, 1886-09-30
H"UCKLEBERRY TIME.
THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN THE
MOUNTAINS AND PICK BERRIES.

Gotham's Particular wcakness-On the
Huckleberry Grounds - The Pickers'
Powers of ndurance- Big Days
work-A Perilous Ride.
II New York city folks have one pnr-
t!cular weakness 1t Is a fondness for
huckleberries and, not w~itnstanding
thousands of New York city folks spend
the months Of July and August out of the
city. enough remain at home to consum
eO,0Oo bushels of huckleberries. which are
picSed on the mountain OF northern
Pennsylvania and New jersey and south
ern New YORK. This does Lot include the
Large shipments from points In the east
er.i states and from otLers further west.
Probably Ia no locality In the country d.
huckleberries of all varieties grow in
greater profusion or of a better quality
tnan they do in this Wild mountain region
from which New York draws. 1t Is no
uncommon thing for tue united work of a
family to brinS them in $40 a day for
every day the season lasts, which will be
seventy days on an average. That Is more
than tue head of the funny, at h 8 usual
labor as chopper. bark peeler ,ie-cutter
or the like, cou. d earn in a year an | a half
OF hard work. One season In the hucsle-
berry woods has given many a Iami y the
means to purchase a snug little lnrm or
set them up in other business.
UP II MOUNTAIN PATHS.
Atsunrisee every morning. from the dime
tee season opens until IL c.ose4, the pick-rs
gather In crops at their various renLez-
vous and from there hurry up the mouii-
tain paths before the sun is high. The
stronger of the picKers carry a pine box,
which holds n bushel. strapped to their
shoulders. Children carry baskets and
pals, which hold from ten to tweive
quarts. In northern Monroe county,
Pennsylvania, or the Pocono mountains,
the huckleberry crop is handled almost
entirely by one nun, Thomas Merwine.
Thousands of acres are picked over by
those who sell HIM their berries, and he
carries scores Of mis- pickers to the bowers
In large wagons, which in turn carry the
berries to the town at thu end of the day.
The berry grounds are entirely bare of
timber aud the pickers are exposed all
day, not only to the scorching rays OF the
sun, but to n dry and suffocatins heat
that rises from the rocxs and bushes.
There are numerous cool retreats among
the ravines and patches OF woods, where
there are lakes and springs, but the pick
ers waste no time In the r refreshing COM
partnership. They are picSing for profit,
not pleasure, and a few minutes snatched
from their work to eat II lunch or get a
drink in some cool place are all they can
afford to spare. The skill and rapidity
with whicl boxes and baskets are filed
by the hu~ckleberry pickers aud the power
oil endurance unaffected by the Women
and children on the hot barrens and in
carrying home the re>uits of their days
work, are truly marvellous
A BIG DAYS WORK.
1t is a frequent occui renee for these
Pike county female m~ountaineers to go
out TO the barrens in the morning, pick
all the berries they can carry, walk ten
miles with them to the station. sell them,
md walk back home again the same day.
Sometimes they are accompanied by three
or -four wild looking children, each bear
ing its family stock in trade. These peo-
pie usually tax the price OF their berries
out in store goods" the purchaser of Inc
berries being the village storekeeper.
The abandoning of the gravity or in
clined.plane railway of the Pennsylvania
Coal company Letween the coal mines of
that company and the Erie railway at
Hawley, Pa, was this season a great
bow 10 the hucklebeiry picKers of the
Moosic mountains. The wives and children
OF coal miners and Others employed about
the mines make up The army of berry
p ckers in that region The long trains of
coal cars that climDei the mountains by
the gravity system formerly offered a
quick although dangerous medium OF
reaching the berry barrens. Women and
children by the score clung to the SIDES
OF the narrow cars. standing on the mar
row board that ran along the edge, and
holding Oh with one land while they
chung to their baskets with the o.hrr.
There was great peril in tie RE, as the
tram dashed through narrow rock ,ut-,
with but little space on either side of the
track, along the lace Of high cliffs aud
around the snarpe,t OF curves; but the
berry-p.ckers took al the risxs of the
trip, rs it landed them In the heart of the
local ei where their wors for the day
brought them in money OF which they
stood III eed.-New York World.