Maine Notes

1916

With prospects of a big lumber cut this year, the Bangor operators are facing quite a serious problem in getting help enough, and good men are scarce at any price. Wages offered are now from $35 to $40 a month, with board and transportation, much higher than usual. The usual influx of Canadians is lacking.

The Recreation commission of Portland has taken steps to provide a toboggan slide on the slope of the Western promenade during the winter, a sport that has never been cultivated to much extent here. A slide has been maintained by the Portland Country club, but otherwise the general public has been forced to content itself with limited opportunities for old-fashioned coasting.

Lucius B. Swett of Sanford has been appointed Judge of the York county probate court by Governor Curtis to succeed the late Judge Nathaniel Hobbs of North Berwick.

Manager Hugh Duffy of Portland has been given permission to transfer his franchise to another city the choice to be ratified by the directors before becoming effective. It was reported that he would transfer his team to Lawrence or Haverhill next year.

In the Bangor strike, over 100 went out and only 12 have returned to work, the company having filled the places of the others.

Harry A. Dearie, alias Harry A. Devoe of Worchester, Mass., Albany, N. Y., and Oliphant, Pa., was freed of the charge of breaking in the United States District court Friday afternoon but was re-arrested on a charge which accused him of breaking into the post on Aug. 11.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 26, 1916, p. 8.

Engineer Stops Train to Do Some Fishing

1916

Lumber Dealer Files Suit for $2,000, His Alleged Loss by Railroad Man's Act.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana. — Admitting that fishing is alluring, but contending, that business is business, Edgar Wright, lumber dealer, has filed suit for $2,000 against an engineer on the Baton Rouge, Hammond & Eastern Railroad.

In his petition Wright alleges he lost a lumber contract worth $2,000 because the engineer halted his train two hours to try his luck at fishing in a pond along the line.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 11.

Lumbermen May Return To Use of Oxen

1908

Workers in Northern Wisconsin Believe Them More Serviceable

Milwaukee. — The determination of the lumbermen to return to the employment of oxen in the woods of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota will recall the days of the pioneer of 40 and 50 years ago, when horses in the woods were a curiosity or luxury.

Horses succeeded oxen for the reason that they make quicker time in hauling over long roads, and for the reason that feed became more plentiful as the country became settled by homesteaders. It was when feed was impossible to obtain that cattle were employed, for they were generally able to forage with the deer through summer and winter months. Those were the days of the dense pine forests when feed was plentiful and the climatic changes were not so sudden as a present, but the present day has its advantages, though the winters are more severe.

Feed for the oxen may be had at any railroad station or of almost any farmer or homesteader. Oxen require less feed than horses, and here is the first stroke of economy, though not a large one. They are sure of foot and will haul as large a load as horses. In skidding logs they are said to be much preferable to horses, and, unlike horses, they may be slaughtered and served to the lumberjacks when they have served their purpose.

In some of the northern counties oxen are being employed by the new settlers for the cultivation of the farm. They move along slowly it is true, but they accomplish the work of clearing the land and bringing it to a state of cultivation. The only drawback to this new movement is the lack of trainers and drivers. The oxen men of the last generation have or are passing away, and it will be difficult to get men who will condescend to desert the horse for the ox.

Boy Carries Dog 20 Miles

1910

Washington Lad in Long Tramp Would Not Abandon His Pet Pup — Paws Were Sore

Tacoma, Washington. — Without railroad fare from North Yakima and forced to walk the entire distance of nearly 200 miles because of a desire to seek employment upon some lumber schooner plying out of Tacoma, Walter Anderson, aged nineteen, carried his bull terrier dog the last twenty miles of his journey after the animal had worn its feet until they were bleeding on the rough, graveled roadbed of the Northern Pacific.

Anderson appeared at the police station the other morning and asked to be directed to some shipping company. He was carrying the dog and had torn up his handkerchief to bandage its bleeding paws. Anderson said he had been eight days on the road sleeping out of doors. He had a little money, but was saving it to buy food. His first step on entering Tacoma was to buy meat for the dog at a butcher shop.

"You see, the little fellow isn't used to the road and it was rather tough on him, so I carried him," said Anderson. "You know he is only a dog and doesn't understand why we should be on this long hike, but he stuck to me nobly."