The Holly chieftain., 1898-10-14
DANGER IN LOG DRIVING.
Fearless Men Are Acquired IN Maans
for This work, for II Often
Resalfa sin Death.

t0r vA1e WOfks h0k AZ OIteo
Resslts in Death.
With the exception of going to sea
In the winter time in leaky old
coaster there is probably no more haz-
srdous occupation than that Of driv-
ing logs in the quick waters of the
Penobscot, yet there is always plenty
Of men who are willing to take the
chances. Regiments of drivers have
been drowned between Bangor and
the headwaters of the river in the past
20 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 imartest
men who ever steered boat or han
died cant-dog have been sent up the
river in scores and hundreds to navi-
gate the last winters log cut to boom.
To be driver one must be active, fear
less and equally Indifferent to cold
water, hard work and bad cooking
served at irregular intervals. Most of
the Penobscot drivers are strong and
active Bangor boys of Irish descent.
| Yhq are called the best log navtgators
in the world, and there is a liberal
sprinkling of Canadians, Tar
ratine Indians and men from the Brit
ish maritime provinces, the latter gen
orally known here as "P. E. lis" 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. Arriving at their des-
tinations they start the logs in the
quick water and follow them down
stream. If there were no falls, no rap
ids, dams or ledges, the work would
be easy enough, but the numbering
waters are thickly studded with all
sorts of obstructions, and II single
log catches upon the brink of dam
| or across a rock In the channel thou
sands of logs are Immediately piled
up at that spot and jam, the ter
ror of the driver, is formed.
The jam must be broken at all haz-
ards, and here is where the danger lies.
In these days 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 tan
| gled mass of logs and work like beav-
ers to get it in motion again. If the
jam men have good luck they get
ashore all right, and are called "bully
boys" II the jam starts suddenly,
without warning, as it often does, and
the men are caught in the wild rush
NJ l,ar Il <,, fo1I
the Bangor papers get story of some
body being drowned on the drive. The
body may be found weeks afterward
many miles down the river, but the
chances are that it will never be
found. In that case it is just as well
perhaps, for when they take the body
of a drowned driver from the river no.
body knows who the poor fellow was.
The driver works night and day,
as circumstances demand. Some times
two or three men are sent ahead of
the main body to keep the logs running
past a point where jam is likely to
occur. They are provided with chunk
OF salt pork. frying pan, salt cod
fish. and quantity of hard bread, ns
the job may require some days. They
cook for themselves whenever they
get time, and at night build big fire
+ -sfeep-asRearate to it as they dare
A good man is supposed to be able to
walk log as well as sparrow can
balance on twig, but sometimes the
best of them get bath in the icy
water and go all day in frozen clothes.
The drivers work begins in April
or May and lasts till the middle of j. uly
or the first Of August. Time was when
wages for this kind of work were big
$3.50 to $500 day, but now there is
no more in it than in many safer en-
pigments. A green hand now gets
$l.l2 day, common driver $1.75 to
$500, and experienced men S2.25 to
$3.50, while bosses get rather more.
WoodsInen eat beans three times day,
drivers eat them four times day, 2s
times week. with black molasses for
sweetness and dried apples for anti
scorbutic.
When the driver goes away, nobody
feels much interest in him, but when
he returns, with couple of hundreds
of dollars in his pockets, it is really
touching to see the numbers of friends
who will welcome him back. These
friends are generally saloon and
clearinghouse keepers and dealers
in cheap clothing. The return of the
drivers is their harvest time. 1t is a
harvest time for the police, too. for
they are kept busy day and night haul
ing drunken drivers to the station.
In week or SO it is all over, because
in that length of time the money so
dearly earned has been foolishly spent