The Ranger Boys Outwit the Timber Thieves

by Claude A. LaBelle

Following the falling of the timber, the trimmers begin their work. Starting at the base end of the tree, one on each side, they walk up the sides of the fallen monarch of the forest, and trim the branches off as far as they are able. Many of the branches on the under side of the tree are broken in the fall, others are only splintered and many of them are just bent. A dozen men then seize their peavy sticks, as they are called in Maine, or cant dogs in some other places where lumbering is done, and roll the tree over. A peavy stick is a heavy pole about six feet long, with a sharp iron point at the end. About a foot from this point is attached a loose curved iron arm very much like one side of an ice-man’s tongs. This swings back and forth from the handle. The men prod the iron point into the trunk of the tree, and then catch the swinging end of the hook into the trunk. This gives them almost a handle to the tree, and the long pole furnishes them the necessary leverage. At a word from the man on the end, all give a mighty heave, and the tree is rolled over, when the remaining branches are lopped off.

The lumberjacks are experts in the use of the peavy stick, and it is a pretty sight to see them load a great trunk onto a flat car to be drawn away. The method is almost the same as that used in turning over a trunk,—only just half of the men fix their sticks. They give it half a turn and then hold it in position on the skids, while the other half get a grip and start turning. In this way, turn and turn about, they roll the log right up the skids and onto the car.

In this instance the trunks were not hauled to the mill on a car; a chain was attached instead, and then one of the baby tractors was used to drag it over the ground to the mill. There were a half a dozen of these tractors at the camp. Three were constantly employed in dragging the cut timber to the mill, while the other three were used to draw the flat cars to the railroad tracks, a half a dozen miles from the camp.

After watching the felling of several trees, the boys essayed trimming, and while they were by no means unskillful at it, caused many a laugh among the men because of the time they took. Whereas they often took two or three strokes to take off a branch, the skilled woodsmen with one swift, clean cut, lopped off a good thick branch.

The boys took their chaffing good naturedly and thereby won a lot of regard from the jacks, many of whom were ready to sneer at “city chaps.”

From the timbering they went to the sawmill. Here they found a busy whir of activity. Logs were rolled onto the carriage and sent down the plane, while the great circular saw bit its way through the length of the tree like a hot knife through a pat of butter.

The carriage then runs back to where it started, while a mechanical device shoves the log sideways as many inches as is desired and the carriage starts on its journey again. This is done until the log has been “sliced into planks.” These are then piled on one side, waiting for the flat cars to be loaded and hauled away by the tractor.

This operation that has been described entails more labor than the winter logging, for then the trees are simply cut and rolled to one side of the river. This continues throughout the winter until the cutting has been complete and then they wait for the ice to go out. As soon as the ice breaks up, the logs are tumbled into the river and floated down the stream. For days they float down the river to the mills below, which are always located on the river banks, and here they are ground up and made into pulp from which paper is later manufactured.

The logs are distinguished one from another when they reach their journey’s end by branding, much as the horses that roam the feeding places in the West are known by their brand. Every lumberman has his mark, and a gash is made at one end of the log, and on this is made the mark.

For example, Garry’s father had his mark AB, which stood for his initials. In this instance it was not necessary to brand the lumber, for it all came from the same cutting and was transported directly to the same destination.