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The Vessels of Hammer Logging Ltd.
by Don Hammer 2016
Peter Hammer Sr. and son John Hammer with new International Harvester vehicle. (Photo from the Don Hammer collection.)
Here are some pictures of vessels owned by Hammer Logging Co. I realize that some of them are not of the best quality as I was very young when I took some of them and my camera wasn’t the best. The better ones were taken by my father or some other family member and they aren’t too bad. All of them were taken on Stave Lake at the north end where the family had a logging operation, except the one of the Dolphin Prince, which is the Mary Anne today, which I took in Gibsons BC in 2013.
I was pretty young when I first became aware of the family business and used to spend my summers at the camp, from the age of 5 until I was roughly 16–17 years old, when they sold to the Whonnock Lumber Company.
My dad, John Hammer (1917–2003) and his brother Ralph (1913–1988) ran the logging operation on Stave Lake BC. My uncle Pete (Peter Hammer Jr. 1901–1988) owned and operated a sawmill at the southern end of the lake at Stave Falls. It was these three brothers who were the principal operators of the business for my grandfather, Peter Hammer Sr. (1876–1964). My grandfather used to have more "hands on" when the family logged in the Steelhead area of Mission, before moving the operation to the north end of Stave Lake.
Hammer Logging operated in the Winslow Creek valley north of Stave Lake. Winslow Creek runs north and the Stave River runs to the north west of the head of the lake. The Whonnock Lumber Company logged the Stave River Valley. Some of Hammer Loggings roads are still used today, for logging purposes as well as for the construction access for a Run-of-River Hydro Project.
Peter Hammer Sr., Peter Hammer Jr., Ralph Hammer, Anne Hammer, John Hammer and Fred Hammer (Photo from the Don Hammer collection.)
John Hammer was born in Vancouver, only because at that time there was no hospital located in Mission. He lived his entire life in Mission BC. Dad used to do the rigging, build roads, drive truck occasionally, act as boom man, and do the towing etc. My uncle Ralph was the yarder and loading operator and did the scaling. They employed a crew that varied in size from 8 or 9, down to as few as 5. I know they moved their logging operation to the north end of Stave Lake in the 1940s and I thought it was in 1948, but the Nauticapedia information on the Phyllis G. 1 shows them owning it in 1944 – so they were probably up there a little earlier.
The Phyllis G. No.1 replaced this vessel and then the Mary Ann W. No. 1 replaced the Phyllis G. No.1 for towing. They kept the Phyllis G. No.1 until the arrival of the Karen H, at which time it was scrapped and scuttled a short distance north of where the BC Hydro boat launch is located today. That was in 1956–1957 I believe. I do have a memory of the launching of the Karen H. so probably closer to 1957 when I turned six.
Moving the Phyllis G. No. 1 from Mission to Stave Falls via Hayward Road in the mid 1940s (Photo from the Don Hammer collection.)
Phyllis G. No. 1 (Photo from the Don Hammer collection. )
She was built in 1940 in Vancouver BC by Matthew Carr and Fred Howey. In 1943 she was rebuilt at Mission BC. She was 11.73m x 3.23m x 1.43m wooden hulled 17.1gt. She was powered by a 60hp gasoline engine.
Phyllis G. No. 1 (Photo from the Don Hammer collection. )
In 1940 she was owned by Mr. & Mrs. David Gould, Vancouver BC. In 1942 she was owned by Richard Yeomans, Squamish BC. In 1944 she was owned by Peter Hammer, Mission BC. In 1957–2005 she was owned by Hammer Logging Ltd., Mission BC.
Karen H. (Photo from the Don Hammer collection. )
In 1956 she was built in New Westminster BC. She was 35.4’ x 11.6’ x 3.6’ steel hulled 15gt. She was originally powered by a 147hp engine. As far as I know, when she was in Hammer Logging service she had a GM diesel engine which I think was the same size as the Mary Anne when built, a 165 hp GM diesel.
Karen H. tied up at log dump in 1966 (Photo from the Don Hammer collection. )
Karen H. (Photo from the Don Hammer collection. )
In 1956–1969 she was owned by Hammer Logging Ltd., Mission City BC.
The Karen H. and the Mary Ann W. No. 1 (Photo from the Don Hammer collection. )
The Mary Ann W. No. 1 (Photo from the Don Hammer collection. )
The Mary Ann W. No. 1 was built in 1954 by John Manly Ltd. in New Westminster BC. In 1984 she was renamed as Jarl and in 2006 as the Dolphin Prince. She was 10.06m x 3.6m x 1.43m steel hulled 14.26gt. She was powered by a 165hp General Motors Corporation diesel engine
The Mary Ann W. No. 1 (Photo from the Don Hammer collection. )
In 1954 the Mary Ann W. No. 1 was owned by Peter Hammer, Steveston BC. In 1956–1958 she was owned by Hammer Logging Ltd., Mission BC. In 1958–1961 she was owned by Peter Hammer Marine Towing, Mission BC. In 1962–1966 she was owned by Hammer Logging Ltd., Mission BC. In 1967–1968 she was owned by Madrona Marine Towing Ltd., Mission City BC. In 1969–1974 she was owned by Rancier & Buschmand, Chilliwack BC. In 1975–1976 she was owned by Alpine Excavating Ltd., Chilliwack BC. In 1976–1977 she was owned by Humphries Water freight, Campbell River BC. In 1978–1980 she was owned by Denise Davie, West Vancouver BC. In 1981–1982 she was owned by Sechelt Towing & Salvage, Nanaimo BC. In 1983 she was owned by Lions Gate Tug & Barge, North Vancouver BC. In 1984–2006 she was owned by Jarl Towing Ltd., Campbell River BC. In 2006–2014 she was owned by Dolphin Marine Services Ltd., Gibsons BC.
The Dolphin Prince (Photo from the Don Hammer collection. )
The Dolphin Prince was formerly the Mary Anne W. No. 1 as she appeared in 2013 when I took this picture in Gibsons BC.
The Barge (Photo from the Don Hammer collection. )
The Whonnock Lumber Company’s "Barge" was an old Second World War landing barge that they used to transport small trucks and fuel and to tow shake block rafts. It is not too clear because it is from a home movie capture. As far as I know this vessel is still on the beach at the north end of the Lake.
The Barge (Photo from the Don Hammer collection. )
The Tin Boat (Photo from the Don Hammer collection. )
The Phyllis G. No.1 replaced their first boat, which they called "the Tin Boat" because it was an old lifeboat with a thin metal skin and a cabin mounted on it, but from my memory of it not much good for towing log booms. A photo of three vessels tied up just above the dam at Stave Falls. One is the “Tin Boat” on the extreme left of the photo. Also in the photo is BC Hydro’s Ruskin and in the foreground and a third unidentified vessel.
To quote from this article please cite:
Hammer, Don (2016) The Vessels of Hammer Logging Ltd. Nauticapedia.ca 2016. http://nauticapedia.ca/Gallery/Hammer_Logging.php
Site News: December 21, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 94,824 vessel histories (with 16,274 images and 13,929 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters).
Vessel records are currently being reviewed and updated with more than 45,000 processed so far this year (2024).
The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,599 entries (with 3996 images).
Thanks to Ray Warren who is beginning a long process of filling gaps in the photo record of vessel histories in the database. Ray has been documenting the ships of Vancouver Harbour for more than 60 years.
Thanks to contributor Mike Rydqvist McCammon for the hundreds of photos he has contributed to illustrate British Columbia’s floating heritage.
My very special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.