The Anaconda standard., 1899-07-13
B0NNER'S BIG LOG JAM
It's Sight That's Worth Going
to See.
TWO MILES OF LOGS
All Sorts and Conditions OF Logs, Piled at
All Angles and in Every Conceiv-
able Position - Mills Run
ming Full Capacity.

Missoula, July 1.-TWO miles of logs
logs packed and jammed as closely as
they can be and not be welded togeth-
er; logs driven into a tangled mass by
the terrific force with which they were
shot down on the flood of the Big Black
foot this spring; logs piled endwise,
crosswise, lengthwise, at all angles and
in all positions; logs stripped in many
instances of their bark by the fearful
force that brought them down the
stream; logs heaped high on either side
of the river and piled on the banks of
ure of the mass of timber coming down
behind them; logs massed so closely
that for nearly the whole of the dis
tance of two miles not foot of the
surface of the river can be seen; big
logs and little logs, long logs and short
logs. pine logs and fir logs, tamarack
logs and hemlock logs: logs, 35. 000, 600
feet of them, mixed up in the veriest
tangle ever seen-this is what the Wis
itor sees at the big log jam above the
Bonner mills this month. 1t is a sight
that is we'll worth the trip from here to
witness The logs are piled in the most
fantastic shapes, and, aside from the
business point of view, which is always
interesting, the picture is one that Is
full Of interest, even to those who have
seen similar sights before. The splen-
did natural facilities afforded by the
Big Blackfoot river at Bonner for the
storage of logs was never more fully
demonstrated than this season. Tha
large amount of crude timber that is
held there has never even when the
water was at its highest and most
threatening stage, been in any danger
of going out. The big piers that dot the
river in the big bend above the mills
have never had a bigger load to hold
than they have had this season, but
they have held it easily and without
the loss of a stick. Some of the piers
cannot be seen. They are buried deep
beneath thousands of feet of logs, their
location being shown only by the tower
ing of high peaks of roughly piled logs
above the mass that surrounds them.
Two miles long is this jam, and its
depth it that of the river. The logs are
forced in so closely that they are al
most solid mass, and they have back
ed up the water to such an extent that
travel along the Blackfoot road has
been almost impossible since the jam
formed They make a solid roadway
across the river, a little rough and not
passable by teams, but easily traversed
on foot
Some of these logs have come a dis
tance of 70 miles down the river. They
have been driven through rapids and
across lakes. They have shot through
narrow races in the streams, and have
foated gracefully in the wider and quiz
eter portions of the stream. They nave
afforded an army of men employment
for months and months. and now they
lie in the river above the mill waiting
to be fioated down to the endless chain
that will send them up against the
whlrring saws that will transform them
into marketable lumber. Nobody who
sees the jam regrets that he took the
trip I'D the river to look at 1t.
But there is more than the logs to
see at Bonner. The town never looked
as well as 1t does this summer The
shade trees that line the pretty park
and that add beauty to the spacious
grounds of the Margaret hotel are mag
nificent, and their shade is most re-
freshing this summer. The hotel is as
attractive as ever, and no more beauti-
full place for an outing. long or short,
can be found. The well-filled register
of the hotel shows that this fact is ap-
preciated this year.
The big mills are running at their full
capacity and are shipping tralnlOads of
lumber to all the markets of the state.
The new offices of the company at Bon
ner are a splendid advertisement of the
material and artistic ability of the
camp. The interior of the rooms rs
finished in polished woods from the
mills, and much of the furniture mas
been manufactured by the cablnetma- :
kers there. The variety of finish AMI
the excellence of the work make an art
istic combina ton that excites admira-