The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1910-03-31


He Hncd constantly in the goods.
river he entered the tiny Office and set
about the examination of the tally
sheets. The foreman. Tom North. en-
tered.
1.-THE rivers rising" he said.
"You're crazy" muttered Orde
''There have been no rains reported"
''It's rising" insisted North.
An hour later Orde walked out over
the boOnS. The water certainly had
risen. He called IL boy.
Here. Jimmy" said he. mark one
Of these piles and keep track of how
fast the water rises"
The river slowly rose.
IL don't like June foods" Orde told
Tom North "A fellow can understand
an ordinary spring freshet and knows
about how far it will go. but these
summer foods are so COMPOUNDED mys-
terious I can't figure out what's struck
the old stream unless they're having
almighty heavy rains up near head
waters"
BY 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 that?" he inquired.
eve 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
'If this drive goes out it surely busts
me-" replied Orde, land I'm 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 Incidentally. Their columns
were filed with an account Of the big
log jam that had formed above the iron
railroad bridge. The planning mills
booms had given W; : under pressure,
stream against the buttresses.
Orde slept that night at the booms.
The water by morning had crept So far
up the piles that there began to be
danger that it 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
~ to the bolted timbers atop. This
would take care Of an extra two feet
of water. u two feet beyond all previ-
Gus records. Another crew stretched
the fifteen inch manila cables across
the field of logs in order to segregate
them into several units of mass.
About two hours later the pile driy-
er moved up. The swing was opened,
and the men began to drive clumpS OF
piles in such position as to strength
en- the swing when the latter should
be shut 1t was 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 hammer raised and let drop in
the derrick at the bow.
Long before the task vas finished
the logs in the temporary booms had
begun to slide atop one another. to
cross and tangle. until at last the river
bed inside the booms was filed with a
jam Of formidable dimensions. From
beneath 1t the water boiled in eddies.
Orde. looking at it. reused himself to
sudden activity.
Get a move on" he advised Cap
tain Aspinwall of the driver III that
jam breaks on us we want 10 De ready,
and if 1t 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
". hosting the piles into the carriage,
tripping the heavy hammer, binding
feverishly the clumps Of piles together
by means of cables.
To he continued1