The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1906-09-22
old HANDS DEAD;
OTHERS DON'T LEARN
DEcADENcE or NUMBERING IN The
PENINSULA IS APPARENT
DsixeOf THE LUMBER JACK
Component Men for Woods Work are
Scarce Because the Old Hands d
off and New Ones Don't Learn.

IF | run across man that can chop
without cutting his foot, | hire him
40 $35 per month and send him up in
the woods said N +. McCutcheon,
head woodsman for the Sawyer Good 2
man company 20 the writer last Satur.
day. "No. we don't ask man now
whether ne Is a practiced woodsman or
not. We simply try TO determine If he
can strike stick with an axe without
hitting his foot. The days when there
was "pick" in hiring.woodsmen have
passed. am hiring every man | can
get right now for our camps and al
most all Of those hire are greenhorns f;
foreigners who Just came over Why,
the greatest trouble a camp boss has
now days Is tc keep his men from get
ting hurt.
Labor for the woods is very scarce
just now. Sawyer Goodman has one
additional camp planned for the com
ing year and want 20 get enough men
10 keep our own camps going at least Z
Where are the woodsmen who made
that work business in year. passed Z,
we inquired.
20. most Of them are dead, many Of
them too old 20 go into the woods and
the present generation il not learning
woods work for the reason that IL is In
its decline and there is no future
ahead 20 induce Young man 20 go into
the woods and follow that work
through life You know, after a man
follows certain line Of work for ten
or fifteen years, he's very little good
at anything else and. with the limit Of
woods work placed az ten years, should
young man devote his energies 70
that work for the next ten years when
he got along in life he would be like a
snow shoveler down south have a
trade but no use for IL.
Then, there was a time when the
Vi arasps worked in the woods In the
Winter time A. soon as the mills
closed at Menoininee and Marinette the
woods swarmed with men. Those
mills are about ali gone today and
what mill men are left don't 20 into
the woods in the winter time as most
Of the mills WORK all winter. the rail
ing OF logs making that possible in
these days
$50, we have TO depend upon the
foreigner the Finn and the Pole,
principally. The result IL that woods
work even at even wages, costs more
than it did a decade ago
How about wages this season.
we continued.
Wages are away mp; too high for
the class Of men we get The first
question a man asks me now days is
What you pay, Misterf II the reply
is less than $35 per month, he shrugs
his shoulders with Ne no work for
dat and off he goes
Yes, Sawyer Goodman a Co. win
get out about the same amount Of
timber this year as last AS said. we
are putting in an extra camp and will
depend mainly upon oui.own logging
Are you letting any jobs about
here'l', we continued
"Tm trying 10 let some but haven't
been successful 80 far The iobbers
don't seem 10 want to 60 into the
woods this winter because Of the un-
certainty Of getting help. They all
seem 10 be afraid 10 tackle job
we have deal on that may result
IN the company having lot of timber
cut right IN this vicinity this fall but
matters have not progressed far
enough TO say anything about it,