The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1885-10-21
AMONG THE LOG DRIVERS.
HOW TIE HARDY FELLOWS WORK
AND ENJOY THEMSELVES.
The PeriIOus Positions i'm which
They Place Themselves when
breaking n "Jam."

The PerIIOus Positions in which
They Place Themselves When
Breaking n "Jam.'
A Bangor (Me.) letter to the New
York World describes the life of those
hardy, daring, red shrted fellows who
drive the logs cut by the woodsmen
through the tuDbling, rushing streams
and the swift waters of the Penobscot to
the booms, whence they are distributed
by their various owners to the mills:
The principal drives are from the east
and west branches of the Penobscot,
the Mattawamkeag the Piscataquis,
Pleasant and Passadumkeag rivers, all
tributaries of the one great watercourse.
Driving logs is laborious and often
dangerous occupation. When the win
ter work of cutting the logs is over and
| the icy brooks and streams are full of
the great spruce, pine and hemlock
trunks, the aXe-swingers ak come out and
the lumbermen engage their driving
crews To be driver one must be ac-
tive, fearless and equally indifferent to
! cold water and hard work The drivers
are generally Tarratine Indians, liberal
| sprinkling of that much detested class
known as the "P. 4. I's'-
Prince Edwards islanders. The
crews, with their bosses, go to where
the logs are stocked, part of the way by
rail and then by team, batteau or on
| foot.
Arriving at their destination they start
the logs in the quick water and follow
them down along the shore. If there
were no falls, no edges or other obstruc-
tions the work would be easy but if a
single log of the rushing mass sticks on
the brink of dam, or is caught against
a rock, thousands Of others are stopped
thereby and jam ensues. This must be
broken up at all hazards and some one
must go out upon the logs at the risk of
his life and, with what is known as a
''cant-dog," set the mass in motion
again. II he makes msstep or the OBJ
structing log yields at an unlucky mo-
ment, the driver disappears in the whirl
of waters and goes down to his death,
and if his mangled remains be found it
will not BE- until weeks afterward, many
miles below.
One of the drivers 1 met to day. He
was of muscular build, with that hearty
manner peculiar to Penobscot rivermen.
He had just ''come down" and was quite
communicative, talking intelligently, if
unduly loud, as he punched the floor of
the clearinghouse bar-room full of
holes with the steel calks in the soles of
his shoes. He wore the conventional
drivers dress-heavy trousers, red shirt,
wooden socks and ponderous boots or
shoes. l asked him why his boots were
cut in several places at the toes. "Oh."
said he, "that is 10 let the water which
pours over me out and keep my feet from
scalding.n He said that driving was
hard work until one became used to it:
then there was a fascination about it
which always kept one at the work The
driver, he said, is out day and night, as
circumstances demand. Sometimes two
or three men are sent ahead of the main
| body to keep the logs running free past
| point where jam is likely to occur.
They are given a junk of salt pork, a
frying pan, dry Goldfish and quantity
of hard bread, as the task may require
days. At night this advance guard
bull DIS big fire and sleeps on the ground.
''Once," " said the driver, con the west
branch of the Penobscot, l aud a com
panion were delegated to look out for a
jam below and ahead of the main body
Of logs. We had no boat, and when a
log stuck out in the stream we had to
paddle out on big spruce trunk to clear
it away. In returning we landed in four
feet of water, the big log grounded, and
we had to wade ashore waist deem in the
icy water. A fierce storm was ID progress,
and the walk back to camp was anything
but pleasant. At another time | was
with crew trying to get
some logs out of small brook in which
the water was low. 1t looked as though
the logs would stay there all summer
when we turned in one night at little
cabin on the shore. My friend had an
upper bunk, in which he slept soundly
until early morning, when he jumped
out of his bunk. He landed in two feet
of water, in which the cabin furniture
was floating There had been heavy
rain and the little brook had oyerhowed
its banks"
The drivers work begins in the latter
part of April and lasts until July 10 or a
month later. A green hand is paid 81. ~ |
per day; fairly good men ST. to $3.50;
an experienced man $275, and boat
man SO, beside food, which is princi- |
pally of beans. Woodmen have beans |
three times a day, drivers four times. |
wi molayses for sweetness and dried |
apples as an anti-scorbutic. The woods, |
men and drivers receive their money on
arriving here and it generally amounts !
to from $500 to $500. The red shutters |
spread red paint at high cost for week |
or two, the cheap bars and boarding. !
houses reap harvest, the police station |
is crowded and then all is quiet on the
Penobscot.