The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1919-07-08

falling gangs lifted themselves above.
the enlargement TO make their cut.
Two sawyers attacked tree.
First. with their double. bitted axes,
each drove q deep notch into the sap
wood Just wide enough TO take the
end of two.b y.six plank four or
five feet long, with a single grab nail
In the end-the springboard Of the
Pacific coast. logger. whose daily bust.
ness lies among the biggest timber
on Gods footstool. Each then
clambcred up on his precarious perch.
took hold OF his end OF the long,
timber saw. and cut In to a depth OF
a foot or more. according to the size
of the tree. Then Jointly they
chopped down to this sawed line. and
there was the undercut complete. n
deep notch on the side TO which the
tree would fall. That done. they
swung the ends OF their spring
boards. or II IL were a thick trunk,
made new holding notches on the
other side. and the long saw would
eat steadily thru the heart OF the
tree toward that yellow. gashed un.
dercut. stroke upon stroke, ringing
with a thin. metallic twang. Pres.
emily there would arise an ominous
cracking. High in the air the tall
crest would dip slowly, as II II bowed
with manifest reluctance TO the In.
evitable. The sawyers would drop
lightly from their springboards. cry.
ing:
Tim. be-r.r.rr'
The earthward swoop Of the upper
boughs would hasten ult he air was
full OF a whistling. wishing sound.
Then came the rcnding crash AS the
great tree smashed prone. crushing
what small simber stood In its path.
followed by the carth-quivering shock
of its impact with the soil. The
tree down. the fallers went on to an
other. Immediately the swampers
fell upon the prone trunk with axes,
denuding II OF limbs; the buckers
followed them 10 saw II into lengths
decreed by the boss logger. wheh
the job was done. the brown fir was
no longer stately tree. but saw
logs. each with tho square butt that
lay donkeyward. trimmed tFifla
rounding with the axe.
Benton worked one falling gang
The falling gang raced to keep
ahead OF the buckers and swampers.
and they in turn raced TO keep ahead
OF the hook tender. rigging singer.
and donkey. which last trio moved
the logs from woods to water, once
they were down and trimmed. Ter
rible. devastating forces OF destruc-
ton they seemed to Stella Benton.
wholly unused az she was to any
woodland save the well-kept parks
and little areas OF groomcd forest in
her native state. All about in the
ravaged woods lay the big logs.
scores Of them. They had only be-
gun to pull with the donkey a week
earlier, Benton explained to her.
With his size gang ne could not keep
a donkey engine working steadily.
SO they had fellesi and trimmed to
a good start. and now the falling
crew and the swampers and buckers
were In q dingdong contest TO sec
how long they could keep ahead OF
thS pbttluk crHtOt ydfutF.
Stella sat on a stump. watching.
Over an area OF many acres the
ground was q litter OF broken limbs.
ragged tops. crushed and bent and
broken younger growth, twisted awfy
by the big trees In their fall. Huge
stumps upthrust like beacons in a
ruffled harbor. grim. massive butts.
From all the ravaged wood rose a
pungent smell Of pitch and sap.
resinous. pleasant smell. Radiating
like the spokes OF a wheel from the
head Of the chute, ran deep. raw
gashes in the earth. where the don.
key had hauled up the Brobdingnag.
ian logs on the end OF an inch cable.
This Is no small boys play. is
It. Stell?" Charlie said to her once,
In passing.
And she agreed that 1t was not.
Agreed more empbatically and with
half-awed wonder when she saw the
donkey pun and CULVER on its anchor
cable. as the hauling line spoiled up
on the drum. On the outer end Of
that line snaked a sixty.foot stick.
five feet across the butt. but II came
down to the chute head. brushing
earth and brush and small trees aside
as II they were naught. Once the
big log caromed against a stump.
The resrward end Tipped ten feet in
the air and thirty feet sidewise. But
IL came clear and slid with incred-
ible swiftness to the head OF the
chute, flinging aside showers OF dirt
and small stones, and leaving one
more deep furrow in the forest floor.
Benton trotted behind II. Once 1t
came TO rest well in the chute. he
unlocked the line. freed the choker
tthe short noosed loop OF cable that
slips over the logs end. and the
hanback, cable hurried the main line
back to another log. Benton follow.
ed. and again the donkey shuddered
on its foundation skids till another
| log laid in the chute. with it's end
butted against that which lay before.
One log after another was hauled
down till half a dozen rested there.
elongated peas in wooden pod.
Then a last big stick came with
rush, hunted these others power.
fully so that they began to slide
with the momentum thus impaired.
slowly at first. then. gathering way
and speed. they shot down to the
lake and plunged TO the water over
the ten.foot jump-off like school
Of preaching whales.
All this took time. vastly more
time than 1t takes in the telling. The
logs were ponderous masses. They
had to be unanswered sometimes be.
tween stumps and standing timber,
jerked this way and that to bring
them into the clear. BY four o'clock
Benton and his rigging singer had
just finished their second batch of
| logs down the chute. Stella watched