Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-04-14
HOW LOGS GO TO MILL.


4 HOW LOGS GO TO MILL.
All boys and girls know that boards
are made OF sawed logs. and that logs
are trunks tof trees. Few, however,
know with what hardship and difficulty
the trees are felled. trimmed and car
ried from the woods where they grow
to the mills where they are made into
boards. = p y ? : 80 -
In the far West and in the wilds of
Maine are acres upon acres, and miles
upon miles, of evergreen forests. One
wooded tract in Maine is so vast that it
takes an army of choppers twenty years
to cut it over. By the time it is done a
new growth has sprung up, and an in
termediate one is large enough to cut;
so the chopping goes on year after
year. The trst or primeval growth Is
pine. That is most valuable. After
the pine are cut, spruce and hemlock
spring up and grow.
Most of the men who livein the vicin-
ity of the lake region work in the
woods in the winter. They camp in
tents and log huts near the tracts where
they are telling trees. All day long,
day after day, week after week. they
chop down such trees as are large
enough to cut, lop off the branches and
haul the logs to the nearest water. This
work is done in winter because the logs
are more easily managed over snow
and ice. All brooks large enough to
carry them, all rivers, ponds and lakes
are pressed into service and made to
convey the ponderous freight towards
civilization. All along the shores and
in the woods are busy scenes-men,
oxen and horses hard at work, the
smoke from the logging camps curling
among the trees.
Every log has the initial or mark of
the owner chopped deep into the wood
to identify it. Then, when the ice
breaks up, the logs are sent down the
brooks to the rivers and through the
rivers to the lakes. The logging camps
are d:sbanded, the loggers return to
their homes, and the river-drivers alone
are left to begin their duties.
The river-drivers are the men who
travel with the logs from the beginning
OF their journey till they are surrender
ed to the saw.mills. Each wears shoes
the soles of which are thickly studded
with iron brads an inch long: and each
carries along pole calleda 6. pick -pole,''
which has a strong sharp-pointed iron
spike in the end. This they drive into
the wood, and it supports and steadies
them as they spring from log to loo.
Their first duty is to collect 1.-THE
drive The logs which form .the
drive" are packed together and held IN
place by chain of guard-logs which
stretches entirely around the drive,
forming what is called "the boom"
The guard-logs are chained together at
the ends about two feet apart. The
guard is always much larger than the
boom of logs, so that the shape of the
boom may be changed for wide or mar
row waters.
And the head of each boom is a raft
which supports two large wndlasses,
each of which works an anchor. On
this head-raft about thirty river-drivers
take up their position to direct the
course of the boom.
To change its position or shape, ten
of the drivers spring into boat or
bateau; one takes a paddle at the bow;
eight take oars: and one, at the stern,
holds the anchor. They row with quick
strokes toward the spot where the
anchor is to be dropped, the cable all
the time running from the windlass.
''Let go!' shouts the foreman.
Splash. goes the anchor overheard.
The boat then darts back to the head
works. Out spring the men to help
turn the windlass to wind the cable in
They sing as they work, and the wind
lass creaEs a monotonOus accompani-
ment as ''Meet me by moonlight" or
the popular Away. over yonder.''
comes hoating over the rippling water.
Meanwhile another bateau has been
out with another anchor; and as both
windlasses turn, the boom swings
toward the anchorage, and thus is SO
much further on its way.
Though the men sing as they work,
and make the best of their mishaps
with jests and laughter, they often
carry homesick hearts. In cold and
stormy weather their hardships are
great, an involuntary bath in the icy
water being an event of frequent oc-
currence. Also their work demands
constant supply of strength which is
very trying; frequently head-wind
will drive them back from a position
which it has taken several days to gain,
and all the toll of fresh anchorages
must be repeated.
The most dangerous part of the work
is ''sluicing" the logs. When the boom
reaches the run which connects the
lake or river with the dam through the
sluice of which the logs must pass, the
chain of guard-logs is detached. and
fastened in lines along both sides of the
run, and the rats are drawn off to one
side and anchored to trees. The river
drivers, armed with their pick-poles,
are then stationed along the run, on the
dam wherever they NAV be needed
The liberated logs now come sailing
along, their speed quickening as they
near the sluice. When they reach it
they dart through, their dull. rapid,
continuous thud mingling with the roar
of the water. How they shoot the
sluice! log after log-two, six, dozen
together-pitching, tossing, struggling,
leaping end over end; finally submitting
to destiny and sailing serenely down the
river toward another lake.
Meanwhile the river-drivers with
their long poles and quick movements,
looking not unlike band Of savages,