34 HISTORY OF LUMBER INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK, 



The experienced lumberman usually prefers to run his own camps, 

 hiring- a foreman to look after the work during his temporary absence; 

 but a large portion of the timbering to-day is done by jobbers under 

 contract. For example, a lumberman, landowner, or sawmill man, as 

 the case may be, decides to lumber some certain tract. He lets a con- 

 tract to cut the logs of a particular species on the tract, and deliver 

 them to some point on a railroad, or on the banks of .some stream, or 

 upon some lake, whence they can be floated to the mill. This is called 

 letting a log-job, and the man who contracts to do the work is called 

 a jobber. In some places the contract is let by the thousand feet; in 

 the Adirondack* it is usually let by the standard. The agreement is 

 usually written in duplicate and signed by both parties. 



The jobber commences operations by the erection of his logging 

 camps, which are located on the tract in the most advantageous posi- 

 tions for removing the timber which is to be cut. The ""bodies" of 

 the camp are usually made of long logs, or sticks of timber rolled up 

 and "notched" at the corners to hold them firmly in place. The 

 cracks between the logs are firmly chinked with moss to keep out the 

 cold. The roof is usually constructed with small pole rafters, covered 

 with boards, these being covered with heavy tar paper. If the camp 

 is to be used for several seasons, they sometimes shingle it with a 

 cheap grade of shingles. A "tote'' road is cut through the woods 

 to the camp-site, over which the necessary boards, supplies, etc., 

 are hauled. Bunks, tables, and partitions are constructed of rough 

 boards. In early times no floors were laid, the earth being leveled off 

 for that purpose. At the present time nearly all camps have floors 

 made of boards or logs flattened. On the larger jobs the camps are 

 built to accommodate from 80 to 100 men. 



There is generally one large building, with an attic fitted up with 

 tiers of bunks for a sleeping room, the ground floor containing the 

 cook room and dining room combined, fitted up with long board tables 

 on which the meals are served. (PI. IX.) One end of this room 

 is partitioned off for a "men's room," where the crew sit evenings, 

 smoking, reading, singing, grinding their axes, telling stories, etc., 

 before climbing the ladder to their night's rest in the bunk room. 

 (PI. X.) In many Adirondack camps at present they have a man 

 cook, with an assistant known as the "cookee." But for many years 

 women have been employed in camps as cooks, hence the name "men's 

 room," for the crew are not allowed in the cook room except at meal 

 time. Another log building, one story only, serves as a barn for the 

 horses, and as a storehouse for the hay and oats. A blacksmith is an 

 indispensable man in a logging camp, so a log building of suitable 

 size is put up for his use, in which are a forge and all the tools for 

 shoeing horses, mending chains, and repairing sleds. In the larger 

 camps where a big job is being carried on, an additional building known 



