The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1912-08-01


logs are hauled along very fast
Fifty years ago the lumber crews
never went into the woods for the
seasons work till the December
SHOWS came. Now they begin to yard
in August and September. They have
to yard the logs, then pile, and haul
out to the landing when the snow
comes.
They use log haulers besides the
horses and there are more teams as
1t is a longer distance from the land
ing. OF course the farther away it
is, the longer it takes to haul. The
steam log haulers are operated by
steam power.
The crews are about the same as in
the first days of logging. On an aver
age there would be from 80 to 40 men
to a camp; sometimes one company
had two or three camps and then it
took as many crews. Some lumber
men in those days had eighty men to
camp.
Naturally, each lumber company
had then as now, it's own mark for
the logs; and each mark had to be
recorded with the Log Driving Com
pany at Skowhegan where the clerk
and treasurer lived.
All the mills of the first lumbermen
had the old up and down saw. Now
they use the band saws and the cir
culars. The up and down saws could
saw on an average, 1000 feet day,
and the circulars cut 10000 a day
Now the circulars cut 10000 and the
band saws about $4,000
When the Coburns cut their timber
) land, the logs of the Northern Maine
woods averaged about 200 feet to a
log; now they average about 100 feet
to a log. Nearly all the pine is cut
off; the spruce is left. The pine was
more valuable then.
When the pioneer lumbermen ran
their saw mills, most of the timber
was cut round Moosehead Lake wa
tiers, most of it on the East branch;
some was cut on Dead River. All the
timberland was wild land then as
now. The wild lands have always
been controlled and taxed by the
State.
The State road the old Canada
road, was supported by the State and
the townships were assessed to help
support the road There is State
tax on all the wild lands to-day.
The old Canada road starts from
Skowhegan, goes through Scion,
Bingham, Carratunk, The Forks, Par
lin Pond, Moose River and Canada,
extending way through to Quebec.
1t took longer to go to the up-river
lumber camps in the Coburns' time,
and even later. For years, the road
only went TO Skowhegan and Arson
and the lumbermen had to drive the
most of the way to their camps. Then
the old road was extended to Bing
ham, and then tapped the Canadian
Pacific at Kineo. For 70 years, the
lumbermen could go only as far as
Skowhegan by train, and then had to
drive the rest of the way. Some drove
the whole distance and those horses
of Maine lumbermen were splendid
thorobreds with records hard to beat
After the new road of the Canadian
Pacific, came the Bangor & Aroos
took, from Newport to Greenville,
where it tapped the Canadian Pacific.
That was built about Is years ago,
and after that one could go by rail
straight through to Jackman. The
Somerset county extension that goes
from SkowheSan to Kineo was bull;
four years ago.
The old-timer of Jackman, Otis
( Holden, who would be 80 if alive now,
lived to see all the new roads butt
but the Somerset extension, and came
himself to Jackman in strange fash
ion. The whole country was a will
derness then, and the Holdens deter
mined to push through to Moose river
and make a home there. Otis Hol
den, then a baby, was strapped to his
mothers back and went through on
a spotted line to Moose river He told
the story many times of that adven-
turous journey with only a spotted
line to mark the trail, and was
proud of being the first white child
to 90 through Names wilderness in
such fashion
Back in the days of the Coburns,
, the shores of the Kennebec were
lined with sawmills; there were SO in
all Skowhegan had one; Somerset
Mills, now Shawmut, had two; Fair
field had six; Wateryille, two; one mill
was just below Riverside; one on the
! Augusta dam; six at Gardiner; one
at Hallowell; one at Randolph; one
, at Farmingdale; two at South Gard
liner; two at Richmond; one at Bow
doinham; three at Bath; and below
Bath were six mills making in all
SO that once did a vast amount Of
, business.
Nov ~ ffrhN 1C OF Il