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

men have been at work for
w. months past in Telling the
great trees which will make
up the winters cut of logs to come
down the rivers to the mills this
spring, the operators have finished the
cutting operations and the hauling on
to the yards and are hauling the logs
to the landings. handy to the water In
which they will first be christened
when they start on their rough pas
sage down stream to the mills The
hardest part Of the winters work Ia
past, the cutting and yarding and
now comes the task Of getting the mil
lions OF feet of logs from the yards
TO the landings over long wood roads.
where the teamster has 10 be con-
stantly on his watch for the safety of
his team and the load Of logs he is
plotting.
There are wood roads In the Maine
numbering region where 1t Is no more
difficult to pilot team of horses and
a load of logs than It would be to do
the same thing on the state highway,
but the lumbermen know too well that
such roads as this are all too scarce,
says the Bangor (Me.) correspondent
of the New York Sun. The character
Of the road. of course, depends on the
character of the country through
which It runs.
Hauling over Rugged Roads.
Hauling to the landings. however,
a.. h.. 10 Ve
are usually not less than mile from
the yards and often the logs have to
be hauled half dozen miles before
they reach the landing places. The
logs have to be hauled over the roads
that run over boys, up hill and dowr
dale. over steep deClivities where The
load of logs is above the head of the
horses and where the breaking Of q
rope or chain or slip of one OF the
horses might mean death to team and
teamster.
It Is on these steep lnclines that the
snub line comes into use and that
some of the worst accidents ever re
corded in the Maine woods have taken
place.
The roads over which the logs have
to be hauled are kept in as icy con
dition as possible at all times.
On the pitches, however, no Ice IS
wanted. Everything done there is t.
rotary the progress of the heavy loads
as much as possible. The snow IL
shoveled OFF these pitches. and earth
boughs. manure and other stuff thrown
on top of the snow, so that the heav
| fly loaded sleds will not slip and run
| on to the horses or put too severe
strain on the snub line. The curves
/ in the road, II there are any, ar,
! banked up as much as possible, Il
| prevent the sled from Slowing in GO
ing around the curve and upsettini
the load Of logs or breaking tn
chains which hold the logs on tn
sled.
Here is where the snub line come
into play. The snub line ia a hawse
three inches thick and of length do
termined by the length of tho pitc
ON which It is used. The most con
mon way of using the snub line is I
have line about twice the length {
the pitch At the top of the stee
line big tree has been felled, lea
ing a stump four feet high. The larj
est tree to be had Is always pickle
for the purpose, and the bark is the
stripped from the stump to within
foot or so OF the top, leaving III
stump smooth as an AK handle Il
most of its height.
When the teamster comes to III
top of the grade he stops his team an
jumps down. He takes the end of III
great hawser and passes the lin
completely around the load of log
making two half bitches so that whe
strain is placed on the line the hitche
slip and the moose draws tight abol
the load. Then he takes the line an
passes it around the stump three {
four times. showing the coil down q
near the bottom OF the stump as DO
sible, clucks to his horse to take u
the slack. then jumps on the load {
logs and starts down the hill. Tn
friction OF the folds Of the big lin
on the stump is sufficient to hold III
load back on the horses. while tn
weight of the line passing up the hi
to the stump is enough to prevent
paying off the stump too fast. TIL
driver stands upright on his load an
watches the straining hawser with IN
eye of a hawk,
After the snub line has been use
for some time it becomes worn a
smooth as glass by the friction on tn
stump. Sometimes 1t catches a shar
piece Of wood and few strands ar
cut. These broken strands untwil