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A logging camp (or lumber camp) is a transitory work site used in the logging industry. Before the second half of the 20th century, these camps were the primary place where would live and work to fell trees in a particular area. Many place names (e.g. Bockman Lumber Camp, Whitestone Logging Camp, Camp Douglas) are legacies of old logging camps. Camps were often placed next to river tributaries so that the winter's log harvest could be floated to the in the spring.
Primitive sites had two buildings, a cookhouse and a bunkhouse. Larger camps also had an outhouse, barn, blacksmith shop, filer shack (to Saw set), office and Trading post. Lumber cut by the lumberjacks was the source of the materials for the buildings, and camps were built in the fall prior to the winter logging season. Most of the lumberjacks would return to their jobs after the logging season, with a few staying on to log driving in the spring.
In the United States, logging camps were phased out after World War II, as work crews could more easily be transported to remote logging sites.
In Canada, the long distances to the camps and the closure of most access during the winter led to the development of depot farms that would be built near logging camps to supply cereals and vegetables to the loggers as well as food for horses in the form of hay and oats. These farms were often built on poor quality land and had little output other than the camps and self-consumption, and most often closed as soon as the camp did.
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