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COs
planted trees in many of the work camps. The planting routines varied
from camp to camp based on climate, terrain, and location. In most
camps it was a seasonal activity. Bill Kerby worked in Bowser, BC.
The amount of trees a CO could plant every day depended on the type
of terrain. It was easier to plant on flat ground than on a mountainside.
“As
fall approached our occupation was changed to tree planting. We
were each given fifteen hundred trees a day to plant. In a long
line, four feet apart, we moved over the rough terrain with grub
hoe in hand. With each large step the hoe would descend, the ground
would open, we planted a tree, tamped the ground in stride and
repeated the action throughout the day. In the various camps we
planted seven millionstrees that fall. After forty-five years
they should be big enough to harvest.” [ASM, 281-283]
Besides
fall, the other prime planting season was late-winter and spring.
Peter Martens worked at Q7, a camp on Vancouver Island.
“In
February and March, we planted trees: mostly Douglas fir and cedar.
During this time our camp of 35 men was doubled to 70 men from
other CO camps. A tree-planting crew consisted of 15 men, six
feet [1.8 m] apart, planting a tree every six feet if we could
find soil. If it was too rocky or a big stump was in the way,
we planted wherever we found soil. The seedling trees were very
small, 100 in a bundle, carried in a canvas bag with wet moss
at the bottom of the bag. If the terrain was very steep, we planted
between 700 and 800 per man per day, but very often we planted
1000 trees. The best time to plant was when it was raining, so
no matter how hard it rained, we never stopped. Often we came
to camp soaking wet. You can imagine the smell when eight of us
dried our clothes in the bunkhouse. The BCFS gave each CO a pair
of good logging boots and one set of rainproof “bone dries,” consisting
of a jacket and pants.” [ASP, 129]
Jacob
Loeppky gives another name for these clothes.
“The
BC Forestry supplied us with waterproof clothing, pants, jacket,
and hat. We called it tin clothing, it had oil cloth between two
layers of canvas. Shoes we had to buy ourselves. They were half
price at twelve dollars and came in either hubnails or spikes,
and they were waterproof.”
|
| Helmut Neufeld packing lunch for tree planters on Vancouver
Island. Peter Wolfe is giving directions. |
“We
were planting trees, March – November being the rainy season.
We were fifteen men to one crew one sub-foreman and one staker.
We planted a tree every six feet [1.8 m] or two steps. We covered
ninety feet in one swath. We used a mattock, a one place pick.
Depending on the terrain one man could plant 500 to 700 trees
in a day. They expected 50% survival. Ours was 75% and considered
very heavy growth. Our staker was also packing trees, not to mention
lunch kits. He had 4500 trees on his backpack and he packed 17
lunches. The foreman told him where we would be for lunch.” [ASM,
224-225]
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