#3: Was This Hand Stacked?

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. This photo is very old, but aside from the gigantic piles that are sure to set a megalophobe off, the amount of work that went into this is terrifying enough to trigger my ergophobia. This photo was taken in 1919 at the Seattle Cedar mill, where workers would stack wood to dry for use by builders.

The wood would stay perched 50 feet high for nine months until it was properly cured. If you think this wasn’t the best idea, you’re right. While the workers were terrific at stacking boards so that they didn’t fall, it was a fire hazard just waiting to happen. In 1958, it all burned to the ground during The Great Fire. It burned so intensely that pieces of wood were carried over two miles away by the draft.