905, Washington became the top lumber-producing state in America and in 1926, the state's lumber harvest hit an all-time high of 7.6 billion board feet (by comparison, 4.1 billion feet of timber were harvested in 2000).
纵观19世纪，美国人深入西部，开辟新的土地，寻找新的自然资源。1862年通过的《宅地法》许诺每家可以领取不超过160英亩的土地用于工作、生活，由此吸引移民长途跋涉向西迁徙。这些土地通常林木繁茂，需要农场所有人清理土地后才能用于耕作。
大约在同一时期，中西部的木材供应量缩减，迫使伐木人寻找新的“绿色黄金”。20世纪初，太平洋西北部地区朝着成为高质量木材区稳步迈进。19世纪20年代，该地区第一家锯木厂建立，根据太平洋西北部地区研究中心（CSPN）的数据，到1890年，华盛顿的伐木公司每年收获超过10亿板英尺木材。CSPN的报告显示，1905年，华盛顿成为美国采木量最高的州，1926年，华盛顿的采木量达到历史最高——76亿板英尺（相比之下，2000年的数据为41板英尺）。
Early loggers and settlers cut timber near water and moved farther away as the wood supply on that land was depleted. The water made it easy to move timber to mills and overseas, but as loggers were forced farther inland, they needed to develop new methods of transporting their product. One popular technique for hauling lumber was to use horses and oxen to drag logs over skid roads and rough tracks through the woods. Log flumes, now known as theme park rides, got their start as a way to move logs via manmade troughs. If loggers were working near a stream, log drivers could be used to guide logs to more substantial waterways, where they were tied together in rafts. (The sport of logrolling, in which people compete to see who can remain standing the longest on a rolling log in the water, grew out of the loggers' actions.) Another method for moving lumber to market was via crude railroads constructed from the very lumber they were designed to transport. Once the logs reached a main waterway, they were sent to sorting yards and then either to a mill, where they were transformed into a usable product or exported to places as far away as Australia and China.
早期的伐木工人和移民在水边伐木，后来随着土地的枯竭而逐渐远离水边。有了水，将木材运往加工厂和海外市场就更加轻松，但随着伐木工人被迫深入内地，他们需要开发新的运输方法。
搬运木材其中一种流行的技术是，在森林里的木材滑送道和颠簸的路上，用牛和马拖运木材。原木流送槽(现在变成了主题公园的游乐项目)是一种用来移动原木的人造槽沟。如果伐木工的工作场所接近溪流，木筏工人可以将其绑成木筏的样子，将其引向更牢靠的水道。比赛谁让对方先落水的水上踩滚木游戏就是从伐木工人的活动演变而来。
另一个移动木材的方法是通过简陋的轨道，而这种轨道就是由它们所运送的木头打造而成。原木一旦到达主要的水道，就被运往调车场，有的前往加工厂被加工为有用的产品，有的则转运海外，远至澳大利亚和中国。
Loggers worked in all-male crews and had their own vocabulary. A "bucker" was someone who cut trees into manageable pieces after they'd been chopped down by the "faller," while the "whistle punk" relayed information between the worksite and the area where logs were dragged for loading. Loggers relied on axes, handsaws and draft animals before the advent of steam engines and gas-powered vehicles, along with chainsaws and harvesting machines such as the feller-buncher. (Although methods of logging have evolved, it is still considered one of the world's most dangerous jobs. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, in 2005, there were 91 worker deaths in the American logging industry, which had 106,000 employees.) Throughout the 19th century and early decades of the 20th century, loggers lived in remote camps near their worksites. The hours were lengthy, the work difficult and migratory and the accommodations rough. Camps were often infested with lice and other diseases and it wasn't uncommon for loggers to wear the same clothes for months on end. These tough conditions inspired an image of loggers as men of immense strength and might. Over time, labor unions demanded better conditions for loggers and as things improved, wives and families moved to the camps, establishing schools and other community features.
伐木工人都是男性，有一套自己的语言。"faller"指把树砍倒的人，随后将树交给"bucker"，也就是把树进一步砍成便于操作的小段的工人，而"whistle punk"则在伐木场所和装运原木地点之间传递信息。
在蒸汽机、蒸汽动力机车、电锯和伐木归堆机等工具问世之前，伐木工人依靠斧头、手锯和驮畜进行作业。（尽管伐木技术有了发展，但伐木业依然被认为是全球最危险的工作之一。根据国家职业安全健康机构的报告，2005年，拥有10.6万雇员的美国伐木产业共造成91名工人死亡。）
在整个19世纪以及20世纪头几十年，伐木工人住在工地附近偏远的营地。工作时间漫长，工作艰苦而且需要奔波，食宿条件简陋。营地通常虱子成灾，疾病频发，伐木工几个月不换衣服是很平常的事情。艰苦的条件成就了伐木工人充满力量和勇气的形象。随着时间的流逝，物质水平的增长，工会要求伐木工人的工作环境得到改善，让妻子和其他家庭成员住到营地里，并建立学校和其他社区设施。