OCR Text |
Show ' U-i " t V 0 Oil ii WTIfHTdyi tiilYimF f7nV TTl7 ' WtlfWIWIli nil II M Hip i -ft i mi iij : y A! L'Ji! ' t, . . --Vs V t-T Y 1TH the lumber jacks in many -ml S) -U sections of the United States the fOT illA wiutr is tlle busy season of the 'hsir!f' year the harvest time, as it T were," and they work almost as w li'y ')jjr'f energetically to "get out" the jsjgg requisite number of logs during i the interim of snow and ice as ns?"-" does the farmer to get in his grain ere the autumn rains set in. Only, to be sure, the lum bermen are not menaced by quite the same uncertainty uncer-tainty as to weather conditions as is the farmer In autumn, for in many of the northern lumber camps it is almost unheard of for a season to embody less than five months of s:cdding. that is. five months of continuous snow and ice. In the logging regions of the Pacific Northwest, of course, wnere may be found perhaps the greatest of nature's lumber storehouses, store-houses, the winter does not make the marked difference in conditions condi-tions that it does in the forests of some other sections of the country. coun-try. In western Oregon and Washington there is so" little snow, and that of such a transient tran-sient character, that the lumbermen lumber-men cannot depend upon it as they do elsewhere to help them with their work. But. on the other oth-er hand, the Puget Sound and Columbia River country is free from that severe weather which renders it imperative for lumber jacks elsewhere to constantly have a care lest they suffer from frostbitten hands and feet Siml- rCT 'ill'A ' winter is the busy season of the imW-w? year' the harvest time- as u s x NS, x jj'W v' were, and they work almost as " s N v ' j ?',!'0 energetically to "get out" the x " ,S jgp-gj requisite number of logs during IT V "1 ' N x f i - " x J xr Sjpglgt the interim of snow and ice as .sCV H s x V v v. ;rr"-p:-"Trr, does the farmer to get in his SS"- - -l I $ t ' s ' 1 " 1 A IPr grain ere the autumn rains set Mjjf 5 , vW ' 0 in. Only, to be sure, the lum- -1., " l l , J O i bermen are not menaced by quite the same uncer- t v , i A , A tainty as to weather conditions as is the farmer PT4 V C ' "V1 in autumn, for in many of the northern lumber lZ " ' X? ? camps it is almost unheard of for Py-At ? Ji , L k " SC vii . i a season to embody less than five ' V, f , ZT i ( f w C month of s edding that ,s five -Sii'C .V Y " 'AC I V 1 month ofconttnuou now and ( r M tM , WVHCVC?-4 Pacific Norihwe t of cour e, Y sil Q ' v-mu-?. , : tLf wnere may be found perhap the 1 "''s" -AW5'4S U PhSzZk. T fW T7Pv"55T "S! i-.-, greate t of nature lumber store- p4 'X Al $ tMJ4 JVT WC hone the wtnter doe not make LJ&t, t i v 4. I (XP'f fl? X flv '15l the marked difference in condi 1 Kt T Vvft M Sl C iJtk J i Wfl tion that ,t doe in the fore t of Vl X x . A V fSCL ' V?' i some other sectton of the coun V . r - J t V M fe 'O ; u S? &5-K '11 try In we tern Oregon and R? r ' VVH ? rti VU'f Wahingon there . so' little HA V ?kV Vt 'fli , 4V-. snow and that of uchatran tVlK' 1 ,V L -0 A C ff VW, sient character that the lumber . ZA W KS'S fl men cannot depend upon it as k , Jf$ , 1 f$J y 4 P UVlN V' ? 1 the, do el ew here to help them ( U , U At h f jJ ? t fr " with their woik But on the oth A . V t- . , ''A ' ' ftU X L $ fV X X I ? ' er hand the Puget Sound and jfr?p. Ll f 4 Iff ) fjJk3 ' Columbia River country i free WtT JA? ' t W t F - 4. Li P W A$ from that evere weather whch JV ) v,. fir, U If ft f g 'fj f renders it imperative for lumber TM M ? j f ?J U J, U jack elewhere to con tant.y W4l X ? f A r"'!, & A have a care le t they uffer from 'X V 1 JM V "'' I fro tbitten hand and feet Siml XH'Vth" Tj 5 " larly In the south wheie c, pre ' Hi Wi f- S Is king and where much of the V '' I tZMEZR2ti&? ' SJKTOFZYS A dlitfFI&JPIZgjZiQHZKZZR 0 logging is done In x. 1 m I QRZOZA5 W&2 00 swamp the winter pre- HunKS JUV i & A ' scribe no change of mVgmroKY aDd t0 tne trees marvels one better. In principle, the ice auto- method or equipment afl2i$J left standing if mobile is not very different from the ordinary AMR jZZCKGFhi fV? the !umbering is commercial motors which are now employed for J, QtfL JiV S done after the delivery work in every city. However, the self- 1 XT'! '''W t dfx' tv !1- ErowlnS season is over propelled adjunct of winter logging is provided H Si3il M$ - lZfp?lrZ instead of being allowed with sharp teeth which it sinks into tbe snow or "efriYJrr&v? V'WW; 4 ; to so on in the spring Ice as it progresses, thus insuring steady prog-1., prog-1., flA'?Z- J1 V t 4 -w ad summer while the ress with no slipping or sliding on the smooth ;," 3 $ fi. V K .Vi bark 18 loose and the s"rfaces. rLtTS ff X"" i 7xf 1 leave and twlgs are teD" But because tte winter finds the lumber jacks y.VV yL. l V f der Moreover, if there very busy in a temperature that ranges as low 35'$" V t V ! ' "f t'- " be a heavy blanket of as 20 to 40 degrees below zero it must not be sup- K ip f p 'As ' now on the ground, a posed that they do not find time and opportunity s- "V5" "4 " aV tree after it has been for plenty of fun In the isolated camps where they " rV. .K ' " i3&r v fe"ed with ax or saw, spend the season. A logging camp may be any- fjX, if , W i ( i . tand a chance of where from five to twenty-five miles from the Zv S&'& 7-iL''i' "V 4 j crashing to earth with nearest store and rostoffice.' but the "jacks" are H' r jiy les damage than It kept liberally supplied with fresh butter, fresh $ r " 1 v . f f" V f would sustain at another meat, smoking and chewing tobacco, etc. A - &m I ea,,on of tbe year' Tbe graphophone or phonograph . is an almost inevit- '( t f, V tree trunk that falls on a able adjunct of the isolated logging camp and the " A , " " J Ded of snow is not likely lumbermen manage in one way and, another to and to the trees left standing if the lumbering is done after tbe growing season is over instead of being allowed to go on in the spring and summer while the bark Is loose and the leaves and twigs are tender. ten-der. Moreover, if there be a heavy blanket of snow on the ground, a tree, after it has been felled with ax or saw, stands a chance of crashing to earth with less damage than It would sustain at another season of the year. The tree trunk that falls on a bed of snow is not likely . 00 marvels one better. In principle, the ice automobile auto-mobile is not very different from the ordinary commercial motors which are now employed for delivery work in every city. However, the self-propelled self-propelled adjunct of winter logging is provided with sharp teeth which it sinks into tbe snow or Ice as it progresses, thus insuring steady progress prog-ress with no slipping or sliding on the smooth surfaces. But because the winter finds the lumber jacks very busy in a temperature that ranges as low as 20 to 40 degrees below zero it must not be supposed sup-posed that they do not find time and opportunity for plenty of fun In the isolated camps where they spend the season. A logging camp may be anywhere any-where from five to twenty-five miles from the nearest store and rostoffice.' but the "jacks" are kept liberally supplied with fresh butter, fresh meat, smoking and chewing tobacco, etc. A graphophone or phonograph . is an almost inevitable inevit-able adjunct of the isolated logging camp and the lumbermen manage in one way and, another to si recuras 01 xne laiest song "tilts from time to time. The average legging camp has two main structuresthe struc-turesthe bunk house where the loggers sleep lu bunks arranged in tiers, and the cook shanty where the food is cooked and served. To call this eating hall a shanty is. however, something of a misnomer, since the word is- likely to suggest a modest hut. whereas the cook shanty of an up-to-date logging camp must be large erough to accommodate ac-commodate a crude dining table perhaps 40 feet in length.' The cooking In a loggii camp is usually done by a man and wife-almost invariably invar-iably German), who hire out as professional cooks and who have the- heln of two masculine assistants. assist-ants. They work over a range that is 10 feet long -and on top of which stands a coffee urn that holds as much as a barrel; a meat boiler that holds 100 pbunds of pork or beef. ;.nd a can In wh'-h there can be boiled at one time more than a hnshel of potatoes Below are the ovens where are baked some 10 to 15 square feet of biscuits everv day In some camps heavy stoneware is provided for use on the table, but at a majority of logging es-tabbshments es-tabbshments each of the SO to 150 men is simply knife and fork of steel. or the twentieth century logging crews. In what we might term the traditional seats of the lumber Industry, however, winter puts a very different differ-ent face on the whole matter of getting out the logs and transporting them to the sawmills that transform them Into the marketable ' form known to the average consumer. In Maine, In northern New York and Canada, in Michigan, In Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas the summer is in one sense a vacation season for the lumber Jacks. At least It is an interlude of restricted activity and the lumbermen, unlike some other members of the community, welcome the passing of the long, bright days and the advent of the Ice King. The explanation of this state of affairs is found, of course, In the fact that snow and ice afford the material for the ideal arteries of communication com-munication In the lumber regions. The felled trees may be conveyed to market more quickly and more economically over snow roads and Ice trails than by any other method known to the Industry. Indeed, there are lumber regions where without these factors and their sequel, the "big thaw" In the spring It would be virtually impracticable im-practicable to get the timber to market at an expense ex-pense that would justify operations. The snow and Ice, important as Is their aid,' are not the only influences that are now tending to make the lumbermen concentrate their activities activ-ities In the fall and winter. Of late years a constantly con-stantly increasing number of our lumbermen have been brought to see the wisdom of adopting what is known as conservative lumbering that Is, lumbering lum-bering which treats a forest as a working capital whose purpose is to produce successive crops and which calls for work In the woods that will leave the standing trees and young growth as nearly unharmed as possible. Well, the minute a man becomes a convert to conservative lumbering he Is certain to become an advocate of the cold season sea-son as the proper time for carrying on all the operations of lumbering. To make this point clear It may be pointed out that the difference between practical work under ordinary methods of lumbering and under conservative con-servative lumbering is principally in the selection of the trees to cut, in the felling of these trees, and In the first part of their journey from the I stump to the mil. It Is an established fact that I the amount of harm done to a forest by the cut-1 cut-1 ting depends considerably upon the season of the year when the work In the woods Is carried on. Much less damage will result to the young growth .j. to split or to DreaK as would otherwise be the case when the forest monarch mon-arch comes down on rocky, uneven ground. After all. however, it is in the various stages of the transportation of the logs that the snow and ice yield the greatest aid. First of all it simplifies sim-plifies the operation of skidding or dragging the log lengths from the depths of the forest. This work was formerly done by horses, mules or oxen, and is yet to some extent, but for the most part the modern donkey engine has supplanted all other forms of energy for skidding. Supposedly the skidding ' operation is. designed ' only - to get ' the logs out of the forest depths where no log-carrying log-carrying vehicle could be operated without infinite trouble and damage to the standing timber. However, How-ever, when the Snow King is in command it sometimes some-times happens that a similar method may be employed em-ployed for moving the logs to the rollway or storage stor-age yard, perhaps a mile or two distant, where the logs are held to await the spring freshets or are loaded aboard railroad cars that convey them to the mills. For this long-distance log trailing there is employed a more powerful type of engine than the donkey above referred to and a stronger wire cable is supplied. The pathway for the logs Is an Icy boulevard kept in condition by "flooding" "flood-ing" as circumstances require and this becomes so smooth from the polishing process afforded by the passage of the logs that it is practicable to transport at each operation not merely a single log but whole "strings" of logs attached end to end by means of stout, chains. At some lumber1 camps it Is the practice to employ em-ploy giant sleds to carry -the logs on the flrBt stage of their journey from the forest to the saw mill. Of course snow Is requisite to the satisfactory satis-factory operation of these sleds, but when a "path" has been worn for the sled runners along the Icy roads the vehicles traverse the line thus furrowed with a facility suggestive of that with which a locomotive glides along the steel rails. There Is. of course, a minimum of resistance to the progress of a sled along such a glazed surface and In many Instances log loads of almost incredible incred-ible weight are thus transported over the glistening glisten-ing surface. A "new wrinkle" that characterizes winter practice in some of the up-to-date logging districts consists of what might be denominated an ice automobile for log carrying. Powerful traction engines have been used for some time past on the Pacific Coast to draw trains of log-laden log-laden trucks out of the forest, but this new form of commercial motor vehicle goes even these |