FOREST AND STREAM. 
939 
Dec. 15, 1906.] 
A BLACKSMITH SHOP AND CAMP IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 
double mold-board which takes the snow from 
'the middle of the road and throws it outside the 
sled runners on each side. Outside the runners 
of the rear sled is a massive single plow on each 
side which throws the snow still further. All 
these plows have adjustable gearing so they can 
be raised or lowered at will. The plan is to 
scrape down to the ice. _ At 'the rear of the 
second sled long wings with steel blades on the 
bottom are attached and' set at an angle to throw 
the snow still further aside. Twelve horses to 
draw it make this huge machine effective in mak¬ 
ing a road twenty feet wide. Snow is never 
allowed to accumulate on the roadbed. It 
would be dangerous—for a runner cutting off the 
soft snow could not be drawn back and the load 
would capsize. It is cheaper to have and use 
the plow, although it cost $250. Where a hill 
is encountered down which the heavy load would 
crowd the team unduly, the roadbed is covered 
with swamp hay or straw brought into the woods 
for that purpose. A few winters ago elk ate 
the straw on a certain hill near Blue Mt. Lake 
greatly 'to the annoyance of the lumbermen. 
Residents said the elk were a familiar sight on 
the lake that winter. The next summer they 
were frequently seen in a pasture with cattle. 
But they have disappeared from that section. 
In drawing logs to water they are piled either 
.on the ice SO' that its melting will leave them in 
the water, or on the bank where they can be 
easily rolled into the stream. As the snow and 
ice melt in the spring the current carries the logs 
on toward their destination. The opening of 
dams increases the flood, and in their wild toss¬ 
ing about over and against jagged rocks it would 
seem almost as though mills were not necessary 
to reduce the logs to pulp. * In this, spring work 
is- the most dangerous part of the lumberman’s 
occupation. ‘‘River driving”, is constantly beset 
with dangers, but no one is a past master in lum¬ 
bering till he has “been through it all.” To do 
all this requires manly elements of character to 
be respected, wherever found. The writer knows 
personally many lumbermen who are in every 
way manly and worthy of respect. Nothing in 
this article is to be construed as a reflection upon 
them or their work. They are making an honest 
living for themselves and their families. -But the 
place for such large and systematic lumber 
operations, despoiling the forest of evergreens and 
injuring much of the deciduous growth, destroy¬ 
ing trees and vegetation of all kinds over large 
areas along the borders of streams and ponds 
flooded by means of lumber dams, is certainly 
not within the limits, of the Adirondack park. 
The writer thinks it should not be anywhere in 
the Adirondacks, the great health and pleasure 
resort of the people, and that the sooner the 
State obtains control within the park boundaries, 
stops the lumbering altogether, and absolutely 
prevents the building of dams whether for lum¬ 
bering or for generating electric power,' the 
better for the State and all its citizens. The 
value of the Adirondacks'cannot be estimated in 
dollars and cents, but consists rather in Health¬ 
fulness and beauty. Let them not by any,means 
be destroyed. Juvenal. 
THE ADIRONDACKS. 
Lumbering in the Adirondacks. 
The recent announcement by Commissioner 
Whipple of the purchase of some 26,000 acres of 
forest land in Hamilton county for the Adiron¬ 
dack Park is of important interest to every citizen 
of the State. The tract purchased is in township 
34 and 19 and involves one of the most important 
watersheds. Blue Mt. Lake is practically (he 
headwaters of the Raquette River system which 
constitutes the outflow for Eagle, Utowana, Ra¬ 
quette, Long and Tupper lakes, besides smaller 
lakes and ponds almost without number. All this 
water flows to the St. Lawrence. But less than 
a mile east from Blue Mt. Lake is .Rock River 
giving outlet to many ponds and small lakes, 
draining a large forest area, and finding its way 
via Cedar River into the Hudson. This system 
is one of the most important feeders of the Hud¬ 
son, and the land purchased includes much of 
the headwaters of this system. Hence the im¬ 
portance of this purchase as affecting future 
water supply and welfare of the State. But be- 
• cause of these water connections and facilities 
the region in question has long been a favorite 
with lumbermen. Impounding the abundant 
waters by means of dams strategically placed it 
has been easy to create a flood, and to “drive” 
the logs to the great, mills at Glens Falls or 
wherever wanted. In the old days they were 
logs and intended for lumber—now, alas, they are 
largely poles and intended for pulp. 
During the summer of 1906 the writer 
visited a lumber camp in active operation. In 
going he passed the ruins of one used thirty-three 
years ago. Many such ruins are in the region 
named. It is full of old lumber roads showing 
the completeness with which the ground was 
covered years ago. Some talk of virgin forest 
in the Adirondacks. I't may be there, but the 
writer has not seen any, and in twenty-five years 
he has seen considerable of the woods. But as 
to the smallness of the cuts now being taken. 
Numerous piles of logs showed but too plainly 
what was going on. The manager of the camp 
visited remarked: “I have about 9,000 markets 
already piled.” “Well,”- said the writer, “how 
many piqces does it take to make a market?” 
“Oh, about four to one.” Now a “market” is 
a log thirteen feet long and nine inches in 
diameter or its equivalent. In the old days noth¬ 
ing. was cut under ten inches in diameter. This 
maintained the forest in some degree and per¬ 
mitted another crop. But the present “four to 
one” method means that instead of timber the 
lumbermen are cutting poles of only about five 
inches average diameter. The pulp mill wants 
it all. What the detriment to the forest and to 
the vv a ' ,er supply needs no argument to those 
knowing anything about the subject. Yet this 
jobber at the camp and his men were not to 
blame. They were only carrying out orders. A 
big company had bought all these trees standing 
on thousands of' acres and was simoly getting 
possession of its property. The same process is 
going on in other sectipns of the Adirondacks 
and the State cannot too rapidly push the acqui¬ 
sition of forest lands within the boundaries of 
the park. 
The grave danger of forest depletion of 
evergreens will be better understood by consider¬ 
ing the energy and system with which lumbering 
operations are conducted. A jobber contracts to 
deliver so many thousand “markets” to water— 
i. e., where the logs can be rolled into a Stream 
at flood and floated or driven to mill. He then 
builds a substantial log house in the woods where 
he is to operate, and where it will best accom¬ 
modate his men and the getting in of supplies.. 
(The house shown in the picture will accommo¬ 
date thirty to forty men. A woman does the 
cooking and they live well. The men all sleep 
in one large-room upstairs and have wire spring 
beds and mattresses to sleep on. A woodshed, a 
storehouse for grain, two barns with capacity for 
twenty-four horses, and a blacksmith shop for 
shoeing horses, mending sleds, repairing tools, 
etc., complete the camp.) In the early summer 
—sometimes in May—the jobber takes his men 
into camp. Most of the trees are cut down w’ith 
a crosscut saw, as 'this is much quicker and easier 
than with an ax. Then they are cut into lengths 
of thirteen feet and piled upon “skidways.” 
Horses drag the cuts to the piling places, and the 
piles include hundreds of pieces. Roads are cu't 
from the piles to the main road which is to be 
used for the winter drawing. The men are 
divided into sawyers, trimmers, roadmen, team¬ 
sters, skidmen, etc., according to adaptation and 
proficiency. So the season passes, and with the 
coming of snow, preparation is made for hauling 
the season’s cut to water. Where the haul is 
several miles only two trips per day can be made. 
In any case the day's work begins long before 
light and is quite liable to end long after dark. 
It is no small thing to load 75 to 125 pieces on 
a wide and heavy traverse sled and keep that 
load right side up to the place of delivery. The 
road must be in first class condition. To insure 
this a regular system is adopted. Huge tanks 
are constructed on sleds, to water the road its 
entire length that ice may form and render draw¬ 
ing easy. As snow falls it is scraped off the icy 
road bed and thrown out on either side by a 
mammoth plow specially constructed for this pur¬ 
pose. It consists of two short sleds one behind 
the other, each fitted with massive steel plows as 
follows: The forward sled has a plow with a 
A LUMBER DAM IN 
