A donkey engine was an integrated machine consisting of a
powerplant and gearing that turned one or more drums or winches
containing wire rope. Designed to lift, drag, and move logs from
the stump to an accumulation point, donkey engines were also
used to load logs on cars that transported logs to distant mill
sites. Though invented in California, the donkey engine helped
accelerate timber harvesting throughout the Pacific Northwest.
It was used extensively in Oregon and contributed significantly
to the state's economy and culture from the late nineteenth well
into the twentieth century. After the railroad, the donkey
engine was the next major application of industrial revolution
technology to the movement of logs. Prior to the invention of
the donkey engine, logs had to be moved by gravity or brute
force, usually in the form of hand labor or by using teams of
oxen or horses. The advent of the steam-powered donkey engine
made high-volume, mechanized logging possible, thus ushering in
the era of large-scale lo