The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1904-01-30

ROAD.
'.shc's holdin' her own" said b.
'but there amt any use putting more
water on her. She amt freezing Z
mite. Wen pillow her out"
So they finished the Job ana plowed
her out, leaving exposed the wet.
marshy surface OF the creek bottom, On
which at night thin crust formed.
She'll freeze little tonight" said
Railway hopefully. You sprinkler
boys get at her and wet her down."
Until O'Clock In the morning the
four teams and the six men creaked
back and forth splitting hardly gath
cred water. Then they crept In and
ate sleepily the food that a sleepy
cookee set out for them.
BY morning the mere surface OF the
sprinkled water had frozen. Railway
looked In despair at the sky. Dimly
through the gray he caught the tint Of
blue.
The sun came out. Nuthatches and
woodpeckers ran gayiy up the warm
ing trunks of the trees; blue jays nun
ed and perked and screamed In the
hardwood tops: covey of grouse ven
tured from the swamp and strutted
vainly, pause OF contemplation be-
tween each step. Railway walking out
on the uamped road of the marsh,
cracked the artificial skin and thrust
his foot through into Icy water. That
night the sprinklcrs stayed In.
The devil seemed In IL. Men were
Lot. tha uQ
Nothing went on but the days OF the
year. and four OF them had already
licked Off the calendar. The deep snow
OF the unusually cold autumn had now
disappeared from the tops OF the
stumps. Ii even stopped freezing dur
ing the night. At times Dyer's little
thermometer marked as high as 40 de-
grees.
IL often heard this was sort "
summer resort" observed Tom Broad
head. ''but hanged If knew IL was a
summer resort all the year roundv'
BY and by IL got to be a case Of look
ing on the bright side of the affair
from pure reaction.
81 don't know" said Railway; 1T
won't be so bad. after all. A couple OF
days OF zero weather. with all this wa
ter lying around, would fix things up
in pretty good shape. If she only
freezes tight we'll have good solid
bottom to build on"
The Inscrutable goddess OF the will
derness smiled and calmly, relentlessly,
moved her next pawn.
IT was all so unutterably simple and
yet so effective. II showed.
All night and all day the great fakes
zigzagged softly down through the air.
Railway plowed away two feet OF II.
she surface was promptly covered by
second storm. Railway doggedly
plowcd II out again.
This time the goddess seemed to re-
lent. The ground froze solid. The
sprinklers became assiduous In their
labor. Two days later the road was
ready for the first sleigh, Its surface
of thick, CLASSY ice beautiful to be
hold. the ruts cut deep and true. the
glades sanded or sprinkled with re
tardlng hay on the descents. At the
river the banking ground proved solid
Railway breathed again, then sighed
Spring was eight days nearer. He wal
eight days more behind
AS soon as loading began the cool
served breakfast at 3 o'clock. The mel
worked by the light of torches, which
{, were often merely catchup jugs witt
wlcking IN the necks. Nothing couit
be more picturesque than Il teamste
I conducting one OF his great pyramid
q ical loads over the little inequalities o
: the road. i'm the ticklish places stand
!, ing atop with the bent knee of the RIO
man charioteer. spying and forcstall
ing the chances of the way with a fixes
eye and an intense concentration tina
relaxed not one inch in the miles o
: the haul. Thorpe had become a ful
fiedged cant hook man.
He liked the work. There is about
skill that fascinates. A man grip
9 suddenly with the hook of his stron
instrument, stopping one end that tn
other may slide. He thrusts the shor
8 strong stock between the log and Tia
skid, allowing IL TO be overrun. II
" stops the roll with n sudden sure gras
applied at just the right moment 20 b
effective. Sometimes he allows himse
to be carried up bodily. clinging to th
i cant hook like an acrobat to bar. III
. I'll the log has rolled once, when. b
weapon loosened, he drops lightly, eai
/" lily TO the ground. And II IL exciting
pile the logs on the sleigh, first a lays
OF five, say: then one Of four smaller,
:, but three. OF two, until at the ever
!, apex the last Is dragged slowly up tn
: slxlds. poised and just as IL Is about
plunge down the other side Is grippe
= and held incxorably by the little me
In blue flannel shirts.
Chains bind the loads And II eve
during the loading or afterward whe
the sleigh IL i'm motion the weight (
. the logs causes the pyramid 10 brea
" down and squash out, then woe to Il
driver or whoever happens TO be nea
For this reason the leaders are pickle
and careful men.
= To be continued