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SURING SCHOOL DISTRICT LOCAL HISTORY
1979
Page 24
Page 25
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The men worked through the winter months in the woods because the heavy snowfalls made it easier to haul the logs out on sleds. Two teams of horses were used to get a log sled moving. After the sled was moving, the first team was cut loose. The horses wore shoes studded with spikes to help grasp the frozen ground and ice.
A team of horses was used to pull the heavy loads until the steam engine came into general use. This steam engine could pull a much bigger load of logs but caused some extra work since it needed an iced road to travel on.
The railroad also extended lines out to the larger camps, taking out supplies and bringing great loads of logs back. These rail lines belonged to the Holt Company and were known as Holt's Spur.
The logs were eventually hauled to various landings along the river banks. When enough logs were gathered, a river drive was held floating the logs downstream to their destination. Some of the timber from this area was sold to Shawano so the Wolf River was used to transport them. One of the landings used on the Oconto River is west of Mountain on W near the bridge. The river drives started as soon as the ice melted and the rivers were high from melting snow. This was very dangerous work because the logs would tend to pile up at the river bends and it took back breaking hours to unjam them. Usually just one or two logs were the trouble makers and when they were found the log jam gave way with a roar because of the backed up waters behind. This work could prove fatal to an inexperienced river hog. Floating kitchens and bunk houses followed these men, making camp at dusk and rising again at dawn, to follow the logs to their destination at Oconto Falls.
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