Never Chop Your Rope

Location: Canadian History/Local Interest

Never Chop Your Rope is a memoir about the people Joe Garner met in the logging business, both on the Coast and in the Interior. Moving from the era of oxen and steam to the era of logging with helicopters, Garner’s book profiles the likes of high-rigger Mauno Pelto, steam railroader Bob Swanson, helicopter logging expert Steve Tremper and Mac-Blo VP, John Hemmingsen. Between 1926 and 1970, Garner worked throughout the logging industry, running up to half a dozen logging camps at a time, accumulating over 3,000 hours as a floatplane pilot. Garner kept track of his adventures in his diaries for forty years. With the aid of those diaries, flight logs and old photos, he says his memory of the distant past is sharper than his memory of recent events, which makes for a compelling read.