HARVESTING THE FOREST CROP 127 



phantom canoe, and many other tales are told common 

 to the north country. After an hour or so of yarn 

 spinning and an evening pipe, the crowd turns in to a 

 dreamless sleep upon their balsam beds. 



"Driving" the Eiver. Throughout a large part of 

 the spruce country, lakes and rivers are found which 

 make transportation of any timber that floats compara- 

 tively easy. Spruce and pine in any condition and 

 poplar and hemlock after barking will float, hence these 

 species are capable of water transportation. During 

 the hauling season while the snow is on the ground, the 

 logs are hauled to the edge of streams or piled upon 

 the ice of the lake; when the ice melts in the spring 

 the logs sink into the water, or if upon the river bank 

 are rolled in, each log, however, being first measured 

 and stamped with a distinguishing mark. The logs then 

 float upon the spring freshets down through the brook, 

 past the rapids on their way to the sorting boom at the 

 mill. 



The most skillful rivermen are selected from the 

 entire logging crew, and upon these men in charge of 

 the driving boss falls the duty of getting the winter's 

 cut to the mill town far down the river. Driving the 

 river is hard work under high pressure, as the water 

 may subside any day and consequently long hours of 

 labor are the rule. A crew of river drivers equipped 

 for the job, attired in rough clothes, their trousers 

 "stagged," or cut off below the knee, feet encased in 

 heavy woolen socks, stuck into boots, the soles of which 

 are spiked or "calked," make a picturesque and strik- 

 ing sight. Their duty is to keep the logs forever on 

 the move. "When the current carries the logs ashore, 

 with cant-hook and pike-pole they will force them back 

 into the stream again, and time and again will rush 



