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


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 Is
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 to 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 it 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,
ID different matter. The landings
are usually not less than a mile from
the yards and often the logs have to
be hauled half a dozen miles before
they reach the landing places. The
logs have to be hauled over the roads
that run over boys, up hill and down
dale, over steep declivities where the
load of logs is above the head Of the
horses and where the breaking Of
rope or chain or a slip of one Of the
horses might mean death to team and
teamster.
It is on these steep inclines 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 to
rotary the progress of the heavy loads
as much as possible. The snow is
shoveled off these pitches, and earth,
boughs, manure and other stuff thrown
on top of the snow, so that the heav.
lily loaded sleds will not slip and run
on to the horses or put too severe a
strain on the snub line. The curves
in the road. If there are any, are
banked up as much as possible, to
prevent the sled from Slowing in GO
ing around the curve and upsetting
the load of logs or breaking the
chains which hold the logs on the
sled
Here is where the snub line comes
into play. The snub line is a hawser
three inches thick and of length de-
termined by the length of the pitch
on which it Is used. The most COM
mon way of using the snub line is to
have line about twice the length of
the pitch. At the top of the steep
line big tree has been felled, leav-
ing stump four feet high. The larg-
est tree to be had is always picked
for the purpose, and the bark is then
stripped from the stump to within a
foot or so of the top, leaving the
stump smooth as an ak handle for
most of its height.
When the teamster comes to the
top Of the grade he stops his team and
jumps down. He takes the end of the
great hawser and passes the line
completely around the lead of logs,
making two half bitches so that when
strain is placed on the line the bitches
slip and the moose draws tight about
the load. Then he takes the line and
passes 1t around the stump three or
four times, showing the coil down as
near the bottom of the stump as DOS
sible, clucks to his horse to take up
the slack, then jumps on the load of
logs and starts down the hill. The
friction OF the folds OF the big line
on the stump is sufficient to hold the
load back of the horses. while the
weight OF the line passing up the hill
to the stump is enough to prevent it
paying off the stump too fast. The
driver stands upright on his load and
watches the straining hawser with the
eye Of hawk.
After the snub line has been used
for some time It becomes worn as
smooth as glass by the friction on the
stump. Sometimes it catches a sharp
piece of wood and a few strands are
cut these Hroken strands untwist
quickly as a coiled spring and when
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
10 on the alert at once. II the line
breaks he yells at his horses and sends
his whip singing about their heads.
The intelligent brutes instinctively
feel their danger when the line snaps
and throwing themselves forward into
their collars they start on a race with
death down the hillside. The driver
sticks TO his post as long as he can
and doxs his best to guide his steeds.