Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1910-01-05
MAINE WOODS GUMMERs.
Less Gum, but Higher Prices Mako
Work Remunerattve.

>
George e. Walsh, In Forest and Stredm.I
The most picturesque woodsmen OF this
continent are the small army OF forest
cruisers who make . living in the back
counties Of Maine at occupations that
are a. odd a. they are sometimes profit-
able. The hunter who spends few brief
weeks in the great woods sometimes
stumbles over one Of the camps OF these
restless forest rangers, but Il he 10 per-
mitted to get glimpse Of the men ct home
the chances are that he cannot draw any
information from them concerning their
work. They are the least communicative
Of all the forest inhabitants, and they
fear that too many people will rob them
OF their spoils and crowd them out Of
their favorite haunts.
The wood scavengers follow on the trail
Of the lumber camps or penetrate the
dense wilderness to ply their trade. They
make living OF the leavings Of the lum-
bermen, or preceding them, gather the
products Of the woods without injuring
the trees. There is standing quarrel be-
tween the two. The lumber jacks and the
employees Of the pulp mills look upon the
roamers as idle. shiftless fellows ready to
steal good timber whenever they have .
chance, 80 they are watched suspiciously
On the other hand, the scavengers, or at
east some of them, consider the lumber
mills as destructive to their work, and
they are not slow to resent it.
The oldest Of these men are the gum
pickers. They are the pioneer woodsmen
trappers. They range the primitive for
ests in advance Of the lumbermen and
openly decry the destruction OF the big
trees. For when Names spruce trees are
all cut down there will no longer be any
gum pickers, and the tribe will be auto
matically extinguished. But to-day they
are quite numerous and make good liv-
ing at their trade.
Spruce gum brings all the way from 81
to $50 per pound, and the pickers may
gather several pounds day. "Spruce
Gum Bill" an old picker OF the Moosehead
region, frequently in the season clears
from eight to ten dollars a day, and he
has averaged as high as fifteen and even
twenty dollars. But that was in the
palmy days OF gum picking when the sup
ply was more liberal than to-day.
.sSpruce Gum Bill" invented another
way to increase his profits, which has
since been adopted by . good many
others. 1t was forcing process that made
the trick. Selecting so NJ good part OF tn
woods away from any habitation, he
would mark his trees and wound them
tree year later he would find an abund-
ant crop Of gum oozing from the cuts.
The gum is formed by the sap oozing from
any cut, wound or crack in the bark, and
! if not made too deep or big the vitality OF
the tree is not seriously affected.
The gum picker is the most travelled
of all the Maine woodsmen. He ranges
even farther than the trapper, and not in
frequently he circles about over hundred
miles of trail. When he crosses the path
OF another picker who has invaded his
district there is apt to be an ugly inter-
view, for each picker is jealous of his own
particular field Of operation.
| The camp Of the gum picker is ever on
the move. It is rarely in q place more
than day or two. The camp is pitched
on or under the snow, and sometimes it is
sheltered by rocks or fallen trees. The
outfit consists of few simple cooking
utensils, -four, beans, molasses and coffee,
climbers, snowshoes, an ak, chisel and q
sled. With this outfit two men can spend
months in the woods and the cost Of liv-
| ing will not be over fifty cents week.
There is small game in the woods for re-
plenishing their larder with fresh meat,
and as they travel far and wide they must
be prepared to live Independent Of civil
| ization.
The kings Of the gum pickers disdain to
take notice of the small scraps and chip
pings found on the trees near the edge OF
the woods. Those are for the amateurs,
the women and the children. For them
the big warts and protuberances as large
as turkeys egg. High up on the trunks
of the trees the bulbs of gum grow, and
sharp eyes soon detect their presence. A
tree with single piece is not much of a
find, but sturdy old spruce that exudes
I tat gum OOLCA VI AAOAO WOahAo
may yield several dollars worth Of the
material.
| The pickers are by nature expert climb
ers; they must be or they would not make
much money. With their climbers they
can walk up the highest ana straightest
spruce tree that ever grew, and with their
chisels they cut off the gum nuggets and
climb down again. All day they work
their way along, studying each tree,
climbing and cutting and cleaning their
gum. When night comes they go into
camp, build their fire and cook their
simple meal. Around the camp fire they
smoke and chat until slumber claims
them. When morning comes they are off
again, but not too early. They take their
time, and do not reckon every hour as
wasted. They enjoy the beautiful scenery
l. 10 L.