Evening star., 1938-06-12
.Lumbermen
OF Old Type
Still Active
Fascinating Stories
From Wilds Have
New Thrills.
BY JIM EMMETT.


DON'T let any one tell you the day
OF the lumberjack Is past" said
Hank williams As he poked another
stick Of wood into the already red
hot stove. And Hank should know,
because he has hunted and guided
for almost sixty years, man and boy,
up in the Pine Tree State and on the
wooded slopes Of the Adirondacks.
why shucks, the Jacks today are
every bit as good as the oldtimers, -
Hank continued. Take the fellows
who bring the logs down out Of the
mountains. for instance. Imagine
plotting a lotion truck down an ice
covered hill as steep as beaver slide
and as crooked as a deer's hind leg!
Then think Of having 10 sleds, bearing
hundred tons Of logs. shaking along
behind you. That takes nerve, boys,
and plenty OF 1t.
The jacks who drive the trucks for
the big logging camps turn out at 3
o'clock in the morning. BY 1 break
fast is over and they're away Snow
trucks are used mostly. and how they
can pull when their wheels are re-
placed by tractors astern and skis
ahead, in order to climb the snow
covered narrow tracks winding up the
side Of the mountain to where the logs
are piled, ready for loading.
"On the hindmost sled lumberjack
rides the topmost log. He's called the
whistle punk, and his job is to watch
the long chain Of lifting and falling
sleds. and see that the bull bows or
legs between the sleds keep them from
running into each other and tangling
up the whole load
The truck snakes the long line Of
loaded sleds to the brink of the steepest
hill. AS it skids to stop, the whistle
punk shouts down to the road monkey,
who is spreading sand over the icy
tracks below. Every bull bow is
checked, and the driver raises the
hood to make some final adjustment
in the innards Of the snorting brute
beneath.
THE driver will not bulge until
the road is 50 slowed down with sand
that the engine must labor to move
the load. A hundred tons weight
behind lotion truck! He pulls out.
Sand flies, the truck roars, and the
train gathers way. The whole trick
is to hold the twisting, skidding chain
back as much as possible on the way
down, for as it gathers momentum
near the bottom, all stopping control
is lost and arriving safely is wholly
matter OF good steering and dumb
luck
Then there's the big river drive
in the spring when the ice goes out, ''
Hank went on, when we asked him to
tell us more.
Countless logs, all barked, have
been piled on the icy surface Of the
river below the road. When high wa
ter comes 1t takes the lowest ones out
first. They shoot out from beneath
the others with cracking noise, and
as those in front get going fast. some
are bound to wing up on the banks
Jacks run along shore and shove these
on with long pike poles. but the real
trouble commences when the logl
start to wing up against q rock In Whit
water. Others soon stop there, and
in no time the whole stream jams
about what is called a center.
Three Of the best Jacks Of the lot
60 out in a North River boat, q Is.
foot, f1at-bottomed, round-hull affair
Two men row and the one in the bow
uses cant hook to catch onto The
center and swing the boat into ths
eddy beside it. More jacks on the
bank hang onto the line from ths
boats bow SO it won't be swept down.
stream when the logs finally leaf
clear with q Kissing noise.
Don't get the idea the jacks rid.
those peeled logs downstream. A los
with the bark on it affords some foot.
hold. and few of the jacks can sta,
up on even the slipperiest peeled ones
but the boss will not let them take tn,
chance.
Forty miles up from Rome an.
Utica. N. Y, large companies still
operate big camps. These concern
pride themselves on their messroon
and cooking, for they have found ,
well-fed pack Is contented one
The bunk house Is comfortable, too
and a noisy place when the jack
gather there after supper.
The intense frost outside send,
cracking sounds from the trees. Some.
one comes stamping in to report tn.
thermometer on the porch register.
80 below, but all is snug inside as tai
tales OF cold and deep snow are ban.
died back and forth about the red
hot stove.
Farmers will small holdings nearby
often work In these camps during the
winter, and you'll always find q good
sprinkling of Scandi1aavians amons
lumberjacks anywhere. Every pay day
men leave for the outside, but most
Of them are glad to wander back. The
job is hard, but the work is clean
and the pay good enough to attract 4
a. A~fV