This takes a little explanation about logging in the NW. Yarders have whistles that the crew uses to signal the yarder engineer what to do, like one short for stop and three shorts to go ahead on the mainline. There are also whistles to notify everyone within hearing like three longs to alert the hooktender he is needed or 7 longs that someone is injured. One signal that is kind of obsolete is 4 longs to call for the climber. My father had been a climber for many years before he retired. The job became obsolete in the 70s when spar trees stopped being used.
My dad died in 2014, and we had a graveside service. A number of people spoke and just after the last person spoke, a long way off in the hills there were four long whistles. Never heard another whistle that day. It was as if he was being called. A yarder whistle can't be confused with a truck horn or train. I know most in the crowd never recognized the significance, but I was a logger, so it hit home with me.

This takes a little explanation about logging in the NW. Yarders have whistles that the crew uses to signal the yarder engineer what to do, like one short for stop and three shorts to go ahead on the mainline. There are also whistles to notify everyone within hearing like three longs to alert the hooktender he is needed or 7 longs that someone is injured. One signal that is kind of obsolete is 4 longs to call for the climber. My father had been a climber for many years before he retired. The job became obsolete in the 70s when spar trees stopped being used.
My dad died in 2014, and we had a graveside service. A number of people spoke and just after the last person spoke, a long way off in the hills there were four long whistles. Never heard another whistle that day. It was as if he was being called. A yarder whistle can't be confused with a truck horn or train. I know most in the crowd never recognized the significance, but I was a logger, so it hit home with me.