Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1915-05-20

enclosure by swinging out the upper
end of the boom sufficiently to per
nit it. Rapids pieces would be let
in just as they were RATED at times.
Rats passing down by here it was
quite common for the raftsmen to
attempt to fasten to this boom in
trying to tie up, but they were not
only forbidden to do this for fear
the boom would be broken, but also
threatened with punishment if they
disobeyed.
remember at one time a fleet of
log RATS had been bought and had
been placed in this boom, and the
crew Of raftsmen had gone to the
old town for their dinner before
leaving While at dinner a man from
the mill rushed in saying some RATS
in passing had tied to the RATS inside
the boom. The boom had been broken
and all its contents was coming down
the river.
Talk absut your crack fire com
panies getting to a fire. They would
/ be slow compared with the way those
men jumped UP from the dinner table,
rushed to the river bank in front of
the old hotel and as the RATS swung
around the point there, some waded,
some swan, some found boats, but
in a short time the RATS were manned
and landed down the river a mile or
so.
The work Of towing them back by
hard polling and pulling on cables,
took much more time 1t is sad to
relate that the sayings fierce" go
ing some Il should worry" etc.,
| were not in vogue then, but other
words that served TO express ones
| feelings were.
From the collection of the logs in
side this boom, those wanted at the
time, were drawn up into the mill
by means Of a long inclined plane,
reaching from the upper part of the
mill to the river.
A strong horizontal drum in the
top of the mill operated by cogwork
and so arranged as to be thrown in
or out of gear with a moving cog
| wheel, had a sufficient quantity of
strong chain wound upon it to reach
to the river, possibly one hundred
! feet. This chain had two strong hooks
or dogs, as they were called, at the
end, which were firmly driven into
the butt of a log, then the wheels
were thrown in gear by a lever and
| the log was drawn into the mill and
blow the whistle for a shut down
when in position to be rolled onto the
out Of gear and the log was next"
Sometimes these dogs would pull
The horse power of the engine
out, the chains would fly side wise
and the log would "shoot the chutes''
into the river with tremendous splash
| ing.
One time we had a log so large
| it was thought that it would take the
| full power Of the engine to get it
up into the mill. 1t was decided to
| not even attempt to throw out the
| gear for fear the strain on the cogs
| would not permit it to be done. The
engineer was to stand at the throttle
| and at a blast on the whistle, when
the log was in place was to stop the
| engine.
| The honor Of pulling the whistle
| cord at signal from my father was
| given me. I had to stand over the
boiler and by the side of the long
chain. The log started up the slide
| in good shape, the chain creaked and
| grOaned and | began to see in imag-
! nation what a disfigured corpse there
| would be if the dogs pulled out or
| the chain broke and took a sWipe
| at me as it surely would Finally
| as the log looked into the mill the
| strain became terrific. [ couldn't
| emulate Casabianca, but instad of
waiting my fathers permission, |
pulled the cord and jumped away. The
! engine stopped a the instant, the log
| Wayered a moment then started back
with rush into the river, stripping
every cog off the wheels. l ran into
the large building up to the higheht
part and hid myself from the eX-
pected wrath to come.
After l thought time enough had
elapsed for them all to think what
would be appropriate to the occasion
| [ came down to listen to very I'M
complimentary remarks on the part
of the help, and what would be done
| to me were l a son of theirs.
My father went to work to repair
the damage my cowardice had caused
him, and although it took several
days, he only said in reproof to me,
that he was to blame for placing me