The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1883-02-17
NUMBER 81.

because it takes considerable labor to
Keep them at1oat. The logs have a
tendency to run into corners and on
banks and have to be constantly put
back in the deep water-hence the
name '"driving." This branch of the
business, more so even than the other
branches, is foreign to this section
of country, and the men doing it are
nearly all from the lumber countries
of the North. The river at the differ.
ent landings above spoken of is filled
with logs from bank to bank, from
70 to 30 feet high and at a glance it
would seem that the people up i'm
that country who had never seen any
driving, and said that those logs
could never be moved, would be
right, but when the spring freshets
come and the sluices of the dams are
opened the men get on these landings
Eet logs andawork them loose. E'ye-.
quently as large d Dody as one or two
million feet of lumber will begin to
move at once, making it exciting and
dangerous work. A single misstep
VIII throw the driver in among the
logs and he is crushed to death. But
with their "calked" shoes the men
can stand on the most slippery log or
on ice with as much firmness as if
they stood on ground. When these
landings are started the logs scatter,
the large bodies fatten out and float
ON the surface of the water and run
into the corners of the stream and on
the banks, as referred to above and
the men follow them down and con-
tlnually put them back in the deep
water, working in the coldest days
up to their waists in the stream. The
dams are of great aid in the process
OF driving. The company have four
OF them. One of these, the middle
dam, has the reputation of being the
only one of its kind in the country,
in consequence of it's peculiar loca-
tion. When driving is going on the
sluices of these dams are closed at
times and large head of water gath
cred, and at regular times the sluices
are opeped and the water let off in
such manner that the lower dam
with its body of water catches the
water from the dam above, so that
when the various bodies of water
from the different dams are combined
it makes flood deep enough TO float
almost anything which can be put in
the stream.
ORIGIN OF THE ENTERPRISE.
The amount of money expended in
buying these lands, in building these
dams and making the improvements
in the river, constructing the mill
and railroads at Bloomington. must
haye been enormous. We believe it
has taken hundreds of thousands of
dollars to make the concern what it
now is.
1t is said the company has met
with considerable opposition from
residents Of Garrett county. through
1t is claimed that there is hardly
another concern In the State which
has given more constant employ
ment to men than this company.
During the panic and hard times.
when nearly every workshop and
every mine was closed, this company
continued steadily on with its work.
Besides the panic and hard times the
floods and freshets came and des-
stroyed the labor of years, and still
they persisted in their work, until
now it is the largest concern of its
kind in the State.
A little over ten years ago Mr.. j. 1.
Livingston came to this section of the
country with some lumbermen to
look at the "Lochiel" timber tract.
Shortly thereafter it was agreed
among those parties that if the tract
could be purchased at certain figure
to buy it jointly and then build a
mill and work the entire matter on
joint account. Mr.. Livingston was
largely engaged in the oil business in
Pittsburg and did not expect-to take
an active practical interest in this
enterprise. The other parties being
lumbermen were to attend to all this.
The tract of land was bought and
building of the mill and improve
ments begun; but the panic came
the other parties failed in business
and Messrs. j. I, and M. Livingston
were left to shoulder the entire work
and expenditure, Mr.. j. /. Lying
ston, who now attends to the busi-
ness of the company, and Mr.. M.
Livingston, of Pittsburg, and Messrs,
Warden, Frew & Co., of Philadel-
phia and Pittsburg, are the owners
of the concern. Mr.. Charles Lock-
hart, of Pittsburg, is president of the
company; Mr.. M. Livingston secre-
tary, and Mr.. A. Hunter Boyd is one