Western Montana has its camps on the tree-covered mountain slopes. Idaho computes its timbered acres at ten millions. Timber is one of the principal resources of the State of Washington. The western slopes of the Cascades are heavily wooded with fir and on the eastern side blue and yellow pine predominate. Oregon is proud of its pine forests, the density of the woods is inviting to industry and solitude. The Douglas spruce has made this State a world-famous mart for masts and spars. California is the home of the redwood, and all the world reads of its mammoths of the forest; but in the northern part of the State pine, oak and fir lure the lumber companies, and there the lumberjacks are calling for services.
Southwest of Minnesota the numerous camps of the timbered Black Hills catch the eye, then come the sixteen million mountain acres of forest land in the neighboring State of Wyoming, and an almost equal stretch in Colorado. Missouri is also well wooded, in all except the northern and western parts, and the State of Arkansas has twenty-five million acres of timber wealth. Louisiana has more than half of the timber acreage of Arkansas. The State of Texas does not count its wooded lands by acres; it presents the figures of sixty-four thousand square miles.
The possibilities of this evangelistic work are noticeable in the above sketch of the western and southern forests. Where the lumber is to be obtained, there are the lumber camps and the lumberjacks. The surroundings of the men are much the same as in Minnesota, with the restraints of civilization removed and the agents of viciousness always at hand. The foresters present a picture at which the angels weep and the devils are joyful.
Lumbering has been a prominent industry for many years in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and it will continue to play a large part in the industry of these States for twenty years to come. In such States the camps are large, grouped and accessible therefore the mission work can be done with greater ease and economy than in the older States of the east where the lumbercamps are far apart and small. In the west a camp chaplain can serve as high as fifteen camps, giving them each a service at least twice a month.
Seventy-five dollars a month will support a chaplain. Since the logging season is short, in Minnesota about five and a half months, it will be seen that a large amount of good can be accomplished at a small expenditure. A chaplain will preach to from sixty to one hundred and sixty men every night in the week and on Sunday perhaps preach in three different camps. He is the representative of spiritual truths to from six hundred to one thousand men. Where, at so little cost, are the possibilities of good so great? Where are these camp preachers to be obtained? "I believe that God will call to this work the men of the pineries rather than the men of the seminaries," said the Rev. F. E. Higgins. This has been so in the past. The men who are converted in the camps are equipped with a knowledge of conditions through experience, and where mental and spiritual ability are present they can do excellent work.
Several of the successful workers in the camp mission were once lumberjacks. Mr. Fred Davis, who, since the promotion of Mr. Higgins, is superintendent of the Minnesota work, was at one time a lumberjack. Mr. Davis refused an excellent business position in order to spend his life reaching the foresters.
Another worker is Mr. L. C. Michells, a former cruiser and estimator. Mr. Michells is not only a strong preacher, but is physically able to care for himself when opposition is presented,—to this the ex-mayor of a lumber town can testify to his sorrow, as can others who saw the fallen political boss hauled home on a dray after the encounter with right and might. At the time of writing, Mr. Michells is preaching in the camps of Washington.
God is raising up men. Will the Christian church raise the means?
Through the work done in Minnesota and Wisconsin an introduction has been secured to all the Western States; the timber lands of the west are owned largely by the firms who have exploited the woods adjacent to the Great Lakes, and these companies know the good accomplished here, hence a ready welcome is given to the missionary going to more western fields. The lumberjacks are naturally wanderers and in the camps of the Pacific slopes the Minnesota and Wisconsin woodsmen are already there to give the chaplains welcome. Mr. Higgins tells of preaching in a town on the Tacoma Eastern Railway in Washington:
"In one town where no religious organization was at work, I held services in a dance hall, and seventy-five persons were present, sixty of whom were loggers. After the service two lumberjacks came up to me and said: 'Hello, Pilot, don't you know us? We're a couple of your Minnesota boys. Don't you remember preaching in the Clearwater Camps on 'The Chances a Fellow Has if He'll Take Them?' Well, we broke away from the gang, came out here, have saved our money, and are the ones who rustled the crowd for you tonight.'