Two Young Lumbermen by Edward Stratemeyer

"What do you think of Mr. Balasco? " asked Dale of Owen, after they had left the office of the lumber company.

"To tell the truth, I don't think I am going to like him," was Owen's slow answer. "There is a certain something about him that grates on a fellow, but what it is I can't explain."

"I think he has a very good opinion of himself," came bluntly from Dale. "No doubt he thinks he is the whole show, as the saying goes."

"He is certainly a different man from Mr. Wilbur. How the two came to be partners is a mystery to me."

"Perhaps they got together before they met -- I mean, got into the company together."

"That may be so. And, besides, Mr. Balasco may put on a different front when he meets Mr. Wilbur."

The two had been told to make themselves at home around the camp, and had been introduced to one of the foremen, Pelham by name, and to several others. Pelham told them where they could sleep that night, and also told the cook at one of the dining halls he should provide them with meals.

Both of the young lumbermen were anxious to see how work was done in this district that was so new and novel to them, and they eagerly accepted the invitation of one of the trainmen to go to an upper yard.

"All told, this timber claim is divided into ten camps or yards," said the train hand. "We were working all ten camps about six weeks ago, but Mr. Balasco thought lumber was coming in too fast at the creek, so he cut down the gangs to eight."

"How many men in a gang? " questioned Owen.

"From thirty to thirty-two."

"As many as that? " queried Dale. "How do you divide them up?"

"In the first place, there is the boss, or foreman, who, of course, tells what trees to cut and how they shall be dropped."

"Yes, we know that."

"Then there are two fellers -- choppers, I reckon you call 'em -- and two sawyers. Next come two barkers, two swampers, a skid maker, about ten laborers, two or three hook tenders, a rope tender, an engineer for the donkey engine, and a bucker. Last of all comes the cook and the cook's helper, and the boy who greases the skids, and also a runner, who carries messages from one telephone office to another."

"And you have eight gangs like that? " came from Owen. "That means two hundred and forty hands."

"Including the men at the creek, on the railroad, and on the river below, we have two hundred and seventy-five hands. We had over three hundred, but, as I said before, Mr. Balasco cut down the number."

The train of trucks and flat cars soon hauled up at a yard, and the two young lumbermen jumped to the ground and made their way into the neighboring forest, from which came the steady ring of the fellers' axes and the hum of the sawyers' long-bladed saws. The forest was one of fir, with trees running up to six and seven feet in diameter, and covered with rough bark half a foot thick.

"Here is where cutting down a tree is real work," remarked Owen, as they neared the spot.

Not far away two fellers had just reached a tree that was to be brought down, and they watched the workmen with keen interest, for the tree was a magnificent specimen of Douglass fir, as large as any in the neighborhood. It stood with a circle of smaller trees around it.