News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-05-09
BIG OLAF.

Blu ULAFI
In the autumn of 1872 accepted the
position of bookkeeper offered me by
Chicago firm that was extensively en-
gagged in the lumber business in the
central part of the lower peninsular of
Michigan. The firm employed nearly
hundred men. Ny duties consisted III
keeping account of their time, making
out the monthly pay-rolls, and such
other miscellaneous Office work as the
business required.
The tract of land owned by the COM
pany was situated on both sides of Rapid
Run, tributary of the Tittibawassee
River, which, in turn, is a tributary of
the Saginaw, a large stream navigable
by the largest vessels that ply upon the
Great Lakes
As is indicated by its name, Rapid
Run was a small but swift stream. Dur
ing the summer months 1t dwindled to
a mere rivulet, but when swollen by the
spring rains and melting SHOWS, it be-
came raging torrent, which was made
to serve the company by floating logs to
the confluence of the Tittibawassee and
Saginaw Rivers, where its extensive
mills were situated.
Most of the men employed at the camp
were foreigners; many of them were
Norwegian emigrants but Just arrived
in this country. Among the whole
number there were only about twenty
native Americans.
Corporations find it difficult to pro-
cure a supply of American workmen.
Indeed, many of them give the prefer
ence to foreigners, who have, at least,
this In their favor, that they are much
less particular about their fare than are
native Americans. At all events, large
proportion of the thousands of men en-
ployed IN the great lumber districts of
the West are aliens, whom the agents of
the companies hire fresh from the emil
grant trains constantly arriving at De
troit and Chicago.
Shortly after / assumed my new posi-
tion there arrived at the camp from De- /!
troit a company of twenty eight men,
most of them newly arrived emigran is
from Norway. Among them was man
whose G. aracter stands out in my expe-
rience with men as the strangest combl-
nation of sublime courage and herolsm, /
with disposion that at times was reck- T,
less and yindictive, that it was ever my
fortune to encounter.
His name was Olaf Bjornsen, but he
was known among his companions as
simply Big Olaf, designation fully
warranted by his stature. Physically
he was a most perfect specimen OF man
hood. He stood six feet and four
inches IN his stockings, and weighed
not far from two hundred and fifty
pounds, but there was not superfiuous
ounce of flesh on him.
Beyond his possession of the proper
tions and strength of a giant, there was
nothing about him to excite admiration.
His face seemed to be the rallying point
for all the base passions that ever strug-
gled for the mastery of the human coun-
tenance.
His features were of the cast peculiar
to the Scandinavian people, but from
beneath his beetling brows his fierce
blue eyes cleaned with a forbidding
light that caused him to be Stunned
even by his own countrymen.
At the time of which I write he had
been in this country about two years,
and before coming to us had been en-
ployed as a 'longshOreman on the
wharves of Detroit.
The foreman, or boss, as he was called
by the men, was Mr.. White, a kindly,
Christian gentleman, who had formerly
been employed in the company's Office
at Chicago. His precariOus health had
induced him to seek outdoor life, in the
hope that the pure air and resinous odOr
of the pines would prove beneficial to
him.
He was accompanied by his wife,
beautiful and accomplished woman,
whose devotion to her husband led her
to bear with cheerfulness the hardship
incident to life in lumber camp, and
also by their little son Wilton, aged six
years, who, with the addition of one ser
want, made up the household.
1t was not long before the evil dispo-
sition of the big Norwegian began to
assert itself, und to make trouble among
the men. He was not a bully in the
common acceptatiOn of the term, but
his ungovernable temper and perfect
recklessness of consequences when under
its influence, made him feared by those
who were compelled to work with him.
Complaints were constantly being made
against. him, and some of the hands
even threatened TO leave the camp un-
less Big Olaf was discharged.
Mr.. White hesitated to discharge him,
unless actually obliged to do so, for, in
fact, Big Olaf was valuable hand. His
great strength many times enabled him
to do the work of two ordinary men, and
he was always faithful in the discharge
of any duty assigned him.
Although he was sullen and reticent
and avoided associating with his fellow
workmen, it was noticed that he mani
tested peculiar liking for the little son
of the boss. The only occasions on
which / saw his features relax from the
sullen scowl habitual TO them was when
he was in the boy S company. The little
fellow was naturally timid and reserved,
but he seemed from the first to enjoy
and to return the affection of the big
Norwegian for him.
The long winter evenings, which were
whiled away by most of the hands at
various games or IN boisterous recital of
stories of adventure, we're at first spent
by Big Olaf in sulky silence by the warm
glow of the open fire; but after a time
he began to amuse himself by carving
with his pocket knife really artistic and
skillfully executed articles, which, when
they were finished he gave to the boy,
who was delighted with them
The force of workmen was divided
into squads of about thirty men, each
OF WHICH WAS tuItCtSu ny Il lOIeIud0.
The foreman of the squad with which
Big Olaf worked was Welchman
named Ferron, dark, wiry man of
medium height, and perfectly fearless.
He was almost the only man in the camp
who did not seem to fear the Norwegian,
whom he frequently had occasion to re-
prove for his harsh treatment of the
team with which he worked.
One dark afternoon toward the close
of February, Big Olaf was employed in
skidding logs with a span of horses
which were especial favorites of Fer
ron's, who himself cared for them, and