RIVER LIFE. 151 



Some twenty years since, these arrivals, and also those of the 

 river-drivers, w^ere characterized by a free indulgence in spir- 

 ituous liquors, and many drunken carousals. Grog-shops vi'ere 

 numerous, and the dominion of King Alcohol undisputed by the 

 masses. Liquor flowed as freely as the waters which bore their 

 logs to the mills. Hogsheads of rum were drunk or wasted in 

 the course of a few hours on some occasions, and excessive indul- 

 gence was the almost daily practice of the majority, even from 

 the time of their arrival in the spring until the commencement 

 of another winter's campaign. I speak now more particularly 

 of employees, though I calculate, as a Southerner would say, that 

 many of the employers in those days had experience enough to 

 tell good West India from New England rum. 



"In 1832, in a population not exceeding four hundred and 

 fifty or five hundred, on the St. Croix, three thousand five hund- 

 red gallons of ardent spirits were consumed." A distinguished 

 lumberman, whose opinion is above quoted, remarks further, "So 

 strong was the conviction that men could not work in the water 

 without 'spirits,' that I had great difficulty in employing the first 

 crew of men to drive on the river on temperance principles. 

 "When I made known my purpose to employ such a gang of men, 

 the answer almost invariably was, 'You may try, but, depend 

 upon it, the drive will never come down.' But old men, who 

 had been spurred on to exertion for thirty years by ardent spirits, 

 were forced to acknowledge, when they came down river, that 

 they had never succeeded so well before ; and learned, at that 

 late period, that the cause of their stiff" joints and premature old 

 age was not wholly on account of exposure to the cold and work 

 in the water, but the result of strong drink." 



It would be difficult to give an exaggerated sketch of the 

 drunken practices among loggers twenty-five years ago. I recol- 

 lect that matters were carried so far at Milltown, that the log- 

 gers would arrest passers-by, take them by force, bring them into 



