Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1906-01-04
BREAKING 4 LOG JAM
THE PERlLs AND HARDsHIps OF III.
HEROES OF THE "DRlve."
A yvoris without Glory and Yet nv
Dangerous ns FtS..tin= Fire The
ENpcrt "E'hitc Water Men. ana
Their s!siil and Daring.

"A WORK without Glory and Yet nx
Dangerous Fighting Fire The
Expert "V:Eitc Water Men" and
Their S!,isl and Daring.
Among the occupations which are
brimill OF danger and in which men
take their lives in their hands is log
driving" III is Il work without glory,
ycl il is as dangerous as that of the
fireman and. one is tempted to say, as
that vi t!.e scacoast life savers. Ger
igan. Canada and wherever it l.; car.
ried OF cac:l year ii large number OF
lives arc lost. considering the few men
employed. 1t il; IN employment iii
which the mans safety depends ON his
skill, coolness and quickness in per-
ccivins what 10 do at the right time
The chief danger is the breaking, Of
log jams III mi,lstream of II rocky rapid.
Tho logs always pile lip against the
rocks tlnt are not covered by the Hood
and form Il long pile lwo or three rods
Wide anywhere from one IT, thirt,' rod:
long and perhaps six OF eight log, deep
Thus jam lil..y cant:.ill $500 or 10000
logs. TO lrcals a jam of this kind The
boss sends O. take, u,i three or four
OF the best na;l in the log driving crew
These cNpc..; are men Lnown SIS
white waite. men, because of Their
ability to ride standing up on Il log
through water that is splashin;, and
foalaiMg over the rocks. They l.,nd 81;
the upstream end OF the jam, where
one of The men remains With the boat
whiic the others % To the lower end
OF the jam to pick away With theil
pcaveyS, or levers, the logs close to tho
rock against which the jam rests. They
seek for the key log" which when
pricd ont starts the jam moving 50 that
it either "lilnss up" again or breaks to
pieces.
When The men see that i, Is breaking
they run over the hcavin.. bounding
tange of logs to the boat at the head
of the jam y slip ur !, lnisste,, means
Il fall between the grinding and toss
ing logs. The logs may become So sep
aratel that ii j.; impossible To reach
the boat. III this happens the white
water man lnust make good his name
by making his Way to the shore With
out getting wei or maybe killed.
l'c:.haps the floating timber spreads
apart to such an extent that he is com
PEELED to stick to Il single log. and here
it is that he best shows his ability as II
log driver. He balances himself OH the
upstream end of the log, stendies him.
self upon his spike shoes and steers
clear of the rocks before him. The men
OH shore stop to watch lie may ride
to safety ANA lie may not
Some years age on tllc West Canada
creek. In the .tuirondlck., /. foreman
OF Il l,'is driving crew who Nsoll.d never
send his men where lie did ll3l uai'c ...
iilise.f went out with two Volunteers
To break Il jam in exceedingly swift
and rough water. With some difficulty
they reached the pike of log and, after
ing The logs started mucll faster thar
expected and Were soon scattered IN
such IL Eanne;. that tac tN,., l..on could
not get to tie boalEl.,n and bolt ;,t the
head of the jana. Tlc, did tie best
they could 10 keep Their feet and Il.
WORK their way toward shore.
The foreman Was the i.lore slli,lful OF
the tMo and kept li,; log la.r,y steady
bwt the other n!al vas ll.lv;:lg Il hard
ti:nc to keep ON top. li:lv .n:s come
within i:fIrc.l Or tFsvn,y yards cf The
shore, tiiu lo.cii!:ll llaced hi, peavey
az ,i.l3t the o,ilcr mans log and then
gave ii Il shove. which sent ii toward
shore with the man. In doing this tn.
foreman; log WAS sent far oGi into tln
raging stream. lie had attended tu
work his way back again Mlii.e he was
cutting his IS TO stop ii rolling. bu'
it struck Il rock. lie s,iis hurried illtc
the air aad e.si..c Gown hc:.uio.einost
uno.l t.ia EJ,s-le!c:. His Lo.!y N,a; loumu
some days later Il niie Go"listlcaLl.
Although the white water l.i:in' H.
skillful in riding Il log, il i obvious
that he cannot r.t!c over II waterfall or
through ali extremely rough rapid.
When II jam forms abovc II waterfall
or rough rapid, as is often t..a case, the
danger of busting is grcat!y ilcre:ls
cd since here 1t j., absolutely necessary
TO get to the boat or to the shore.
When one considers that In breaking
jams the drivers ;rc often colnpcllc2
TO ride to shore on II log, the danger
can readily be seen.
Gene Mclseth. one Of the best driv
ers that ever rode Il l1:s, met his death
Oh Mill creek i'll just such II situation.
A wing JAM" 50 called because cx
tending from shore into the stream,
had hung up" above rapids that could
not he passed even by Il boat Will
two other men McEctli went out UD
the logs and began picking them loose
in search for llc key log" After
working an hour, all at once the jam
leaped forward and was in full mo
ton.
The men turned and started up the
Jam, McBeth in the lead. When they
reached the sii.5.e place oVer which
they could pass McBeth stopped to
help his less able companions and to
let them pass ahead of him. 1t was
a fatal move OH his part. for the other
two men had just time to junp ashore
into the water waist deep. When his
turn came 1t was too late. He had
saved his friends, but now there was
n ride for his life over the tangled
mass of grooming ana tossing logs.
When he saw what 1t all meant he
turned about. held the peavey rs a bal
ance pole tight in both hands and faced
the hopeless fight for life.