San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-07-14
MICHIGAN PINERIES.
THE HARD AND DANGEROUS WORK
DONE BY THE LOGGERS.

OOTNc pr tHe SS16ch0A
laundering Operations In the Pine For
ests OF the Northwest-work Done by
the "Cant Hook" sIen-'skidway'' and
'Banking Ground"-Dynamite.
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 northwestern
pineriea From the time when the first
log Is cut from the first fallen pine in
September. until the last log Is delivered
at the banking ground, not later than the
ldes of March. horse and man handle the
logs together. This is how the work y
done
Camp established and the main roads
lined out through the timber to be cut,
gangs Of men 60 to work. One man
moves ahead, selects trees, chops a deep
notch on that side Of the tree toward
which be wants 1t to fall Two men fol-
low him with axes and cross-cut saw.
The axes are for the Incidental occasion
which may arise for their use. The saw
Is the real guillotine of the forest. The
sawyers begin on the standing tree OPP
posite the aforesaid notch, and saw to-
ward that. II the tree leans that way 1t
viii sometimes break through six inches
OF solid wood, and swoop down with q
screech of the sundering fbers that can
be heard long distance. r.,
The tree once down. the leader Of the
gang that fell" 1t 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 a gang Of men and
horses who cut away the brush. roll one
end of the log upon drag" and haul It
of to the ..skidway." where 1t is piled to
await being taken to the banking ground.
The skidway is itself ronway, as the
banking ground is Ii the logs are TO be
loaded upon cars the skidway must be
built as high as the platform of the car
II upon sleighs then only high enough to
admit Of rolling them upon the hunks. or
bed" Of the sleigh But in either case
the piles of logs so gathered may be large,
and yet largest where they are completed
and left to be moved by sleighs 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 be-
come solidifed In that condition 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 the
pile but from it's bottom Only the most
skillful. as we'll as powerful. "cant hook
men" make up the loading gangs have
seen gang break out the bottom log of a
skidway that showed a perpendicular
front Of. thirty feet. At it's base in the
road way stands the sleigh strong enough
to withstand the shock Of mountain s
fall the horses are unhitched and moved
away and only the men are in danger. A
foreman stands watchful over all: men
pry and pull and strain together, moving
the resisting log only hairs breadth, as
1t seems. so cautious are they AS they
pull they watch the mass above them. and
when at last 1t starts those men bound
away as II shot out Of catapults, and
down come the icy logs bounding with a
roar The sleigh is covered with them;
and once in such 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. and pair Of the
kingly horses trained to the work will
haul load of fourteen tons in q day when
the sleigh shoes do not stick to the snow
Such load peaked up into the air six feet
above the horses, with the teamster
astride Of the top log talking familiarly
to his Mig" and Joe" or some equally
domestic names, by which his horses art
known, as they walk easily away with
the huge mass Ia q sight that would
make the boys and girls Of the world wild
with delighted establishment. But there
Is danger here. too. A slight lurch side
ways VIII sometimes break q chair
~binder" and the load goes down.
At the banking ground. on q clear cold