News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-09-16
JOURNEY OF THE LOGS.
HOW THE FOREST CHARTS ARE SENT
DOWN THE CONNECTICUT.
The LOgger's Baked Beans and Ginger
bread-The Commander of the Drift
Perilous Work of the " hite Water Men.
[From the n. Y. SUM-


The number of men employed in this
seasons transportation of logs along the
Connecticut is something like 800.
These are divided into drives" sta
toned at frequent intervals, to guide
the giant logs that ''drift with the cur
rent swift, " or stretch along the river,
idly waiting for time and tide. The
Connecticut River Lumber Company
may be said just now to have the mo-
nopoly of the river-the right of way
from Lake Connecticut in the most
northern corner of New Hampshire to
Holyoke or Springfield, Mass, the low
est points OF destination for the logs
that have been brought by tributary
streams into this current. The dry
summer has seriously impeded the pro-
gress OF these drives, and the manager
of this travelling combination Some
thing more stupendous than a company
of Cooks tourlsts), is, in this section,
through which the logs are passing, the
hero of the hour. He may not, like
King Canute, undertake to stay the
fierce waves by his mandate, for the rea-
son that the difficulty he is encountering
at present is in receding rather than en-
croaching waters, but he does lift up the
voice of his authority and command that
while he and his kingly craft are aioat
no hindrances shall stop his way. The
wheels OF the busy mills must cease to
turn il there is not water enough for
both. If they presume to defy him, he
orders a charge of dynamite pIaced
where it will do the most good for the
lumber company and the most mischief
for the mills-that is, he threatens to
blow their dam sky high.
Force r1les Sse,Forld still;
Has ruled it, shall rule it.
To form an adequate estimate of the
labors and qualifications of the men
employed by the lumber company, one
must begin his observations of the
science of logging in the forest. The
sturdy lad wields the axe until his
sinews are toIghened like the cellars,
and proud day it is for him when he
energies from the lodge of the wood
chopper to go along with the drives.
They set out early in April. The voy-
age is something more than mere drift
ing. There are rushing currents to be
resisted, bends, and windings, deeps and
shadows, whir pools and rocks. The
lodgemen take fearful risks. Many a
brawny fellow has lost his life in va
liant endeavors to force a passage
through an angry gorge, or has slipped
in the midnight watches between the
treachei GUS giant logs, to be encotfined
by them. For conducting the logs
smooth waters these methods
are apparently simple, but degree of
and dexterity is requisite,
that comes only by long practice The
clumsy wood chopper must serve faith
full apprenticeship with pike pole and
cant dog before he can wear the title of
boss, and boss must be versed in all
the mysteries of the logmans craft be-
fore he can aspire to the dignity of mas
ter of the drive.
Inexperienced hands earn from 81 to
50 day asso ting the hogs and driving
them into bOoms. With heavy, iron
pegged shoes and armed with pole and
hook, they walk about as on an inlaid
floor, canting into place the perverse
timbers that are lying iengthwise or
crosswise, like great alligators basking
in the sun or lazily drifting off into
some alluring eddy. Much higher
wages are paid to the ''white water
men," whose business is to pilot the
timber through the foaming torrents.
Five and even 81 is the daily pay of
these.
The coming down of the logs is a
stirring event in the quiet villages along
the river. When, some early morning,
the whistling barefoot boy, bringing up
the cows from their green meadows,
discerns in the dim distance up the riv-
er stray log, like sail in the otting
that portends q feet, he becomes at
once a welcome herald. The butcher
and the grocer fax at .z-,,eesz+c z-ecioopfnG
their profits out 81 the expected encamp-
ment, and the merchant covers the pol
ished floor of his well-appointed store
with extra boards to protect it from the
iron heel of the Iogmen. The winters
has not linguished the log
gers pride in appearances. and, like
sailors lust in from long voyage, they
are impatient for new outfits for their
holidays. To their credit
be it SAID that lOgmcn are not barbara
ans, nor recklessness and dissipation
their ruling characteristics. Their adj
vent in village is not regarded as the
invasion of plundcrlng horde They
are welcomed as a class of, self-respect-
ing laborers, who give impetus to the
village trade and bring fresh stories of
hardships and adventures TO thrill the
stening groups that gather around the
Post Office door or the Town Hall
There is a review of the drive, to which
old and young go flocking, and where
choice places on bridges and adjacent
rocks are, like seats at popular opera,
quickly monopolized. When the logs,
gathered in the smooth, fioor-like boom,
are ready to be sent over the dam, be-
low which are narrows and shoals and
Instructions, all the skill
and power Of the trained force is called
into requisition. The sudden emerg-
ing from the lazy drifting above
into the d sh and whirl of the tor
rent is signal for combat. Busy
men armed with poles, hooks, and
axes, spring, cat-like, from log to log,
trying to guide them into the narrow
passage, while they crowd in obstinate
masses against the uneven shore. A
single perverse timber, the Anarchist of
the group, may turn hundred logs
from their course and force jam which
only dynamite can dislodge. But much
patient and daring work is done before
dynamite is resorted to. The exper.
fenced eye of the logman detects the mis-
chievous timber that may have wedged
itself beyond his reach. He knows
Just how to bring to bear upon the giant
resistance the combined leverage of a
dozen strong arms. The iron -sinewed
men, in their skillful and graceful hand
ling of their hooks and poles, might be
taken for a band of Brobdignaglans
playing at gigantic iackstraws. When
the obstinate log gives way, the lock is
broken, and the whole mass moves out
into the river, to be carried over the
roaring falls 1Il4fes,s-tt ls5v5attle RACES
with hotter fury. The great timbers
seem to grow desperate and defiant,
for passage through the mar
row torrent and gorge! like gateway.
Poised aloft in air, straight and unyield-
ing, they fall upon one another with
terrible Shock. Locked in combat, they
are again held fast between the deep.
Jagged ravines. At this crisis the white
water men rush to the rescue, armed
with axes and hooks. They shlver with
well aimed blows the very timbers on
which they stand, but from which they
adroitly leap at the first ominous crack
ing of the pine.
Sometimes the men are dragged by
the logs into the seething waters. Only
the other day three brave fellows barely
escaped with their lives. A sudden
crash plunged them into the foam, and
the mad logs threatened to implison
them. The excited spectators on the