The banner-enterprise., 1883-05-10
AMONG THE WOODCUTTERS
x1x111gfrHa PHASES OF LIFE IN
THE Eoo0INo CAMPS.
Howthe Hardy Woodmen Live and Work.
The Way In Which Various Trees are
Cut--A Free and Healthful Life.

Howthe Hardy Woedmen Live and Work
The Way In Which Various Trees a
Cut--AF Free and Henlthful Life.
At the midwinter season the pin
ries, stave-timbsrs and cypre!
swamps of the country are full {
choppers; and there they remain unit
the blue-bird and the bud chase thei
from the woods. The logging screws
of the great Northwest are picked Il
in the lake cities and adjacent lumbe
towns during September and Octobe
and shipped in squads to the woods
frequently hundreds of miles away
These crews are made up of "swamI
ers," teamsters, "sawyers and chop
pers. The "swamper" is genera
utility man, helping the other logger
in divers ways, but more often il
"swamping" or cutting out loggin!
roads. The teamsters do their worl
usually with oxen, as they are by IA
the best animals for the woods. The,
haul with either "bobs' or "go-dev
ils." Where it is practicable to us,
"bobs," from five to eight logs arr
piled up for load and taken to thu
"bank." The go-devil," which is ;
sled made from the crotch of tre'
and resembling the "wish-bone " of ;
goose, is used in "swamping" ol
"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 al
specified wages by the month. A gooC
aXman can always command from
$50 to $50 per month, and is found.
The others make from SIS to S25 pei
month. The men working in the
pines are gathered from nearly all
civilized countries, with the exception
of the Latin races. Excepting the
French-C 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' ara put up entirely by tbs
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 hole.
cut through the ogs for windows and
fitted with panes of glass. In the
front, on either side, are ranged the
chunks" two tiers high. Next comes
the eating-room with its two tables,
and then the kitchen. Sometimes,
having relatives in the camp, women
do the cooking; but generally the 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
the woods, however far north. The
trees break the wind and their ever
green heads seem to form a roof TO
keep the natural heat of the earth
from escaping. The men rarely work
with coats on, Indeed, the az will
not permit of coat. The feet are the
members of the body re eIuiliag the
greatest attention. Though boots are
worn, the preference is for that peculiar
article found and used exclusively in
the timbers), the "bootpack." 1t is
similar to an Es9uimaux boot and IS
made of untanned skin, sewed together
with sinews or hide, and very large.
They are loosely filled with hay, and
the foot, covered with from one to
three pairs of woolen stockings, thrust
into them. When evening comes the
stockings will be wet with sweat and
are hung up by their owners along the
roof of the shanty to dry. The grub
Is always god and substantial, for
men would Jump a camp where it
was otherwise There is plenty of
"pickled" meat, beans and potatoes,
generally enough fresh beef and pork,
and often venison and bear. Excellent
bread and butter, with coffee and tea
ad libitum, always garnish the board.
Dried apples and peaches, with plum
duff" form theluxurieS. The "crew
of a shanty will number from twenty
to sixty. The mail and the outside
world rarely intrude upon them from
the opening of the season in November
to its close in April. 1t is easy to
comprehend, then, that when the
logger" gets back to civilization in
the spring with his unspent seasons
wages in his pocket, he is hurricane,
aud "makes fur fly" Life in camp is
made up of cheerful monotony. A
song, story and loafng hours
smothered IN tobacco smoke, comprise
it. The chopper passes his time in
"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 as to what should consti-
tute a good ak, and how it should be
hung, as there is among society bellies
relative to hairdressing. One wants
his ak heavy and broad-bitted, III
other, light, long and narrow; some
prefer thick bits. some thin; Others re-
quire soft, easily whetted bla lie, and
others a hard, lasting one. In helyes,
from the extreme crock to the perfectly
straight, the whims are as various as
the owners. A good chopper always
likes to make his own handle, and the
ak that one swings in graceful dexter
ity another throws away as eless.
White pine, in fact all pines used
for lumber, arc cut from the ground,
leaving usually stump of about three
feet. Other American evergreen tim
Der trees, the cypress and red wood,
are generally cut at distance up the
trunk high enough to overcome the
bulbous nature of the | ase. In regar
- A. a t.,,,r.,rat,,ra in tho finn hprc il iS