Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-19
80 600 600 FEET OF PULP FORM
RECORD VIRGIN TIMBER DRIVE
Husky River Lumber Jacks, Toiling Amid
Hazards, to Deliver Logs in
Annual Meacham Drive.

barking drum which tears the bark
OF before the logs are loaded.
This is the Meacham Lumber Co.
operation of Fl. p. Gould and John z.
Johnston. The pulp goes to the Inter-
national Paper Co. mills ut Pyrites and
Piercefield. It will take three years
more to complete the cutting. But this
the next three will be. John DaWgnon,
Topper Lake, Is superintendent Of the
drive.
S0,000,00o Feet Of Timber.
No workmen on this job remembers q
In one drive and the sight of $4,000
cords of pulp, equivalent to 10000, 900
feet Of timber, and worth at least q
million dollars, Is one to live in memory.
The drive Is through Q region Of great
beauty. Nowhere in the Adirondacks
has nature been more lavish than at
Meacham Lake and down the winding
st. Regis River outlet. The contour Of
the hills and the sweeping bends and
waterfalls Of the river form o land
scape at every turn.
the drive. And they do not work union
hours. Three to four dollars day
Is the wage.
The men are awake while the owls
are still fitting through the tall pines.
Breakfast Is at 4:30. They dare death
and stay fighting the drive from dawn
till dark, taking only 30 minutes for
lunch from o pack basket and sleeping
many o night in Gods great public park.
Cold baths whenever q misstep Is
made and death behind every frozen
landing, behind every treacherous log
jam.
Tony and John, two plegmatic and
taciturn Poles, were working on the top
Of huge landing just below the Mea-
cham outlet when the whole landing
started to culver and tremble like an
earthquake.
Look out, look out!" yelled 81 Del
core. boss Of this crew, get away from
there quick"
Chung 10 Limb.
But 1t was too late: the Poles were
trapped In the moving avalanche Of
pulp. Both grabbed o huge limb and
chung to 1t desperately as the 1000 cords
Of pulp wood crashed down beneath
them for o whole hour. They knew II
their fingers slipped they would be
ground to pulp themselves.
But the strength gained from daily
use Of the pick-pole and the pulp hook
saved their lives. When that slide end
the pulp on the river and they. lost
little time getting back to safety.
In spite Of the hard work and long
hours the drivers seem to love the work.
There Il eager, individual, charging
rivalry and team work that would make
the most strenuous foot ball game seem
like child's play in comparison. A driv-
ing crew in hard water are the shock
troops Of the lumber woods. They are
hard as nails, physically At, Injured to
super-exertion, loss of sleep and long
days Of back breaking toll.
Cowardice and Sinking have no place
on river drive. Men laugh ut dan
ger and joke after q narrow escpe from
crushing death.
Scenes such as these hardy men are
now enacting in the Adirondacks win
soon pass into history. The virgin for
est ct Meacham was the last unspoiled
primeval woods In the northern section
Of the mountains. It takes 40 years to
grow pulp, SO that after this operation
Is completed only few of this genera
ton viii ever see q real drive In these
parts and never again such big one.
(Copyright, 1880, by North American News
paper Alliance.)