Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1904-12-21
'pHonEs in pArALEss WOODS
Canadian Lumber Companies Connect
Offices, Camps and Sawmills.

Offices, Camps and Sawmills.
Throughout the forests, from the st.
Johns 20 Vancouver. lumber camps be-
longing to the same interests are con-
nected by telephone, the lines running
thence TO the saw mills or wood pulp
works at frontier towns, from which
communication can be held even to the
metropolis.
1t was formerly the custom of each
lumber interest 10 maintain force of
couriers, like the voyagers of the Hud-
son Bay Company, and these hardy
men, with knapsack, would travel
twenty-five miles day through the
wilderness, over rough forest paths.
Now the mill calls each camp in
turn at stated hours ana receives re-
ports and gives instructions to the
foreman and it is not necessary to
dwell on the commercial advantages
of maintaining such close touch be-
tweeh headquarters and outposts in
any enterprise. Letters are read to
men showed in the forest fifty or Il
hundred miles away and answers die
tated by the lumbermen to a stenog
rapher, who transcribes them in the
office and then mails them to their
homes.
The relative cOntentment among the
men which is established by this fire.
quent communication is highly advan-
tageous to the working force. and
therefore to the employers.
The applications of the telephone to
the operations of logging are alike
novel and useful. The lines are run
upon forest trees along the banks of
rivers, and telephones which are placed
in sheltering boxes are attached to
trees and connected with the line.
The bette NOR of logging is the col
lecting of tn" logs together at some
narrow place in turbulent stream and
piling upon each other in Jam" to
which contributions are made by every
log floating down the river to this spot.
The formation Of jam results from
some obstacle ana generally occurs
without warning. ana it requires great
labor, fraught with peril. to remove
the logs from their CONSTRUCTED posi-
ton. 1t is frequently necessary to use
dynamite. and much lumber is destroy
ed by such explosions.
With the use of the telephone warn
ing of the initial formation of a jam
can be given by one of the men pa
trolling the banks, who telephones to
the men up the river to stop the fur
ther flow Of logs at calm places termed
trips" and it is an easy matter to
break the small jam, for which fur
Their assistance can be had by sum
moning men from points lower down
the stream.
AS soon as the small jam is removed
the men above are told through the
telephone TO release the logs held a.
the "trip" and the stream of logs is re-
sumed
Under former conditions larger
number of men were employed, and
when a jam was begun it was neces-
sary to send messengers from one to
three miles through the forest in va
rious directions to direct the gangs to
stop the flow of logs and others to
summon help who are down the
stream to come up and break the jam,
which had meanwhile time to ample
fy and then. after the jam had been
broken, second messengers must be
sent up the stream to release the logs
at the "trip"
By the promptness of telephone
communication the rate of sending
logs down the stream is increased by
the avoidance of delays
Beyond this the use of the telephone
renders log-driving feasible on the
smaller rapid, rough streams, where 1t
was formerly out of the question:
Chicago Chronicle.