The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-06-06

| II was down on the Choctawhatcfee
river, between Caryville and Geneva.
| The choctawhatchee IL not wide
/ strearn and at times suffers very mucn
| from shallow water. or II the river
\ does not surfer, the steamboat men
and shippers along the river 20. as V
known to all acquainted with the
stream.
However. on the date mentioned,
there was q good head of water, and
1 the sandbars were giving no trouble,
so our steamer was moving mefrttx
along ut good rate of speed up the
| stream,
The day was warm. but good
| breeze was blowing and the movement
OF the boat made It pleasant to re-
main upon the deck ana watch the
shifting scenery. while passengers and
crew had an enjoyable time together.
The opening and shutting Of the fur-
mace doors beneath the deck, the sound
Of the exhaust the tumbling Of the
water from the wheel In the rear. were
mingled with snatches OF song from
| the, eolored members of the crew and
their choruses usually sound sweetest
/ at such times and in such surround
tngs.
Through Log Drive.
| At last we came into log drive"
| These are unknown to many citizens
1
/ others. Where no mills are cenyen-
/ lent. and 1t Is desired to get the logs
to market. and the stream is not large
enough to justify the logs being fas-
/ tened together into RATS, the logs are
| collected at convenient places upon the
banks by hundreds and thousands, and
are then turned loose upon the river
and allowed to drift with the current,
some of these being often miles ahead
i Of others.
! Some of these logs. thus turned
i adrift, prove to be "deadheads," one
| end sinking to the bottom and the
other remaining at or near the surface
OF the water, and thus remaining,
prove a great menace to navigation,
as many a steamboat has been wreck
| ed upon such "dead-heads," the. unseen
danger tearing great holes in the hull
| of the moving vessel ana sinking II
livery quickly.
/ Many of the logs get hung on sand
1 bars, or on distractions at the sides
OF the streams, and for these reasons
the "crew' of men who have charg'
4 plenty 81 It. sIn resp * fffgtii moving
lalofia, as much togSthsF ds9bossibie
II 1t means much hdrdlss RosRgta great
Ideal OF III III the water itself, and wet
| feef1 and clothes are the usual thing
twhfie the handling Of thss heavy limb
4 srs. lat often attended with much per-
/, Into. such a log drive. then, came oui
| plucky and graceful little steamer, and
great NUMBERS of logs were met, as
| they drfftkd down with the current
which at places was very swift Some
1t was no trouble to pass. but others
liz was different, as it was difficult to
avoid being struck by some of them
| and should one get under the boat
great care was necessary, for with the
paddle wheel revolving as the log en-
erged from the rear, there was great
danger of tearing the plank paddles OF
| the wheel to pieces upon the obstruc-
tons. SO IL was necessary to slow
| down., or stop the wheel, entirely. al
U.s.. not calculated TO put a steam
boats crew into any better hunnor, moi
to make the work of a steamboat crew
any easier or more delightful.
A LogGer's Life.
At last, after meeting great numbers
OF logs thus adrift upon the stream
we came to the 1iving-raft of the log
driving crew This was anchored tc
the shore in place which made II
much harder for a steamer to get by
as 1t was tied up in q bend OF the
river. where q turn was necessary fol
the boat. That also was not calculat.
ed to help the situation at all, from 9
HteAmPOdt point Oh NicWs
Upon the raft was tent. or rude
structure. which would protect the log.
gers at night, or in stormy weather
at one end. while upon the other enc
of the raft the logging cook was get
ting dinner A low platform had beer
erected upon the raft, upon this sornN
earth had been placed, and on the
earth, brisk fires were burning and thu
pots and ovens contained the cookinf
dinner, for which the hungry worker,
would soon be coming to the raft
As our boat drew nearer and nearer
having to proceed with great care OF
account of the position Of the anchor,
ed raft. 1t was easy to look down from
the decks upon the raft, and see th'
dinner in process of preparation. TIL,
great oven over the Goals showed larg,
quantities OF bread now about brown
the great coffee pot was steaming. ant
all the other utensils showed that din.
ner was just about ready. Only one
man was on the raft. and ne was the
cook, looking up at the steamer mos,
Of the time, but casting occasional
chances at his viands.
A Spoiled Dinner.
Slowly we edged by, the steamboat.
men Axpfesqing their oDtuton RI "a 81