Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1883-08-30
RAFTING LOGS.
A Lumberman,s Laborfous Occupations
Rivers Full of Logs.

Lumberman,s Laborfous Occupations
Rivers Full of Logs.
The work of rafting logs is very la
borious and perilous. In fact, there is
no branch of the business, from the
moment the axman sinks his steel in
strument into the trees trunk until
the manufactured product is stored
into the ships hold for transportation,
that is free from danger. Steam and
horsepower are used for piling logs,
which means the lifting Of them out
of the water, one by one, and laying
them on top Of each other, until they
sink down six or eight feet in
the water. In that way they
are towed by steamboats, built for
river service to their owners at the
mouth of the st. John. Each concern
has its private mark by which its
stock is distinguished from that of
other firms. The lumbermen, with
axes, inscribe these marks with
wonderful rapidity and correctness,
and it is by this means that the
logs are picked out and RATED,
each with its own kind, at the
booms. Stray pieces that have not
been marked cannot be claimed, and at
| the end of the season these are put up
in lots and sold at auction, only those
who had stock in the booms. however,
being allowed to buy. The booms are
very ingeniously constructed, though
so simple that, when first intro
duced, experienced lumbermen
laughed at the idea of their
being used with any degree of success.
Pieces Of prepared timber are used
and run out into the river from each
bank, one higher up than the other, SO
as not to impede navigation. They
are kept in places by means of little
rudders adjusted underneath, so as not
W DC Q11NOl INV II anu O0U VI POc1bAOlk
by adverse currents 1t is known as a
patent sheer boom. The Euclaire Lum-
ber company of Wisconsin holds the
patent, and for every thousand feet of
logs held at Fredericton it has royalty
of Eve cents. Said an American who
operates on the St. John: 1t costs
several thousand dollars a season for
the sheer boom, but. If it does, we save
at least $4,000 by its use" 1t is a
sight well worth seeing, and worth
travelling good many miles to see,
when the rivers are full Of logs. The
waters are very lively then, and, as
the thousands upon thousands of
pieces come down, guided by the ex-
perienced hands Of the energetic
drivers, the water surface and river
banks seem to tingle with life. The
drivers are subjected to great ex-
posures and exhaustion, and frequent
ly become very much fatigued. 1t
is not an uncommon thing for man to
get overheard half dozen times day,
but he never has time to dry himself.
He lives along the river bank while
the logs are coming down, each day
getting a little nearer civilizations
until, when the weather is warm and
the water so comfortable that he would
just as leave get overheard as not, the
work is finished. No sooner does the
ice commence to run than he COM
mences to make his way down to the
place where the driving ceases.
Swampers are the men who clear out
roads through the woods for the
teamsters, with horses, to haul the
trees from the choppers to the places
where the driving will commence.
Not many years ago the drivers took
the RATS from the booms and with
crude sails and scull oars propelled
them to their destination, weeks being
necessary for the accomplishment of
the task at times. They fixed up
tents on the RATS and lived in them
while, by this tedious mode of locomo-
tion, they made the journey. A stream
driver once assured the writer that
while the logs were running he was
SO busy that he paid no atten-
ton to his clothing, and put on
a shirt when natural propriety
Indicated that it was necessary. He
wore the garments out so quickly that
it was never necessary to change.
When the logs shoot over Grand Falls
they are not seen again till they come
up at the bottom of gorge, three
quarters of a mile farther on. The
roar of the seething waters is deafen-
ing, and the scene, as the great logs
shoot over. majestic. A short distance
from the base of the fall is a whirl-
pool, which the lumbermen call "the
coffee mill" A stray piece viii oeca-
sionally find its way into the mill in
the descent, and in the course of a
single day nothing will be left Of it
but quantity of chips. The strong
timber is ground up on the sharp
edges of the walls of the mill. On
October 20, 1850, the freshet suddenly
subsidized as an enormous quantity of
logs was going over the falls, and the
result was log jam. About 15.000,-
600 feet of timber was stuck there and