CALIFORNIA

Hokitika Guardian, 15 May 1926, Page 4

CALIFORNIA

A LUAIDER CA.MIL (By T. ,J. Henry in a Sydney paper). AN “OPEN SHOP.” Sugar Pine Camp is so called because of tho predominance of the sugar pine among the trees of the dense forests in tihe midst of which it is placed. About 80 per cent of logs obtained are of this Variety: yellow pine, cedar, and sequoia redwood making tip the balance. This camp employs about 060 men. Yet it is not by any means the largest in California. The whole of bite work both in the woods and in tho mill is run on the “open shop” principle: that is, there is no union whatever, and all engagements are made direct by the principals on the old individualistic system. A'et so far as I could learn the work goes on harmoniously, and there has never been a strike. It may come as a shock to our workers to le.irn That the men in the mill work ton-hour shifts. Work goes on by day and night, and there is no Saturdav afternoon holiday. Ex-

cepting from 0.30 on Saturday night to 0.30 on Sunday night, during which time tho mill shuts down, there is no break in the week. The men in the actual logging camps work nine hours daily, there being necessarily only one shift. Nor are ordinary public holidays observed, with the exception of the ever memorable Fourth of duly. This is a date on which no American citizen who ran knock off would continue lo work. So thoroughly is it celebrated that three days are taken; one to make preparation, one to jubilate, and one to recover. But owing to the severity of the winter in these high altitudes the whole concern closes for from four to live months every year, usually from November to Mart'll. During the off season some men ate absorbed by other lumber mills in less rigorous localities, others travel south and engage in different occupations, others have homes elsewhere to which they repair, and either rest or do local work, but necessarily there is all unemployed rosidium. WHTTE AMERICANS.

'.Most of the workers are white Americans, men of sturdy frame, and from these are drawn the foremen and those whose duties require special intelligence and initiative. There Is a proportion of Mexicans, as well ns of Scandinavians and other Etiropcrths. 1 saw no negroes. Wages are high and are Haiti by the hours. The day and night shifts work month about: that is, tile present day shift will he on at night next month, and vice versa. Payment is the same, whether work is by night or day. The rates vary from a minimum of 51) cents per hour to a foliar 'and a quarter, according to circumstances. Jobs requiring special watchfulness or skill are remunerated it a higher rale. A youth of about £O. whose duty is to turn a small lever which causes the machine hearing a huge log which is being shredded into bijmls lo move hack and forward against the gigantic revolving bandsaw, receives seven and a half dollars a day; an older man who controls the wonderful machinery which clutches and throws the log about as if by colossal human hands, receives eleven and a half; while the expert who keeps the saws in order get fifteen and a hnif. fn our currency these amounts are respectively about £1 Ms (Id, £2 7s f,d. and iJiree guineas. Possibly some of our eight-hour workers would ho ec n--len! to do the extra two hours lor such, a wage. Locomotive drivers have to iiconmmodnlo their time to particular exigencc.es, and sometimes work over twelve hours. The remuneration is commensurably high. In Hie work of logging the “high-climbers.” who will ; he mentioned shortly, receive ten do|- ; lars, (about two guineas) <n day .Men : who are injured receive compensation, j All employees pay a dollar a ninm.h into i a sick fund, and receive medical or hospital treatment. Unfortunately, aeci- ; dents occur occasionally, and fatalities | average about one a year. There are i swarms of children about, and the empty cradle which made Roosevelt

fear for the future of the American people is apparently no I popular in ■Sugar Pine. COSTLY WORK. j When it has been derided to “log" \ a certain spot in the forest n narrow . gauge railway is built from the mill i fo that spot. This is costly work and j runs into at least .')(),(XTO dollars a mile.

A line may he one or two miles long, j Owing to tlie? rough nature of the ground and the many gullies, embank- ) meats, cuttings, and elaborate trestle bridges have to bo built. The roadway , must he substantial, as the loads are I very heavy. Shea engines are used, j These ingenious machines are geared ! in every wheel, and are able to climb gradients which the ordiniiry loco- , motive cannot face. The line being completed a. powerful donkey engine, having a crane attached, is transport- ! ed to the railhead. The “lumber- j ] jacks” then start to work. The frees ' * are magnificent specimens, and from j i one hundred lo one hundred and filly ■ ; feet high. Each tree is fallen by axe- i men. Olio having been laid low it is ' cut. into logs of from 12ft to 20ft long. I. Tn the meantime a “higli-elimber” has c scaled a tall tree close to (lie engine ] and attached a “high-lead.” This is )

1 a tackle to which is fixed a strong puiley. A tough but flexible steel "ope striring through the pulley. One end is I lieu attached to the log to be drawn in and the other to the engine. The log may be several hundred vards away, indeed out of sight from, the engine. The further away so much the l_ higher is the pulley above the ground: n it may he 60ft or 80ft. Everything f . being ready the men at the log and f those at the engine communicate by ,j shouts and whistles. The engine pants and trembles and strains on the rope. . One hears the log crashing land tearing its way through fhe undergrowth, j smashing and destroying saplings, and ploughing in? the earth. Every mAij ote or two there is a stop and men clear the debris which it lias made, and which impedes its path. Soon it comes

) into view, lind is rapidly hauled to the l ilnil-side. Then the crane lifts it, with some manual h.elp. and it is loaded on to a truck on the line. .Several trucks are thus loaded. Finally when a train is ready a locomotive comes up -and draws it to the mill. This violent methods of hauling logs devastates the forest, as everything is dragged out by the roots. A part that has been logged looks ns if an earthquake had tortured ii : gr<sit hare lanes of red earth, mark the handiwork of man. In some tiniIkt leases this direct method is prohibited, and the old way of using bullocks to haul the logs is compulsory. I By this slower means the ground is not so torn about, and sapling are ' more easily preserved. Several gangs < of loggers (are simultaneously at work, t so that lumber is quickly obtained. ; Some 300.600 superficial feet are don't j with daily. The men performing all i classes of the work wear strong leather t gloves. This is common in America e in manual work of every kind. <* OX AXX> OFF. b

The train of logs having been drawn to the mill, the trucks are lined up on a siding running broadside to *.he edge of a small lake. The logs are. next rolled off the trucks into the water. The next step is to float them to a traveler, which conveys them one by one to machines, which, with remarkable vapidity, cut them into boards.

An automatic apparatus throws them on to a stage, which is moved to and fro by a gigantic piston, to which it

is attached Tenaeles, which act w'th the uncanny precision and apparent intelligence of colossal human hands, place it in position. If not accurately adjusted at the first impact the engineef ivho presides works a small lever, and arms reach out and seize •and turn it almut as if it were a feather weight. In a trice it is fixed in tho required position. The turn of a knob rushes it against a fast-revolving bandsaw, and oile rough rounded side is shaved off. Another movement throws a second side against the saw, then tho third and the fourth, .:.nd tike originally black-covered circular log is now a square piece of timber. Back and forward it rushes, and each time another section is sliced otf, until ill a minute or two a huge log is converted into boards. As the boards are cut they are conveyed away on a travelling platform and quickly thrown aside by automatic appliances wherccver required. .Machines then trundle them lo the opening into the flume described in the previous article, and which convoys them to Aladera, nearly 70 miles away. They arc clamped together in sets of five or six, according to thickness, and these are tied in sequences of three or four. An ingenious point in tho assembling is that light and heavy boards are so combined that each parcel is certain to float in the water of the Hume.