Coos County timber and mill workers and the economic, technological and physical challenges they faced will be the topic of "Working the Woods: The Coos Country and Beyond, 1900-1943."
The illustrated lecture by Dr. William "Bill" Robbins is Tuesday, May 24, at 7 p.m. in the Willow-Beargrass room at The Mill Casino/Hotel on Highway 101 in North Bend.
Robbins, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of History at Oregon State University, is the author or editor of more than 11 books. He is best known on the south coast as the author of "Hard Times in Paradise," an assessment of Coos County's economic condition and prospects based on interviews with local residents, first published in 1996 and updated in 2008.
"Working the Woods" will focus on the practical realities of timber and mill work during the early half of the last century.
Images include many Coos County sites and waterways, almost unrecognizable to modern eyes due to the presence of now-vanished, once common features such as steam donkeys, cranes, log chutes and miles of narrow-gauge rail lines.
