, 1877-01-06
OUR MEN WITH AXES.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE GAY
AND FESTIVE LOGGERS.
THE 1eiLERs AMONG, THE TIMBER.

THE TeiLERs AMONG THE TIMBER.
Twenty-three years ago, when we
landed in California. the miners were
the faling element in that state. The
vast grain gardens Of tie Sadia1naueo
and San Joaquin valleys, were then
broad. uncultivated plains into whose
yielding clay the glistening plowshare
had not yet cleft its resistlsss path.
Bands OF elk and antelope pranced
through the tall wild oats, while the
sullen grizzly bear munched his acorns
in the willow thickets beside the broad
rivers. The UdQueros or cattle-herders
were either Mexicahs or Americans of
a questionable type. whose antecedents
generally we're a robbery in Texas or a
murder in Missouri. The miners. on
the contrary, were
PECULIAR PEOPLE,
Injured to danger, defiant of misfortune
and full of generosity. The logger of
Puget Sound to-day, is what the miner
of California was twenty-five years ago,
jovial. generous and brave. If he seems
inferior to his prototype in those traits,
it is because the better perfected state
of our present civilization renders the
exercise of those qualities less needful
now than in the long-tom era of the
Golden State. That there is more danger
from falling timber than from cavlng
banks, no one will deny who has ever
worked in drift. while danger of drown
ing stares the logger in the face twice
as often as it did the placer miner of
early California. Hence, considering
the absence of pfivations contingent
upon primillve civilization, the Puget
Sound logger may be regarded as
THE BoLDER MAN
Of the two. He works for bours in the
water, and up to his middle in the ''salt
chuck" and sings as he couples his raf.
together. He stands on bis springboard
and swings his AK into the mighty for
est giant, while Autumn sales are blow
ing fercely, not knowing how soon
some neighboring tree may fall and
crush him to the earth. When the raft
is ready for mill he is towed upon it.
sometimes hundred miles. in constant
danger of being washed off and drown
ed. All this requires q man of courage
and GOODNESS. Again, his camp is almost
always in some lonely forest where the
thick timber affords protection 10 wild
animals and
The coon sticks in his handy paw,
To steal the loggers' corn.
The bears come snuffin' round the door
Whene'er a babe is born.
THEIR HOSPITALITY
Is proverbial, and welcome is the casual
visitor to the rough fare and smoky
cabin of the hardy logger. "Pard, sit by
and take some of our reg'lar BEANS"
says the man with the ak; 1--WE live
rough here but any feller that's one OF
the boys and don t turn up his nose at
bacon and cabbage, can stay as long as
long as he likes" In an eight years
residence in Oregon and Washington
Territory. we have never heard of
logger's refusing a meal (or lodging, if
be had bunk to spare, to poor way
farer. Billy Phyfe hit the nail on the
head in one of his cartoons, in which
be represented Judge McFadden as re-
ceiving the congratulations of crowd
of loggers whose foreman says, Judge.
we come to meet you with warm hearts.
rough hands, sharp axes and
SOUND TIMBER"
This was an epitome of the whole char
acter of class of men whose rude vir-
tues are all their own and whose failings
are those of generous nature. The
imprudent logger is soft-hearted fell
low whose hard ear nings are squander-
ed in some mad house" or at some
poker 'able where his hand is ''itemi-
zed" by some professed friend. These
men eventually become mental and
physical wrecks. for disease follows fast
in the train of dissipation. They used
to come to this place to winter, fasten
on to some Hydah woman for two or
three months till every cent of their
earnings was gone, and then start out
in the Spring to begin another season
Of toll without cent in their pockets.
Many a good hearted fellow parted with
his earnings in this way and felt the
blush of shame mantle to his cheeks as
he received
A LETTER FROM HOME,
Through the window of the Post Office.
The thrifty logger, on the other hand
y the centurion of the world s army
progress. Not content with hewing
down the trackless forest for q living.
he converts his worked-out camp into a
dairy farm and sows white clover where
the tall frs fell. He buys few cows
so that his wife "a cheerful-faced white
woman. not dirty squaw) can make
butter and fatten some pigs. while he
goes off to drive a bull-team bv the day
in some neighbor's camp. Go to Lowell,
Snohomish City and few more places
of that sort. and you will see what thrift
tv loggers heve done. The representa-
tive men of thiss class are Amos Brown,
of this city; George Foster. of Olympia; !;
AMI Ike Ellis, now q San Francisco
broker. These men worked hard and
spent good deal of money; but they
took care, always to get an equivalent.