156 RIVER LIFE. 



ble of floating large logs, with the occasional assistance of a 

 dam to flow shoal places. 



In brook-driving it is necessary to begin early, in order to get 

 the logs into the more ample current of the main river while the 

 freshet is yet up. In some cases, therefore, as a necessary step, 

 the ice in the channel of the brook is cut out, opening a passage 

 of sufficient width to allow three or four logs to float side by side. 

 In forming a landing on the margin of such streams, the trees 

 and bushes are cut and cleared out of the way for several rods 

 back, and a considerable distance up and down, according to the 

 number of logs to be hauled into it. To facilitate the sawing of 

 the logs into suitable lengths for driving, as well as more espe- 

 cially to form bed-pieces upon which to roll them into the brook 

 in the spring, a great many skids are cut and laid parallel with 

 each other, running at right angles to the margin of the stream. 

 On these landings, in the spring, the water is from one to two 

 feet deep, the cause of which is sometimes accounted for from the 

 fact that in the autumn the water is quite low, and the ice, in 

 forming, is attached to the grass and bushes, which prevent it 

 from rising ; the result is, that the whole is overflowed in the 

 spring. Into the channel thus cut the logs are rolled, as fast as 

 it can be cleared, by shoving those already in down stream, until 

 the brook, for a mile or more, is filled with new and beautiful logs. 



No part of the driving business is so trying to the constitution, 

 perhaps, as clearing such a landing. It often occupies a week, 

 during which all hands are in the water, in depth from the ankle 

 to the hips, exerting themselves to the utmost, lifting with heavy 

 pries, hand-spikes, and cant-dogs, to roll these massive sticks into 

 the brook channel. The water at this season is extremely chilly, 

 so much so that a few moments' exposure deprives the feet and 

 legs of nearly all feeling, and the individual of power to move 

 them, so that it often becomes necessary to assist each other to 

 climb upon a log, where a process of thumping, rubbing, and 



