Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-04-07
IN MAINE WOODS.
CONTINUED from page 81

the shavings on the roaring fire as he
works.
Some of the harvesters just haul the
poles out in the rough; that is, just
trimming them of the branches. These
sell for about one cent each, but when
they are split and shaved they can be
sold at from two to four cents each.
This Is the work that keeps the axe
busy by day and the draw shave busy
bv night but when TWO men are to-
gether and have a good pickerel pond
nearby to draw from, it is not such Il
bad life after all. The bean hole is
kept warm all the time and the men
take turns at doing the cooking.
for chopping these small saplings in
swamps and floundering about in the
deep snow all day is quite hearty work,
and demands plenty of eating.
About the middle of March, the hoop
pole man breaks camp and goes to the
market with his goods. AS soon as a
lot of poles have been sold, each one
is marked with red chalk a few inches
from the end.
This shows that the poles have been
sold and no man will buy them then lu
times past, there was a custom. which is
not yet entirely obsolete, of - + ling
poles, that is. of selling them once, then
hauling them to some other place and
disposing of them again, often to the
same man. The custom of marking them
has done away with this practice to d
great extent
A near neighbor of the hoop pole gath
erer Is the axe handle man, though. to
be sure, he goes to the woods In the win
ter only to take advantage of the snow
to haul away his handles which are cut
h.. 4alI -1, oT low n hon
the hoop-pole sapling is needed for axe
handles.
The trees are chopped in the fall, the
wood is split and each handle Is roughly
blocked out. There is great danger OF
the handle splitting while the stock is
seasoning. and as fast as they are block
ed out they are buried. that they may
season without cracking. AS an addition
al precaution, the broad ends are daubod
with a kind of paint. the principal ingre
dent Of which is grease. The handles
thus blocked out are sent away to the
factory as soon as the first snow comes.
or all the prospectors in the Maine
woods the man who earns his money by
the hardest knocks is the one who goes
but he gets big money for his wares, as
good ship knees are not plenty and there
fore bring high price on the markt t.
Since the hackmatack trees have been
killed by a borer, this industry, like the
bIHding of wooden ships, has decreased
Yet there is a big demand for good knees
and many men go to the woods eacl
winter after them
The prospector goes through the forest
aisles armed with an axe, his eye alert
: to catch a glimpse of juniper. hackma-
tack or tamarack tree. Ass soon as one
is found he digs away the snow from the
base of the tree to see if = has the proper
crook.
The the tree is sounded with the axe t.
gee if it is solid inside. Ii the tree Is
found to be all right the root is dug out
with the axe ard smoothly hewn out -
the proper shape This is hard work; in
fact, it is the hardest work that is done
in the Maine woods.
Another single-purpose man is the one
who goes to the woods for the hemloCk
bark for the tanneries. This industry
formerly belonged to the farmers and
there was time when nearly every far
mer in the State realized a good sum
from his crop Of hemlock bark. Now all
the bark comes from the forests. The
larger part of the bark comes from Pc
nobscot and Hancock counties, and the
tanneries have moved that way very
largely.
The Indian who cruises the woods f9i
basket stock is another of the woods
specialists. The basket stock is easily
got. but when the Indian starts out fol
birch bark for a canoe he is sure of Z
long trip, unless he is fortunate enough
to find a birch that he been overlooked
A birch tree without knots or limbs, anG
with bark broad enough for a canoe Is
rare. and the searcher thinks himself
very lucky if he does not have to follow
his nose for good many days to find
one.
Many people have an idea that trapping
in the Maine woods is obsolete, but this
is by no means the case. Each year many
hunters scout the Moosehead Chesuncook
and Alagash regions in search of furs
and their lines of traps extend along
scores of streams in this northern wilder
ness. Each year many thousands of dol
lars worth of furs are sold a Greenville
Guilford. Kineo and Fort Kent and the
hunters realize snug sums OF READY mon
cy by means " their traps.
They are not by any means hard
working lot of men. They travel leisure
~ along their line Of traps. frequently
taking a week to make the round. They
have but one trouble. and that is when
they visit trap and find the snow STAIN
eel with blood and the single paw of a
beaver held between it's jaws, the indis-
putable evidence that a friendly bob cat
has passed that way and relieved them
Of their game.
The trappers are the cranky class OF
the many picturesque folks that each
winter go into the Maine woods. 1t is
money for them to get away from every
body, and this continued stunning OF
partnership makes them cross when
they know that anyone is within score
of miles OF them. Another trapper with
in few miles of them is gall and worm
wood to them.