09

A LUMBER CAMP

1. There is no summer in a Canadian lumber camp; at any rate, there is nobody in the camp in summer, which amounts to the same thing.The season of activity in the camps, or the “shanties” as they are generally called, extends from late September to early April. Let us follow a gang that is going upon a “limit ” still untouched by the axe, far up the Black River, a tributary of the Ottawa, a hundred miles or more from the nearest village. This gang consists of about forty men, including the foreman, clerk, carpenter, cook, and chore-boy, all active, sturdy, and good-natured fellows.

2. Scouts have previously selected the best site for the camp. On arriving, the first thing done by thegang is to build the shanty, which is to be their home during the long, cold winter. This is the way they go about it: —First of all, a number of trees are cut down. The trunks, cleared of all their branches and roughly squared, are sawed into the proper lengths, and are then laid one upon another until an enclosure is made, with walls eight feet high. Upon the top of these walls strong beams are laid, which are supported in the centre by four great pillars. Then comes the roof.

3. A floor of roughly-flattened timbers having been laid, and a door cut, it only remains to construct the “camboose, ” or fireplace, and the bunks. A bank of sand about two feet deep and six feet square makes the hearth. Over it extend the two wooden cranes that support the capacious kettles. A mighty fire roars and crackles unceasingly upon the hearth, its smoke escaping through a square hole in the roof—a hole so big that one may lie in the bunks and study the stars. The bunks are sloping platforms about seven feet in length, running along three sides of the room.

4. The forty men are divided according to the nature of their work. The clerk, cook, and chore-boy are the “home-guard.” The others, according to their various abilities, are choppers, road-cutters, teamsters , sawyers, and chainers. The only duty requiring explanation is that of chore-boy. He is the cook´s assistant, and general servant of the shanty. He has to chop the firewood, draw the water, wash the dishes, and perform a multitude of such odd jobs, in return for which he is apt to get little thanks and much abuse.

LUMBERING

5. The choppers have the most important and interesting part of the work. They always work in pairs, and go out armed with a keen axe apiece and a cross-cut saw between them. Having selected their victim—say a splendid pine, towering more than a hundred feet in the air—they take up their position at opposite sides of it. Soon the strokes of the axes ring out in quick succession. For some time the yellow chips fly fast, and presently a shiver runs through the tree´s mighty frame. One of the choppers cries warningly to the other, who hastens to get out of the way. A few more strokes are given with nice skill. Then comes a rending crack, and the stately tree, after quivering a moment as if uncertain which way to fall, crashes headlong to the ground.

6. The shantyman leads a free, hearty, healthy life. From dawn until dark he works in the open air, exercising lungs and muscles. His fare is substantial in quality and unlimited in quantity. When the day´s work is over, and he trudges home to the shanty, he finds the warm welcome of a steaming supper awaiting him. This usually consists of a pot of excellent pea-soup, a boiler of strong tea, a big pan full of fat pork, fried and floating in gravy, another pan containing slices of coldboiled pork, and huge loaves of bread baked in great iron pots buried deep in the ashes of the “camboose, ” better than city baker ever made.

7. There is not much change in the bill of fare all winter. Occasionally, perhaps, if the roads permit, fresh beef “on foot” will be sent up, and the lumber-men may enjoy the luxury of steak and roast. Often game will fall in their way while they are working in the woods. Great is the rejoicing when they succeed in bringing down a fat deer. Bear-steak, too, is not unknown.

8. After supper, the shantyman has an hour or more before bed-time.The French-Canadians are especially fond of singing, and many of their songs are full of spirit and beauty. By nine o´clock, at the latest, all have “turned in.” The process of going to bed consists simply in taking off one´s coat and boots, and rolling up snugly in a couple of thick blankets. In the dusk of early morning the foreman´s loud voice is heard calling to the men, “Turn out now, and get your breakfast!” The lumberman has been asleep ten good hours, but he feels as if he had just lain down!

— J. M. OXLEY

WORD SPELLING

WORD EXERCISE

1. Make sentences showing the use of the words tribute, tributary, and attribute, and explain the connection between them.

2. Explain in what sense the word timbers may be used in the plural, and when it may not.

3. Give a list of nouns ending in -ster, as teamster, with meanings.