The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1886-09-17
A COLOSSAL LOG JAN.
THE WORK OF BREAKING IT UP
WATCHED BY THOUSANDS.

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Operations Of Lumbsrmsn at Taylor.
Falls. Minn..M~ny Feats Of Skill,
Activity and Daring-Diiiy tho Kid.
The whole jam Moving.
The Dalles of tho st. Croix, as the rocky
gorge Is called through which plunge the fall
and rapids of the river, arc marvel ot
scenery worth long journey at any time
but just at present. for space Of three miles
not particle Of water Is visible nothing but
a vast>chaos Of logs jammed In between the
rocky jaws Of the gorge and representing
$50, 600, 900 feet Of lumber. Huge trunks OF
trees, 80 to 80 feet long, they lie heaped in
every kind Of indescribablc position, some bolt
upright like piles, some at angles of ~ de-
grees, some headed down stream and Others
straight across It. Meanwhile, the whole
force Of the falls and rapids Of great river
has to work its way through and under the
enormous mass. or course, the problem is
how to dislodge this tremendous block, SO
that the logs can float down to the Mississippi,
and the whole work has to be done at the
lower end.
As the visitor camps down on the rocks
overhanging the river to watch the sight he
feels for all the world like q spectator in an
old Roman ampitheatre about to witness a
fight between men and the ugliest specimens
of the brute creation. Indeed, the choice
between grizzly bears, lions and tigers,
and the terrible forces of such huge tree
trunks with the pressure of an avalanche
behind them, and rapids that can make them
individually leap and spin like SO many
bowling dervishes, is not one worth drawing
lots for. The combatants are taken in at q
glance as hundred or more men, strong as
lions and spry as cats, clothed most of them
from head to foot in bright red flannel, and
armed each with a long pole, shod with
steel spike and a hinged semi-circular lever,
for clamping round the logs and rolling
them over Three hundred yards below the
Jam lies a powerful steamboat, with n
capstan capable Of exerting pull of 200
horse power, and around which is wound a
hawser, the end of which is carried on to tho
lam, and attached to what are called the
key stone logs, that is, the logs that evince
the most obstinate, logged and absolutely
rebellious temper.
BEGINNING OF THE TUG OF WAR.
And now the tug of war begins The cap
AAOANN
the river, fine jets of water spinning from it
under, the fierce tension. The upright tree
trunks writhe and groan and twist, their
anarchical bark-clothes torn off under the
irresistible police grip in which they are held,
till they are left all white and naked, and at
last slowly, sullenly, and with groans and
curses of despair detachment of perhaps
500 logs is torn away from the main body.
Nir,h1a IN mar
cats, the red-shirted, red-trousered lumber
men leap on it to break it up. Here dozen
are shouldering away with their levers to
roll off huge trunk at the top, here they are
pushing down under water to head the right
way cross-binding log. AS the units OF the
mass get more and more dislodged, huge
boles of trees shoot up from underneath, and
fairly leap like enormous fish out of the
water Everything is now spinning and
plunging, and an unlettered laynan would
as lief attempt promenade down hill&pn TO
sides of so many rolling barrels, as essay the
feats these agile fellows are easily up to.
Down below stands ready and manned
rowboat for the rescue of any who should
fall into the rapids But the thing is not to
fall in, for the risk of drowning is as nothing
to the risk of being caught and ground up
O0UWotu AO6S. NAuJ oASO uAu W. wv ~
man tumble off, but while women shrieked
and his mates tore round to a point of the
ledge where they could drag him out, the
brave fellow himself seaned to take it as
simple little incident of the profession
Every other time there were logs enough left
between the torn off and captured detach-
ment and the main army to enable the men
to leap back from point to point. Billy the
L. x,o:o hoI oh, op,oII
one 1.-the, graceful, yet powerful young fel-
low, was always in the lead. He wore n
white rose in his hat. Leaping like deer
from log to log he was always at the point
where effective work was to be done, and SO
great was the glow of admiration he awak-
ened in every Unlocking feminine breast that
he would only have had to leap dripping
ashore and fling himself, soused Leander,
at the feet of any Hero of them all to have
borne'her off as his forever.
THE FASCINATION OF THE SCENE.
Very curious is it to observe how, when |
ever a chance is given for seeing splendidly |
human bodies in vigorous action, n |
q perfect fascination sets in for watching tho |
sight. There was one old lady, of singu-
larly bright and intelligent face sitting on |
the rocks who said she could not tear herself |
away from it, that she sat there all day long
and day after day. On my cravenly and
saying to her that must really
60 up to the hotel to get something to eat, she
broke out in the most reproachful tone, "Oh,
let your dinner go; the men may any minute
start a quarter Of a mile of the jam, and then
it will be the greatest sight in the world. I've
ordered my dinner to be brought out to ME
on the rocks" Such enthusiasm was truly
admirable.
Contagious as was her example, must
still in contrition, confess that did go up to
the hotel-some five minutes away-and had
just sat down to bowl Of soup, some beef
and canned corn, when a cry was raised
''"he whole jam is moving!" Billy the Kid
himself would have been put to it to make
better time than for the river ledge. What
3 sight it was For fully quarter of a mile
in length and 600 or 700 feet in breadth, the
vast press and throng of the mob of giants
we're in furious motion. I could think of
nothing but countless herd Of frantic buffa-
loes leaping over one another and trampling
one another under foot, the irresistible ava
anche of motion and terror from behind
sweeping before it everything to the front.
Indeed, the tremendous jam, thirty to fifty
feet in depth, was working perpendicularly