Museum Photo: Logging Jammers

Logging jammers played an important role in the timber industry in North Idaho. One of the most efficient and economical methods of skidding and loading logs onto trucks and railroad cars was the jammer. A machine was placed over the track and lifted logs onto the cars. As the logging industry moved into the rugged mountains of the west jammers became more mobile. The machinery was often placed on a truck frame with a boom and cables that could skid logs up to 400 yards away. 

The Museum of North Idaho owns one of the very first jammers built in the Coeur d’Alene area. Jim Casey built the jammer about 1936. The machinery was placed on the bed of a 1930 International truck. Jim Casey sold the jammer to E.C. Vesser in 1941. The Vesser family donated the jammer to the Museum in 1984. The jammer was on exhibit at the Fort Sherman Museum and over the years it deteriorated. In 2011, the Museum contacted Lawrence Hoiland, long time jammer builder, to restore the jammer. Lawrence and Barry Pearson worked for several years to restore the jammer.
This photo shows Ted Vesser’s jammer in 1946 working in the Caribou Basin North of Sandpoint with Ted and his son Fred on the deck. See more about the jammer on the Museum of North Idaho facebook page.
A reception to show off the restored jammer was hosted by the Associated Logging Contractors of Idaho June 30. They are storing the jammer for the Museum. To learn move about logging history visit the Museum of North Idaho Tuesday through Saturday 11am-5pm. Museum visitors receive a one-hour free parking pass in the Museum lot. Admission is $4 for adults, $1 for kids 6 to 16 and a family rate of $10. For info call 208-664-3448 or visit www.museumni.org. We will have free admission from 5pm to 8pm on the 2nd Friday of the month in conjunction with Art Walk.