AND GAR DENE il'S JOURNAL. 





PUBLISHED m JOSEPH BUECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Akbicultural Warehouse.)- T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOIj. -W. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 24, 1837. 



NO. 46. 



jS>-<ssia<§wig>ir^iaii.iE.! 



(From the North American Review.) 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



fCuntmiiecI ) 



It was our intnntion to have suhmittefl, in this 

 place, a few itr.ictical hints on thesiihjert of plant- 

 ins. Uiit as coini)lete directions may be found in 

 books easily accessible, we have concluded father 

 to occupy the space with an account of the mode 

 in whicli the business of procuring timber and 

 boarils, commoidy cnlleu lumbering or logging, is 

 carried on in the principal timber regions in 

 Maine. This account was furiiislied us by a high- 

 ly intelligent friend residing in Bangor ; and we 

 trust may be interesting, from its own merit, as 

 ■well as from the impirtance of the branch of in- 

 dustry which it describes. 



" When a lumberer has concluded to log on a 

 particular tiact, the first step is to go with a ])art 

 of his hands, and select suitable situations for 

 building his camps. In making this selection, his 

 object is to be as near as possible to the best clumps 

 of timber he intends to haul, and to the streams in- 

 to which he intends to haul it. He then pro- 

 ceeds to build his camps, and to cut out and clear 

 out his principal roads. The camps are built of 

 logs, boi.ig a kind of log houses. They are made 

 about three feet high on one side and eight or 

 nine on the other, with a roof slanting one way. 

 The roof is made of shingles, split out of green 

 wood, and laid upon rafters. The door is made 

 of such boards as can be manufactured out of a 

 log v/ith an axe. Against the tallest side of the 

 camp is built the chimney ; the back being form- 

 ed by the wall of the camp, and the sides made 

 by green logs, piled up for jams, about eight feet 

 apart. The chimney seldom rises above the roof 

 of the camp ; though some, who are nice in their 

 architectural notions, sometimes carry it up two 

 or three feet higher. It is obvious, from the con- 

 struction, that nothing but the greenness of the 

 timber prevents the camp from being burnt u|) 

 itnmediately. Yet the great fires that are kept 

 up, make but little impression, in the course of 

 the winter, upon the back or sides of the chiin- 

 ney. A case, however, happened within a year 

 or two, where a camp took fire in the night, and 

 was consumed, and the lumberers in it were burnt 

 to death. Probably the shingle roof had become 

 dry, in which case a s|>ark would kindle it, and 

 the flames would spread over it in a moment." 



" Parallel to the lower side of the building, and 

 about six feet from it, a stick of timber runs on 

 the ground across the camp. The space between 

 this and the lower wall is appropriated to the bed- 

 ding ; the stick of timber serving to confine it in 

 its place. The bedding consists of a layer of 

 hemlock boughs spread upon the ground, and cov- 

 ered with such old ipiilts and blankets, as the ten- 

 ants can bring away from their homes. The men 

 camp down together, with their heads to the low- 

 er wall and their feet towards the fire. Before 

 going to bed, they replenish their fire ; some two 



or more of thein beiui; employed in putting on 

 such logs, as with their handspikes they can man- 

 age to pile into the chimney. As the walls of th-i 

 building are not very tight, the cool air plays free- 

 ly round the head of the sleeper, making a differ- 

 ence of temperature between the head atid the 

 feet not altogether agreeable to one unused to 

 sleep in camps. A ituigh bench and table com- 

 plete the furniture of the establishment. A camp 

 very similar, though not so large in diineusions, is 

 buiit lii'ar for the oxen. On the top of this the 

 hay is piled up, giving it some warmth, while it 

 is convenient for feeding. 



" A large logging concern will require a nutn- 

 ber of camps, which will be distributed over the 

 tract, so as best to accommodate the timber. One 

 camp serves generally for one or two team?. A 

 team, in ordinary logging parlance, expresses, not 

 oidy the set of four or six oxen tjiat draw the logs, 

 but likewise a gang of men employed to tend them. 

 It takes from three or four to seven or eight men, 

 to keep line team employed ; one man being em- 

 ployed in driving the cattle, and the others in cut- 

 ting down the trees, cutting them into logs, bark- 

 ing them, and cutting and clearing the way to 

 each tree. The number of hands required, de- 

 [lends upon the distance to be hauled inversely. 

 That is, most hands are requircii when tiie dis- 

 tance is shortest ; because the oxen, retiu-ning 

 more frequently, require their loads to be prepar- 

 ed more expeditiously. 



" Having built their camps, or while buihling 

 them, the main roads are co be cut out. These 

 run from the camps to the landing jdaces, or some 

 stream of sufficient size to float down the logs on 

 the spring freshet. Other roads are cut to other 

 clumps of timber. They are made by cutting and 

 clearing away the underbtush, and such trees and 

 old logs as may be in the way, to a sufficient 

 width for the team of oxen, with the bob sled and 

 timber on it, to pass conveniently. The bob sled 

 is tuade to carry one end of the timber only ; the 

 other drags upon the ground. And the bark is 

 chipped off, that the log may slip along more ea- 

 sily. 



" The teams proceed to the woods wtien the 

 first snows come, with the hands who are not al- 

 ready there, ami the supplies. The supplies con- 

 sist principally of pork and flour for the men, ami 

 Indian meal for the oxen. Some beans, tea, and 

 molasses, are added. Formerly, hogsheads of rum 

 were cujisidered indiT'pensable, and 1 have before 

 me a bill of suiiplies for a logging concern of 3 

 teams in 1827-28, in which I find one hundred 

 and eighty gallons of rimi charged. But of late, 

 very few respectable lundierers take any spirits 

 with them. And the logging business is conse- 

 quently carried on with much more method, econ- 

 omy and profit. The pork and fjour must be of 

 the best quality. Lumberei's are seldom content 

 to take any of an inferior sort ; and even novi , 

 when flour is twelve dollars a barrel, they are not 

 to be satisfied with the coarser bread stufls. 

 '" Hay is jirocured as near to the camps as pos- 



sible. But as most of the timber lands are re- 

 mote from settlctnents, it is generally necessary to 

 haul it a considerable distance. And as it inust 

 be purchased of the nearest settlers, they are ena- 

 bled to obtain very high [irices. From twelve to 

 twenty dollars per ton is usually paid. When 

 the expense of hauling it to the camp is added, 

 the whole cost is freqiKMitly as high as thirty dol- 

 lars a ton, and sometimes nuich higher. Owners 

 of timber lands at a distance from settlements, 

 may make a great saving, by clearing up a piece 

 of their land, and raising their own hay. 



"Some one of the hands, who has not so much 

 efficiency in getting timber, as skill in kneading 

 bread and frying pork, is appointed to the office 

 of cook. Salt pork, flour bread and tea, consti- 

 tute the regular routine of the meals, varied some- 

 times witii salt fish or salt beef. Potatoes are 

 used when they can be had. Now and then, per- 

 haps, when the snow is deej), they catch a deer 

 and live on venison. 



" The men are employed thrnugli the day, in 

 cutting the tiiTiber and driving the teams. In the 

 evening some take care of the oxen ; some cut 

 wood for the fire ; when they amuse themselves 

 with stories and singing, or in other ways, until 

 they feel inclined to turn in upon the universal 

 bed. On Sundays, the employer claims no con- 

 trol over their time, beyond taking care of the 

 cattle, the fire and the cooking. On this day, they 

 do their washing an<l mending; some employ 

 themselves besides, in seeking tindier and some 

 in hunting partridges; whilst some remain in the 

 cauqi and read the Bible. 



'• They remain in the woods from the com- 

 mencement of sledding, some time in December, 

 until some time in March; in the course of which 

 month, their labors are usually brought to a close, 

 either by the snow's gettijig too shallow, or too 

 deep. If there are heavy thaws, the snow runs 

 ofl^, not leaving enough to make good hauling. — 

 If, on the other hand, it gets to be four or five feet 

 deep, the oxen cannot break through it, to make 

 the path which it is necessary to form, in order 

 to get at each individual tree. Themeil'and teams 

 tlien leave the woods. Sometimes one or two re- 

 main, to be at hand when the streams open. I 

 know one, who last winter stayed by himself in 

 the woods, fifteen or twenty n)iles from the near- 

 est habitation, for the space of twentyeight days ; 

 during which time he earned $203 by getting in 

 timber with his axe alone, being allowed for it at 

 the same rate per thousand that the lumberers 

 vrere, in netting it in with their teams. He found 

 some' berths inthe banks of the stream, where all 

 that was necessary was to fell the tree so tliat it 

 should fall directly ujion the water, and there cut 

 it into logs to he ready for rimning. 



" When the streams are ojiened, and there is a 

 sufficient freshet to float the timber, anbtlier gang, 

 called ' river drivers,' take charge of it. It is their 

 business to start it from the banks, and follow it 

 down the river, clearing oft' what 1 ^dges against 

 rocks, pursuing and bringing back the sticks that 



