The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-12-04
THE RIVERMAN


 You're crasy.'' muttered Orde- s'There have been no rains reported"
 ''It's rising" insisted North.
 An hour later Orde walked out over the booms. The water certainly had risen He called e boy.
 ssHere, Jimmy" said he, mark one of these piles and keep track of how fast the water rises"
 The river slowly rose
 'sI don't like June foods" Orde told Tom North. "A fellow can understand an ordinary spring freshet and knows about how far 1t will go. but these =-Trnmer floods are so confounded mys- verious I can't figure out what's struck the old stream unless they're having almighty heavy rains up near head waters"
 By 3 o'clock in the afternoon Jimmy Powers reported a rise since morning of six inches.
 Tom said Orde to the old river man. I'm going to send Marsh down for the pile drivers and some cable"
 "what in blazes do you expect to do with thatT" he inquired
 "we may need them.- Orde stated, with conviction 'If those logs ever break through they'll go on out to Lake Michigan and wouldn't be worth the salvage"
 That's mighty long chance" !" North commented.
 eff this drive goes out it surely busts me" replied Orde, land Pm not taking even long chances"
 A cloudburst in the China creek dis trict followed by continued heavy rains was responsible for the increased water. The evening papers mentioned this only f -identally. Their columns were filled with an account of the big log jam that had formed above the iron railroad bridge. ThS blaming mills booms had given wa J under pressure. and the contents had piled down stream against thc buttresses. Orde slept tha- night at the booms- The water by morning had crept SO far up the piles that there began to be danger that 1t would overflow their tops. In that case. of course, the logs in the booms would also run out.
 Orde set crew of men to raising the height of the piling by tying logs firm ly to the bolted timbers atop. This would take care of an extra two feet of water. a two feet beyond all previ- ous records Another crew stretched the fifteen inch manila cables across the field of logs fin order to segregate them into several units of mass.
 About tEo hours later the pile drfv- CT moved up. Tae swing was opened. and the men began to drive ciumps of piles in such a position as to strength en the swing when the latter should be shut It was q slow job. Each pile had to be taken from the raft at the stern of the scow, erected in the ~car- rier." and pounded into place by the heavy haSmer raised and let drop in the derrick at the bow.
 Long before the task vas finished the logs fin the temporary booms had begun to slide atop one another. to cross and tangTe. until at last the river bed inside the booms was filled with jam of formidable dimensions From beneath 1t the water boiled in eddies. Ortle., looking at 1t, reused himself to sudden activity.
 Get a move on.- he advised Gap hin Aspinwan of the driver. 'If that jam breaks on us we want to be ready. and if it don't break before you get this swing strengthened maybe we can hold her where she is- There's no earthly doubt that those boom piles will never stand up when they get the full pressure of the freshet"
 The drivers crew labored desperate- ly, hoisting the piles into the carriage, tripping the heavy hammer, binding feverishly the clumps of piles together by means of cables
 Two of the clumps had been placed and bound when suddenly. with a roar. the upper booms gave way, projecting their logs upon the opening and the driver.
 The half dozen members of the crew were scattered by the winds of a panic. Two or three flung themselves on their faces; one leaped into the river. Immi- nent destruction seemed upon them
 Tom North, at the winch that oper- ated the arm of the swing. however, retained his presence of mind At the first sag outward of the boom piles he set in operation the machinery that closed the gate Clumsy and slow as was. his mechanism, he nevertheless succeeded in getting the long arm started The logs, rushing in back of 1t, hurried it shut Immediately they damned again and heaped up in a for midable tangie behind the barrier Tom North. his little black pipe be- tween his teeth. stood calm, the lever of his winch in his hand. A short three feet from the spot on which he stood the first saw log of the many that might have overwhelmed him thrust forward its ugly head The wash of the water lifted the huge pile driver bodily and deposited it with a crash half on the bank and half in the water.
 Instantly after the first break Orde had commenced running out over the booms from the shore
 Good boy, Tomr' he shot at North
 Across the jam he hurried to where the pile driver lay Captain Aspinwall examined the supports of the derrick on deck
 .sThat was lucky.- said Orde briefly. @Etove you in7'
 'T-I don't think so." replied the cap