Basic HTML Version
Pictll1't
Post, Sl!Plt1lli>er
9, 1939
The Last Stage But One
Down come the logs through the last sluice gates. The
34
next raft is only a quarter-of-an-hour behind.
Shooting the Second Sluice Gate -
The long steering" poles are shipped and laid along the line of the timber. The raftsmen squat
on
their haunches, ready
to
control the raft as she hits the second level twelve feet below.
rivulet, swelling it into a large, fast flowing stream. the
dam
to a giddy twenty-foot drop into the
The logs have been_assembled into rafts on the stream shortly after sunrise two and a half
lake. The crews man them, waiting for the order hours later. The rest follow at quarter of an hour
to start.
intervals. The lake takes seven hours to empty,
Nonilally the sluice gates are opened at two and four days to
fill
again before the process can
o'clock in the morning. The first
raft
is sent over be repeated, and another fleet sent down.
They Glide Into Calmer Water
The
worst part of thejourney is ended. They have brought the raft safely into the Tisa, the main
river. Less skilled
11l!n
can take over. The water flows slower between the bmad banks.