With the advent of railroad logging required the development of supporting equipment. In this particular case, today, a machine to load logs onto flat bed rail cars. Some consider the McGiffert Loader the “Cadallic ” of loaders, which many in the woods just referred to the machine as a “Jammer.” The McGiffert was invented by John R. McGiffert in the early 1900s , and were manufactured by the Clyde Iron Works of Duluth, Minnesota.
The McGiffert while efficient in getting the job done, did not look like much. It had an elevated platform for the boiler and spools. What is interesting it was self propelled wherein its chain-driven axles moved it along the rails. As the McGiffert straddled the tracks, a large, somewhat awkward looking machine. The boiler and spools were mounted on a platform that was elevated over the tracks. The entire machine sat on legs that rested on the ground on either side of the tracks. The McGiffert was self-propelled, as it had a chain-driven drive axles that moved the machine along the rails. The empty log cars were shoved underneath the loader. The log cars would then be rolled through the loader, with logs loaded onto the cars by a boom off of one side of the loader.
Fruit Growers Supply Company was still using McGifferts into the 1940s on the Susanville Operation, and may have until 1952 when it discontinued railroad logging.