The Log Drive 171 



ably be drowned. But this seldom happens. They 

 wear heavy boots with spiked soles, and are 

 quick and active at riding the tumbling logs. 



The logs are now coming to the rapids "white 

 water," the Indians called them, because of the 

 white spray that is dashed up by the rocks. The 

 logs fly along faster than ever. All at once one 

 of them catches on a rock; others catch on that; 

 soon they fill the stream. River men call this a 

 "log jam." In the river, all is blocked from shore 

 to shore. Behind come thousands of logs with 

 the swift current of the stream. They leap and 

 toss about as the angry river forces them on. 



A good driver jumps out on the jam. "A white 

 water man," the others call him, for he is braver 

 and more experienced than they. In a mo- 

 ment he has found the "key" log, the one that 

 is holding the others back. He loosens it with 

 his peavey. The whole mass begins to grind 

 away and move on downstream. The driver 

 turns toward the shore, running for his life from 

 log to log. If he should fall among them he would 

 be crushed to death. But he reaches the shore 

 in safety, and the logs float swiftly forward on 

 their last journey. Some jams are not so easily 



