The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1901-08-29
Observation-Disclosures
BREAKING THE JAN s
AT MAD TOMS GORGE g
BY RAYMOND S. SPEARS
10000 oscoccecc:c cccc o.ccS.

ack stream, i've years ago, was re-
harkable for a number of unusual
vents. TO begin with, it was larger by
billions Of feet than any ever before
oated down this stream. 1t was
Dated in record time, too, for the
now went off with rush after the
ce had gone out. Consequently the
reek was trimming, and on this
ood-tide came the logs by the tens
f thousands.
TO roll stranded logs from the
panks and to break the jams, there
vas a gang of more than 60 strong,
aring men. They rode the torrent
nd fell in 0 dozen times a week, but
t last they learned caution.
Bill Ke. nedy roc log into Has
lell's riffs ilfore he knew it one day.
mile Of white water full of rocks
vas befoa aim. Kennedy lost his
ourage. the more completely because
his courage had never before failed
lim. He uttered wild cry. Dan
cunningham saw his peril, and jump
ng to a passing '2g, pushed ont to the
rescue. 1t was wild race, but the
md enabled him 10 keep his balance.
cunningham, guiding his log into the
Ewiftest current, overlook the help
ess raftsman, and with his pike-pole
steered both logs for shore.
There was an eddy Just little way
below, and Cunningham, with all his
might, showed Kennedy's log into It.
. But that thrust pushed his own far
put, rolling and rocking. Kennedy
WAS ashore in a moment, but before
Cunningham could recover his balance
the log he rode hit a rock; one end
flew up, and the rescuer was throwp
20 feet into the air. He came down
head first on a froth-covered rock and
disappeared. 1t was dark before the
body was recovered After that the
men took the long way round, even
at dinner time.
No man is a raftsman unless he car
ride a log. SO, in a numbering coun-
TRY every riverside boy of ambition
|learns the knack on creek still waters
N Among the rest of the boys at Will
murt, VIII Conway, 16 years old that
spring. was renowned. He knew the
creek. the places where the deer
crossed it, the brooks that the minks
followed and the pools the trout
lurl<ed in. But he wasn't satisfied
with the money he earned selling
trout and trapping mink. He wanted
to make daily wages like a man. So
he went TO George Koch, the boss
driver. and asked to go with his gang;
but Koch old the lad he wasn't big
enough yet to handle a cant-hool.
It was a heavy disappointment to
VIII. 1t hurt his pride; besides. the
family needed the money But as
argument was of no avail, VIII was
mere spectator on the bank just
above Mad Toms gorge when the
driving crew arrived there on a Satur-
day morning
That was the best place on the creek
to see the drive. \ big bowlder had
come out of the deep water above the
gorge and lodged there in midstream
at the brink of the tumult, its broad,
ugly head two feet above the surface
level, Against it logs We're hanging
every minute, making the worst jam
of the season. 1t was already 200
yards long.
The mere fact that it was a big Jam
was something, but that was not all
Whoever broke this Jam must surely
! go through the gorge-a third of a
mile OF the widest plunging water,
where the flood piles up first against
| one rock ledge, then against the other.
and finally glides into the foaming
| tumble at the head of Mad Toms
pool, in which men have disappeared.
Hasllells riffs, broad, open and COM
paratively shallow, had cost Cunning
ham his life. Here was water tenfold
| worse. At sight Of the jam above it
| the men hesitated and shook their
| heads. They ate their lunch of cheese,
| bread, canned beef and coffee. Some
| hoped the water would rise and lift
/ the jam over the bowlder: they point
4 ed out that the stream was just then
rising a bit, for it was higher in the
/ center than at the sides. At any rate,
q little delay would do no harm.
At the head of the jam the water
Il sucked and boiled, with little whirl-
pools diving inro one another. o.
both sides it raced, wide, black and
smooth, gurgling along the edges as
it drew bits of ice and sticks under
the ends of logs Where the water
was divided and its bed narrowed, the
current ran swifter and swifter TILL
at the entrance Of the gorge, the
water was lined and the foam
stretched out, and even the bubbles
were oblong, slanted back by the wind
or whisked off the surface into shin
ing, evanCscent threads. Under such
conditions-with the water sucking
and boiling-no man in the crew vol
unteered to go to the jam. As a mat
ter of business, the boss offered $2j
TO the one who would try.
There never was a log jam that
/ river-drivers wouldn't break sooner or
| later, no matter how high or rough
the water, but in this case the men
wanted time to think. And that was
a boys opportunity.
VIII COnwaV'S father had beep n