St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1885-03-14
WINTER IN THE FORESTS,
Hard Work BY Day and Jolly Times .,
Night.


Hard Work BY Day and Jolly Times ~
Night.
Despite the improbable year Just past
IN the lumber business, the woodsmen
have gone in swarms from Bangor, rs
usual. this winter, to cut spruce and
pine on the upper Penobscot. One in
ducement-to the lumbermen to operate
is the low cost of provisions, it being
possible to board a crew of men twenty
to twenty-five per cent. cheaper than q
year ago. Labor also is low, as the
Prince Edward Island boys have poured
into Bangor by the hundred this season
looking for employment, and they have
put wages down and kept them there.
Think of stout young man swinging
an AK all winter for ten to fifteen dollars
month and his board. These are the
wages accepted by many of the Prince
Edward Island loggers. There was a
time in the days of big pines, near by,
when woodsman was looked upon as
q man who had learned q trade.
Many people have queer ideas of how
loggers live in the woods. They build
camp Immediately. if there is not one
already near the scene of their work,
and are seldom more than day about
it. The camp is simply a log house,
with low sides and stepped pitched roof.
The chinks of the walls are filled in with
mud, moss and leaves, and a high
banking of earth or snow reaches almost
to the caves outside. The entrance is
in one end, and the only window is in
the opposite end. The cook and his as
sistant have a sort of pantry partitioned
of at the window end, and there are
wood and provision store-rooms on
either side of the entrance. The re-
mainder of the building forms one
room. One side is long couch made
of boughs, hay or straw, covered with
heavy quilts and blankets, on which the
men sleep in a row. On the opposite
side is long table, made of small logs,
hewn smooth on top, on which the food
is served. In front of it is big log
hewn out for settee, and called the
deacon seat. The men when done eating
have only to turn around in their seat
to toast their shins at big fire Of logs,
which CLOVIS like small volcano in the
midst of all. and sends its smoke and
sparks through a hole in the roof, six
feet square. the draft being aided by
rOof-tree.
The fare is plain and monotonous,
but wholesome and substantial. Pork
and beans, bread and molasses, and
pork fat. the latter used for butter.
make up breakfast at sunrise. Then
the crew go to work, and, if near by the
camp, they come back at twelve o'clock
for dinner, which is beans and pork.
with pork scraps and doughnuts. The
men work until it is too dark to tell .
hemlock from spruce and then come
back to eat supper of the same viands,
varied with dried-apple sauce. Fish is
served once or twice q week. The
beverage is cheap tea.
Evenings and Sundays are passed in
telling wonderful yarns, singing ear
splitting songs and smoking. In some
camps the men play cards and gamble
for tobacco, clothing, and even wages.
The woods beans are the best of all
baked beans, and put Boston in the
shade. They are cooked in an iron pot
placed in pit surrounded by live Goals
and covered tightly with earth over
night. In the morning they are done
to turn. No range can compete with
the bean hole of the woods.
The woodsmen range in age from six
teen to sixty-6ve, dress in heavy wooden
or knit underwear, cheap ready-made
clothes, cloth or knitted caps, mecca
sins, and many socks and mittens.
They work on an average four months.
come out as fat as bears, and with from
$50 to $3.50 due them. They spend the
money. and then are ready for work on
the river or 60 driving.-Bangor Mel
Cor. n y Sun.