The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1892-03-11
tOriginal.l


ern Wisconsin,
ayear previous that was the name he
gave to all who asked him, and to all
inquiries his only answer would be:
"Aint / told We half dozen times
thet my names River jim, amt tibet
nutfq"
He was queer character From
whence he came no one knew nor
could find ont, although he occasional
ly spoke of log driving in Maine, which
led the boys to think he must have
originally hailed from that state.
In personal appearance he was at
once conspicuous, if not to say ridicul-
Gus. Long, bony, angular, with great,
long arms, which he never seemed to
know what to do with unless he was
handling pike pole and pushing logs
here and there in the river. To add to
the ungainliness of his form he habitu-
ally walked, or rather slouched along,
with his body describing an obtuse
angle, and with movement some
thing resembling a dromedary. His
hair, which was black as an Indians,
he generally wore long, and his beard
was equally unl1ept
But he was known as the most dar-
ing and skillful log driver in the upper
Wisconsin, and many was the time he
fearlessly rode some rolling, tumbling
timber through rapids where no other
riverman dared venture, with only his
pike pole to assist him in keeping his
footing, he often being compelled to
leap from one log to another, even
while they were rushing at tremen-
dous speed through some rapids; and
he could break up a jam and get the
logs to moving again while the ordi-
nary logger was de chatting how to go at
It. True, he often lost his footing, and
was several times in imminent danger
of being crowded under the water by
the logs, but somehow he seemed like
a duck and always came up in time to
throw those long arms over a log and
pull himself up again.
During the winter season, when the
men were in the woods. "River Jim's'
long arms served him equally as well,
and there he had the reputation of be-
ing the best chopper
calmly. 1t was seldom any of the boys
could get him to speak of himself, and
when he would accomplish some daring
feat of log driving and the men would
speak Of it he would say:
"Oh, thets nothin'"
During the summer season, when
The mills at Cameron were all in opera
tion. Jim was employed by the owners
as general overseer in the boom, where
the different logs were separated, and
to see that each mill got its own cut, a
work which was always well done by
himself and his men.
Jim had one great failing, prev
alent one among rivermen. For day
or two after each pay day, which came
once a month, he would be the richest
man in town, and every man who
didn't take drink with him while his
money lasted either did not drink or
failed to come under Jim's notice. 1t
got to be such a regular thing that the
boys always expected it. and when one
day, after receiving his usual months
wages, i'm put the money in his
pocket and walked quietly out of the
sffice and over to the hotel where he
boarded, they wondered what was up
with "River jim" Some of them even
went over to the hotel, and one of the
boys said:
Whats Their marter, Jim; be We
gettin' stingy?"
"Nothin's Their marter, boys. I'm
jist goin' ter stop thet kinder bizness,
thet's all
Many were the conjectures among
the boys as to the cause of River
Jim's" sudden reformation, and when
the next day Jim was at his post of
duty instead of putting in his time at
Tom Nogan's saloon, as he generally
did after each pay day, as long as his
money lasted, they concluded some-
thing unusual had happened to him.
There had a change come over River
Jim's" life, that few, if any, of the
rough rivermen knew anything about
as no one would suspect by his daily
life that he was even capable of sym
patty with humanity in general, much
less taking friendly interest in any
one.
stand the great, good-natured, awk-
ward fellow. Behind all of River
Jim's" rough exterior and uncouth
manners there beat heart as tender
as child's, and capable of an affection
as sincere and honest as the most re-
fined and polished society man.
One of the hotels or boarding houses
which was the headquarters of a large
number of the rivermen and loggers
when in town, was owned and man
aged by widow by the name of Mrs
Franklin. Tins lady had three chill
dren, girl of twenty and two boys,
one seventeen and the other nine.
Ever since Jim carae to the place he
had made this his home, when he was
not up in the woods
One day shortly after River Jim"
eame to town. Mrs. Franklin's little
boy Willie, and several other boys of
his age, were playing on the logs near
The mills when the little fellow slipped
and fell betweeR them, and would have