The sun., 1901-06-30
LOGGING IN THE FAR WEST:
A PICTURESQUE FEATURE or LIFE IN
THE WHITE PINE WOODS.
wosders Of Spring Driving when Men Work
Day and Night. waist Deep In water. to
Bring the Timber to the Miii-Mere Loggers
Than Grain HaryeSt<rs IivinG by the work.


Bring the Timber to the Miii-Mere Loggers
Than Grain Hsrvesters Living BY the work.
DULUTH. MINI. June II One Of the biggest
and most valuable crops In the Northwest
IL being marketed. II Is a crop which Is
harvested in winter. grows best when the
weather IL coldest. the wetter the spring
the easier the harvest and the roads to
market are the rivers OF the forests. IL IL
the log crop, and more men are engaged In
its gathering than In any other Industry
here but that OF grain.
The harvest is tho most important part
OF the numbering trade. All winter the
woods have rung with axe blows Now
the soene has changed and from the forest
the actors have gathered at the river bank.
They are no longer lumber jacks but
"river pigs" During tho winter tho logs
destined for the rivers arc hauled TO bank
ing grounds at tho stream, where they are
piled high along the side OF the water or upon
the Ice With the loosening OF the chatps or
winter comes TIE breaking OF the log piles
now under the name Of rollways. The
timbers are pushed into the water and started
upon their course millward. II tho water 10
not high enough to float them, as Is usually
the case. the June freshets are confidently
awaited. and these are now at full tide.
With logs from a hundred camps In one
stream, all inextrcably jumbled together.
II would Re impossible for the owner TO tell
his property but for the system OF bark and
end marks upon each log. Every owner.
evsry logger. has a mark Of his own Some
have SCORES Of marks. each showing the exact
tract OF timber from which tho log has como.
Tho marks are naturally very many There
arc thousands Of them on fle at the Qffccs
OF county registers Of deeds and at tho State
Surveyor Generals offices As the logs float
downstream they finally reach the sorting
works." whore they are assembled for their
individual marks and sent TO the openings
OF tho booms, called pockets Of their re-
spect.ve owners The men who handle these
sorting works must tell In the brief glance
they got OF a logs mark while 1t Ia rolling
by. half covered perhaps by others. Just
whose It Is. and must direct every log TO its
place In the almost innunerable pockets.
with the opening and rising Of the rivers
the drive begins A drive OF 800 or 900 miles
Ia not unusual on tho upper Mississippi and
logs very often do not reach their mill boorns
for two years after starting on their journey
The Mississippi Is very tortuous and for one
mile OF distance the log will often 60 three
Dozens Of firms operating on ono stream
often combine IN the handling of It's logs
and unless there IL this cooperation and
mutual assistance there is confusion worse
confounded. bad blood. riots. strife and
frequent crime
River drivers are a hardy lot They must
work almost day and night, while the drive
T. I'm progress be II one month or one season
Their times OF sleeping and eating are gov
erued hy the river and the logs They I've
in their -wanegans- or big house boats; fol-
lowing the logs "a they move slowly along
They arc busy IN water and or: II II fifteen
70 eighteen hours each day Tn ar pay ls
sent prevailing wage for ordinarily Compe-
tent men. and they are we'll fed Five or
six meals a day are about the regular rations
In the drive.
The work Of the drivers "a 70 keep the logs
foating IL l. of the utmost importance
that all the sticks be kept on the move while
there il sufficient water 10 float them and
that every inch or pint of water that flows
downstream does ts work for these streams
are usually small and rise and fall with great
rapidity Dams are built, and with the
foodiny Of water from the utdrn outflow
from these the masses Of logs must be moved
along for miles To await another slow fllng
OF the dam and another quickly Subsiding
food II the watrr IA too high logs hoat
back into the woods and are left stranded.
where they will become total loss. Tho
drivers must work in water waist deep, their
fnet in mud and slime. their heads crowned
with hungry mosquitoes and the boiling
sun shining down or reflected back into Their
faces by the river, and all thls Tor hours ma
davs The force Of the current behind may
clog tho logs into Jams which can be broken
only with the utmost expenditure OF labor.
with often great danger to lie ana imp.
mud with the priceless W ater slipping uselesSly
under through and AWAY, day after day.
Some slight obstruction may catch f"w
og. in the bend OF II river. \ few more swing
slowly around aud stop with the fret. some
more come sweeping along and the mass
sinks upon the bottom. Other logs pilo up:
In a few hours th,rc Is a iHm OF millions and
the greatest skill and energy may be unable
Log Jams in the northern waters of Mime
sofa and Wisconsin have held as many az
I50 600 900 feet of timber fast for months.
whilo the great mills were still and thousands
Of men were idly waiting Logs in Jams
Will pile to the depth of on" hundred ieet
or more, and they will toss and minelr IN
like LOT ~ toothpicka jumhled with the
hand on tho 81 Louis River last fail was
lam thai extended ten miles ana ana ioT IT,
were piled to tho bottom and twenty TO
thirty feet above the surface
\ Jam on the Chippewa was twenty-hve
miles long. Wears ago there was one on
the Mississippi thirty miles long, and II so
filed the river that the little steamers we're
unable TO pass NJ for three months.
beside rivers during the winter months are
often Of vast size. The Swan River Logging
Company OF this city broke the river banks
last month and loosoncd 81. 900 900 feet in three
days. Banks or rolways OF 4o.O0oOOO feet
are not uncommon.
streams 40 small that II appears ns II
n single stick will not float on them or that
one log will inevitably jam them are sue
ce-sfully driven for millions of logs every
ycur Streams 80 winding that a log of or
diuary length will reach from. one bond 10
another are common. but millions OF f'"t
Of long tmber- are driven down such waters
each sea 'on Brooks SO small that ono can
step across them dryShOd will be found
In the early spring 10 have scattered along
their course scores Of rOllvnyS containing
many million feet. and all these logs are
finally brought to the mills Dams are built
along tho streams and In ole stream in
nOrthw Wisconsin the railway runs
past no lass than nineteen dams in space OF
five mics
one after the other the dams arc opened
and dam by dam the logs 0re strpped down
by the food water to the reaches below
Usually the work Of river driving. when
there nrc many logs or many mills tributary,
is taken over by some independent corpora
tion II handles the work from the upper
limits to the mill bpoms. ln tho Mississippi
this limit reaches from Minneapolis 10 far
above Brainerd. 200 miles or more. and the
600 feet ~ timber IL delivers to mills ON
the Missl-lippi n alsO lTranges with log own
ers who have At any time an excess Of timber
10 trade II with some millman who he's not
enough. the latter r"paying the loan when
his logs come into the boom little later
Logs arrived At the lower end Of their course
are sorted What are called "haadvorkS'
are built at cost Of thousands Of dollars
Long booms are stretched up and down the
river gigantic ice breakers are Weighted
In by tons Of rock and timber. shod with steel
and made TO last for all time Tho upper ends
4 l. F,-, ,...l ~