Stephens City star. (Stephens City, Va.) 1881-1883, 1883-07-07
CHASED BY LOG.
Experiences of tho Michigan River
Drivers.


Few people have any adequate idea
of the dangers and diseomforts attend
ing the life of "river driver" Four
months of the year, and these during
the raw and chilly spring, when ne is
working from daylight to dark in the
water, his clothes are often wet and
frequently frozen for week at time.
If he falls into the cold river in the
morning, 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 to be worn,
not hung on chair at nights only
sufficient to thaw out the garments |
without drying thI ] TAXED with
one of these river drivers. Every bit
of information was given grudgingly
though earnestly and with candor.
He said:
II have followed the river every
spring for twenty years and there are
mighty few streams in Michigan that
l haven't gone to the bottom of.
Dangerous business? Well, that
, depends on what part of the job you
are working at. If You are the cook,
there amt much danger, unless the
boys find pebbles in the beans, or mice
in the blackstrap. But if the crew are
breaking jam and the old man sets
you to 'hitching on things are liable to
he pretty lively. What is 'hitching on
and 'rollway?' Ever see high bank
at river? WI WI, s'@ssgt draw their
logs during the winter to the highest
bank of 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 loosed so
that they will float down the river.
That is what is called breaking jam.
Now about 'hitching on
sometimes they break a jam by
prying out the logs with canthooks
and sometimes they run rope across
the river. A yoke of oxen are hitched
! on to it, and it is thrown around a log
: The oxen are then started, and snake
out the log. Why is that dangerous? ?
1t often happens that one log is wedged
in such shape that it holds from fifty
to thousand bthersSand 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
l lot is onto him in jiffy. Did 1 ever
!. meet with any accidents? Yes; but
!; the most serious accident I ever met
e with didn't turn out very badly. We
d were breaking jam at the highes
!, rollway on the Manistee river. There
+ were millions of logs on the bank, ant
" it was pretty ticklish work. ] hadn'
r. as many turns of rheumatic then as
d have had since, and | called myself a
II timber a man as ever lodged Norway
l was hitching on and after | ha
IF been at work while the boss, VIII
If was giving orders from across til
er river, sung out do you see that loos
It. log up near the top? / looked W
at The rollway was about 160 feet higl
ne and there was big log ten or liftee
le feet from the top that appeared to
r. loose.
ry 4 started up over the logs with m
It. peevy in my hands. The log W;
about twenty feet long, and | shove
er my peevy into it to sort OF see no
is much work it was going to be to loose
ry it. found out, / tell you. mo SOON
touched her than she started like flas
of lightning down the rollway. The
was no chance to run around the er
in Of the log, and it was too high to jun
he over, so the only chance / had was
it turn and give her foot-race v
is were, as 1 said, near $50 feet from tt
zee drink. The river was about sixty fe
or wide, and was pretty deep. That W
Ill in my favor, if could only reach
lue | didn't stop to calculate chances
RS. pick nice stepping places, but l Ju
ife made jumps for all | was worth, al
7ed before I'd fairly light away I'd
she again, and you bet that log was rig
len after me. / could feel the wind frc
md it, and it seemed every time | stru
re- that it was on to me- l don't belle
my heart beat, or that | breathe
,ys, going down that rollway, AMI | thoue
in of every tear l had ever been on a
ion every mean thing had ever done
liar kept ahead all right until l got witt
ure about twenty feet of the river, a
,ers then she struck me. | was in the
nth and when the blow came | went lik
was cannon ball out into the river and
re- the bottom. AS came up dozen
Is the boys grabbed me and brought
,ure ashore. They had been watching
cry from the other bank, and when Il
and saw me shoot out into the stream Il
pre- rushed into the water to bring
who what they thought would be my corr
fer But wasn't hurt particle, thougl
d. took some time to get my 'bellus' i