The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-11-23

Sliearer had never lost q man on the
river. simply and solely because he in
vs,riabiv took the dangerous tasks upon
/ himself.
!. In three days the railways We're broken
Now it became necessary to start the
rear
i For this purpose Billy Camp, the cook.
had loaded his cooll-stove, a quantity OF
| provisions. and a supply Of bedding.
aboard a scow. At either end were long
sweeps to direct its course. Inc craft
was perhaps forty feet long, put rather
narrow. in order that it might pass easily
through the chute Of dam. II was call.
ted the Wanigan
The huge, unwieldy craft from that mo-
ment was to become possessed OF the
DEVIL Down the white water OF ra pii.s
lit would bump, smashing o5st:nately
against bouIders; againsi@the branches OF.
the stream side 1t would scrape: IN the
broad rea cf,es it would suik. refusing to-
proceed: and when expediency demanded
hts pause, if would drag Billy Camp and
his entire crew a the rope END, Whiie
the! tried vairly TO snub 1t against Sue
tcessively upEooted trees and stEmps. W men
1 AZ last the wanigan was noored fast for
Il tie nieht-,lsually mile#o so below the
sIot planned Billy Camp pushed back
his battered old brown derby hat, the
&tadges OF his office, with sigh Of re-
lief To be sure he and his men had still
Ito cut wood. sconstruct#cooklnsa aud camp
fires pitch tents. snip. browse 8and.prepare#
supper for seventy men; put the hard
work of the day was over.
Along either bank among the bushes.
On sandbars and in trees, hundreds and
A. !, bean stranded when
f the main drive passed These logs tho
rear crew were engaged in restoring to the
current.
And as a man had to be able to ride
AIRY Kind of log in any water.#to propel
tnal log by jumping on t, by roiilng#it
squirrel fashion with the feet, by punt
Ing it as one would q canoe; 70 be askiii-
fiji in pushing, prying and polling other
8lcgs from the quarter deck OF me same
CT anIly craft: as he must be prepared al
any and all times to jump waist deep into
the river. to work in ice water hours at
a stretch las he was called upon to break
4 the most dangerous ms on the river, tep-
resent ing as they did the accumulation
which the Jam crew had left behlnd them
it was naturally considered the helght OF
glci,y- to belong to the rear crew here
were the sl3estscf the Fighting t,otty-nen
with a reputation as white-Water& pifiers
men afraid of nothing.
Every morning the crews were divided
into two sections under herlie and Jack
Eiyiant1. Each crew had charge OF one side
of the river Scotty Parsons exercised a
general supervisory eye over both crews.
Shearer and Thorpe Travelled back and
forth the length OF the drive riding the
logs sdoHn stream, but taking 10 partly
submerged pole trail when ascending the
current On the surface of the river
in the clear water floated stwo.long4 grace
fiil#boats called Lateaux. These were In
Il sliarse of expert boatinen. They car
sried in racks a great supply ofapitle-poies.
pe;,yeys. axes rope and dynamite, for
use in various emergencies. Intense
rivalry existed as to which crew sack
ed, the sfarthest down the stream in5fthe9
course Of the day There was no need
to urge The men. Some stood upon the
logs, pushing nightly with the long pike
noles From one end ofsthe rear to the
other. scouts calls. warnings and jokes
flew bacl, and forth. Once or twice. a
vast roar of Homeric laughter went up
as some#unFortunate Stirred and soused
into the water When the current sla ok
ed. and tfle7ioss testated in their run. the
entire crew FASTENED. bobbing from log
to log down the river to see about y.
Then. they. broke the Jam. standing surely
on the edge OF the great darkness. while
the ice water sucked in and out of their
shoes.
1,rl{fna 80 - Bir r,rls,o noled his
bateau backwards and forwards explod-
ing dynamite. Many of the bottom tiers
of logs IN thearoiwavs had been frozen
down and Big Junllo had 70 loosen them
from the bed of.tha stream. Iie was a
big man this. as his nickname, 5iniica ted.
built Of many awIwardnesses, His cheek
bones We're hi,Sh his nose flat. his lips
rIl;rE and slohbary FIe&Sp0rted a wide