Show ik C:-- The Chaparro brothers Justo Samuel and Alonzo fend off the evening chill by the light of a bonfire done” says Fluckinger “I do the work and Mr Thompson gets the paycheck” The Caterpillar grinds over From ID branches and splintered tree trunks at “The environmentalists have Wyothe edge of a dirt road shoving piles of tree limbs and bark out of the way to ming locked up" says Fluckinger “It's gettin' so bad out here somebody make a smooth path to the loader secs a bear they'll (Forest Service) shut Fluckinger is at peace with himself He can think of no better way to make a you down” says Fluckinger “Bears gotta have habitat But what about log living The drive to the mill and back is a gers?” This is the first time Thompson trip Each day six trucks dirt spur road Trucking has logged in Utah says drive the windy strip of hard packed dirt Fluckinger Wyoming politics forced to a before reaching Logan Summit where the company across the border he says t 18 Justo is the youngest of they pick up the blacktop to Afton The miles translate to machines worn lie Chaparro brothers He Cj weighs little more than 100 out before their time “This year we got a good deal on two pounds and his brothers consider him loo small to go into the new Cats” says Fluckinger “The old ones took a pretty good beating Just woods with a chain saw As the brothers gather around the when you've got them paid off they’re campfire next to their trailer the flick- junk” Cost of a new Caterpillar is about ering light shines on Justo's soft curia logging truck is about ous face He looks strangely out of $175000 $125000 But few outfits can afford plaee among his brothers whose faces have been darkened by weather and new equipment Fluckinger says Two days earlier a bulldozer backed hard work “He will earn his way cooking for us into a tree and pushed it into the loaduntil he gets older" Alonzo says keep- er Loader operator Jim Dahlgren was not injured but the shattered winding a protective patriarchal eye on him as he speaks “Maybe next year he will shield he peers through 12 hours a day doesn't let him forget the danger that try the serracha (chain saw)” After a day and a meal of surrounds him “We just don't have too many dull beans rice and hamburger the four stand by the fire to warm themselves days around here” says Fluckinger As he talks a bulldozer operator asks before they climb under their blankets in the little trailer Alonzo bought for him to survey the latest mechanical in$600 jury — a crack in the foundation of a steel roller that supports the In the summer the men take turns bulldozer’s tracks sleeping on the ground but it's SeptemAn attempt to weld the parts together ber and the nights are already in the at a high 30s so they sleep two to each cot shop in the woods seals Justo the last to cross the border at the crack but Fluckinger doesn’t look Juarez stares into the flames as Alonzo satisfied “It'll last through tomorrow when we talks about why they came to the Unitcan get another one from Salt Lake” he ed States He understands enough English to know Alonzo is talking about the says the next day the repair lasted 100 their house which was little more than a shack and how they came here to yards find something better very night after the last logd Of the brothers Alonzo has the best ging truck with an load leaves the Dugway grasp of the language He likes joking with the Americans and they seem to Springs logging sale Fluckinrespect him He likes it here but he is ger and Dahlgren share dinner at small mobile home not sure he wants to apply for US citiDahlgren pulled the trailer up1 the zenship “Most Americans arc good people but dusty road in June when the timber some do not like Mexicans” Alonzo was opened to the loggers says In the summer the operation two weeks ago in Evanston Wyo comes to life at 4 amlogging and chain saws the brothers were thrown out of a bar are whining in the woods an hour later for no apparent reason he says “I when there's barely enough light to see think it is because we are Mexican and But this time of is at 7 year start-ua Mexican killed an American in a fight am there once” Several of the equipment operators He claims the bartender asked him if live in Montpelier and drive the two he had a temporary work visa or "green hours home every day card" hour days are common especially in “When I showed him my card he the summer and for Dahlgren and called me a smart ass and threw me Fluckinger it makes more sense to stay out” near the job Alonzo says logging is good work bedoesn't talk much about Fluckinger cause it allows him to be outside in the the accident that put him out of work mountains and it pays more money last winter When the subject comes up than anything he could do in Mexico he and Dahlgren joke about it Maybe where the average wage is about $30 a it's their way of playing down the fear week that something can always go wrong “When I am old and slow maybe I out here hours from the nearest hospiwill do something else” he iys tal Each of the men make about $7000 "You gotta like this kind of work If s to $8000 a year Alonzo says statement that Mexicans take their you didn't you wouldn't make it up a week” he says dragging on his here homeAmerican wages down to their land and “iic high on the hog” is a cigarette and looking older than his 26 years misconception "His wife didn't seem to mind She merging from a cloud of diesel hours bejust made sure the life insurance policy was up to date" says Dahlgren more fore the sun climbs over the serious than his wry smile would indiridge are the machines that cate make it all happen f luckinger has two young sons a In the cab of a bulldozer is Larry and a Fluckinger king of the machines at this “I bought my oldest boy a bike on my timber sale way home from work last week" he Fluckinger started logging when he says "You should have seen how excitwas 18 and he can do it all front opered he was” ating the loader to driving the skidder But he didn’t get to watch him learn — a monster that races through the trees at up to 30 miles per hour how to ride it Two hours later he had to leave to go back up to Dugway dragging a load of logs in its daws “I do whatever it takes to get the job Springs Larry Fluckinger SJ3z 5 1555 jd Horizons relaxes in his mobile home after dinner Loggers ( s '' ( t t e " ' T $ i mV V? yvY 0 ‘O I ' f' J i J ’ ' "i W £ ytm ' 'A x ti t " jy v: n t !§ O - jV- J- ' :a j' 4 rt I r Jr T s'r ' : logger known f- t s f A I 'M 1Fr j “A - V - y - ? as 'Flash' is loaded down with tools and gear at the end of the workday J |