The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1895-04-03
MINING CEDAR LOGS
A. Unique Industry in New Jersey
Swamps.
Trees Buried for Centuries Found
in Fine Condition.

The mining of cedas has been an in
dustry in the swamps near Dennisville.
N. j., for three quarters of century.
II is the most unique mining in the
world.
When one speaks of mining cedar
the impression usually is that petri-
fed cedar is meant 1t is nothing of
the sort Ages and ages ago a forest
of cedar trees waved its multitudinous
branches in the breezes about Cape
May. They were superb monarchs of
of the forest, many of them, and they
met their death in some violent man
ner. They fell PROSTATE, perhaps
through the agency of some terrific
storm, and perhaps through some
tremendous earthquake.
Possibly the tumult of the in-rushing
waves was sufficient to overturn the
gigantic trees by the force of the
waves and by the undermining of their
roots, but they may have been done to
death. in more gradual way by the de-
struction of their life at the roots by
salt water. Down they all went, how
ever, into the soft muck in which their
roots were imbedded, sinking deeper
by reason of their weight, until the
mold of centuries of leaves closed
over them.
The resurrection time began away
back in the year 1912, when some
prosaic South Jerseyman, delving the
earth, hit upon cedar log and
hauled it out to the light of day. To
the surprise of every one it was found
to be in fine state of preservation.
1t had been successfully protected
from decay by the peculiar qualities
of the soil about, one of the strange
accidents of nature which set scIen-
lists agape every now and then. 1t
did not take long for the natives to
reason that there might be more logs
of the same sort in the vicinity. SO
they went about plunging an iron
rod into the soil When the iron rod
struck something hard, and after they
had satisfied themselves that the sub
stance was wood and not stone, they
attacked the earth with their shovels
and soon had another laid bare. Prac-
tically the same process is pursued to
this day, and thousands of feet of
excellent timber have been procured
since the mining of cedar began.
The trees often lie over one another,
and sometimes in heaps, as the dead
men lay on some of the battlefelds of
the Civil War; The miner usually
has little trouble in Striking wood"
One or two little jabs into the soft
soil oftentimes suifices to locate q log.
When the prod strikes the log the
miner chips OF piece with the sharp
points of the tool, which brings the
splinters to the surface when drawn
out of the muck.
By the appearance of this chip the
experienced miner can at once tell
whether the log is sound or rotten.
II it is sound, he at once falls to work
to prod up and down its length until
he has determined how long it is.
This ascertained, he goes at the min
ing. He works saw similar to those
used in cutting ice, down into the
earth, sewers the tree near the roots,
and also at the top. The log is then
ready to be raised A ditch is dug
down to the log, the trunk is loosened
by the cant hooks, and it rises with
the water to the surface of the ditch.
A very odd thing happens to the logs
when they rise to the surface they
invariably turn bottom side up in the
water. To haul the log off to the mill
is then n very simple matter.
The venerable trees are white cedar,
and as the saw eats its way into them
an odor many times intensified over
that of the red cedar of today rises to
the nostrils. In color the wood is of
delicate flesh tint. Strange as it may
seem, not single log, it is said. has
ever been found that was waterlogged.
The earthen shield about them perfect
ly protects them from the dampness of
the swamp, in the very midst of which
they are. So far there seems to be no
means of telling how deep down into
the earth this cedar mine goes. AL
though the mine has been worked for
eighty-old years, the first layer has
not yet been entirely removed. That
there are more beneath the first layer
is certain.
The old logs make an excellent
building material, and there are tubs,
pals, casks and even shingles in South