REDWOOD LUMBERING. 37 



with provisions than any other class of workmen. The lar- 

 der is never short of the best flour, butter, coffee, tea and 

 dried fruits, besides canned goods of every description. 

 Millmen, or logging contractors in the redwoods, are pro- 

 verbial for their liberality in supplying their crews in camp. 

 Fresh beef by the quarter or half, and sheep by the carcass, 

 are forwarded from supply centers, as often as required to 

 keep the assortment in good form. The cook, being amply 

 supplied with the wherewithal to satisfy the hunger of his 

 crew and who ever lived in the woods a week that was not 

 ravenous, if healthy ? loads the tables down without stint. If 

 he were to furnish a scant supply of anything, he is reminded 

 of his failing by mutterings not to be misunderstood. His 

 reputation as oracle, he finds at once is in the balance. His 

 theological, historical, musical and political averments 

 seem likely to fall upon ears that will not hear, and he secret- 

 ly declares that the proprietor's larder shall not lower him in 

 the estimation of the crew. 



A scantily supplied table in the logging camp is, there- 

 fore, an event beyond the control of the cook, subsequent to 

 his complete initiation into the mysteries of life in the red- 

 woods. Without exaggeration, we may say that very few 

 hotels making no pretensions to style either in the larger 

 towns or at summer resorts, set a better table than is found 

 at the logging camps and sawmills of our lumbermen. 



To be sure, napkins and finger-bowls cut no figure in 

 our logging cook's department, nor is a formal change of 

 crockery thought indispensable at the end of every course; nor 

 are remarks passed should Bill, or Tom, or Reuben eat baked 



