The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-12

around and stayed with leather. The bag
in this way forms two pouches, one of
them falling down in front and the other
over the back of the GUNNER. In one of
the pouches he stores away certain needed
tools, as hammer, Ratchet large knife
and so forth, in the other such supply
of food as he thinks will be needed. The
food consist mostly of canned meats. a
box of baked beans, tea and bread. These
he warns and prepares over fire.
The gummer's stay in the forest de-
ponds, of course, on his success in find
ing ready supply of gum-sometimes 1t
is only one or two days, sometimes two
or three weeks. During recent years so
many men have gummed over these for
ests that there are now certain we'll
known spruce camps, made of boughs and
extremely rough and primitive, yet they
furnish very comfortable quarters for
the men at night 1t is a tradition that
among the gummers that no one has
ever yet taken cold from lying out in
the spruce forests, however exposed his
condition or intense the cold. Certain
1t is that they endure rain, snow and cold
with a glowing health that would put
old expert GUNNER loves his work, and
it is a local saying that the men live
eight months in the year in order to gum
the other four.
The greatest quantity of gum lies in
riffs which run up and down the trunk or
the spruce tree. An expert GUNNER VIII
sight rifted tree by the slightly oval
round of its trunk even before he is near
enough 10 STE the iilN+ OiNtb AiN1
has to be felled to get at the gum lying
in the rift, but If possible the trees are
climbed. This rifted gum is usually a
little hard and dark, but II is perfectly
marketsbIe. The best quality Is found
near the top and exudes in small, bubble
like blisters. This is quite plastic and
light colored. A tree must be three or
four years old before the gum is hard
enough for use, and single tree may
yield as much as So worth at one time
The gum is carried out Of the forests In
the meal bag pouches, which hold from
100 to $50 pounds each.
In most regions the gum is sorted into
first class" and second class elIneT
in the forests or near them, The first
quality brings from IS cents to 81 a pound,
and the second-the hard, dark gum
from II to 50 cents. This second-class goes
through the steaming process. .
The backwoods manufacturing process
is a separate industry. Hot steam IS leo
from a small boiler over an Immense TN
pan. A layer of spruce poushs IS put
above the pan, then a layer of second-class
gum; then again alternating the layers
of spruce boughs and gum. The steam
mets the hard gum, which hlters down
through the boGghs into the pan: This
melted product runs from the pan through
an inclined trough into large receptacle
where it cools, to aboYt the consistency
and stretched in the same way as old
fashioned molasses candy. After the
stretching it is rolled on board or table,
and little pieces are shipped OIL with sharp
shears and wrapped In bits of colored
paper for the chewing public.
While the second-class gum is used only
for chewing, the better quality is bought
largely by druggists and is used for me-
dicinal purposes. The farmers daughters
get 80 cents a day for. pulling gum, ana
regard it as quite an aristocratic as well
as remunerative calling.
one little town near the Rangeley Lakes
system. a town six miles square and with
a total population of about $50 souls, sends
out from it's solitary two-windowed store
over Is. 900 pounds OF this gum each, year
The railroad company, when running ex-
cursion trains from Lewiston to a point
some six miles south of the Rangeleys,
advertise in immense letters on its pos
tiers a stop at this little town. The poster
reads: Thirty minutes stop at b, the
center of the great spruce gum industry"
=. This is the towns sole enterprise, be-
sides farming and the Tiny store has over
its door the two words Spruce Gum"