The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1904-04-14

tneu you Cuu iuONe VI uOWu stiGdH uS
fast as you are needed. Scotty. you
will have the rear. Tim and I will
boss the river"
At once the signal was given to e.
lis. the dam watcher. Ellis and his
assistants thereupon began TO pry with
long iron bars at the ratchets Of the
heavy gates. The chore boy bent at
tentively over the ratchet pin. lifting
II dclicately TO permit another inch OF
raise. dropping II accurately to enable
the men at the bars TO seize n fresh
purchase. Tie rivers ronr deepened.
foamed and tumbled. Immediately 1t
spread through the brush on either side
to the limits Of the frcshet banks and
then gathered for its leap against the
uneasy rollways. Along the edge Of
the dark channel the face Of the logs
seemed to crumhle away. Farther in
toward the banks where the weight
VI timber still outbalanced the weight
If the food the tiers grumbled and
stirred Far down the river. where
Bryan Moloney and his crew were
picking at the jam. the water in eager
streamlcts sought the interstices be-
tween the logs. gurgling excitedly.
The jam creaked and groaned In re-
sponse to the pressure From its face a
hundred jets of water spouted into the
lower stream. Logs up-ended here and
there. rising from the bristling surface
slowly like SO many arms from the roll
ways. paused at the slack eddied back
foaming. Logs shot down from the
rollways. paused at the slack water and
finally hit with u hollow and resound-
ing boom against the tail OF the jam.
A moment later they. too, up-ended.
The crew were working desperately.
Down in the heap somewhere two logs
were crossed in such a manner as TO
lock the whole. They sought those logs.
Thirty feet above the bed of the river
six men clampcd their peaveys into the
soft pine, Jerking. pulling. lifting. slid
ing the great logs from their places.
Thirty feet below. under the threaten
ing face. six other men coolly picked
ont and set ndift. one by one. the tim
bers not inextricably imbedded. From
perhaps even moved a foot or two. but
always the practiced river men after
q glance bent more eagerly to their
work.
Outlined against the sky, big Bryan
Moloney stood directing the work. lie
knew by the tenseness of the log he
stood ON that behind the jam power
had gathered sufficient to push the
whole tangle down stream. Now he
was offering IL the chance.
Suddenly the six men below the jam
scattered. Four of them jumped light
ly from one floating log TO another in
the zigzag to shore. The other two ran
the length of their footing and. over
leaping an open Of water. landed heav-
lily and firmly on the very ends of two
small floating logs. In this manner the
force of the jump rushed the little tim
bers end-on through the water. The
two men. maintaining marvelously
their balance. were thus ferried to
within leaping distance of the other
shore.
In the meantime barely perceptible
motion was communicating itself from
one particle 10 another through the CEN
ter of the Jam. The men rcdoubled their
excrtions. \ sharp crack exploded i'm
medlately underneath. There could no
longer exist any doubt as to the motion,
although it was Us yet sluggish. glacial.
Then in silence u log shifted--in silence
and slowly but with Irresistible force.
Jimmy Powers Galy;ly stepped over it
Just as IL menac"d his leg. Other logs
in all directions up-cndCd. The jam
crew were forced continually to alter
tlieir positions. riding the changing tim
bers bent knccd. as a circus rider treads
his four galloping horses.
Then all at once down by the face
something crashed. The entire stream
became alive. 1t Missed and roared: 1t
shrieked and grumbled. At first slow
ly. then more rapidly. the very fore
front Of the center melted inward and
forward and downward until II caught
the fierce rush of the freshet and shot
out from under the jam. Far up
stream, bristling and formidable. the
tons Of logs. grinding savagely to-
gether. swept forward.
The six men and, Bryan Moloney.
who. II will be remembered. were on
top. worked until the last moment.
When the logs began to cave under
them so rapidly that even the expert
river men found difficulty in "staying
on top" the foreman set the example
of hunting safety.
"Shc pulls boysv' he yelled.
Then In manner wonderful to be-
hold. through the smother of foam and
spray. through the crash and yell OF
timbers, through the leap Of dcstruc.
tion, the drivers zigzagged calmly and
surely to the shore.
All but Jimmy Powers. He poised
tense and eager on the crumbling face
of the jam. Almost Immediately lie
saw what he wanted ana without
pause sprang boldly and confidently
ten feet straight downward. to alight
with accuracy on single log floating
free In the current. And then in the
very glory and chaos of the jam itself
he was swept down stream.
After a moment the constant accel-
GRAFTON In speed checked, then CON-
menced perceptibly to slacken. At
once the rest Of the crew began to ride
down stream. Each struck the calks
OF his river boots strongly into a log
and on such unstable vehicles foated
miles with the current. From time to
time. as Bryan Moloney indicated. one
Of them went ashore. There. usually