Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1912-05-16

the strain is thrown on the line the
break grows larger with amazing
rapidity. When one OF the big strands
break the teamster knows Of 1t by
the convulsive flip OF the line and he
is on the alert at once, If the line
breaks he yells at his horses and sends
his whip singing about their heads
The intelligent brutes lnstinctively
feel their danger when the line snaps
and throwing themselves forward into
their collars they start on n race with
death down the hillside. The driver
sticks to his post az long as he can
and does his best 10 guide his steeds.
He is comparatively safe for he can
jump at any time without much dan
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 1t. II one of the horses
falls or anything about the sled breaks
1t is all up with the poor brutes. Some
times the swaying of the load will
break a chain which holds the logs on
the sled and let the great sticks go
shooting out over the heads of tho
horses. perhaps catching the teamster
unaware also.
The breaking OF the snub line does
not always have tragic result. II is
the miraculous escape OF men ina
horses that the men like to tell about
afterward. IT often happens that the
teamster guides his flying steeds and
their swaying load down over tho
steep hill and brings them to stop
after a mad rush of a quarter OF
mile, covered with lather and with
sides heaving and nostrls distended~
but victors in the race with death.
In the above method of using tho
snub line one end of the line passes
back up the hill while the end at
tached to the load is going 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 so 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 IL
was In the first instance. and two or
three turns are taken around the
stump. The rest of the line Ia coiled
up few yards away The teamster
starts his horses down the hill and
two men take the slack end OF tho
line and pay II 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. IL
Z the line gets the better of them they
, have a way of checking it by taking a
= cantdog and using It as lever to
:. throw the line harder against the
| stump, increasing tle lTlctloH anu
4 checking the load.
a Sometimes the snub end gets the
2 better of the men handling It and in
r stead Of paying out smoothly goes by
Jerks, getting from four inches TO n
Q foot of slack line at every Jerk When
4 this happens there is trouble in store
p | for somebody unless the men can stop
o the line with their lever. Every slip
, Of the line sends a thrill through tho
n whole length and sets it to looping
s and swaying and vibrating just as the
I violin string vibrates when the bow 10
1 drawn across It. This makes a great
r strain on the line and If there is tho
3 slightest imperfection in 1t Is likely TO
= snap, or in its great gyrations It may
D get the better of the men and run
Z through their hands so fast that the
2 leather palms of their mittens smoke
q and they have to drop II to save them
p selves They send a shout Of warning
p down TO the tcamster and another
/ race ensues, with life and death toss
: ing a coin to see which wins.