Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-20
BREAKING A LOG JAM.
Ticklish Business on the Brink Of a
Forty-Foot Cataract.

From the Outlook.
Not many years ago a center jam formed
just above the falls where the Tahquamen-
on river leaps forty feet to the whirlpool
below. 1t was only few yards back from
the verge and to break it the men were
obliged to get down into the water below
it. stand there with the falls behind them
and the current swirling about their knees,
and pry the bottom logs out with their
peaveys.
The water was not deep and the jam It
self sheltered them from the rush Of the
river but il q man lost his footing he was
gone. Carefully and cautiously they work.
ed the first log loose. and as 1t started
toward them they leaped upon it, and be-
fore 1t could get away with them jumped
from 1t to the JAM
Loosening one stick was not cough to
start the rest and they soon found that the
whole pile would have to be torn apart
little by little.
More than that, other logs kept coming
down the rapids and adding themselves to
1t, SO that it grew at one end as rapidly
as they could tear 1t away at the other; but
they kept at-it,- and in the course Of time
they worked back ten or twelve rods from
the brink.
Then, Of sudden. one Of them saw
long piece of pulpwood coming for him.
There was no time for him to dodge and
it was too small to hold him If he mounted
it, SO, as the only chance, he tried to jump
over 1t.
1t was too quick for him. 1t took him
across the thighs and the next instant he
was down and the river was sweeping
him toward the falls On he went, faster
almost on the verge, and then, by some
miracle of strength and agility. he got his
spiked shoes against something solid, rose
to his feet and started to wade back
against the current.
Little by little he forged ahead till he
met some logs large enough to carry his
weight and mounting them he jumped from
one to another till he reached the jam.
Then the foreman cursed him for having
dropped his peavey, and he waded out
again almost to the brink, found 1t where
it had caught between some rocks and
brought it back.
The problem of handling a drive in which
the logs are not made up into rafts-as
is sometimes done-but are simply turned
loose the river, is to keep them from
jammng and to see that no stragglers are
left behind.
1t is the stragglers that give the most
trouble-the stray sticks that run aground
in the shallow places, and that, if the water
falls considerably after the spring freshets
are often left high and dry on the banks
to make what the river driver calls a dry
rear.
Now and then, 1t is true, q whole field Of
logs catches in a narrow bend and the en-
tire crew has to go forward to the point of
congestion and set things moving; but most
of the time the men are talking care of the
rear while the rest Of the drive takes care
of itself.
Just behind the drive a long boom, made
of logs chained together end to end Is
stretched across the stream from shore to
shore, with big red bateau In charge at
one end and square, boxlike scow at the
other. A short distance ahead of the boom
are two smaller boats, one following each
bank, and a few men are usually walking
along the shores, sometimes on land, some
times wading in the water and sometimes
afloat on the loose.
The first time a river driver asked me
II was "any good on the loose. thought
that he was wondering whether or not 1
would make a congenial companion on
spree. This proved to be mistake.
1.-THE loose is the term used on the drive
to designate logs or pulpwood sticks float
ing loosely on the surface of the river and
to be good on loose Is to be able to go
about on it wherever one pleases without
getting wet. To ride big pine log is not
SO very difficult. but to walk or run across
a field of pulpwood. where most of the
sticks are far to small to carry a man 8
weight, is like skating on very thin Ice.