National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1872-03-22
laundering In New brunswick.

In forest land like this, il is unnec.
essary TO say that numbering is carried
on largely il the Winter. Although the
trade has dcprcciatcd much in the last
few years, the people cannot give il up
the farmers have no other employ meut
} ~ Winter. So n few words about the
lumberer and his doings. He is so nat
urally associated with the woods, that
any attempted description Of wood life
would be incomplete without him. !
have traversed most of the woods and
rivers of New Brunswick, and have new.
er yet found place, however remote.
without traces OF his industry. Like the
tree chopplng animal of the Countrywide
beaver-he leaves his mark behind him.
With the first fall of snow he HES into
the woods, and remains there till the
Spring then he takes his logs down the
rivers, and for brief period the towns
are inundated wit these sailors of the
woods. They go u gangs of from SIX or
eight men mp to I nty. They build
camps for themsel,t and their horses,
aud make their owr Dads. Each camp
has n main or "portage road" in which
provisions are portrayed sometimes from
as great distance ms twenty or thirty
miles, and this gives full employment to
one team when the gang is large They
breakfast in the woods before dayhreak,
dine about ten or eleven, have a bite ut
two or three o'clock, supper at six, and
"luneh before they turn in-not bad
living. And at any hour of the day or
night that stranger happens to visit
them, on 90 the kettle and frying. pan,
and he is treated to the hest they can
give him for their hospitality is I'M
bounded, sometimes embarrassing
Once or twice, travelling in the lumber
woods, | have had occasion to call in nt
eight or ten camps in the course of the
day, and at every one of them ] have
been actually compelled to partake
of dinner, a luncheon, or bite. In
camp of twenty men the division of la
Dor is as follows: The boss the cook
who has no sinecure the telmster and
the teamster's assistant-the latter func-
tionary is sometimes called "tte teams
ters devil" and their joint work is to
tend their team, and haul logs from the
stump to the river bank five broad AK
men, who square the logs ; the head
swamper-i. e. road maker-and five or
six assistants and four or five fellers of
trees. Their wages vary from S25 to s'5
month, with food ; the cook, team
ster, and broad axmen receiving the
highest rates. Their wages when looked,
into are not so high as they might APP
pear on paper, for it frequently happens
that they only receive a certain portion
in cash, the balance being made up in
goods, cloth &C., at high prices, from
the stores of their employers. The
horses are hard worked, having often to
haul the logs distance of four or five
miles they are fed mainly on oats, hay
being expensive to portage, and they do |
not last very long in the lumber woods.
The woods numbered are the pine and |
the spruce; the former is in the greatest
request, and the best of it has been
picked ont. Flour, pork, tea and molas-
ses form the staple of the lumberman's
diet
The lumberman's Sunday dish is a
" Bang-Bllly,' by no means an unpala-
table morsel let me observe, but the
havoc it must make with the digestive
organs of ordinary people is terrible to
Its sole ingredients are
Hour, fat pork, and molasses. As for
lea, no one in the woods ever thinks he
has "square meal without it and
when real tea is not to be got, spruce,
'aspberry bushes, Labrador plant, tea
'lant, anything in fact, is used as a sub
titute ; but hot, brownish -colored water
s sine qua non. Once a Week.