168 Work in the Woods 



as a city sprinkler, but it looks very much like 

 one of them on runners. The runners are bent 

 up at each end, and the road sprinkler may be 

 hauled in either direction by the horses without 

 turning it around. The men fill the sprink- 

 ler with pails of water from some nearby lake or 

 river. Then they drive back over the snow road 

 through the woods. The water is turned on and 

 soon freezes solid. It is so easy for the horses to 

 draw large loads of logs over such hard, icy roads 

 that in some places where the road goes down hill, 

 straw is scattered to check the speed of the sleds. 

 At the skidway the logs are rolled upon great 

 sleds drawn by horses. Thirty or forty logs often 

 make a load, and from the skidway they go to 

 the "yard" or "log landing" on the high bank of 

 a river not far away. Here each log is deeply 

 branded on one end by striking into it a heavy 

 iron hammer which carries in raised letters the 

 initials or private mark of the men who own 

 the logs. The river is covered with ice from shore 

 to shore, and the logs are left there in piles to 

 wait for warmer weather. 



