The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1912-05-17

Jump at any time WITHOUT mucn Gan
ger of injury in the deep snow.
Horses Racing From Death.
Not so with the horses, however
The great load of logs goes swaying
after them as fast as they can run
even though they were not harnessed
to the sled. All the frightened ami
mails can do is keep their feet and do
their best to keep the load from run
ming onto their heels or. leaving the
road, to crash into the trees and take
them with it. II one OF the horses
falls or anything about the sled breaks
it is all up with the poor brutes. Some
times the swaying of the load will
break a chain which holds the logs or
the sled and let the great sticks go
shooting out over the heads of the
horses, perhaps catching the teamster
unaware also.
The breaking Of the snub line does
not always have tragic result. It Is
the miraculous escape of men ind
horses that the man like to tell about
afterward. 1t often happens that the
teamster guides his flying steeds and
their swaying load down over the
steep hill and brings them to a stop
after a mad rush of quarter OF
mile, covered with lather and with
sides heaving and nostrils distended.
but victors in the race with death.
In the above method of using the
snub line one end of the line passes
back up the hill while the end at
tached to the load Is COINS down. By
this method one end of the line is al
ways on the top and the teams are
saved the trouble Of carrying the line
back up the hill.
This method is practicable on most
hills, but there are places In the
woods where the grade is go long and
steep that another method had to be
adopted. The other method. while
seemingly safer, Is. as a matter OF
fact, fraught with more danger to men
and horses than the first. The big
line is made fast about the load as 1t
was in the first instance, and two or
three turns are taken around the
stump. The rest of the line Is coiled
up a few yards away. The teamster
starts his horses down the hill and
two men take the slack end Of the
line and pay 1t out gradually as the
load descends, always keeping the line
taut and running around the stump as
smoothly as possible. These men
wear mittens with thick leather palms,
so that they can grip the line without
having their hands torn and blistered
by the line passing through them. II
the line gets the better Of them they
have a way of checking it by taking
cantdog and using it as lever to
throw the line harder against the
stump. increasing the friction and
checking the load.
Sometimes the snub end gets the
better of the men handling 1t and in
stead of paying out smoothly goes by
jerks, getting from four inches to
foot of slack line at every jerk. When
this happens there is trouble in store
for somebody unless the men can stop
the line with their lever. Every slip
of the line sends thrill through the
whole length and sets it to Topping
and swaying and vibrating just as the
violin string vibrates when the bow is
drawn across It. This makes a great
strain on the line and If there is the
slightest imperfection in it is likely to
snap, or in its great gyrations it may
get the better of the men and run
through their hands so fast that the
leather palms of their mittens smoke
and they have to drop it to save them
selves. They send shout of warning
down to the teamster and another
race ensues. with life and death toss
ing a coin to see which wins.