MOVING HISTORY FORWARD: Lumberjanes of North Idaho take New York

March is Women’s History Month and the Museum of North Idaho would like to recognize two women that put North Idaho on the map in 1935.

After claiming the “world championship” title in a log-sawing and chopping competition, two Rose Lake High School seniors gained fame when newspaper headlines around the nation began referring to them as the “lumberjanes from the Coeur d’Alene Mountains.”

This 1934 competition near Cataldo was sponsored by a Hollywood newsman who had travelled through the region and thought that a “world champion” log-sawing competition would make interesting content for the Universal News Reels that were being shown in movie theaters around the country. So, he set up the contest and offered a prize of $3.50 for each winner in the boys and girls contests.

This motivated the students at Rose Lake High School to begin learning the skills from area loggers on how to keenly sharpen their saws and axes. Developing a smooth cadence in their back-and-forth sawing movements was critical, and it meant finding the right partner and lots of practice.

Ruth Hoershgen at 6 feet tall and the 6-foot-2 June DeGraff were a matched pair.

Ruth and June took the sawing title and Ruth also took the chopping title. They won the contest by sawing a 16-inch log in one minute and 50 seconds.

The publicity soon reached the East Coast and Walter Winchell and Arthur Brisbane from the New York Daily Mirror invited them to a three-week, all-expense-paid trip to New York in order to demonstrate their tree-felling and log-sawing skills at Madison Square Garden and Central Park.

So, on April 11, 1935, the two girls boarded a train at Cataldo along with their 6-foot-long cross-cut saws and axes and headed for the big city, where they were treated as celebrities and outfitted for the Easter Parade by Saks Fifth Avenue. They were frequently photographed, made appearances on radio and at nightclubs, and were the subjects of newspapers and cartoon strips. They even met heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey at his New York restaurant, comparing their arms’ lengths to his. It was determined that June’s was the same as Jack’s!

For the next few years, they were invited to logging exhibitions, sportsman’s shows and contests throughout the Northwest, including Oregon, Washington and the annual Miners Picnic in Kellogg.

Ruth Hoershgen grew up on a farm near Latour Creek and married Vince Turcotte. She remained in the area until she died in 1992. June DeGraff, (married name Holzendorf) passed away in 1962 at Pinehurst.

If you have more information on these two women, please contact Deborah A. Mitchell at archives@museumni.org.

The Museum of North Idaho will open April 1 with special exhibit “Cowboy Joe: The Art of Joe Breckenridge." Then on June 3, we feature “At War: North Idaho during WWII.” For information, please visit museumni.org.