The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1908-01-08
Logging in the Northwest.
ux RAYMOND sr,nprDE.

dh uNNouhl ull VIII CNtl i1dIh
camp also has its own blacksmith and
harness shops; in other words, each
camp is a small settlement, complete
within itself.
One thing done quite early in the
season is the construction of an ice
road by means of a large water cart.
And this roadway aids greatly the
hauling of logs.
The methods of handling and haul
ing the giant logs differ in different
parts of the country. In the South,
an axle with the large wheels and the
chain are used, in other places oxen
are used, in Minnesota and Michigan
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 it is comparatively
easy to draw q load quite a distance
to the rollway.
In Oregon and Washington trac-
tion engines are used to haul the tim
ber from the cutting points to the
place of shipment.
On the great lakes the lumber
boats are among the largest of the
modern water craft.
1t is quite a sight to see two me-
dium sized horses drawing an ini-
mense load of logs with so little ap-
parent effort, this ease being entirely
due to the ice roadway spoken of pre-
viously.
When the trees are felled and
sawed intu 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 a machine. The
banking ground, or rollway, is usu-
ally beside river or stream of some
kind, down which the logs are foated
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 a 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 it is very perilous occupation,
and in which many lives have been
lost. The most expert of these men
ride upon the swiftly moving logs,
jumping from one to another when
the case requires it, and being q Sec
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 is known as
jam, driver has the opportunity
to show his mettle, for this is the real
danger. There are what are called
''key logs" in this jam, that is, logs
which, if 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 driver
loses his life because he is not suffi-
GENTLY agile to escape, once the fallen
giants are released.
In many portions of the country
RATS are used, as for instance in the
South and on the Columbia River,
RATS of from 100000 to 100000
feet of logs are not uncommon. In
the early days on the great lakes RATS
we're 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 skipping 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 a
million feet of lumber in one load.
and it can be readily estimated what
statement of this kind would mean,
when one realizes that there are some
dozen or more lumber harbors on the
American side OF the great lakes. Chi
cago, 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 be in
teresting to figure the number of car
loads this would make, estimating the
carrying capacity of car at 10000
feet.-Scientific American.