The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-01-28
GRUB IN A LUMBER CAMP.
Observations of a New York Sportsman
Lately Home from the Maine Woods.

| Lately Home from the Maine Woods.
About the logging camp which was
nv HEADQUARTERS for three weeks" said n
New York er lust returned from hunt
ing trip among the Penobscot upper
waters, the snow lay foot deep on the
ground for the last fortnight of my stay.
found two men in charge of the camp
and the other 30 composing tue crew ar
rived and began work on the hrst Gay
that snow fell, There were French Ca
nadians. Irishmep from Bangor and
towns along the Penobscot rlVef' anu
native State of Maine men IN aoont equal
numbers. Dried apple sauce, pota1oes'
onions, gingerbread and fapjacks were
constant elements in the bill OF 1are,
and all the cooking with one exception.
was done and we'll done on the spacious
range duly set up in the cooks house.
But for that browning dish OF the lum-
herman, daily fare baked pork ana Deans
nothing wonld do but the time honored
method of the beanhole. A suitable spot
near the cook house having been select-
| ed and the snow shoveled away nre was
built. When it died down deep bowl,
shaped hole was dug in the center anu
| filled with hot EN- bers. Inc COOK ndu
already nrepared the beans by first soak
ing them in cold water, then parbolllng
them until the skins wrinkled and wouio
easily rub off. in the bottom OF a large
earthern pot which, mlraculously as IL
seemed, had survived the Joltlng or the
long trip over through wood roads, an
onion was placed. and the beans were
then turned in. filing the vessel to With
in six inches of the rim. Upon the beans
abundant thick strips of salt pork
slashed with knife were laid, and on
! these was poured half pint of molasses.
An earthern cover was set on the pot,
and the beans were in readiness for the
baking.
SIN the hole the embers, when reduced
to hot ashes, were scraped aside, the pot
! was set in the excavation and the ashes
packed soIidly about it and above the
1 cover to the ground level. Then the tire
was rebuilt above them and kept slowly
| burning by adding now and then fresh
log. After "a hours the Goals were raKeo
away, the pot taken out and It's contents
were revealed as those delicious brown
thorough y cooked beans chat to the man
who knows what is good fully Jnst1fy
the encomiums the true New Highlander
is ever ready to bestow upon his favorlte
and characteristic dish. When the beans
were served observed that some OF the
w
ment impaired to the dish by the sweet
ening put in before the baking, and
poured molasses on their beans at the
/ table. a common custom. among tne
Maine lum bermeu whose diet must be
one to enable them to withstand severe
cold as we'll as long hours OF hard WORK.
/ "One feature in the food supply OF the
Maine logging campI could not quite
approve. The day before l started. to
4 leave the woods hunter evidently
native of the region broughtsto the camp
on hand sled TIE headquarters OF
moose and / learned though not from
him you may be sure that ne was relied
on to supply the camp with fresh moose
and deer meat throughout the winter.
Later in the season when the snow is
deep and a crust has formed that will
| bear man on snowshoes he would have
an easy time in procuring meat 1t was
said for the deer and moose found In
| their yards would be unable to escape
through the surrounding snow. AS 6ne
close time for big game begins on Janu-
airy /, wonder not little at this calm
defiance of the game laws, proceeding
which seems to be winked at, or which
wardens cannot prevent in case OF lum-
bering camps. An instance of this
slaughter of helpless animals that came
to my knowledge was the killing of 60
deer after close time last winter in the
township of Bow bank. Me.
SIN the way of queer forest dainty
was taken aback by a performance I saw
one day where the men were working.
One of the swampers in cutting road
for the hauling of logs to the runaway.
fslled dead beech tree, which, break
ing as it struck the ground, revealed
colony of large black ants lying torpid
within its hollow trunk. He began to
pick up the apparently frozen insects
and eat them as one might eat a choice
confection.
What are you doing that for:' asked
rather inconsequently, as soon as could
] find speech.
What forl he said. as if amazed at
my question. They're good. Good as the
incest candy. Just you try 'em,' and
he offered some. 1879
"Some Of his comrades, who soon
| Joined us, fell to eating the frozen ants
| likewise, with relish. The ants. they
informed me, were crisp and delicate to
the taste, possessing a pleasant acid
flavor. Despite my assumption of woods
manship. did not have the courage to
venture upon the eating of this appalling
dainty, but man is an initiative creature
and / don't know what might have
done in that way if had stayed another
| fortnip ht in the back woods