Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-07-09
DANGERS OF LOG DRIVING.
Fearless Men Required for a Work
Which Often Means Death.

te6Ei@SS Men heHUtrCu lot IL W. FtA
Which often Means Death.
From the Chicago 1nter-Ocean
With the exception of going to sea in the
winter time in leaky old coaster there
| probably is no more hazardous occupation
| than that of driving logs in the quick wa
tiers of the Penobscot, yet there is al
ways plenty of men, who are willing to
| take the chances. Regiments Of drivers
have been drown between Bangor, Me-,
| and the headwaters of the river in the past
twenty years, but there is never any lack
of volunteers for the service.
1t Is at this time of year that the drives
are started, and the smartest men who ever
steered a boat or handled a cant-dog have
been sent Up the river in scores and hun
dreds to navigate the last winters log cut
| to boom. To be driver one must be ac-
| tive, fearless, and equally Indifferent to
cold water, hard work end bad cooking
served at irregular intervals. Most of the
Penobscot drivers are strong and active
Bangor boys of Irish descent who are call
! ed the best log navigatorS in the world, and
| there is a liberal sprinkhng of French-Ca-
nadianS, Tarratine Indians and men from
| the British maritime provinces, the latter
! generally known here as ''P. e. Is al
| though not all of them ever saw Prince
| Edwards Island.
The crews, with their bosses, go by rail-
| boat, and on foot to the landings or places
| where the logs have been tumbled into the
streams in winter by the choppers. Arriv-
| ing AZ their destinations they start the logs
| in the quick water and follow them down
| stream If there were no falls, no rapids,
| dams, OF Lodges, the work would be easy
| enough, but the numbering waters are
thickly studded with all sorts of obstruc-
! lions, and If a single log catches upon the
| brink OF a dam across a rock in the
| channel thousands of logs are Immediately
| piled up al that spot and jam, the ter
| ror of the driver, IS formed
| The jam must be broken at all hazards
| and here is where the danger lies In these
| days a good deal of dynamite Is used to
| break jams, but ordinarily The breaking
! away is done by men with Cant-dogS who
| go out upon the tangled mass of logs and
| work like beavers TO get it in motion again.
| II the jam men have good luck they get
| ashore all right, and are called bully
| boys If the jam starts suddenly, without
| warning, as it often does, and the men are
| caught in the wild rush of timber and
water that follows, then the Bangor papers
| get story of somebody being drowned
| on the drive. The body may be found weeks
| afterward many miles down the river, but
! the chances are that 1t will never be found.
| In that case it Is just as we'll, perhaps, for
| when they take the bodies of drowned
| drivers from the river nobody knows who
| the poor fellow was.
| The driver works night and day, as cir
/ cumstances demand. Sometimes two or
! three men are sent ahead of the main body
! tc keep the logs running past point
| where jam is likely to occur. They are
provided with chunk Of salt pork, II fry
| ing pan, salt Goldfish and quantity of
hard bread, the job may require some
| days. They cook for themselves whenever
| they get time, and at night build a big fire
| and sleep as near to it as they dare. A
| good man is supposed to be able TO walk
! a log as well as a sparrow can balance
| on a twig, but sometimes the best of them
get bath in the icy water and go all day
| in frozen clothes.