- Banking Grounds - an area along river where logs were stacked in preparation for being rolled into the river during the spring melt.
- Big Wheel - Developed and manufactured at Manistee in 1880 by Sylas C. Overpack. They were 10 feet in diameter, 6 inch wide and shod with iron. Loggers would roll them astride four of five logs, raise the 16-foot tongue to vertical and slip a chain under the logs. When the tongue was pulled back down, the logs would be raised. A second chain would secure the logs to the front of the tongue.
- Birling - spinning a floating log by taking a series of small, rapid steps digging the of calked boots into the log.
- Blacksmith - A smith who forges iron. A smith forged items such as horseshoes, tools, and fixtures such as hinges.
- Bluebacks - lice
- Board Feet - a measure of the number of feet of lumber one inch thick and 12 inches wide that would be cut from each log at the mills.
- Boom - a line of logs chained together to contain other logs. The term also refers to the log-sorting yards that developed on major logging streams where a long string of chained logs was used to catch the logs being floated to the mills.
- Boomers - men who worked at the log-sorting yards.
- Calk - spikes on the boots which riverhogs wore.
- Cant Hook - A stout wooden lever used especially in handling logs that has a blunt usually metal-clad end and movable metal arm with a sharp hook.
- Catchmark - a mark in the end of the log made at the boom works to make log identification easier.
- Chataqua - a traveling vaudeville show in the early to mid-twenties. It was usually in town for a week and provided a variety of entertainment.
- Chantey - a working man's song sung while working.
- Cheat Stick - the measuring stick used to estimate the number of board feet in a log.
- Chickadees - the bottom of the lumber camp totem pole. Chickadees were responsible for controlling the emissions from the south end of a horse.
- Cork-Log - white pine logs which, despite their size, floating high in the water.
- Cootie Cages - camp bunk beds.
- Crack Stem - broken arm or leg.
- Cruiser - a woodsman who went out to locate and claim the stands of white pine and other types of trees for the lumber companies, also called a landlooker.
- Cut - the total number of trees felled or the location of felling.
- Decker - stacked logs at the landings or yards.
- Drawknife - A woodworker's tool having a blade with a handle at each end for use in shaving off surfaces - also called a drawshave.
- Flying rear - A beat-the-weather ( or other fellow) run of timber down-river.
- Flume - wooden chute that carried logs around waterfalls or other hazards.
- Frieze ulster - a long loose overcoat of Irish origin made of heavy material.
- Froe - A cleaving tool for splitting cask staves and shingles from a block of wood.
- Gabriel Horns - 4 or 5 foot long horns, used to call workers in from the swamps to the cook shack at mealtime.
- Graybacks - lice.
- Hayman on the Hill - worker who threw hay on the downhill grades of iced roads to slow the sleighs and prevent them from running over the horses pulling them.
- Ice Road - made by cutting grooves in the snow and icing them.
- Iron Burners - blacksmiths.
- Jam - pile of logs on the river.
|
- Jammer - A crane arrangement, usually built of wood, using the leverage principle to load timber by the use of a team on one end of the balancing beam and a chain with hooks on the other. Two men set the hooks in each end of the logs, the team is maneuvered son the swinging timber was fairly well placed on any load. Any further positioning was done by other men with canthooks or peaveys. a boom hoisting device, used in loading logs on railcars.
- King Log - the pivotal log in a jam - when it was loosened, the jam would break.
- Landing - where logs were piled.
- Logger - the men who cut trees for used other than lumber. Held to be inferior the Lumberman.
- Lumberman - white pine workers.
- Morning Glories - pancakes.
- Mud-au-be-be-tonange - "flowing or coming from the interior to the lake." Chippewa name for the AuSable River.
- Pickaroon - Hand implement about the size of an axe (and possibly first fashioned from an axe) the working end of which curved out to a point about five inches perpendicular to the handle, the butt end squared off in a crude hammer. Seems to have been used primarily in cedar cutting and hauling.
- Pike Poles - A long handled tool with a spike and hook of the end, used for maneuvering logs into position.
- Red Horse - salt beef.
- Road Monkey - built and maintained logging roads.
- Rollway - a high bank along a stream/river from which logs could be rolled to the water.
- Scaler - The lumberman assigned the job of marking logs before they were pushed into the river for the trip downstream. The marks that he recorded on the end of the logs were used for sorting to logs and directing them to the correct mills at the river's mouth.
- Shantyboy - early name for workers cutting white pine.
- Shivaree - a noisy mock serenade to a newly married couple.
- Sky Hooker - also called a top loader, was responsible for stacking the high loads of logs on sleighs or railroad cars.
- Spokeshave - A drawknife or a small traverse plane with end handles for planning convex and concave surfaces. Used for making the spokes of wagon wheels.
- Sprinklers - water tanks on wagons or sleighs used to ice the logging roads, thus facilitating movement of large loads of logs by teams which would have had quite a time moving them through the snow. This made the teamsters' work easier but a lot more dangerous. They iced the hills too! The horses wore caulked shoes.
- Swampers - Men who cut the underbrush from an area where a road was to go through of a clearing for buildings.
- Sweeper - a cedar tree whose roots had been undermined by flowing water causing the tree to lean out over the water. They were know to sweep men and materials from the rafts floating down the river.
- The Van - combination store and office. Small items, tobacco, socks, soap, etc. were kept on hand.
- Wanigan - a floating town for the loggers, possibly containing a store, sleeping space and cooking area.
- Wood Butchers - camp carpenters.
- Yardmaster - the boss of the lumber yard.
 |
Last updated on: Wednesday, December 27, 2000