The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1908-02-08

camp also has its own blaeksn ~ ou
harness shops; in other words each
camp is a small settlement, cmnlsta
within itself. p'0''
One thing done quite ear,y IN a..
season Is the construction Of an ,ns
ROAD by means Of a large water ,art
And this roadway aids gre, t,v N .hs
hauling of logs. 'A'
me methods of handling and han,-
ing the giant logs differ in difrarant
parts of the country. In the South
an axle with the large wheels and the
chain are used, in other places ovaU
are used, in Minnesota and MicbIgsn
horses and sleds are used, and an ice
road is made at the beginning Of the
season. by means of sprinkling cart
and in this way 1t is comparatively
easy to draw load quite distance
to the rollway.
IN Oregon and Washington trac.
zion engines are used to haul the tim
Der from the cutting points to the
place of shipment
On the great lakes the lumhs,
ooats are among the largest of tho
modern water craft.
1t Is quite sight to see two me-
dunn sized horses drawing an inn
mense load of logs with so little an.
parent effort, this ease being entirely
que to the Ice roadway spoken of pre-.
Viously.
When the trees are felled and
sawed into logs they are skidded into
piles by the side of the ice road. This
"skidding" is done by means of a
small sled, to one end of which the
logs are fastened while the other
drags upon the ground. Modern,
skidding is done by means of a skid
ding machine. Loading logs is an
achievement Of itself. 1t is done by
means of horses or by machine. The
banking ground, or rollway, is usu-H
ally beside river or stream of some
kind, down which the logs are floated
to a shipping point. =.
With the breaking UP of the ice in
the spring these large piles of logs
are rolled into the stream, to be
brought to the mills. This is most
interesting and exciting time. The
drivers, as they are called, the men
who guide these immense lots of
logs, are necessarily men of strength,
quickness Of perception and nerve,
for 1t is a very perilous occupation.
and in which many lives have sheen
lost. The most expert of these men
ride upon the swiftly moving logs,
jumping from one to another whey
the case requires it, and being a seG
ond too late will cost them their lives.
When, passing through some mar
rows, log is caught, causing hum
dreds of others to pile up; raising the
water and forming what il. known as
a jam, a driver has the opportunity
to show his mettle, for this is the real
danger. There are what are called
s"key logs in this JAM. that is. logs
which, IL released, will ease the con-
gestion, and it is locating these and
releasing them which becomes the
drivers duty. Sometimes this is not
easily done, and frequently a drives
loses his life because he is not s1ffi-
GENTLY agile to escape, once tbs fallen
giants are released. =
In many portions Of" the country
RATS are used, as fsr1 nstance in the
South and on the Columbia River,
RATS of from, 5000, Oo0., to- 5000, 900
feet of logs are not uncommon. In
the early days on the great lakes RATS
| were brought down to the harbors OF
| Lake Erie, where the sawmills were
! located. For the past number OF
years, however, the mills have been
located at the shipping points. and
the lumber is shipped on the boats.
There are over 300 lumber boats de.
pending for cargoes on the lumber OF
Northern Minnesota, Michigan and
Wisconsin, loading at Duluth, supe-
rior and other points. ~
Sometimes there is more than q
million feet of lumber in one load,
and it can be readily estimated what
a statement Of this kind would mean,
when one realizes that there are some
dozen or more lumber harbots on the
American side of the great lakes. Chi
cago.e Cleveland, Duluth, Erie and
Tonawanda are all large distributing
points, and each has received more
than 100000 feet Of lumber during
one shipping season. 1t would pc IN
teresting to figure the number OF car
loads this would make, estimating tae
carrying capacity of car. at 4o'ooo
feet.-Scientiflc American,