The evening times., 1901-07-01

PioEcd 1han in Harvesting Grain.
DULUTH. Mimi. July 1.-One of the
biggest and most valuable crops in the
Northwest is being marketed. It is a crop
which Is harvested in winter. grows best
when the weather is coldest- the wetter
the spring the easier the harvest. and the
roads to market are the rivers of the for
estS- It is the log crop, and more men
are engaged in its gathering than in any
other industry here but that of grain.
The harvest is the most important part
of the numbering trade All winter the
! woods have rung with ak blows Now
the scene has changed and from the for
est the actors have gathered at the river
bank. They are no longer lumber
I jacks" but river pigs. During the win
ter the logs destined for the rivers are
/ hauled to banking grounds at the stream,
. where they are piled high along the side
Of the water upon the ice. With the
. loOsening Of the chains of winter comes
the breaking of the log piles. now under
the name of roIlways. The timbers are
pushed into the water and started upon
their course miIlward- If the water is
/ not high enough to float them, as is usu-
ally the case the June freshets are conf
IDENTIFY awaited, and these are now at full
tide
With logs from 100 camps in one stream,
. all inextricably jumbled together it
. would be impossible for the owner 20 tell
! his property but for the system OF bark
] and end marks upon each log Every
/ owner, every logger, has a mark of his
/ own- Some have scores of marks, each
/ showing the exact tract of timber from
| which the log has come. The marks are
| naturally very many There are thou
of 10 at r}a off of
| county registers of deeds and at the
/ State Surveyor Generals Offices. As the
logs float downstream they finally reach
the sorting works where they are as
sembled for their individual marks and
sent 10 the openings of the booms, called
pockets of their respective owners.
The men who handle these sorting works
must tell in the brief glance they get of
a logs mark while it Is rolling by half
covered perhaps by others. just whose 1t
IS and must direct every log to its place
in the almost innumerabIe pockets
VITA the opening and rising of the riv-
ers, the drive begins drive of 800 or
400 miles is not unusual on the upper Mis-
sissIppi and logs very often do not reach
their mill booms for two years after
starting on their journey The Mississippi
is very tortUous and rOr one mile Of dis
tance the log will often go three Dozens
of firms operating one stream often
combine in the handling of its logs and
unless there is this cooperation and mu-
tuaI assistance there is confusion worse
confounded, bad blood strife, and fire.
quent crime.
River drivers are a hardy lot. They
must work almost day and night, while
the drive is in progress be it one month
or one season Their times OF sleeping
and eating are governed by the river and
the logs. They live in the ''wanegans''
or big house boats. following the logs as
they move slowly along They are busy
in water and out Of it fifteen to eighteen
hours each day. Their pay is good
About S2-50 a day and board is the pres
ent prevailing wage for ordinarily compe-
tent men, and they are well fed Five or
six meals a day are about the regular |
rations in the drive
The work OF the drivers is to keep the !
logs floating. 1t is Of the utmost import /
ance that all the sticks be kept on the 1
move while there is sufficient water to /
float them and that every inch OF pint of /
water that flows down stream does its /
work, for these streams are usually small /
and rise and fall with great rapidity
Dams are built, and with the flooding of |
water from the sudden outflow from /
along for miles to await another slow fill /
ing Of the dam and another quickly sub
siding food If the water is too high logs
float back into the woods and are left
stranded, where they will become total !
loss The drivers must work in water
waist deep, their feet in mud and slime /
their heads crowned with hungry mos
quicoes and the boiling sun shining down
or reflected back into their faces by the
river and all this for hours and days
The force OF the current behind may clog
the logs into jams which can be broken
only with the utmost expenditure Of la
Dor with often great danger TO life and
limb, and with the priceless water slip
ping uselessly under, through and away, /
day after day. Some slight obstruction
may catch a few logs in the bend of a /
river A few more swing slowly around
and stop with the first. Some more come
sweeping along and the mass sinks rpon
the bottom. Other logs pile up. In few
hours there is a jam of millions and the
greatest skill and energy may be unable !
TO break them loose.
Log jams in the northern waters of !
Minnesota and Wisconsin have held as
many as $4,000 600 feet of timber fast for
months, while the great mills were still
and thousands OF men were idly waiting.
Logs II Jams Will pile to the depth Of 100
feet or more. and they Will toss and min |
gle in such shapes as seem impossible. |
twining ike lot of toothpicks iuraf,le,i !
with the hand On the St Louis River
last fall was q jam that extended ten !
miles and for it's entire length one could I
walk dry shod- Logs were piled 10 the /
bottom and twenty to thirty feet above /
the surface.
A jam on the Chippewa was twenty-five
miles long. Years ago there was one on (
so filed the river that the little steamers
were unable to pass up for three months
! he roI!WayS of logs which accumu-
late beside rivers during the winter
months are often Of vast size. The Swan
River Logging Company of this city broke
100000 feet in three days. Banks OF
rollways OF 10000, ,000 feet are not uucom-
mon
Streams so small that it appears as If
a single stick will not float on them or
that one log will inevitably jam them are
successfully driven for millions Of logs
every year. Streams so winding that d
log of ordinary length viii reach from
one bend to another are common. but
millions Of feet Of long timbers are driven
down such waters each season Brooks
so small that one can step across them I
dryshod Will be found in the early spring
TO have scattered along their course
scores of rOllways containing many mil
lion feet, and all these logs are finally
brought to the mills. Dams are built
along the streams and in one stream in
northwestern Wisconsin the railway runs
past no less than nineteen dams in a !
space Of five miles
One after the other the dams are OPEN !
ed, and dam by dam the logs are stepped !
down by the flood water to the reaches |