The Portland daily press., 1896-07-09
DOWN THE MENOMINEE.
Log Driving as 1t is Done in Michigan.

Work of the Boom Company in Rafting
Logs Down to the MilIs-Monoply
Patrons Since 1866.
Menominee, Mich, July 6-The Memo
minee River Boom company is the larg.
est corporation of its kind in the world.
Previous to 1866 there was great confu-
sion in the handling of logs in the Me
nominee river. and there were frequent
serious disputes between mill owners on
account of the crude and unsatisfactory
manner in which the logs came down,
serious mix-nps being of daily occur
renee. Owing to these crude measures
logs would be delivered at the wrong
mills, and, as each log-owner was obliged
to accept the mill scale or count of logs
sawed, there was no end of trouble for
the operators. In o rider to secure q more
satisfactory service it was decided that
company should be formed for the pur-
pose of absolutely controlling all the
water rights and the handling of logs
on the Menominee river and it's rributa-
ries. All the leading lum hermen in this
section of the state were interested in the
venture and they got together and or
gained what has ever since been known
as the Menominee River Boom company.
The organizers were such well-known
operators as Jesse Spalding, Harrison
Ludington. Nelson Ludingtion, Daniel
Wells, Jr., Abner Kirby, Isaac Stephen
son, Samuel Stephenson, Robert Steven
son, w. O. Carpenter, ELY Wright and
Robert Hall. Considering the small
quantity of logs handled in those early
days of the history of lum boring in Mich
igan and the extent to which the bust
ness grew, it is not probable that the
projectors of the company had any idea
of the future magnitude or Importance
of the undertaking.
IMPROVEMENTS ON THE RIVER.
The work of constructing the dams,
as we'll as all the other impr ovements of
the company, was placed under the SUI
pervision of Isaac Stephenson, and every
Improvement since made by the gigantic
corporation has bcen designed and con-
structed under his supervision. The
company now has capital stock of
81, &c., 000, all of which has been expended
in improving the Menominee river and
its tributaries with innumerable piers,
booms and breakwaters. rs well as up
ward Of fifty dams distributed on the
Menominee, Pike, Sturgeon, Pine. Brule
Paint and Michigamme rivers and their
branches. These improvements have been
of incalculable benefit to this section of
the state, by utilizing the waters of the
nj oil f0v i
for making available many of the most
valuable water powers in the country.
Every saw log sawed in Menominee
and Marquette or tOwed out of the river
must be handled by this company, and
it is quite impossible for a person who
is not somewhat familiar with the log
ging business to form an idea of the i'm
mense amount of business which the
company transacts each year. In the
first place, it has in its employ more than
500 men, who are scattered along the
river, and from the time of its organiza-
ton in 1856 until 1895 it scaled 8,O97,-
928, 479 feet of logs The scale for the
last year was light, aggregating only
274, 643, CPS feet. The company has scaled
upward OF 65. 600, 600 feet in a single
year.
MINIMUM COST FOR DRIVING.
Its system for handling these immense
quantities of logs has been 80 perfected
that it can do The work at a less cost
than any other company in the world.
In 1895 it paid out in wages alone to the
men, not including what it cost to feed
them, 1928, 931. So. From the time of it's
organization to the present there has
been paid to its stockholders 81, 795, $50
in dividends The officers take great
pride in the fact that, while it is the
most expensive single employer of labor
on the river mover in its history have its
employees gone on q strike, and while
of necessity it has had a monopoly of the
business done in its line. the services
rendered are so satisfactory that during
the last six years out Of a business ag-
gregating 81. 46S, 81. II there has not been
dollar lost or IA charge disputed on the
other hand, every dollar due the COM
pany has been paid in cash.
RIVER NOW FULL OF LOGS.
1t is very interesting to observe the
manner in which the logs are handled
and brought to the various mills. Today
the MenoIninee river contains upward of
800, 900, coo fest Of logs, on every one of
which is stamped-on the end with a
hammer and on the side with an AK
hieroglvphios to designate the owners.
These logs were put into the river last
winter, and they represent an outlay OF
fully So, 600, COO.