The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-09-17
A Lumberman's Life--- Rafting Logs in
the Streams Of Pennsylvania.


of danger is on the jams, and there the
most skillful men are sent. Pitfalls
will open in the midst of solid mass
of timber, and then close in q moment,
after having dragged man down be-
vond all help; log will move a few
inches slowly and unnoticed, and then,
with a movement like an arrow, strike
luckless man, crushing the life out of
him in an instant. On every side dan
gers are lurking, and he is fortunate
that passes a spring without injury.
There is something attractive in the
looks of log jam, and if the fascina-
ton that danger has were taken from
it still men would rather work there
than on the shore. The long, narrow
sea of white timber, creaking and
writhing with the action of the current;
the water roaring and foaming as it es-
capes from its prison under the logs,
and the logs themselves nodded into
fantastic shapes by the terrible pressure
behind them, all have an attraction for
men who are impressed by strength or
picturesqueness After jam is formed
the jam breakers are sent on it, and the
and examining to see what holds it.
Sometimes it is one log, and again it
will be several knotted together in such
a way as to almost battle the. most ex-
perienced, but generally one orr Two
''hoods'' will start it. The floods aye
made by the large floating dams, and
will raise the water several feet, lifting
a jam up into the air as if it were toy
boat. If specially large foods need
ed, two and sometimes three sre used
at time, the flood gates of the lower
dam being opened just as the water
from the dam above reaches if. In this
way an immense splash is obtained
that only the most refractory jams can
successfully combat
There are few grander sights to be
seen anywhere than the moving of a
large log jam. The grand strength
with which they move, tearing out the
largest trees and forcing everything be-
fore them, and the fierce motion of the
logs, like the crazy shuttles of some
giant machine, and the perfection of
force, compel administration the most
phlegmatic spectator. The wild hur-
rahs of the men on the logs add to the
excitement, and an observer is quite
sure to find himself running along by
the side of the moving mass cheering
as If he had won u battle The men
who are at work scarcely realize the
danger, they are so carried away with
the excitement, and they may be seen
jumping from one log to another and
cheering as if perfectly safe on solid
ground, instead of on a dangerous sea
of moving logs that are continually
rising and falling and lodging this way
and that, driven by the flood of water
furnished by the floating dams. The
skill shown by experienced fioaters in
riding logs is wonderful, and it seems
impossible for human dexterity to reach
such perfection. A jam will sometimes
form where precipitous rocks make it
for the men to escape on
either side, and they must ride the LOGS
for several rods. In such places the
water is always swift, sometimes form
ing rapids, and watching the logs lump
ing, tumbling, rolling along with a.
deafening roar, one wonders how men
can live among them for an instant.
Behind the jam breakers come the
sackers with their teams, drawing the
logs that jams have forced far out ON
the banks and rolling i'll those on
the shore. Bringing up the rear"
is the technical term given this work
by the lumbermen, and it is no more
desirable than occupying the same
position in the army. 1t is terribly cold
work, too, wading in the snow water,
ice freezing on the levers and on the
clothing wherever exposed to the air,
and makes the spectators SILVER to see
them. But the hardy lumbermen don't
mind it. They expect it and their
strength is equal to the demand
At meal-time they all come with
prodigious appetites for their rations,
that are as hot as they can be eaten.
Hot biscuits, potatoes, eggs, meat, tea.
coffee and everything else, solid and
liquid. are smoking like the steam
from a locomotive. while generous
draughts from the cup that inebriates
add their fuel to the general fire. No
cold victuals are current in loe-hoatine
time All the chill required is found
in the ice-water, and something has to
be taken to counterfeit it's influences.
The nights are spent in camps where
the roaring fires, burning all night, par
TALLY to dry the wet clothes that must
be put on in the morning. Coming into
the room where the clothes are hung a
great cloud of steam is seen that rises
to the ceiling, where it condenses. and
either falls down in drops or evaporates
on the warm boards, and the clothes
are all smoking as if engaged in con-
test. When the river is reached the
life changes. There are few Jams to
break, less wading, and more riding in
boats, and all the work is easier and
less dangerous. If the logs stop on al
rock that is out in the middle of the
river. boatman carries some men there
who may roll them off and cet into the
boat again without danger and without
getting wet There are logs along the
shore to be rolled in, but the water is
not as swift as in the runs. and in the
deep water man can stand with COM
paratlve safety. Everything is easier.
ana the day the river is reached is al.
mosta holiday among the lumbermen.
Was This Instinct!
Everybody who knows DIR. Barton re-
members his dog Don, probably the