The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1898-02-02

-tFE. g.
Their l an,
Pay Than :.s
Year ~, How t.
Spend 49, ssre5uss,
The - returning prosperity
have ma #f.ea sslTes felt in tho lum-
ser wooo. . Michigan in a consider
able adva - in lhe wages paid to woods
mon, Z , are from - to SO a month
higher IT, they were last year.
1t is sa that 81 camps are running
i'll the M aette region this season,
employing LOO men-an increase of
80 to Is pr cent over last year. Oper-
itions were begun considerably earlier
than usual, aud wages, it is said, will
average $24 a month and board instead
of S12 to $lS and board. as did the rul-
ing rates last season.
Labor i'll the woods presents some
rather peculiar conditions. Unions are
quite unknown in the camps, the wan
dering habits of the average woodsman
making organization difficult if not
impossible. Consequently the scale of
wages is almost invariably fixed by the
employer, though regulated more or
less by the law of supply and demand.
1t often happens that the men do not
know what their wages will be until
they are paid off ut the end Of the job.
Again, they are dependent ON their IN
ployers for board and lodging, and
wages are therefore placed at a certain
requirements. When a timber operator
says that he is paying $40 or $40, he
means that his men are receiving that
sum in addition to their board.
Although wages are nominally by the
month, they are practically by the day,
for q man is expected to work 80 full
days for o months pay, and If he loses
any time "a proportionate sulm is deduct
ed from the amount due him. Some
camps make an exception to this rule
in cases Of very stormy weather when
the crew Ia obliged to lay off and give
the men credit for the full time. but
this is not always done.
OF ordinary workmen In the woods
teamsters and canthook men perhaps are
the best paid. The hook men are m
ployed to pile up the logs on sideways
or sleighs. The work Is laborious and
somewhat dangerous, requiring a quick
eye, an active, muscular body and the
steadiest of nerves Teaming requires
less muscular effort, but the hours are
long, for the horses must be fed very
early in the morning and must have
more or less attention in the evening.
1t is cold work to sit still ON q load of
logs from morning till night, and che
teamsters are the only men in camp
who wear overcoats.
The filters and sawyers come next in
the scale Of wages. The filters prepare
the timber for telling. decide which way
each tree shall fall and where it shall
lie, and notch the trunk in such a way
that when sawed through it shall topple
over in the right direction. Usually
they are expert axmen. The sawyers
handle the orosscut saws, fell the trees
and cut the trunks into logs of the prop
or length.
In addition to these there are men
engaged in cutting roads, making skid
ways and ''swamping" who generally
receive smaller pay. Their work is
mainly done with the Al. Trees stand
ing in the roadway are often taken out
by the roots and the ground leveled to u
smooth path. A skidway consists Of two
long, heavy poles, or skids, placed upon
the ground parallel with each other
and about five feet apart, one end at the
edge of the roadway and the other reach
ing back at right angles with it. They
are held firmly in position by stakes
driven into the ground and by braces
reaching from one to the other, forming
a foundation for the log pile which is
placed upon them. "Swamping'' is a
term applied by the lumbermen to the
cutting Of narrow paths from the skid
ways to the fallen trees, over which the
logs may be drawn by the horses.
In the pulp wood camps, which are
becoming more numerous year by year,
arrangements are somewhat different.
In some cases the cutting is done by
the cord. the men being paid about so
cents for a cord Of four foot lengths. In
others the payment is by the cord, but
at "A somewhat smaller rate, and the
wood is left in sticks IL or 10 feet. The
amount cut by each man is estimated
by counting the sticks, "A certain num-
Der. varying according to the size OF
the timber, being considered equivalent
to Il cord. Still other camps pay their
cutters by the month, but expect them
10 cut n certain number of sticks a day
100 usually. As a rule there are no
can't hook men ina pulp wood camp, the
timber being ''decked,'' or piled mn on