Log Drive

[Music] la oh it's in the winter time to the woods we go where lakes and trails are covered with the ice and snow we start to lay the timber down as soon as we arrive where we need a million logs for the Big Spring Drive and it's wild and Hardy Shanty boys is what we're meant to be on contract in the woods for the Pulp and Paper Company the din saws and axes makes the forest come alive when we're falling down the timber for the Big Spring dry [Music] [Applause] ktim let [Music] [Applause] [Music] you now there's Sawyers there's loaders sled drivers too doing Pie work by the court after all the fellings through it's part of all a pattern keeps our homes and bed and board keeps paper mills a turning to support the printed word [Music] watch the slippery slow old horse for the sled is loaded High one false step or a hanging limb could mean Sweet By and By by and by for you all horse perhaps the same for me and we never work again for the Pulp and Paper [Music] Company [Music] keep a moving boys till the work is done the sooner it is over then the sooner we'll be home lay the logs out on the lake while winter still is King we leave them lie asleep until the breakup in the [Music] spring when the wintry Days Are [Music] Over The Wind Blows in soft weather and the wild birds fly on [Music] Northerly your just in time my pretty little birds while the river in a hurry going somewhere oh buds are out and the river in a hurry going [Music] somewhere there's a man whom all respect in our village of nraam Delo ID dvet boss of the log RVE each spring he goes alone to inspect the melting Brooks and streams he has 45 years of experience in the bush and he decides when the moment has come to put our boys to work early next morning spring drives are starting boys from each Village and Parish around all on their toes going down like Brule lay it on Chef boy we're coming back hungry away away spring drives is star in the ice and laac brulee is just about ready to go out but we'll give it a helping hand anyway with dynamite for this work you must be strong and agile of course but more more important still you must have calm nerves ID toet directs the whole operation especially the setting of the charges for this he picks his most experienced and reliable men and spreads them out according to a plan he has in mind the dynamite must be placed just right to break the Ice's grip and yet not damage too many logs and the men better not make any mistakes for these blasts can kill [Music] fire [Music] [Music] the [Music] all day melting streams have been pouring into La Brule and raising the level we built a small dam at one end to hold the water in and now that the ice is broken we can raise the gate and let some out yeah but it's still cold in early spring we have only enough water for 2 hours in that time it must carry out 25,000 logs we work hard to keep them moving the flood must not stop but no pileups or Tangles are allowed to last long old toet handles the tricky ones himself It's a Wonderful sight to see the white water boiling down carrying our logs for us the salon Creek is tricky there's many a bendon shallow down below where we have men watching in case of trouble if they catch and start to pile up it doesn't take long till there's more than one man can untangle then there's only one thing for him to do call the boss and get some help fast it's 10 Mi below at mcferson Bend we have trouble there every year and jam when old id gives that signal everyone stops whatever they're doing and comes a running four acres of logs are piling up somewhere down the river and the quicker we get there the better it'll take us hours to untangle anyway we quickly close the gap at the exit from the lake so no more logs will come crashing down onto the jam below and then we're off when I was young and in my Prime thought thought I'd go for a river driver I met an old man on the shore he said Son better watch black water break and go I told just so long jams like young men like you I just left and I left some more what was I but a bold young Rouser and I left him on the shore that was before I knew black water break and go I tell you so long jams like young men like [Music] you well I was not but a wild Young schol and it didn't take long till I learned better that's when young Mac first drown gone with a roar when the jam turned over break and goes now I see love jams like young men like me so we dragged him to the shore carved his name in The Bark of a cedar hung his boots on a hanging Lim it gone too near the water break and go it's now I see long GS like like [Music] me long jams come log jams go big or small they all spell danger you got to have an old man on the shore when you're trying to get the key log out from under break and go it's now I see LS like young men like [Music] me so now I mind what the old man says listen to the words of the big bus driver when he's standing on the shore telling young fellas how to handle Timber breaking goats now I see log jams like young men like me it's good to see her start to move out especially since nobody got hurt this [Music] time [Music] after a while we come to the kyam river in the big Hydro Dam there's not much excitement here just hard boring work hour after hour shepherding the logs through the S gate old id keeps us at it that the power company won't leave their water gates open for more than 2 weeks we have to get the whole drive-thru in that time working day and night soon for the first time in weeks we see civilization the village of San Philip is not far [Music] away We Can't Stop our work to visit but there's no harm in showing off a little just in case any of the village girls are [Music] watching [Music] but of course old id doesn't allow this fooling to interrupt her work and the logs are kept moving you can be sure of that as we go down the river the size of our drive increases all the time cutting operations too small to have a drive of Their Own wait for us to come by and then dump their logs in with ours before we finish we'll have a couple of miles of logs riding behind us on the [Applause] river there is a nasty Rapids below San Philip where we have men stationed all the time we can't afford to have a jam here and so they work with dynamite day and night breaking up trouble before it gets serious we're always glad when we get the drive past that dangerous Corner we're always glad too when cookie paes is triangle no matter how much you ate the meal before when you're on a log drive you always feel as if you've been starving for [Music] days so you stoke up as much fuel as you can can maybe it'll get you through till supper [Music] time we Portage our friend the alligator from Lake to Lake there isn't much that this little boat can't do you can carry her wherever you want in the back of a [Applause] [Music] truck [Music] [Applause] with her winch and cable she unloads herself with the next leg and is ready for work right [Music] away [Music] when the main Drive is passed hundreds of logs are left stuck on the banks of the rivers and lakes they're worth a lot of money so some of us follow on behind cleaning up the shores and sending the logs on their way it's a hard boring job and some times to ease the work and break up the day we practice Burling a [Applause] little coming a chance for showing a style a chance to take a log bur and out in the river take a log bur and give it a try if you fancy yourself a l b don't be shy and many a lad will give it a trial only one way to be a loger do it again to be a log burer try it once more but if you can't take icy water better stay on the [Music] shore and there are a few who can do it in style Everyone likes to see a log burer stand in the the bank to see a l burler taking his time a traveling down on the river Tak in his time half of our Lives is spent on the river learning the lines of her Shores the curve of her [Music] Bas these are the things we remember all of our days and the best thing of all is to be on the river in spring or any old time summer or [Music] fall give me a life on the river it's best of all but there no place for more boys we need men on the river out where the pointers dance and circle around even a pull together circling [Music] around it's June now and the Flies are biting but we're well down the river past the bridge over Mayer Falls and nearing like G we still have to be careful but the worst is over par iset there's lots of water here so this is an easy Falls to pass especially for us who have just conquered far more difficult Rapids like the big and little Bulldog the crush and the koson and the buz saw like Gan and here we're joined by another River full of logs the mjo drive together we make 5 million cubic feet of pulpwood there's not much current to help us move it here's where our little boats really Pro their worth we couldn't do it without them first they string a boom of chained logs around the pulpwood close the gap and then hook on then they tow the boom logs and all across the lake to the outlet that takes power more power than they can get from the propellers so they have a little trick they winch themselves across with their donkey [Applause] engines once we cross SL Gan the worst of our job is over the logs go down the leev to The Mill at Buckingham with the little flat bottom boats shepherding them all the way he a friend inde is a friend indeed our trusty alligator that makes the final round up when we come to quiet water we guide the logs to slle Gates then we send them down the hill then they carry to the stockpile of the hungry paper mill they [Music] it's the end of our journey the spring drives over we fetch them from the forest and we brought them down the river and we'll go back in winter when the weather's cold and clear to cut another Lake full for the drive next [Music] year the summer season almost here the trees are Broad and Shady oh toet takes another look around Upstream to see if all's left tidy oh see if nothing's left behind the river banks neat and tidy things went well in the river this year and it only seems like yesterday when he was a lad on this very same stream off on his first Adventure a green cocky lead who is often his first [Music] Adventure it's good to be alive this day The Whole World's like a garden you clps of home to M that fence and R with his children's children oh to give the w a hand and to r with his children's [Music] children [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: danncomminc

Views: 398,984

Keywords: Log burling, cutting wood by hand, using an axe, quebec logging, logging in the 1950's

Id: 7AheBqBk0iQ

Length: 29min 21sec (1761 seconds)

Published: Tue May 30 2017