Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1869-04-06

and faster, and an hour after dark, 48
miles from home we found ourselves
at
PEMENEE sHANTY,
where travellers are Often kept for
pay. A tall youth came out and
gave US permission to stay, but when
gave him directions as to putting up
and feeding our pony, he turned and
walked away sheepishly, saying,
"that amt the style in the woods; |
you will have TO take care of him if |
he gets anything here" With prop
erapologies for our mistake in regard |
to their style of hotel, we cared for
our horse and ourselves to the best
of our ability.
A supper of beans, pork, bread,
butter, &C., was given us and we
were soon comfortable. AT this
meal, as at all others on our way,
there was strong tea and still strong>
or black molasses, but coffee or sugar
are not furnished to the camps. The
men sat about the great red heater
that sent its blaze and smoke through
every crevice, and tossed streams of
sparks up to the charred cedar roof
that now and then took fire. A
hanging lamp partly lit up the black
cavernous place. and garments hung
drying from the poles above. All
were quiet some mcnding clothes or
boot packs, some grinding axes, some
talking, but none playing cards. In
answer to our wonder at this, we
learned that all the "bosses" on the
river had put an effectual veto on
cards, for wherever used they were
sure to involve the men in quarrels.
After sound repose in our hunks,
we rose to find that new snow had
fallen to impede our way. The cook
set the breakfast table, then opened
bed of ashes and Goals beside the
heater and exI osed the handle of the
kettle of beans, that he bad buried
in hot Goals the afternoon previous.
Lifting it out and carefully uncov-
ering it, he served the hot pork and
beans and rung the bell for breaks
fast. | had heard accounts of the
rare excellence of this dish, cooked
over night in what they call the
'sbean- hole !" but | failed to see any
points about those beans that were
better than those | usually get
They were too fresh and a man OPP
posite had way of frequently filing
his tin plate with equal parts of beans
and black moiasses, well mixed, and
then emptying it into mis- mouth.
We paid the cook, and drove off in
the keen cold morning, plunging
through such forests OF towering
white and Norway pine, as we had
never seen. The roads grew rough,
and the country billy. A few desert
ed wigwam frames stood beside the
road, and we passed one Indian camp.
We crossed frequent hardwood
ridges" where grew great variety
OF timber, and counted 20 kinds OF
trees, eight of which were evergreen.
The soil is fine yellow sand, with
plenty of bouldors and hedges. At
! noon we reached
STURGEON FALLS,
% miles from Pemenee, and stopped
at shanty which is warmed by a
huge pile of burning logs upon a
stone fireplace in the centre. The
smoke ascends through great log
; chimney seven or eight feet square,
which forms the only window and
supplies abundant light and ventila
ton. We walked about the falls,
took on fresh lot of pork and beans,
and turned our pony homeward.
Long before sunset, we got back to
Pemenee, and took long walk on
the river to see the logs and gather
facts. There are ten companies lum-
boring on the river, besides private
jobbers. 1t is said there are 81 camps,
employing about 1900 men. At
Pemenee, 81 millions of lumber lie on
the ice and along the banks. To es-
innate this quantity OF logs, imagine
river from 10 to 20 rods wide COW
cred much of the way for two miles
with logs closely rolled together, Of
ten two tiers deep, with scores OF
, ''roll- Always" or piles along the shore,
The weight sinks the ice, and the
! water rises among them and freezes
, BY the scaler's accounts, the average
/ size is such that four logs will make
, LOCO feet of boards, clear of sap.
! According to this, $4,000 logs may
, be seen in a walk of two miles along
the open space reserved for a road,
midway between the shores.
} THE SECOND NIGHT
OF our stay in that bunk was fearful>
} ~ cold, and the Prof, lying near the
} logs was unable to sleep much. In
deed, he kept me awake some three
, hours by his frantic efforts TO get
} warm. The principal means he tried
were tive exercise and violent fric-
} ton, by continually turning over.
| avoided freezing by quietly keep
ing my warm location and tightly
grasping the buffalo robes, while the
Prof rolled and surged against mesin
utter darkness and silence. We
would get one side chilled through,
by the frosty blast through the wal,
then suddenly with premonitory
dig in my ribs, turn the cold shoul>
der on me. He would have frozen
but for the fact that my wrath kept
me at boiling point. At last dawn
came, fire was made, and we all
turned out. The rest were all very
| silent but we found by persistent
inquiry that they had suffered horri-
| bly, with cold, but were not disposed
to grumble at such a common occur
renee.
4 After obtaining from the generous
cook. Jim. Curran, noble specimen
OF bucks head and horns complete.
with eighteen points on them, we
started at sunrise with the unwieldy
thing between US in the cutter
Reached home at F. NJ. we'll pleased
with our trip of 40 miles. Tracks
of deer were plenty, where they had
fed in focks the night before, on the
bay scattered by supply teams, but
we saw none of the deer. Their
1 hId ax.I u l. Ii