The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-02-12
!: e .
I, DANGEROUS NUMBERING.
WRIT The HenSat Work n Haine
Woods Undergo.

Y. ''S
Bangor. Me-. Feb. II Up n the
great north woods Of Maine. where
Thousands Of men have been at work.
for three months past cutting down
], the great trees which will make up:
!: the winters cut Of logs to- come down
1 the rivers to the mills next spring, the
operators are now finishing up the
( cutting operations. and the hauling to.
the yards, and are preparing to have
the logs piled IN the yards and hauled
: to the landings where they are handy
to the water, In which they will be,
plunged when they start on their rough
& passage downstream 70 the mills. The
hardest part OF the winters work Is
past, the cutting and yarding, but
ahead there Is the task Of getting the
millions Of feet Of logs from the yards
to the landings over long woods roads,
I, where the .teanster has to be con-
-stantly on his watch for the safety Of
his team and the load Of logs he is5
plotting.
There are woods roads In the Maine
numbering region where 1t is no more
sdif9cult to. pilot team Of horses and
"a load Of logs than It would be to do
the same thing on State highway.
but the lumberTnan knows too we'll
that such roads ms this are too scarce.
Thes character OF the road depends on
the character of the country through
which 1t runs. and the Maine lumbere
ling region has its full share Of the
wrinkles and folds and creases on the.
face Of Mother Earth. Yarding the
logs,is usually. a simple matter. for the
haul to the yard is seldom more than
half q mile, and; the road is ''swamped"
IN the place where the teams will be
most likely to have the easiest haul
and avoid the uneven character Of the
ground.
Hauling to the landings, however, Is
a difficult matter. The landings are
usually not less than a mile from the
yards, and often the logs have to be
hauled half dozen miles before they
reach the landing places. The logs
have to be hauled over roads that run
over boys. up hill and down dale. over
steep declivities where the load of logs
is above the heads of the horses, and
where the breaking of a rope or chain
or a slip of one of the horses might
mean death to team and .teamster. 1t
is oh these deep incliaes that the
snubline comes into nse, and where
some Of the worst accidents ever re-
corded in the Maine woods have taken
place. The roads over which the logs
have to be hauled are kept in as icy
a condition as possible at all times.
The snow itself is not slippery enough
to suit the lumbermen. Even though
the snowfall be heavy and the snow
lies several feet deep on the roads. and
the surface be smooth }as floor, they
are not satisfied, but must have the
surface of the road glare OF ice.
Sometimes nature will bring this con-
ditian about by rainstorm which
clears with cold northwest wind
and freezes the surface Of the roads
instantly into a glare, Of ice. II the
rain does not come the lumberman re-
sorts to other means to make easier
hauling for his teams and many Of
the concerns have sprinklers such as .
are used on the city streets and sprin-
kle the road at night until the surface
is q glace of ice. With the roads in this
condition pair Of horses will step
along at lively pace with dozsn
huge logs chained on the sled where
the road is fairly level or the grade
favorable.
On the pitches, however, no ice ts
wanted. Everything is done there; to
retard the progress Of the heavy loads
as much as possible. The snow Is
shoveled of these pitches, and earth,
boughs. manure and other stuff are
thrown on top of the snow, SO that the
heavily loaded sleds will not slip and
run onto the horses or put too severe
a strain on the snubline. The curves
in the road, II there be any. are banked
up as much as possible to prevent the
sled from Slowing in going, around the
curves and upsetting the load of logs
or breaking the chains which hold the
logs on the sled.
Here is where the snubline comes
Z into play. The snubline is a hawser
three inches thick, and of a length to
coincide with the length Of the pitch
on which It is used. The most common
way Of using the snubline is to have q
line about twice the length Of the
pitch. at the top of a steep incline
a big tree has been felled, leaving a
stump four feet high. The largest
tree is always picked for the purpose,
and the bark Is then stripped from the
stump from within foot or so of the
8 top. leaving the stumps as smooth as
an axe handle.
l When the teamster comes to the top
nsof the grade he stops His team and
Jumps down. He takes the end Of the
great hawser and passes the line COM
pletely around the load of logs, maxi
ing two half-hitches, so that when d
strain is placed on the line the bitches
slip and the moose draws tightly about
the load. Then he takes the line and
4 passes It around the stump three II
four times. showing the coil down Is
& near the bottom of the stump as pos
sible, clucks to his horses and takes
of the slack. then jumps on the load
of logs and starts down hill. The fric-s
ton Of the folds of the big line on the
stump is sufacient to hold the load,
back on the horses, while the weight
81 Of the line naaain1 nm the hill To the