1096 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



MILL OF 20th ENGINEERS IN MOUNTAINS OF EASTERN FkANCK, LAKtiK llMlJEkh BEING LOADED ON TRAILERS READY FOR 



HAULING TO THE RAILWAY 



called for to win these results. Nor is it possible to 

 describe the pressure upon all of us during the summer 

 and fall of 1918 when every lumberjack in the regiment 

 felt the tenseness of the 

 final grapple and put every- 

 thing he had into it. I will 

 never forget the big mill at 

 I"2cIaron as I saw it one 

 October night — sparks 

 streaming from its stacks, 

 its two carriages flashing 

 back and forth, loads of 

 oak logs creaking up to the 

 mill deck, cars being shunt- 

 ed about, ties loaded into 

 them hot from the saws, 

 and the sober, earnest faces 

 of the men as they worked 

 under the electric lights. 

 They were shipping 5,000 

 ties daily to the .Vrgonne 

 offensive. That scene was 

 typical of the eighty or 

 more forestry operations in 

 France during the great 

 drive. It is doubtful if 

 American resourcefulness 

 was ever put to a harder 

 test than during the first 

 months of the forestry work 



AN AMERICAN FORESTRY ENGINEER AT THE WATER BAG 

 WHICH CONTAINS THE CAMPS SUPPLY OF DRINKING WATER. 

 THE ROOF OVERHEAD KEEPS THE SUN OFF THE BAG, AND A 

 DITCH CARRIES AWAY THE LEAKAGE 



in France. One company of the 4th Battalion began skid- 

 ding ties with harness made out of ropes and old sacks, 

 and bridles fashioned from twenty-penny nails and 



wire. This "hay-wire" camp 

 speedily made off with the 

 monthly records of the sec- 

 tion for tie production. 

 During the long, anxious 

 wait for the arrival of the 

 American sawmills, French 

 mills of various antique de- 

 signs were utilized at many 

 points. On his introduc- 

 tion to one of these, a mill- 

 wright from the northwest 

 offered to eat its daily cut. 

 The French mills were ag- 

 gravations of the flesh and 

 promoters of profanity. 

 They all had to be bolstered 

 up, more or less rebuilt, 

 have carriages devised out 

 of any odd lots of machin- 

 ery at hand, and new saws 

 ."-dded. Poor as they were, 

 ihey served to tide the 

 army over its first few 

 months in France, and 

 their production under 

 the "ancient regime" was 



