LAKING 



633 



Turning Out Logs 



boom pressed by the rising wind had 

 parted the great cables link from link, 

 and what we saw were the exultant 

 logs, now running upon the flood 

 spreading out fan shape in their new- 

 found freedom. 



It was a desperate emergency, and 

 one chance alone remained, to pocket 

 the oncoming mass in our surrounding 

 boom, behind the nearest point of land. 

 The Captain ran to his wheel, and with 

 reversing engines made for the shore. 

 The wind had grown until now, dancing 

 white over the blue waves, the foam 

 flew from crest to crest of long rolling 

 billows and gathered in irregular streaks 

 across the tumultous water, and the 

 oncoming logs leaped as if they were 

 alive, and raced with the wind and their 

 fellows down upon our slender barrier. 

 We were not a moment too soon. With 

 a celerity that eclipsed all their other 

 efforts, the crew made a shore hitch of 

 one end of our surrounding boom, 

 around a few big trees, and the Captain 

 threw both anchors. Strained and tense 

 all hands gathered on deck to await the 

 outcome, and speculate in doubtful 

 tones the chances of our anchors hold- 

 ing; while in the boiler-room the stoker 

 busilv labored to feed the ravenous 



furnaces, and the fat cook, indifferent 

 to all the fortunes of war, methodically 

 set his tables in the galley ahead for 

 the noonday meal, for the hours had 

 flown by unnoticed in the excitement, 

 and the sun had risen high with the 

 wind. The hemp hawser creaked and 

 groaned over our stern post, and from 

 time to time the Captain sighted 

 across the pilot house to note any drag 

 of the anchors. On shore the waving 

 tops of two mighty trees showed where 

 the strain bore heaviest, and the whole 

 field before us churned restlessly in 

 undulating waves. 



As the irresponsible will of the 

 elements were here opposed by the 

 modern force of appliance and inven- 

 tion, a short account of the adaptation 

 of modern methods to overcome ancient 

 impossibilities may be of interest to the 

 reader. For many years the older 

 methods of winding in against an 

 anchor by hand, on what was called 

 headworks, had deterred all attempts 

 to exploit the vast bodies of timber 

 lying beyond these lakes, for time and 

 again a heavy loss had followed upon 

 almost inevitable disaster. The old 

 method had been to construct a large 

 raft called a headworks, equipped with 



