The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-05-04
AMONG THE WOODCUTTERS.
INTERESTING PHASES OF LIFE IN
THE LOGGING CAMPS.
How the Hardy Woodmen Live and Works.
The Wny In which Various Trees are
Cut--A Free and HeaIthfuI Life.

How the Hardy woodmen Live and Work.
The Way in Which Various Trees are
Cut--A Free and HeaIthful Life.
AT the midwinter season the pine
ries, stave-timbers and cypress
swamps of the country are full of
choppers; and there they remain until
the blue-bird and the bud chase them
from the woods. The logging screws"
of the great Northwest are picked up
in the lake cities and adjacent lumber
towns during September and October
and shipped in squads to the woods,
frequently hundreds of miles away.
These crews are made up of "swamp-
ers," teamste rs, "sawyers" and chop
pers. The "swamper" is a general
utility man, helping the other loggers
in divers ways, but more often in
"swamping" or cutting out logging
roads. The teamsters do their work
usually with oxen, as they are by far
the best animals for the woods. They
haul with either hobs" or "go-dev-
lis" Where it is practicable to use
"bobs," from five to eight logs are
piled up for a load and taken to the
bank" The "go-devil," which is a
sled made from the crotch of a tree
and resembling the "wish-bone" Of a
goose, is used in "swamping" or
"gulching," where it would be difficult
to handle "bobs." The "sawyers,"
either singly or in pairs, follow after
the choppers and cut the felled trees
into saw-logs. The chopper generally
works by himself, and is paid, some
times by stumpage' number of trees
CUT, sometimes "by the foot" (amount
of timber he fells), but generally at
specified wages by the month. A good
aXman can always command from
$50 to $50 per month, and is found"
The others make from SIS to $25 per
month. The men working in the
pines are gathered from nearly all
civilized countries, with the exception
of the Latin races. Excepting the
French-Canadians the Latins have an
insurmountable aversion to the AK.
"Shanty" life in the woods is as original
as can well be imagined. The
"shanties' are put up entirely by the
ak, of unhewn logs, covered with gut
tered troughs made from stems of
smaller trees. A short distance away
stand the stables, similarly con
structed. The logger's shanty is long
and narrow, with a few square holes
cut through the 'ogs for windows and
fitted with panes of glass. In the
front, on either side, are ranged the
"bunks." two tiers high. Next come.
the eating-room with it's two tables,
and then the kitchen. Sometimes,
having relatives in the camp, women
do the cooking; but generallythe camp
is without the gentler sex, men per
forming all kinds of work.
The shanties are warm and com
Portable, for it is rarely very cold in
trees break the wind and their ever
green heads seem to form a roof tC
keep the natural heat of the eartl
from escaping. The men rarely worl
with coats on, Indeed. the az viii
not permit of a coat. The feet are thu
members of the body requiring thu
greatest attention. Though boots arr
worn, the preference is for that peculiar
article (found and used exclusively il
the timbers), the "bootpack." 1t il
similar to ar EsquimauX boot and il
made of unframed skin, sewed together
with sinews or hide, and very large
They are loosely filled with hay. an,
the foot, covered with from N t
three pairs of wooden stockings, thrus
into them. When evening thu
stockings will be wet with sweat anC
are hung up by their owners along thu
roof of the shanty to dry. The grub
Is always good and substantial. 70
men would Jump" a camp where i
was otherwise. There is plenty o
"pickled" meat, beans and potatoes
generally enough fresh beef and pork
and often venison and bear. EXcellen
bread and butter, with coffee and tie;
ad li5itum, always garnish the board
Dried apples and peaches, with "plun
duff" form theluXurieS. The crew
of a shanty will number from twent.
to sixty. The mail and the outsid,
world rarely intrude upon them from
the opening of the season in Novembe
to its close in April. 1t is easy t.
comprehend, then, that when tn
logger" gets back to civilization il
the spring with his unspent season
wages in his pocket, he is a hurricane
aud "makes fur fly" Life in camp i
made up of cheerful monotony. !
song, a story and loaing hour
%smothered in tobacco smoke, compris'
it. The chopper passes his time il
"tinkering" with his AK, or contem
plating its virtues. When not hurting
its head against the pines, he is gener
ally engaged in grinding, whetting, re
hanging, scraping or polishing it
There is as much diversity of opinion
among them IS to what should consti
tute a good AK, and how it should b
, hung, as there is among society belle
relative to Undressing. One want
| his AK heavy AMI broad-bitted, an
other, light. long and narrow; som
prefer thick bits, some thin; others Tt
quire a soft, easily whetted bla lie, an,
others a hard, lasting one in helves
from the extreme GRO k to the perfect
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