The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-06-07
MICHIGAN PINERlES.
THE HARD AND DANGEROUS WORK DONE
BY THE LoGGERS.


BY THE LOGdERS.
Nowhere on the globe is the relation
of horse and man in the accomplishment
of great labor and the production OF enor-
nous results so clearly seen as in the
numbering operations of the northwest
err piueries. From the time when the
first log is cut from the first fallen pine
in September, until the last log Is deliv-
cred at the banking ground, not later
than the ides of March, horse and man
handle the logs together. This Is how
the work Is done:
Camp established and the main roads
lined out through the timber to be cut,
gangs of men go to work. One man
moves ahead, selects trees, chops deep
notch on that side Of the trees toward
which he wants it TO fall. Two men fol-
low him with axes and cross cut saw.
The axes are for the incidental occasion
which rise for their use. The saw is the
real guillotine of the forest The saw
yers begin on the standing tree opposite
the aforesaid notch, and saw toward that.
If the tree leans that way 1t will some
times break through six inches Of solid
wood, and swoop down with q screech OF
the sundering fibers that can be heard
long distance.
The tree once down. the leader of the
gang that ''fell' it measures off the logs
and tops" it; that is, he trims up the
limbs where necessary, and goes on to
notch another tree while the sawyers are
cutting the first into logs. Then come
the ''swampers, O gang of men aud
horses, who cut away the brush, roll one
end of the log upon drag" and haul
it off to the "skidway," where it Is piled
to await being taken to the banking
ground. The skidway is itself q rollway,
as the banking ground is. If the logs
are to be upon cars the skidway must be
built as high as the platform of the car.
If upon sleighs, then only high enough
to admit of rolling them upon the hunks,
case the piles OF logs so gathered may be
large, and yet largest where they are
completed and left to be moved by
sleighs. I have seen them piled in huge
roof shaped masses thirty and forty feet
high. Lying thus, snow collects in the
interstices, melts and freezes until the
pile has become solidi6ed. In that con
dition it is often found when the leaders
approach it to break down the pile and
load it upon the sleighs.
The work is often dangerous, because
the logs are not taken from the top of
pile, but from the bottom. Only the
most skillful, as we'll as powerful, "cant
hook men" make up the loading gangs.
/ have seen a gang break out the bottom
log Of skidway that showed q perpendi-
cular front of thirty feet. at its base IN
the roadway stands the sleigh strong
enough to withstand the shock of a
mountain s fall; the horses are unhitched
and moved away and only the men are
in danger. A foreman stands watchful
over ali; men pry and pull and strain to-
gether, moving the resisting log only a
hair breadth as it seems, so cautious are
they. As they pull they watch the
mass above them, and when at last it
starts those men bound away as If shot
| out OF catapults, and down come the icy
logs bounding with roar. The sleigh
is covered with them; and once in such a
fall | saw huge log caught and held on
end on top of a half loaded sleigh
Then comes the haul. The roads are
wide, level and smooth, ana pair of the
kingly horses trained to the work will
when the sleigh shoes do not stick to the
| snow. Such a load, peaked UP into
the air six feet above the horses,
| with the teamster astride of the top log
| talking Familiarity to hls"'Nig" and Joe"
or some equally domestic names, by
| which his horses are known, as they
| walk easily away with the huge mass, is
| sight that would make the boys and
girls of the world wild with delighted as
| Constituent. But there is danger here,
| too. \ slight lurch sideways will some
| times break a chain "binder" and the
| load goes down.
At the banking ground, on clear cold
| winter day, with the mercury 20 dogs.
| below zero, the scene is unique. This
| is the only part of the work in which the
horses cannot help. The logs are rolled
out from the sIeighs by the men. 1t is
| often hard work. A green pine log that
scales from 500 to 500 feet is heavy
| thing to handle.
Rollways or banking grounds are al
ways chosen at that point on stream or
lake where the height of the bank and
depth of water will best facilitate piling
logs in winter aud floating them in
spring. High bauk aud deep water are
best, but the majority of rollways are on
low banks and shallow streams, not from
choice, but from necessity. The logs are
dropped from the sleighs or cars upon
the bank and rolled off until the river is
filled sometimes almost across the chan
mel. leaving only sluiceway. This
dams the water and gives greater force,
that is utilized in breaking the rollways
in when the drive begins. The logs,
piled often dozen deep or more, weigh
the ice down to the bottom; the water
rises among the bottom tiers of logs and
they freeze together. There is danger
in breaking rollway, just as there is in
breaking down a skidway. In both
cases the work is done from the front
and bottom of the pile. In the moving
of frozen logs dynamite is often used.
Cartridges are fastened to long poles,
the waterproof fuse is ignited and the
foreman thrusts the cartridge down
through the water as we'll under the logs
as his limited time will permit-Bay