Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1910-03-08

The chute to the dam was approach
ed. as has been earlier explained, by
two rows Of booms arranged In V, or
funnel, the apex Of which emptied into
the sluiceway and the wide, projecting
arms Of which embraced the width Of
the stream. The logs. floating down
the pond. were thus concentrated to-
ward the sluice: also the rivermen,
walking back and forth the length Of
the booms, were able easily to keep the
drive moving.
Now, however. Orde unclaimed these
boom logs The men pushed them
ashore. clamped In their peavies and.
using these implements as handles.
carried the booIns back into the woods.
J Then everybody tramped back and
forth. round and about, to confuse the
trail. Orde was like mischievous boy
at school prank.
The blazed logs belonging to Heinz
man, drifting slowly, had sucked down
into the corner toward the power canal
where. caught against the grating. they
had jammed. These logs would have
to be floated singly and pushed one by
one against the cul. Il across the pond
and into the influence Of the slulcc
gate. Some of them would be hard to
come at
Il guess that will keep them busy for
a day or two." commented Orde.
This, as Orde has said, would be suf
aciently annoying to Heinzman, but
would have little real effect on the
main issue. which was that the Ger
man was getting down his logs with
crew Of less than dozen men. New
ertheless Orde In u vast spirit Of fun
took delight in inventing and executing
practical jokes Of the general sort just
described. One day the chore boy, who
had been over to Spruce Rapids after
mail. reported that an additional crew
Of twenty had been sent In to Heinz
mans drive. This was gratifying.
Were making him scratch gravel.
boys. anyway" said Orde.
Dhe men entered into the spirit Of
the thing. In fact. their enthusiasm
was almost too exuberant. Orde had
constantly to negative new and in
genious schemes.
mo, boys" said he, II want to keep
on the right side of the law. We may
need It later"
Logs rarely jam on rising water, for
the simple reason that constantly the
surface area of the river Is increasing.
thus tending to separate the logs. On
the other hand, falling water, tending
to crowd the drive closer together, is
especially prolific Of trouble. There
fore, on food water the watchers
scattered along the stretches Of the
river had little to do-save strand
Heinzman's logs for him.
Up to certain point this was all
very we'll Orde took pains not to
countenance 1t officially and caused
word to be passed about that, while
he did not expect his men to help drive
Heinzman's logs. they must not 60 out
Of their way to strand them.
"If things get too bad. he'll have
spies down here to collect evidence
on u.s." said Orde. land he'll jug some
Of us for interference with his prop
erty. We don't own the river"
Inside of two weeks Orde had the
great satisfaction Of learning that
Heinzman was working-and working
hard-a crew Of fifty men.
"A pretty fair crew. even II he was
taking out his whole drive" com
mented Orde.
The gods Of luck seemed to be with
the new enterprise. The water held
out to carry the last stick Of timber
over the shallowest rapids. Weather
conditions were phenomenal-and per,
feet. All up and down the river the
work went with vim and dash.
After this happy fashion the drive
went until at last 1t entered the broad
deep and navieable stretches of the
river from Redding to the lake. Here
barring the accident Of an extraordi
nary food, the troubles were over. On
the broad. placid bosom Of the stream
the logs would float. AS Orde sat IN
his blackboard, ready to go into fowl
for first glimpse Of Carroll In more
than two months. he gazed with al
immense satisfaction over the broad
river moving brown and glacierlike. rs
though the logs that covered 1t wert
viscid and composed all its substance
The enterprise was practically assur
ed Of success.
For awhile now Orde was to have q
breathing spell. A large number OF
men were here laid of. The remain
der, under the direction Of Jim Den
ming. would require little or no actun
supervision. Until the jam shoulC
have reached the distributing booms
above Monrovia the affair was yer,
simple. Before he left. however. ht
called Denning to him.
"Jim." said he. I'll be down to SEE
you through the sluiceways at Red
ding. of course But now that yor
have a good, still stretch Of river
want you to include In our drive al
the Heinxman logs from above vol