Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 211, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 September 1912 — Passing of the Lumberjack [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Passing of the Lumberjack

EVERY frontier region has its peculiar characters. On the plains the cowboys; in the mining regions, the miners; and in the timber regions, the lumber jack. While the work of the lumber jack is not so spectacular as the “round up” and "broncho busting” of the cowboy, he is an interesting and picturesque character who is rapidly disappearing with the vanishing of our forests. In the time of his glory he is the fellow well met who has labored all winter in a lumber camP» saved „a few hundred dollars, gone to the city in the spring and perhaps in less than 48 hours after landing is minus his roll of bills and has nothing to show for it except a headache and a very indistinct recollection how he came by that. With the lumber jack will go the lumber camp, the camp “cook,” the “flunkey,” the “boss” and other worthies. From Michigan to the Paeiflc coast are found the lumber camps, employing at reasons of the year thousands of men. These lumber camps, small communities in themselves, have their unwritten laws and regulations, differing more or less in the several states. A few years ago the writer with a crew of men was sent out early one fall to a lumber camp to cut basswood for a bedding firm. The cook with a few of the lumber jacks had remained in camp during the summer to load logs, hut all the formal customs of the camp were preserved. We looked upon this excursion into the woods for the purpose of cutting wood as a sort of late summer vacation, and were accordingly in high spirits. When the horn blew for the first meal we rushed boisterously into the cook’s shanty and seating ourselves at the table began to talk and joke. The lumber jacks looked at us with a sort of awe and then glanced at the cook.

Cook’s Commands Obeyed.'

“No talking at the table,” the cook fiercely called out as 'he glared upon us. This command, £6 sudden and unusual, was strictly obeyed during the meal. At first we took it to be a rebuke for our noisy way of entering the cook shanty, but after the meal was ovelr we were informed that talking at the table was a serious breach of the regulations and that we had better abide by the rtoie. The privileged character in camxf'ls the cook. Within his domain his authority is supreme., -The saying that the way to reach a man’s heart is through his stomach holds good in the lumber camp, and a cook can make or mar the efficiency of a crew of men by the quality of his cooking. In Wisconsin and certain parts of Minnesota the lumber jacks enter the v ‘gook shanty” at meal times with a sort of reverence. Next to the “boss’ shanty,” it is the holy of holies. When the door is reached all conversation ceases and the men silently file in and take their planes. The head of the table is always reserved for the boss. Not a word is spoken at meal time, except when victuals are asked for. Meal time, instead of being a social hour as it is in society, is with the lumber jacks a time of silence, if not of meditation. The origin of this rule has been variously explained. The most plausible explanation is that the lumber jacks might inadvertently drop some remark reflecting upon the cooking, and thus insult the dignity' of the cook. 's i In Washington, at least in some of the camps, no etch rule exists. At meal time the men indulge in all kinds of railleries, not even excepting the cock. / Where They Sleep. - In all camps the meal hours are announced by blowing a horn, or, more generally, by striking a large triangle made'Pspecially for this purpose. At the signal the camp swarms with men rushing from the bunk houses to the eook shanty. * The lumber jacks sleep In bunk houses. During the evening they sit along their bunks smoking and con-

versing. ’ Sometimes a boxing or wrestling match is arranged. By nine o’clock all lights are out and the man who has the temerity to keep his light burning after that hour will be lucky if some boots or socks do not find their way in his direction. The bunk houses are sometimes models of cleanliness, but the lumber jack is like average humanity and if no external influence is broi/ght to bear upon him he does not make much of an efTort to keep himself clean. Unless the management makes rules or the flunkey carefully attends to his duties in keeping things clean, the bunk houses are apt to become filthy. Sunday is wash day, and if a stream or river is at hand the lumber jacks can be seen lined up along the bank “boiling up.” In this operation they violate the rules of the house wife when she does her laundry. Instead of rubbing the clothes and trying to 'ree them from dirt first they boil them at once. The result is that hough the clothes may be clean, they certainly do not look it. Bolling the clothes has at least one good effect. r t annihilates any vermin that may :>e in them. When spring comes and the snow iisappears the camp breaks up. Woe .0 the town that in the early flays vas located near a lumber camp. The umber jacks released from all restraint, swooped down upon the town and it was a wild time for a while. With the advent of civilization and law and order these raids of the lumber jack have become a thing of the past. Time has had its mollifying influence upon the lumber jack, seasoning him and making him more law abiding, but he is still to a great extent the free, shiftless being who, when he comes to the .city, Is the victim of the saloon keeper and the crook.

LOGS IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN