tales-of-Fogo-Island

A group of men in "the woods" with horses.Notice the men sitting on horseback.Another man remembered the 'good side' to caring for the horses. He wouldhelp shoe the horses and repair equipment:Some fellers did not like shoeing horses, but I always offered to do it. Iwould earn extra 'Target' or 'Beaver' tobacco by nailing on horse shoes.When the trucks and plows come in, that all come to an end.When the ice melted and the logs went into the water, 'the drive' would begin.The company used dams to control the water level in the lakes. To float thelogs downstream to the mill, they would open the dams. Some lumbermenworked on the drive every year. This was dangerous, especially when therewas a log jam. One man remembers working on the drive:I worked on the main drive. I cleared up jams or 'plugs' on the river.When there was a big jam we would get out there and pick at it with stickpoles. A stick pole was a stick with a dart on the end. When that jam letgo, look out! Run for your life!We used pulp hooks for lugging logs to the water. The men also usedthese when they was piling wood on the landings. The beachcomberswas said to be working 'on the rear'. They pushed logs off the beach andinto the water. Every single log had to go down the river.