Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1883-10-24

Few people have any adequate idea OF
the dangers and discomforts attending
the life of a "river-driver. Four
months of the year, and these during
the raw and chilly spring, when he Is
working from daylight till dark in the
water, his clothes are often wet and fire.
quently frozen for a week at time II
he falls into the cold river in the morn
ing, he must keep on with his work till
night. Often the heat of his bed-for
the riverman's etiquette teaches him
that clothes are made TO be worn, not
hung on chair at nights only
sufficient to thaw out the garments
without drying them. i talked with
one of these river-drivers. Every bit Of
information was given grudgingly,
though earnestly and with candor. He
said
81 have followed the river every
spring for twenty years, and there are
mighty few streams in Michigan that j
haven't gone TO the bottom of.
Dangerous business? Well, that de-
pends on what part of the job you are
working at. II you are the cook, there
ain much danger, unless the boys find
pebbles in the beans, or mice in the
blackstrap. But if the crew are break
ing jam and the old man sets YOU to
'hitching on things are liable to be
pretty lively. What is hitching on
and 'rollwayp' Ever see high bank
at river7 Well loggers draw their logs
during the winter to the highest bank of
a stream they can reach, and roll them
down it onto the ice below, piling them
up by thousands and tens of thousands.
In the spring these piles of logs have
got to be loosened so that they will float
down the river. That is what is called
breaking JAM Now about 'hitching
on.
Sometimes they break jam by
Irying out the logs with canthooks, and
sometimes they run n rope across the
river. Ayoke Of oxen are 'hitched on
10 1t, and 1t is thrown around log. The
oxen are then started, and snake out
the log. Why is that dangerous? II
often happens that one log is wedged in
such shape that it holds from fifty TO
athousand others and to save time this
log must be hauled out first Then if
the logger isn't minding his concerns
when the pile starts, the whole lot is
onto him in a iiffy. Did / ever meet
with an accidentP Yes; but the most
serious accident l ever met with didn't
turn out very badly. We were break
ing jam at the highest rollway on the
Manistee River. There were millions
of logs on the bank, and it was pretty
ticklish work. | hadn't had as many
turns of rheumatic then as / have had
since, and / called myself as timber q
man as ever lodged q Norway. l was
'hitching on, and after had been at
work while the boss, who was giving
orders from across the river, sung out:
'Doyou sec that log loose up near the
topP | looked up. The rollway was
about one hundred and sixty feet high,
and there was big log ten or fifteen
feet from the top that appeared to be
loose.
Il started up over the logs with my
peevy in my hands. The log was about
twenty feet long, and showed my peevy
into it to sort of see how much work II
was going to be to loosen it. ] found
out, / tell you. no sooner touched her
than she started like flash of lightning
down the rollway. There was no
chance to run around the end of the log,
and it was too high to jump over, so the
only chance | had was TO turn and give
her a foot-race. We were, as / said.
near $50 feet from the drink. The river
was about sixty feet wide, and was prct-
ty deep. That was in my favor, if
could only reach it. | didn't stop to
calculate chances or pick nice stepping
places, but / Just made jumps for all |
was worth and before I'd fairly light
away I'd go again, and you bet that log
was right after me. ] could feel the
wind from it, and it seemed every time
| struck that it was on TO me. | don {
believe my heart beat or that breathcd
going down that rollway, and
thought of every tear had ever been
on and every mean thing ] had ever
done l kept ahead all right until ] got
within about twenty feet of the river,
and then she struck me. | was in the
air, and when the blow came | went
like cannon ball out into the river
and to the bottom. As | came up n
dozen of the boys grabbed me and
brought me ashore. They had been
watching me from the other bank, and
when they saw me shoot out into the
stream they rushed into the water to
bring out what they thought would be
my corpse. But I wasn't hurt par
ticlc, though it took some time to get
my 'bellus' into running shape again.
That log struck me on the hips and
threw me fully fifty feet, and that was
what saved my life; for if | had landed
near the bank that log would have
crushed me"
That was close call!'
"Tolerable, tolerable, =. DeForest,