YOU COULD PAPER THE ENDS
by Fred Butler
Generally young lads would pile the logs at the landings. It was a matter of pride for them to pile the logs so they would be straight up and down on the river side and even on one end. Since the logs were all of a different lengths they could only be piled even on the one end. It was often said they would pile them so even that you could paper the ends with wall paper. They tell the story about one time Sinclair came up into the woods on a tour of inspection. He was a big man in the lumber industry. He owned a hugh mill in Newcastle and he run the logging crews in the winter. When he was visiting the logging operations he came across a pile of logs piled ever so neatly. The young lad working on the landing was new to the woods and worked extra hard all winter to do a good job. You have to remember that every man in the camp would see and judge his craftsmanship. Every time someone walked by they would cast an eye to see how he was making out. It was a bit unnerving as you can imagine. As it turned out, Sinclair was looking at the pile of logs when he asked the young fellow why one end wasn't as even as the other. He meant this as a compliment to the boy's workmanship but the young lad misunderstood Sinclair. He thought the Big Boss was criticizing his hard work. He didn't like it at all but what could he do. He sure couldn't answer him back in a saucy manner. In his frustration the boy looked as if he might break down and cry. To smooth things over, Sinclair pulled a fifty cent piece out of his pocket and gave it to him. that was about a day's pay back then!