Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-12-09

LUMBER JACK-HIs JOB.
winter I'm the LoggiDg Camps-Fas-
ciuatiOn of life Of the Woods.

The summer visitor or the casual tour :
list to the White mountains or the Maine
lakes who may have passing glimpse OF
n logging camp OF several hundred men,
or visit to thriving Timber town. finds
il difficult to realize that in New Hamp-
shire, Just over the border into Ncr-
mont and Maine and Canada, at points
easily reached from New Hampshire,
there are each winter from $1,000 to 90
0oo mon employed in the logging camps.
These figures are not startling when we
read of the billions OF feet of logs cut
from these northern forests. according
TO government statistics. each year
From the very heart of the old Granite
State to the Canadian border % long win
tiers these great, rough. hig- men
have been at their work in the dark
woods and one needs only passing
glimpse to see the appalling results OF
their labor In practically every township
or the state. In the upper Pemigewas-
set valley. among the foothills of the
White mountains. from early autumn.
all through the long 1rcary winter. and
on until the snow mclts in the spring.
YOU will find from 1000 to 5000 men at
their work of bringing down logs from
the steep mountain sides. Not only the
up on some lofty ridge, but even the
young spruces and hemlocks and pines.
These days the orders are everything
over four inches at the top" In the very
heart of the White mountains one can
stil find enough timber left mere and
I there to warrant lumber camps Of ~ and
300 men, as in Jackson and randolph,
Francoria End Ilvermore. and alon. the
.s,,.tf, - ift,I lh1 NO In.
tervale, where to-day are scattered some
300 men along an lS-mile lumber rail-
road. All along the Androscoggin river,
from Berlin up to Enrol and over into
Maine to the Rangeiy lakes, thousands
Of men are at work-here ond there only
50 or 10 in johber's camp--but hundreds
in the large company" camps. All
along tie Connecticut river, from the
Connecticut lakes near the Canadian line,
south for $50 miles. men are numbering
on small tracts, bringing down the great
logs to Tie river In the lower central
portion Of the State 1T Is difficult to find
even single township without the steam
mill employing from a dozen to so men.
and cutting from 5000 to half a million
feet OF spruce or pine. The big outside
world has gathered al almost absurd
and mpo:sib.c idea of the life of these
men from the books and the songs that
have been written about the luinbermen
of our northern woods one is often i'm
pressed and thrilled with the romance
and picturesque story book side Of the
woodmans life or else Disguised with
! what seems an almost brutally degener-
ate lumber Jacks nature. But the out
side world is only seeing the woodsnan
when he comes back to civilization.
which for him in most cases means a
gambling den Or n saloon. where his
hard-earned money is quickly dissipated.
One must live with these men in their
forest homes and go about with them
in their daily work. to find that, after
all. they are very much the same the
rest of human nature the world over. If
not little above the average. Among
these 2Hp00 or @0,1O me ncnipioyed in the
woods and mills and III" water ways @.
norther1 New England fully one-thrd are
American farmers. most CT whom own
and work their farms and who leave their
wives and families in the long winter sea
son to earn ready money to make better
farms and homes for those same wives
and children. Fully one-third OF these are
French Canadians, and the other third
are, for the most part. forcigners-e,thei
Poles or Russians with good number
of the unemployed sent out from oul
large cities.
Whatever may have been the chance
these $1,000 men had to lead a decent anC
comfortable existence in their homes OF
previous occupa tons, Il is safe to say il
comparison with like chance in thu
woods it could not have been any worse
These men are here for one purpose onl,
to bring down the logs" There can b.
no drones or idlers in this strenuous life
even when man is H. or is laid up 70
weeks from some injury received in hi
work. he must pay Tor every particle o
OF food he eats and for every days ludg
!ns he spends In his sitting bunk on BET
Of spruce bouEhs, wrapped in his filthy
unWashed blanket
But. Gay what you will. it is only jus
to presume that any man should at leas
have Il change for nornal life which max
ing his living The typical lumber cam
= to-day does give man sufficient guam
tity Of fairly well-coked food to enabl
him 10 keep his body strong and in condi
TO do splendid days work. but tn
average lumber camp does not give tina
> same man n chance to keep his bod
clean. and to lead normal existence.
; have seen a half-dozen stcam-mil board
ing houses where a man could sleep in
bed. where he could keep his body an
his clothing clean: but ! have seen hun
. dreds Of lumber camps where, in 10
, howell, not larger than 90 ny 60 feet.
-. hundred men slept in doube-decke
hunks on beds or boughs or hay wit
:, their clothing. worn all day, steamin
over their leads all night, over roar
ing fire, with absolutely no ventilatio
and no chance To wash themselves G
thcr clothing.
. And have slept in q dozen lumbe
;, camps. alive with vo,min and rats. wher
e four men were compelled TO sleep sid
;, By side. crowded into hunks built fo
; two. The men from all these camps &
: to their work all winter long at starligt
: in tho morning, and work until starligt
a at night, and they come back TO the
:. howell to the woods so thankful for war;
/, food and any sort OF n shelter from tn
terrific cold that the sQualid bunk room
which Is the only ilving-room OF II,
camp, loses some of it's horrors. Tt
long days work is DONE and II matter
i little to these great big fellows II the
u fall into hunks that are not cleaned {
l. aired for months. or il they must pla
: their games OF cards on the top OF a ba.
-" rel or soap box, and mend their tor
clothes and wornout mittens by dim lal
"a tern light or il the only washroom is
i half-barrel in one corner. and the on
e. towel an old meal sack. Better than a
v physical comforts. there is goo
> hearty fellowship here. and beside Il
nj l,oiv RI