St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-28
LIBERATE LARGE LOGS
The Great Jam at Taylor's
Falls Successfully Cleared
Out.
Snatches Of Scenery Viewed
at This, the Devils Own
Territory"
Hints to the Tourist to the
Beauties Of the st. CroiX
DalleS.
A Charming Bit Of Country,
With Taylor's Falls the
Focal Point.


nesota and Wisconsin pine resumed
their peaceful trip down the st. Croix
river. The crowds of st. Paul people
who had been up to see the jam. and at
the same time revel in the wild beauty
of the scenery, returned Sunday night
and yesterday morning, the latter sec
ton being accompanied by large por
ton of the driving force, whose work
was over. The log jam, while large
one, did not reach the proportions of
the great mass piled up there last sum-
mer; yet, Notwithstanding, 1t presented
an interesting spectacle, which, taken
in connection with the weird and i'm
posing aspect time and the river have
left upon the face Of nature in tina
locality, was quite sufficient to draw
many people to the spot. There is a
wild and striking change in the charac-
ter of the country after the traveller
leaves Center City. The transition is
particularly abrupt from the rolling
prairies and peaceful lakes to the
wild, mountainous activities, the sharp
gorges and chasms and the swift rush
of the river through the seismic rock
which forms the principal charm of the
dalleS of the st. CrOiX. The train at
bound leaves the prairies and shoots out
upon a trestle work high upon the
| mountain side. then darts along ledge
or through a cleft cut out of that pecu-
liar purplish rock which seems hard as
! adamant. Far below, running jagged
course, the plans for which could only
have been laid by streak of mountain
fOrked lightning, is the st. CroiX river,
which cycles ago cut its way through
the
Towering Wall of Rock
and formed the dalles, leaving the vast
formation piled in every grotesque and
picturesque shape-On one side, irregu-
lar and Jagged, and on the other pre-
senting the cOnvolutions of an immense
purple curtain, waved by the omnipo
| tent hand of nature and then suddenly
| petrifed into eternal rest.
Just above the dalleS, the village of
| Taylor's Falls lies, one part perched
! like a sentinel on the green tops above,
| the balance resting on the shelving bank
| of the river, which here narrowS down
and is bridged over to the Wisconsin
| shore. 1t is lively little village, while
jam is on, and while its wooden side
walks are pricked into millions OF little
dots by the spikes on the shoes of the
log drivers, and Sunday was crowded
with SightSeers. Three hundred yards
! below the town the st. CrOIX makes an
abrupt and right angular turn to the
west, and produces the famous dalleS-
and the equally famous log jams. The
peaceful dWelleT of these regions goes
to bed when the river is faxed with
| scattered logs, looking like matches in
the distance, and awakeS to see a ire
mendous mass of timber, piled, rammed
and damned as by some Titan hand,
filling up the channel for quarter of
mile and rearing fifty feet into
the air. Almost invariably such jam
forms at the short turn referred tO-the
angle of the rock there jutting out be-
ing the most grOteSque of the many
| formations in the vicinity. ut seems
| to be the devils own territory" re-
marked lady as she climbed from rock
to rock with the agility of channels.
There are the DEVILS rock. the DEVILS
table, the devils kitchen, the DEVILS
footprints, the bottOmlesS pit, and a
dozen other points, localities and forma-
tons, all suggesting in some occult way
a connection with the regions presided
over by
His Satanic Majesty.
Immediately at the point of the angle
a huge purple peak of the seismic for
nation jutS out over the river and is
known as Echo rock, from the fact that
the most singular succession of echoes
is hurled back from the face of the pre-
cipitOuS cliff Opposite-an annoying fact
to the ladies, as that cliff will
Invariably get the last word. Echo
rock commands fine view of the
river, up and down, and was crowded
with people Sunday when the operation
of moving the log jam was at It's height.
The log boat ArcOla was directly under
the cliff. and was the base of operations
for the hundreds of log drivers at work
| upon the mass of timber. Less pic
turesQue is the sight now, as the drivers
wear ordinary clothing and not the
brilliant cOlOrs of a winter carnival
club as formerly, but still it is striking
scene. Armed with cant hooks and
shod with spikes. their deXterity is
amazing. and frequent were the plaud-
its as a driver successfully re@hed the
jam, after dancing and plunging about
like circus rider, upon the friSky in
dividual logs at the free end. The OPP
Grafton of breaking jam is very simple
and yet surprising in its results, when
| one views the vast accumulation.
Briefly, it consists of pulling out
logs from the center of the
down-river end of the jam until the
wedge is lOosened and the timber floats
free. Fifty men seize cable and run
it from the boat to a suitable point III
the jam, where it is made fast; the
steam Nindlass in started and in three
minutes great gap is yanked out. The
surrounding logs are flOated off and the
process is renewed until the jam is re-
duced. The last break was made yes
terday morning, and the extra drivers
came down with the eXcursionistS by
the st. Paul & Duluth morning train.
A Charming Vieinage
Many as are the people VINO flock ID
view the SCENERY at Tayl0r'S Falls, COM
paratiYely few in the Twin Cities are
aware of the extent of natures prodi-
gality in this Immediate vicinity. In
fact, without a guide the stranger would
stumble by tine choicest bits of pictur-
esqueness without finding them. Every
thing in connection with the dalles lies
in plain sight, but the country abut-
ting on the river on both sides
abound in exquisite bits of
scenery, delicious snatches of rugged
| landscape seen through forest OPEN
| ings, sparkling springs. flashing cas-
cades and misty waterfalls. A drive
about the country from st. CrOiX Falls
to OsceOla discovers a myriad OF beau
ties that will well repay visit. At
Osceola is a cascade before which Min
nehaha falls fade into utter insignIf-
canoe. The water dashes down preci-
pice, spreading into a glittering fan,
and then laughs and sparkles for half a
mile down romantic and picturesque
glen, until it reaches the river below.
The vandal of civilization is about to lay
its iconoclastic hand upon the cascade
for milling purposes, but at this time
its beauty is unsurpassed. The 500
road, which passes through OSceOla, has
finished and beautified picnic ground,
which promises to be favorite res ort.
Back from the river and nearly mid
way between 0sceola and Taylor's Falls
is Troutmere. the country place of E. F.
Drake, of st. Paul, where a famous
trout hatchery is in operation and where
the casual visitor NmaY yank out the
speckled beauties of the brook at so