The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-02-18

Timber Literally Estimated and Logs
JudiciousIy Scaled IN Those
Good Old Days.
G. G. Kelly, of Aitkin, q regular con-
tributor to the columns of the Mime
apolis journal, is always interesting.
No apologies are offered for reproduc-
ing in the UNION the following racy
article from old Kelly's facile pen.
In tender longing for the days that
are not, we of North Minnesota sigh
for the golden days of the eighties.
They were golden days, indeed. Then
the lumberiacks blythe thousands pour
edin and out of lumber towns at regular
intervals, always coming in flush and
going out broke. A splendid citizen is
the lumberjack for any town to possess,
asparticalarly to any citizen thereof as
keep hotels, saloons, general stores and
.5other places of resort, and although
/ outwardly as rough as chestnut burr,
yet inwardly is he like the nut-full OF
good stuff to the core. A sturdy, bold
fellow, like the small boy perfect in
carnati n of genuine American spirit
of indep> ndence, he ''misters7 no man,
calls every man pardaer, imposes on
no man, and won't be imposed on in
turn; the lumberjack is one of the most
lovable men on the face of the earth.
The genuine lumberjack, whose sole
occupation is working in the pine for
ests and on the log drives, with oc-
casional digressions into moss back
ing," must not be confounded with men
who resort to the woods when no en-
ployment is to be had in the cities, and
are about as much at home at logging
work as cat in strange garnet. The
real lumberjaclS can do anything, and
do it we'll. He can endure anything in
the way of hardship, eat anything, and
drink anything poor fellow, he is
all too proficient in that, but he is ever
willing to share his cup with any one
who thirsteth. He, like the sailor
earns his money like a horse, and gem
orally spends it like an ass; but he will
never see any one suffer while he has
the means of relieving; he is a devout
worshiper of physical proves, and
holds the stars of the pugilistic profes
FL sion, as many degrees higher in the
scale than congressman or senator
and, while his ideal man is a good
man, a competent fghter-he will
never bully or impose upon weak one
and is very chivalrous toward womer
or children. In short. the lumberjacE
is about as good a specimen of the rea
man as the country possesses: And ht
makes the cream of all soldiers, as thu
history of the crack Maine, Wisconsin
and Michigan regiments during oul
war will show. Minnesota's wartime
pride, the Old First, was full of lum
beriacks, and what that regiment dit
at Gettysburg the world never saw
surpassed.
Though the lumberjacks intervals o
dead brokeness'' are so frequent as t,
be almost chronic, his credit is gener
ally very good, It may be said tina
his life is passedin doing two things
making a stake" and ''blowing i
I'M All winter long he is working il
the woods, and with the advent o
spring, he hies himself to the lumbe
town he most affects, and in its cheap
gaudy and evil delights he revels til
his money has taken wings t
itself and he; has accumulated a
high score at saloon bars as hi
credit will allow. Then he is off TO
the drive and is working from fourtee
to eighteen hours day, in icy water
mud, rain, hail, snow or anything i
the shape of weather it may pleas
Providence to send. and working ever
DAY in the week for three Or fou
months till he has earned anothe
Stake Then he is off to his favorit
town again, pays up all his old scores
repeats the blowing I'M and revellin
processes. the bar bill accumulate
and "goes out moss backing In til
ordinary tongue moss-backing is work
ing in the harvest fields of til
Dakotas. This usually keeps him OF
of mischief till late in the fall, whe
the piping winds begin to arouse in hi
breast a longing for his beloved forest
and make him hungry for the smell {
fresh-cut pine tops, and he sets out fo
his lumber town headquarters. But 9
he must pass through East Gran
Forks, Moorhead, Crookston, or Fargo
his stake never gets through. q
has to take the freight car again, an
SO thorough has been the work Of th
seductive delights of those towns ths
he usually eats nothing on the retur
trip. The lumberiack is the natur,