[CHAPTER IX.]
THE FIELD AND ITS POSSIBILITIES.
The Evangelistic Committee of the Presbyterian Church has been active in the logging camp work since 1902, when it first sent missionaries to preach in the camps of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The first missionaries it appointed to this work were Rev. Jos. Oliver Buswell and Rev. F. E. Higgins, the former taking the work in Wisconsin and the latter in Minnesota. Both these men had been carrying on private work in the camps near their pastorates. Prior to 1907 the work was largely experimental and on a small scale, but in the summer of the above-named year a strong sub-committee of the Evangelistic committee took charge of the logging camp mission work and an aggressive campaign was inaugurated.
In the foregoing pages of this little volume we have considered the work in Minnesota exclusively and presented only the part which came directly under the hand of Mr. Higgins: now we desire to give a brief view of a more extended field.
The sub-committee known as the Lumberman's Evangelistic Council is composed of men who are individually interested in this work. They are prominent lumbermen or well-known ministers, as the personnel of the committee shows:
- Mr. W. A. Holt, Oconto, Wis.
- Mr. Arthur D. Wheeler, Chicago, Ill.
- Mr. C. A. Barton, Minneapolis, Minn.
- Mr. E. T. Buxton, Duluth, Minn.
- Dr. J. M. Gray, Chicago, Ill.
- Dr. W. O. Carrier, Waukesha, Wis.
- Mr. Dewitt Van Ostrand, Philips, Wis.
- Dr. J. Beveridge Lee, Chicago, Ill.
- Dr. W. J. Darby, Evansville, Ind.
The officers of the council are:
- Hon. Hugh H. Hanna, Chairman, Indianapolis, Ind.
- Mr. J. E. Defebaugh, Vice Chairman, Chicago, Ill.
- Dr. P. E. Zartman, Secretary and Treasurer, Winona Lake, Ind.
- Rev. F. E. Higgins, Superintendent of Camp Work, Rockford, Minn.
- Rev. J. O. Buswell, General Superintendent, Lumber Exchange, Minneapolis, Minn.