Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1900-01-12
IN the WOODS.
Senator buCkman Tells of Some Bio
Loads.

"We are getting along fairly well
in the woods by making ice roads,
said Senator Buckman to the Pio-
neer Press, "but we would really like
a little snow just as sort OF guar
anty that we are really going to
have some winter.' The senator is
cutting something like 100000
feet Of logs in the Swan river district
this winter. He has upwards of 500
men at work in his camps. Inas~
much as his operations involve$l5OO
Il day, it may readily be seen that
che question of the weather from
day to day has more than a passing
interest.
''1n the twelve camps where my
men are now at work. continued
the senator, Il am using about 100
horses in hauling water day and
night to keep the roads in condition.
The water is hauled in eighty barrel
tanks mounted on sleds, and an ar
rangemt of pipes directs the fow of
the water IN front of the runners. OF
course there was great deal Of pre-
paratory work required. The roads
were laid out and graded up smooth
in the fall, and wherever there was
a brook CT pond convenient to tho
roads a pool was dug so that the
water may be loaded by the barrel.
A tank will be run Up to one of
these pools, ard an incline arranged
so that a barrel rugged like a huge
bucket may be raised and loweredin.
to the water, the lead team Of horses
furnishing the power. In this way
it doesn't take long to fill tank.
"As the ice forms the road is grad
ually raised and we have a rut cut
ting machine which cuts out tho ice
where the runners OF the log sleds
run, and throws it out al the sides.
The roads do not average more than
four miles in length to the landing
places and We have able 10 keep
thsm III siia IN
varm days would knock US out bad
ly. y. s:.>> <.%:s. g.. '.= 8. -
sit is astonishing TO one not aocus-
toned to such things how much q
team can haul over this roads. A
thousand feet OF logs weighs roughly
about three tons. | had a letter the
other day stating that they are now
averaging about five thousand to
the load which means fifteen tons,
but they except DO better. Il was
talking with lumberman the other
day on the train, who told me in
some OF the camps they had adopted
a system known as trailing, hitch
ing three sleds one behind the other,
and were pulling them all by the
same horse power, loaded with eight
thousand feet each. This means
twenty-four Thousand feet or seventy
two tons.
81 remember au instance two or
three years ago when Judge Collins
was visiting one OF my camps, when
twenty thousand feet or 60 tons was
loaded on one sled. They tell a
story OF a man WHO was hauling with
two of bis own teams and three hired
teams. The morning when they
came out to hitch on to the five
loaded sleds the drivers of the hired
teams struck for higher wages and
refused to make the trip to the land
ing. One of the other drivers sue-
gested that one of the ezra sleds be
hitched on behind the one with
which he had started, and pulled it
off without any trouble. Then the
other said he would try the three re-:
naming loads and he got away with
them without any difficulty. The
hired teams were allowed to go and
work was contiued with the owners
two teams.
''The logs are loaded on sleds with
bunk or bed fourteen feet vide
and piled up as high in the air. They
are secured by chains around the
whole mass. The outside bottom
log on one side is fastened to the
sled with a short chain at each cor
ner VII ch goes around the logs and
is caught with grab hook When
the landing is reached these hooks
are knocked out with an axe and
this brings down the whole pile
Labor il higher than usual this
winter, and it will be a good season
for the lumbermen if the weather