Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1907-04-11
CUT HANDLES OF SEIoVELs.
Workmcn I'm Maine Woods, Where
Ash AbOunds, Well Paid

w
Ash Abounds, Well Paid.
When the snow gets deep and tn'
cold bites hard one class of wood oper
ators familiar to the sportsmen seeking
game pick up their traps and start fol
civilization. They are the crews OF
shovel handle makers, whose camps are
pitched wherever ash saplings grow IN
profuson, and this Is almost invariably
where other forest workers are not to
be found. The ash usually springs up
where pine has been cut off, and hence
the tracts where it grows are generally
deserted except by the men who shape
up the handles. Usually from four to
eight work In each camp, in the pay
and under the direction of q contractor
The men are necessarily industrious be-
cause their working hours are limited
to only seven as the days shorten and
snow furries become common, but they
make better pay than the woodchoppers
or river drivers, although their work is
more laboriOus and confined to narrow
er limits.
The contractor receives co cents a
dozen for his shovel handles on board
the cars. Usually he pays II cents a
dozen to the land owners for the right
to cut them and 10 cents to teamsters
for freighting them to the shipping
points, leaving SO cents dozen for
himself, out Of which he must pay his
men and provide them with board and
lodging.
If anything the life is wilder than
than of woodchoppers. The men sleep
in tents or leantos, because they move
about too much to establish comfort
able log camps, and the cooking is done
by one Of the party, who takes some
time from his work Of making the han
dies to prepare the food. Occasionally |
woman Is found with a camp. but she |
Is generally the wife of the contractor |
or Of one of his men. Few of the gen
tier sex can stand the hard life of this
class Of workers, living in a tent with
the men and allowed only the privacy
which is established by a cloth parti-
ton. Yet it is a sort of existence
which cures all ordinary human Ills
and the handle makers are healthy if
nothing more.
An expert handler can manage to
shape up twelve dozen lengths a day.
but men of his ability are few and far
between. The average workers can get
from eight to ten dozen of the lengths
n ra1IiDnSS bn RI Of |
1 day to man being regarded as a
nigh average. The contractor usually
goes ahead Of the workmen and cuts
lown the trees. Then the followers
strip, square and cut the trees into
he desired lengths, leaving the shap-
ng until a number of pieces are ready.
'he handles are not smoothed down or
precisely trimmed; they simply take
n general idea of the shape, are cut y
o the right length and rounded with a :.
ort of a block at the end where the !,
tecl scoop is to be fastened. The care !,
III finishing is done at the factories =
here the shOvels are completed. Each p
ian will average from So to So ~ a ~
ay for the contractor after the latter w
as cut the material and the pay aver al
ges about 50 a day to a man besides
is board. The season lasts until the b.
now gets too deep for Shaping the n
icks on the ground and a willing
orker, having practically no expenses
meet generally goes back to civili-
lton with from 5000 to $500 in his
Dckets.-New York Tribune.