The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1886-02-25
eAckWoops pEPRAvlTY.
A Shockfng Picture Of Life in the
LAUNDERING Camps of Northern
Michigan.

Michigan.
If one were asked, says The Detroit
Nes0s, in what locality in Michigan the
greatest depravity could be found, he
would not, unless some previous exper-
ience had taught him. look for it in the
numbering regions of the northern part
of the state. What is true in this re-
spect OF Michigan is even more SO of the
numbering districts of northern Wiscon-
sin. An Industrious Detroiter who has
spent several winters travelling through
the camps with small lots of cheap jew
elry. watches, trinkets, and doing some
thing occasionally in the way of fur
nishing "the boys" with cheap whiskey,
reports a condition of things in some of
the camps scarcely credible of this age
and generation.
The rough character of the woodsmen,
their peculiar customs of life from the
time they plunge into the woods in the
fall of the year until they come out in
spring, would FORM topics for many
interesting pen sketches, but of first in
terest to civilized Michigan is species
of moral depravity which has become
largely prevalent during the past few
years.
IF you had been with me-" the in
formant says, 'when l made recent
trip through the numbering camps
which center about the small streams
tributary to the Menominee river, you
would have seen pictures of vice which
you could not believe unless the facts
were attested by your own eyes.
'.Last winter there were about six
thousand men distributed through this
section getting out the logs for the
many companies which carry on winter
operations there. They are of every
nationality, and of all ages, from young
fellows of 18 to old men of 50. In
character they are all tough In the
fall they all 60 into the woods with a
spree and in the spring they come out
with a spree, which they keep up until
their winters earnings are gone.
II shall never forget a night 1 spent
in camp about ten miles from Crystal
Falls. There were about two hundred
men auartered there. They were nearly
all French Canadians, with some half
breeds and Scandinavians. 1t was in
the middle of January, and the cold
north winter was at its very worst. The
camp cook had given the men supper
salt pork, boiled potatoes and bread-a
meal which is the same month in and
month out. Aparty of about fifteen got
ready to go out. The night inside prom
ised little except to tumble into a bunk
and battle with vermin. The prospect
was not inviting, and so agreed to go
&Lo hnl
the woods long enough to know that
they were off to their dance-house, but
while l had heard a great deal about
those places, 1 had never been in one.
They are generally located on some
country road, within reaching distance
of several or more camps. The boys
started from the camp on dog-trot,
and they gave me hard run to keep up
for about three miles through the thick
of the woods. There was a well-beaten
path in the snow, showing where the
men had picked out short cut between
the camp and the dance-house. After a
run of about twenty minutes we came in
sight of small clearing. In the center
stood a rudely-constructed shanty, tight
ly inclosed by high board fence. One
of the men pulled string. Soon after
the gate was opened by big, villain
ous-1ooking fellow, and the men follow
ed each other through the narrow yard
and into the shanty. The lower floor
was one large room. Half dozen stur-
dy lumbermen were there already, and
the carousal for the night had COM
menced. In one corner of the room
there was raised platform inclosed by
a high railing. Inside of this, sitting on
a oughly-made three-legged stool, sat
a small Frenchman, rasping at wheezy
fiddle, to which six couples were dancing
a waltz. At the further end of the room
was roughly-made bar, from behind
which the old woman of the house was
soon serving our party with whisky and
cigars. OF the quality of either it is un-
necessary to speak--both were of the
vilest kind. The old woman was the
proprietor of the house, and had become
endeared to the rough hearts of the men
during many hard winter by the name
of 'Limping SAL She had not always
been such a woful sample of woman
hood. There were men in the room that
night who said that they could remem-
Der when, only four years back, Sal
was as good locker and a deal more
sprightly nor any of 'em.' afterwards
learned it for a fact that Sal was only
26 years old; but four winters in the
woods had made her look well worn out
for 40. The fiddler ceased his scraping
and the dancers all made rush for the
bar. All drank whisky, and afterward
the women smoked and drank with the
men as often as the treats went round.
[ observed soon that the custom was
that after each dance the man had to
treat his partner. The woodsmen from
other camps continued to drop in for
several hours, and the drinking and
dancing went on. Atone time Icounted
thirty-fve big, brawny, red-shirted fel-
lows in the room, all taking turns in the
dance.
"Of the six girls in the place only one
had any of the marks of youth left in
her face. / singled her out, and asked
how long she had lived in the woods.
In careless way she related that she
had followed her lover from Canada
only few months previous. That is
how most of the girls got there. she
said. He had brought her out to the
place and then had gone away to an.
other camp, and she was left behind be.
cause she could not pay her debt to the
landlady. She had no hope of getting
away before the place broke up in the
spring. Even if she could get away she
would not know where to 60 or wnat te
do; besides, the old woman would keer
all her clothes. That's what the high
fence and the men on watch were there
for. soon found that the women were
in a living hell, from which theil
chances of escaping were poor indeed
The girl told me that the old woman
managed to keep them constantly il
debt to her. She charged them for theil
board, rent for the bawdy short dresses
in which they danced, took a percent
age Of their earnings, and if anything
was left over that she would charge III
fictitious bar bills against them. Thl
victim once caught, away from all civil
zation and law, is hopelessly in the tolls
from which she can not escape until sh,
has laid all her youth and vigor on tn,
altar of apnsua1ifv MANY IF tho osY.l,