{{Short description|Steam skidder}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2019}} thumb|upright=1.35|Washington Winch - 1939 salvage logging on Toorongo Plateau near Noojee The '''Washington Winch''' sits in the forests of eastern Victoria near Swifts Creek and is also known as the '''Washington Iron Works Skidder'''.
Its rusting relics are close to Bentley Plain and the Moscow Villa hut which was built in 1942 by firetower man Thomas William Ah Chow.
It was a steam-powered logging skidder, or cable winch. It was an 11X14 two speed winch and one of two machines (#3832 & #3833) imported to Western Australia in August 1925. It was initially used by the Karri Timber Company to move the large logs. It burnt wood as fuel.<ref name=":0" />
Both winches were later sold to the Forests Commission Victoria for salvaging timber in the Central Highland on the Toorongo Plateau near Noojee after the 1939 Black Friday fires. The machines were able to move large logs up to 800 m by high-lead cables in the wet and steep terrain.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2017-01/eha_newsletter_no._25_1.pdf|title=Engineering Heritage Australia - Edition No. 25 - February 2012}}</ref> They were also capable of lifting logs off the ground, over rocks and creeks back to a central landing.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.victoriasforestryheritage.org.au|title=Victoria's Forest Heritage}}</ref>
The machine currently in State forest near Swifts Creek (#3832) was later sold and moved to its present site by local sawmilling company Jack Ezard in 1959, where it operated until 1960-61. The bush boss was George O'Byrne. A large logging camp supported men operating the machine. The fate of the second machine (#3833) is unknown but was possibly cannibalised for parts.<ref name=":0" />
The advent of more powerful bulldozers, crawler tractors, haulage trucks and petrol chainsaws dramatically changed logging practices after WW2. It then became feasible for machines to harvest logs and for trucks to haul them directly from the forest to town-based sawmills within a few hours.<ref name=":1" /> The new diesel and petrol technology eventually made steam power and the Washington Winch redundant.
The winch remains a unique part of Victoria's cultural heritage and logging history; left intact with engine, spars and cabling still rigged for work it is the only steam-powered engine of its kind in Australia. It is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register,<ref name=":0">{{cite VHD|5573|Washington Winch|hr=1825|ho=293|access-date=2011-04-04}}</ref> and is managed and protected by local staff at Swifts Creek employed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP).<ref name=":0" />
A roof was put over the winch to protect it from the elements, the original spars had rotted and were replaced with messmate poles and new cables were restrung in about 1999.<ref name=":1" />
==Washington Iron Works== thumb|Washington Winch|alt=Washington Iron Works was a company in Seattle, Washington, founded by John M. Frink, that built these steam skidders. The company was active from 1882 until the 1980s when its various divisions – manufacturing cranes, logging equipment, and presses – were gradually sold off. The Works closed in 1986.
Washington Iron Works engines revolutionised steam logging in the 1920s and 1930s.<ref name=":3" /> The steam-powered winches were mounted on heavy log skid frames which allowed the winch to be transported to new sites. Many Washington skidders can still be seen in North America.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.railroadinfo.com/features/Logging/loggers2.html|title=Information Board on site}}</ref>
==Operation== The Washington Winch operated either a ''high lead'' or a ''skyline'' system.
The high lead system was not often used as it only partially lifted the logs off the ground, which caused the logs to become caught in rocks, and left behind a "snig track", which deepened over time.<ref name=":2" />
The skyline system involved two large spars (trees) used to create a "flying fox" to lift logs over the rough ground.
Riggers climbed 60 m up a large tree and headed the trunk, which would cause the tree to sway violently. They then secured the spar with guy cables and attached the tackle. This operation was dangerous and physically demanding, often taking a full day, with lunch sent up on a rope.<ref name=":2" />
The Washington Winch was used to harvest alpine ash logs, which were then sawn to produce high-value products such as furniture, flooring and architraves at Ezards mill at Swifts Creek.<ref name=":1" />
thumb|750px|center|Washington Winch on the far left, with rigging and spars visible near centre of image
== Gallery == <gallery widths="200" heights="200"> File:Cable logging terms - Victoria.jpg|Cable logging terms File:Cable logging terms in Victoria. North bend skyline and high lead.jpg|Cable logging terms File:Cable logging terms in Victoria. Using bull wheel.jpg|Cable logging terms File:Cable Logging. Charlie Wall. High lead climber.jpg|Charlie Wall - high lead climber File:Cable logging. Topping tree for high lead operations.jpg|Tree topping to prepare cables File:Cable logging. Aerial ropeway for logging. Thomson Valley Erica district.jpg|Cable logging ropeway - Thomson valley File:Cable logging and loading rig in mountain ash country. Thomson Valley.jpg|Cable logging File:Cable Logging - Ground snigging with steam winch.jpg|Snigging logs with steam winch File:Cable Logging - Dumping with steam winch Saxton's East Tanjil.jpg|Log dump operated by steam winch at Saxton's Mill- East Tanjil File:Washington Winch.jpg|Washington Winch at Noojee during 1939 bushfires timber salvage operations. Photo includes machine specifications. c 1941. File:Washington winch bolier plate.jpg|Washington Winch Boiler Plate. </gallery>
==References== {{reflist}} *[http://www.railroadinfo.com/features/Logging/loggers2.html Information panel at site]
==External links== {{commons|Washington Iron Works Skidder}}
<!-- Position from map on Victorian Heritage Database. Google Earth has photos from Panoramio about 800 m to south west --> McHugh, Peter. (2025). ''Forests and Bushfire History of Victoria: The Working Forests,'' Volume 1.https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-4135792873/view Volume 2 - https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-4135792885/view
*[http://www.vannattabros.com/cable5.html Slackline Rigging] *[http://www.vannattabros.com/cable3.html North Bend Rigging] *[http://www.vannattabros.com/cable2.html High lead Rigging]
{{Forestry tools}}
Category:Logging in the United States Category:Forestry equipment Category:Forestry in the United States Category:Logging in Australia Category:Victorian Heritage Register Gippsland (region) Category:Shire of East Gippsland