Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-10-20

A crew of eighty men is employed a
Bangor boom, some in bringing dowr
drives from the main booms above Old
town, some in sorting and rafting thu
logs according to their marks, ant
others in running the RATS to the mills
In the dullest years 50.000,000 feet 81
logs are RATED at Bangor boom, and
sometimes the amount is as much as
70. ZOO, 900 feet.
Formerly all logs were RATED to the
| mills in lots of three hundred 10 -four
| hundred pieces. These RATS were pro
PEELED by two men with scull oars, and
it was a tedious and difficult Job. The
two men would be busy all one tide
! that is. six hours. in getting raft
| from the boom TO a mill, and some
times when the tide was slack or the
wind ahead they would be obliged to
| hang up" halfway of the journey and
finish it next tide. Contractor Corners
| kept six pairs of these scull-oar men,
and they were busy all the time. often
working day and night supplying the
| mills. Sometimes the long RATS would
| twist like great water snakes and get
| tangled up with vessels at anchor in
| the harbor or with steamboats, under
| way Then there would be trouble
| and much profanity OF a vigorous and
original kind would be exchanged be
tween the sailors from the sea and
those from up the river.
Now the DAVIS of the scull-oar men are
past and almost forgotten. The RATS are
| bigger and are lowed by stout little
steamer which drags four thousand to
| i've thousand logs along without any
trouble at all. The steamer carries TWO
men, and on the raft are -four or 1--WE
| more. Counting wages coal and all cx-
penscs, the new method IL twenty-five
per cent cheaper than the old, and far
more satisfactory 70 all concerned. the
| only loss being one Of sentiment; instead
| OF the songs or red shirted rivermcn W.
| hear the putting OF the log steamboat.
There seems 70 be a popular belief
based upon forestry reports ana the
alarming statistics Of theorists. tha; the
log supply on III. penobscot is very ncat-
| ~ exhausted This Is far from the fact
The lumbermcn have to 90 farther than
formerly 10 get their logs. bu; there arr
many entire townships In northern Maine
;hat have never Yet felt the lygger's axe
while on many others that were cut over
wears ago the spruce growth mas renewed
| spruce, has disappeared rapidly. bur al
/ though pine has long since ceased 10 be
an important factor III Maine numbering
! there Is sin great supply ot il in some
sections and Mr.. Conners saws that there
are still just as good and just a. big pine
! frees in Maine as ever there were As to
the spruce becoming exhausted, thai
alarm Mas commonly heard twenty years
ago. and We. there mas been cut since
then. on Penobscot waters alone. :, 22f.-
90 @" feet Of spruce. out Of total lunl-
Ter cut Or 3.355ln 81 feet
| The big log or the good log ~ 10 raritJ
~ all. There Is a plenty OF them. and tho
| building % dams and Improvement uf
streams in various ways for driving pur-
poses has made available many millions
/ OF logs that formerly vcrc inaccessible
| This years iogs were of good size, partic-
| Ularly those from the East Branch. and
there Is plenty more where they came
| from. In the coming winter about $4,000
90 feet 81 logs will be cut On Penobscot
waters. the pulp mills alone taking abou.
| 100000 feet.
| In the So-callcl flush times there vas
| Il great and reckless waS... both OF logs
| ana lumber; when 4 few logs or A few
| sticks OF timber went adrift. they were
allowed to Eo-nobody made much effor:
70 recover them. Along the banks OF tht
| Penobscot. from Midway to Bangor. are
| hundreds Of frame houses that were bull.
OF lumber picked up adrift but row 1t
| is very seldom that 4 stick OF lumber
worth saving IS picked up IN the river.
When in times OF freshet as often oc-
| CURED before the many improvements
were made along the river i'll booms ard
dams, whole RATS Of logs or lumber used
4 to break away and go down with the
swift current. the owners seldom could
| tell whether or not they recovered al
that belonged 20 them. But Row there is
a strict system Of marking and account
| ing, nothing is wasted. The only real
| danger to the spruce IS the cutting OF 50
many small trees for pulp; but even thai
| can hc carried on for generations Vet
without denuding the Penobscot forests.
| The eighty men employed AT Bangor
boom earn an average Of $3.50 a day for
l51 days in the wear. 50 that their wage
| aggregate $4,000 in season. Besides
this. they get their board. al the boom
| house where The principal article IF d.ct
| is baked beans. the quality being Of the
very best and the quantity unlimiied-for
there is nothing delicate about the appe-
| lite OF the Bangor boomer
William Corners has been The boom
contractor for ;hirty-four Years. and in
that time there has been RATED under his
direction about 1.79o 90 600 feet Of logs. o.
enough separate pieces if placed end to
| end. 70 reach twice around the world
KING OSCAR AND THE YELLED
PRINCESS.