The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-06
SWEETWooD'S AWFUL RIDE.
RUSHING DOWN THE SLOPES OF
THE ALLEGHENIEs ON A LOG.

NoF Otbtohce OF SIX Miles the Log
10 Which John sweetwOod Chung
Like Grim Death, Rushes Down mt
Fearful Rate and EentuaIIy
PIunges Into the Susquehnnna.
An Experience which Young
Lumber Man Is Not Likely to Re-
peat.
From the Philadelphia Times.
Bellefonte. Pain these days of mod
ern appliances and perfected means of
travel by steam and electricity mutilat-
ing distance at the rate of a mile a
minute, or even more, is considered moth
ing so very startling. but the rapid tran
sit and the modus operandi thereof par
ticipated in by John Sweetwood, a lum-
herman in the wilds of the Allegheny
mountains, one day recently, corners the
market on fast travelling. but tho expe-
rience Of that day is not related with any
degree of warmth for a repetition Of the
same by the man who took the ride,
though the narrative is thrilling enough
to raise the hopes and ambitions of young
America to the EXTREMIST pitch of dizzi-
ness.
Sweetwood is young man about %
years of age. He is the son of a farmer
from one of the most rural districts of
this county, big, rawboned and fearless
of anything on top of earth. As with
all farmers, so with this one; work dur
ing the winter is slack, and John, think
ing to earn an extra penny for himself,
determined late in the fall of 1896, and
xtrffh no Of ho
son, to go into the woods and spend the
winter logging" In numbering, as In
every other kind of employment, eXpe-
ricnce counts for a great deal, and the
inexperienced. or "greenies," as they are
termed in the lumbermen's camps. are
not deemed capable of performing the
work Of an old hand at the business. and
are so generally put at work on some
thing simple.
Fifteen and twenty years ago numbering
was vastly different in the Alleghenies
from what il is to-day. Then virgin for
ests covered the entire range of noun
tains and the lumbermen had only to Sc
lect the timber nearest to some stream,
and the work of getting the logs to water
to float down 20 market was a question of
minor Importance. Now, owing to the
fact that all the timber along the large
streams has been cut. the getting of the
logs to water Is one of the gravest ques-
lions confronting the ZIMMERMAN. WneTe
practicable, what are termed 'Iog drives
are erected for this purpose A log
drive" is simply constructed by laying
two hewed logs alongside each other, in
trail out from the camp to the nearest
stream sometimes FIVE. eight or ten miles
away. These drives are usually prepared
early in the fall, and when the first fall
of snow comes they are put In condition
for use by hauling a drag along between
them, which packs down the snow. On
the water is poured and allowed to
freeze, the result being a rude trough of
ice, over which the logs glide down grade
with startling swiftness. But these drives
are not all down grade. Perhaps half the
| distance will be upgrade, and TO get the
| logs up the mountain teams of horses
are used. After the logs are rolled into
| the drive a team is hitched TO a log with
perhaps 100 ahead of II, owing to how
| steep the incline, and in this way the
whole string is pushed TO the top. IL was
while working on one of these drives
| that Sweetwood met with the following
/ thrilling experience.
/ With a canthook he was to follow the
| first log as a sort of steerer. whose duty It
was to see that all was well. If the log
caught fast on any protruding ice, snow
or wood, with his hook he would loosen II
so that the trail would come on. When
| the drive is in bad condition, the steerer
always finds plenty to do TO keep him busy,
| but If there is lots of snow and cold wealth
| err the slide Is usually all that can be de-
| sired. and the steerer Invariably has only
the monotony Of tramping alongside and
| watching the logs glide along. This was
the case during the late cold weather, and
| Sweetwood, evidently tired with so much
tramping, determined 10 use the logs as a
means of more easily getting up the noun
| tain. With the driver OF the team away
back out Of sight, Sweetwood climbed on
| the foremost log and congratulated him
self how much nicer II was than trudging
| along in the snow.
| In this pleasant mood he either forgot
that when the logs reached the top of the
/ incline and began TO descend the grade
/ their transit suddenly increased, or else
/ he was so absorbed In the pleasures of his
| ride that he forgot where he was. BE that
as It may, however, when the first log
went over the incline and began going
down sweetwood was still on II, and be-
| fore he could dlsmount the log was going
| ar such a. speed that to even try TO get off
meant death.
was TO hold on. like grim death and await
the worse, which 10 all intents seemed
death in some form or other, and most
likely most horrible death Talk of ex-
| press trains, electricity or rapid transit
| in any Of its various forms, they are not
| in ID with the way that log trail went
| down the mountain side. From the sum
init TO the west branch of the Susque-
| hanna, where the drive ended. was at least
| six miles, and in most places the drive
was quite steep. Gathering momentum
with every foot of its descent, the log
with Sweetwood on II sped on as If
shot from some great gun. Trees and
rocks were passed with such startling
rapidity that they seemed as one solid
blurred wall; the snow was only a glare
of white. the log drive itself seemed only
a diminutive line only family discernible
winding in and out like a huge snake
| Sweetwood early IN the ride lost his hat
| and his hair streamed out behind like
/ the tail of O bob-tail horse; the wind sang
deafening tunes In his ears and almost
| blinded him with It's velocity, while the
| frost In the air seemed like hail pellets
striking him In the face. There was little
time for thought, but even In the few
seconds there was. Sweetwood wonder
| ed what the end would be. He thought
/ Of the log jumping the drive and hurting
/ him q bruised and bleeding mass OF
| flesh and bones perhaps a hundred feet
/ away among the rocks. and wondered
what they would think at home; he pic
| tured the end IL, perchance the log should