Logging Arizona’s ponderosa pine forest required an all-hands-on-deck approach. Teams of AL&T Company lumberjacks worked in the woods near Flagstaff to fell standing trees using axes and crosscut saws. Before the introduction of federal timber regulations—a time when lumbermen understood little about the ecology of forests—companies such as the AL&T Company operated on a “clear-cut” basis, cutting down as many trees as possible within their land grant to turn the greatest profit from their resources.

An axeman guided a tree’s falling direction by the shape of the undercut he made on the side of the tree’s trunk. This step required much skill and precision to ensure that the tree would not damage surrounding trees or injure nearby lumberjacks as it fell, and to conserve the maximal amount of timber from the tree.

After felling a tree, lumberjacks “swamped” it by stripping the trunk of its protruding branches and bark knots. Loggers with crosscut saws, called “sawyers,” then “bucked” the tree down to at least thirty feet in length using crosscut saws. This process allowed lumberjacks to more easily transport fresh timber from the woods to the nearest AL&T Company sawmill.

AL&T Company woodsmen then loaded timber onto logging wheels using hooks and chains. Oxen, mules, and horses typically pulled the loaded timber on these logging wheels to the nearest wagon or railroad spur where they would be delivered to the nearest sawmill.