efective, and
the whole load "squash out" with a rush. It is a time of feverish
activity. The sprinklers are at work till after midnight, the loaders
are out long before daylight. The blacksmith is busy with repairs,
the road monkeys work overtime, and the cook works all the time.
"Everybody works." The haul itself is full of excitement. The
ponderous load of logs, weighing anywhere from eight to thirty-five
tons has to be conducted largely by its own momentum down this glassy
road. If a horse fall nothing can save its life. If the runners get
out of the ruts, the whole load, driver and all, is likely to be
upset. It is an extremely hazardous job, Fig. 15.

As each load comes down to the _banking grounds_, Fig. 14, or log
dump, it is stopped opposite long parallel skids. The wrapping chains
are unhooked and the lower log on the skid side is worked out with
cant-hooks till the whole load flattens out. The logs are then
"decked" on immense piles, sometimes a mile long and filling the whole
river from bank to bank. A decking chain 300 feet long is sometimes
required to roll the logs to their proper places. Here the logs rest
till the spring freshets come. This completes the transportation by
land.

[Illustration: Fig. 14. Banking Grounds.]

With the coming of the spring thaw, the river bed is filled with a
freshet of water which seizes and carries the logs down stream. Many
on the banks, however, have to be started on their way, and this is
called "breaking out the roll ways." They often start on their water
journey with a great crash.

[Illustration: Fig. 15. The Sleigh Haul.]

[Illustration: Fig. 16. Sacking the Rear.]

Now comes _the drive_, an arduous and often perilous task. Some of the
men are stationed along the shores to prevent the logs from lodging
or floating into bays or setbacks. Some stand at the heads of bars or
islands, where with pike poles they shove off the logs that might stop
there and form a jam; others follow "sacking the rear" to clean out
such logs as may have become stranded. This "sacking the rear"
takes most of the time, Fig. 16. While "on the drive" men often work
fourteen hours a day, a good part of the time up to their waists in
ice water. Their boots are shod with "caulks," or spikes, to keep
them from slipping on the logs, and they carry either pike poles or
peaveys, Fig. 17. The latter are similar to cant-hooks, except that
they have sharp pikes at their ends. So armed, they have t