Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-03-05
LOGGING CAMP LIFE.

back woods of Minnesota, Wisconsin
and Northern Michigan that there
have been heavy falls OF snow, and
that the prospects are for q successful
season.
The amount OF snowfall is always
Of great importance to the lumberman.
He doesn't want too much, but too
little is worse. He wants it to come
early and stay late. The snow helps
him move his logs easily, and when it
me Is in the spring carries them down
stream to the sawmills.
A logging camp in winter is a pic
turesque place, full of novel sights
and queer scenes. It is usually in
habited by from 80 to 40 men-big,
brawny, deep chested, square shoul-
dered men, with muscles Of steel, clear
eyes and simple minds. There are
probably several thousands of these
camps in the northern states, includ-
log those in Washington, Oregon and
Maine, besides those in the other
states mentioned.
They are much alike in general
construction, and description of one
will do for all, though In matter of
detail they have all the differences of
various villages. The camp site is To-
Gated during the summer, and early
in the fall the first squad is sent into
the wood to build the camp. Two
log houses and generally three or four
are necessary. The mems camp and
the stable are the largest buildings.
The stable must be big enough to shel
ter from 20 TO rs horses or over.
The mems camp is a long, low
building with few windows and sin
gle door. 1t is made of logs cut on
the spot. There is no attempt at
architecture, ami simple pitch roof
finishes the structure. A floor of
roughly hewn poles is laid, and
then the inside "finish" is attended
to. This is wonderfully simple. Tiers
Of hunks are built along the sides.
They are not quite as comfortable as
the hunks you find in an ocean steam
er Perhaps the reason of this is
that they are made of poles. Fir
boughs supply the place of mattresses.
The logger knows not sheets, and a
single comfortable comprises his
bedding. If he wished to indulge in
the luxury of pillow, he fills a grain
bag with pine needles.
Benches are built along the side OF
the hunks, and these, with a few rude
ly constructed stools and perhaps a
table or two, are all the furniture
necessary. A big stove in the middle
of the room, one that will take in q
good sized stick of cordwood, heats
the place.
The kitchen, which is also the din
ing room, is generally in a separate
building 1t must be a good sized
apartment. At one end is big range,
with a FIRE box suitable for burning
wood. Rough benches and plain
board tables stretch the length of the
room. The logger does not care for
style. Tablecloths and napkins are
dispensed with. Tin plates and tin
cups and knives and forks of steel
are used.
The cook is an important parsonage
in a lumber camp. Sometimes he has
a seperate "shanty" of his own. He
generally has an assistant who is
known as the "cookee." 1t would as
tonish some housekeepers to see the
amount of work cook In the woods
will accomplish. 6 To feed 40 hungry
dodgers, each one of whom eats as
much as ordinary men, is task of
no small dimensions. The camp cook
does it, though, and makes no fuss
over it either.
He prepares everything in whole
sale lots. When he makes soup, he
makes it by the barrelful. Instead of
he uses wash boilers or cop
per kettles that hold many gallons.
Perhaps you think that the fare in
a lumber camp is poor. can say
from personal experience that it is
not. The bill of fare is somewhat
limited, but everything is good and
wholesome. and the m n who sit down
to these rough tables do not lack the
sauce of appetite. Salt pork and salt
Goldfish figure largely on the menu,
but woods cook knows how to serve
each in half dozen different ways.
The storeroom of lumber camp
looks like wholesale grocery store.
There are barrels of molasses, barrels
Of flour, barrels of dried apples, bags
of raisins, rice, coffee and beans
beans almost by the ton. Beans form
the staple supply Of the camp. Baked
beans and brown bread are almost in
variably the breakfast menu, and
what dish--the beans. brown, mealy