Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1907-06-20
Lunbering in Michigan

observer may see who visits the upper /
portion of the lower peninsula. A few I
years ago pine was almost the only |
lumber sought in this part of the
State. But now, comparatively speak
ing that has come to an end, and now
each year sees vasts tracts OF maple |
swept away before the saw and axe /
see the finest beech and maple logs
piled up by the settlers and burned;
his one purpose was to get them off
the land SO that it could be used for
agriculture. Today values are almost
reversed and that settler is fortunate
who has not destroyed his maple but
now has it to SELL
The other day drove out with a
"hig lumber man. to visit one of his
camps. For few miles the road lay
through ''cut over country"
where all the saw-log timber had
been removed. Occasionally the
monotony of the scene was relieved by
small clearing where some man had
commenced to make farm. We pass
ed through one OF the milltowns so
common in this part of the world.
The saw-mill was there, and thou-
sands of dollars worth OF lumber were
there but in all probability the mill
has sawn its last log. Near at hand is
the long Struggling street of the little
town. the houses being merely shacks
built OF rough unpainted hemlock. The
various families will gradually 9rift
away as the men find work elsewhere,
and the once busy little burg will be
eitinct.
The camp | found to be quite little
settlement ia the woods; there was the
office and store, ruled over by the boss
and the log scaler; the cooks shanty
and the mems shanty, the blacksmith's $
house. and his shop. barns and COW
stables. etc. Not far away on the lum
berman's own track stood his little
logging locomotive, a geared engine
of considerable power. Grouped to.
gether la another place were the sum
mer conveyances for logs, such as
trucks, and the immense wheels which
are used for hauling big logs out of
the woods.
1t was noon aud the men came in,
those who were teamsters driving
their huge Clydesdales ahead of them.
| Forty-two lnmberiacks marched in
single file from the mems shanty to
the domain of the cooks. And what q
I.dinner for hungry men! Pork and
beef; potatoes, tomatoes, peas, beans.
jsauerkraut, barrels of tea and coffee.
and barrels OF finest bread; two kinds
of CAKE, two OF pie, and two of cock les.
and doughnuts cast il moulds twice
| the ordinary size.
After dinner the lumber man. his,
scaler and your CORES pondent sat near
/ the stove IN the office and visited. al
seems to me. Mr. that your men gel
much better grub then they used to
give in camps years ago."
Yes. we do; they get better board
than they are ever likely to have il
salt pork and beans, potatoes and
bread all winter long, and we had bet
ter work men too.
"Iudeed you did,, asserted the
ten men and your seasons cut was Is,
600: now what is it with forty men
You never make over 250OU. If a goot
man comes into camp and tries to do
good days work the other fellow
make it SO unpleasant that he viii
quit"
That's So assented the lumbe
man. But what can you do. the.
know we can't get men, so they d.
pretty much as they like. In, wages
: alone the expenses of lumbe ring ar
, six times more than they were tel
years ago. this alone makes lum ber
great deal higher"
Dakota is not the only place wher
!, ! it is hard to get good labor and wher
labor OF any sort expects high pay.
On the way back we passed and re
, passed. Inc SDsatl FdIFOdQ OClOpSt
the company, and everywhere coul
be seen pied up the high decks 0
logs ready TO be shipped to a mill i
the south part of the State. Eve"
day in the last two months this CON
pany alone has shipped a train OF log
day, a train that needs one OF th
largest engines to draw it. Lumber
ing is not over in Michigan, but wit
= this company and others doing as muc
: and some far more, how long befoI
the end will come? And what abot
the immense tracts of "cut over land
& Futher south the plains used to
covered with pine, and now they n
scarcely good for anything at al
But these northern lands are coyere
with the finest maple, and map
grows only where the land Is good f
y farming. There are thousands al
thousands OF acres OF these lands X
sale n from "a TO SO n acre. rh