130 THE BOOK OF FORESTRY 
This was the life of the drive, but the day of the 
‘Cwhite water boys’’ is passing with the increasing use 
of railroads in lumbering. Hard work, long hours of 
toil, clothes continually soaked, with a big celebration in 
the mill town to mark the end of the drive—this was 
the life of the typical river driver. Tricks may be 
played upon the ‘‘drive,’’ as well as in the camp, and 
woe betide the ‘‘jumper’’ for he will more than likely 
wear soaked clothes most of the time.* 
When the logs have reached their destination, their 
course is checked by a huge boom, or string of logs 
stretched across the river. From the sorting boom, 
the logs are allowed to escape one at a time, and they 
are grouped according to the marks which they bear. 
All of the logs containing the same mark are stored in 
the same boom or pocket to await the need of the mill 
for which they are intended. 
Cypress Logging—In the cypress swamps of the South 
a different kind of logging is practiced. Cypress, for 
the most part, grows upon land which is submerged for 
a large portion of the year. This ground makes poor 
footing and hence horses or oxen can rarely be used, as 
the ground is too soft. Consequently a type of logging 
known as the ‘‘pull-boat system’’ has been devised. 
Canals are cut through the swamp at strategic points. 
A pull-boat, a large flat-bottom scow, equipped with a 
huge engine and drum for winding up a long steel cable, 
is towed to the point where logging is to commence. The 
1A ‘‘jumper,’’ a nervous fellow who jumps or obeys any 
sharp command shouted unexpectedly in his ear. A story is told 
of a jumping French Canadian who was proudly carrying his 
baby home from the christening. One of his friends, knowing 
Baptiste’s failing, stole up behind him, slapped him sharply on 
the back and shouted in his ear, ‘‘Throw it!’’ Without an 
instant’s hesitation he threw the baby into the snowbank. 
