THE STEAM HAULER
THE STEAM HAULER
The superintendents of this work are well equipped for the task before them. Mr. Buswell has been an interested worker in the camps for some years. He felt that God called him to this particular work, and has been instrumental in leading many of the foresters to Christ.
The reader of these pages knows that Mr. Higgins brings to the work the practical experience of twelve years, and a devotion to God and man that brings results.
Through Mr. Buswell and Mr. Higgins the claims of the lumberjacks have been presented to the churches and by their efforts almost all the money used to carry on the work in the past, except their own salaries, has been raised. Under their directiona number of helpers have been at work in the field, the superintendents being individually responsible for their salaries and expenses.
Beyond the States of Minnesota and Wisconsin, a little work was also done in Michigan and Washington. In the State of Washington Mr. Higgins spent the last two summers, taking with him, in 1907, two of his best camp chaplains.
The future is ruddy with promise. With the more extensive organization come hopes of greater efficiency and broader possibilities. The desires of a few men have become the wishes and prayers of a greater number. The sub-committee's intention is to reach all the western and southwestern States in which the men of ax and peavey are at work.
As yet only the edges of the field have been approached; even in Minnesota where the work is more extended, only one hundred camps are touched, while four hundred other camps are left entirely to themselves. Many of the States are without any organized work in the lumber regions.
A view of the States west and south will reveal larger timber districts where this missionwork will find a welcome and where aggressive extension is immediately imperative.
Western Montana has its camps on the tree-covered mountain slopes. Idaho computes its timbered acres at ten millions. Timber is one of the principal resources of the State of Washington. The western slopes of the Cascades are heavily wooded with fir and on the eastern side blue and yellow pine predominate. Oregon is proud of its pine forests, the density of the woods is inviting to industry and solitude. The Douglas spruce has made this State a world-famous mart for masts and spars. California is the home of the redwood, and all the world reads of its mammoths of the forest; but in the northern part of the State pine, oak and fir lure the lumber companies, and there the lumberjacks are calling for services.
Southwest of Minnesota the numerous camps of the timbered Black Hills catch the eye, then come the sixteen million mountain acres of forest land in the neighboring State of Wyoming, and an almost equal stretch in Colorado. Missouri is also well wooded, in all except the northern and westernparts, and the State of Arkansas has twenty-five million acres of timber wealth. Louisiana has more than half of the timber acreage of Arkansas. The State of Texas does not count its wooded lands by acres; it presents the figures of sixty-four thousand square miles.
The possibilities of this evangelistic work are noticeable in the above sketch of the western and southern forests. Where the lumber is to be obtained, there are the lumber camps and the lumberjacks. The surroundings of the men are much the same as in Minnesota, with the restraints of civilization removed and the agents of viciousness always at hand. The foresters present a picture at which the angels weep and the devils are joyful.
Lumbering has been a prominent industry for many years in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and it will continue to play a large part in the industry of these States for twenty years to come. In such States the camps are large, grouped and accessible therefore the mission work can be done with greater ease and economy than in the older States of the east where the lumbercamps arefar apart and small. In the west a camp chaplain can serve as high as fifteen camps, giving them each a service at least twice a month.
Seventy-five dollars a month will support a chaplain. Since the logging season is short, in Minnesota about five and a half months, it will be seen that a large amount of good can be accomplished at a small expenditure. A chaplain will preach to from sixty to one hundred and sixty men every night in the week and on Sunday perhaps preach in three different camps. He is the representative of spiritual truths to from six hundred to one thousand men. Where, at so little cost, are the possibilities of good so great? Where are these camp preachers to be obtained? "I believe that God will call to this work the men of the pineries rather than the men of the seminaries," said the Rev. F. E. Higgins. This has been so in the past. The men who are converted in the camps are equipped with a knowledge of conditions through experience, and where mental and spiritual ability are present they can do excellent work.
Several of the successful workers in the camp mission were once lumberjacks. Mr. Fred Davis, who, since the promotion of Mr. Higgins, is superintendent of the Minnesota work, was at one time a lumberjack. Mr. Davis refused an excellent business position in order to spend his life reaching the foresters.
Another worker is Mr. L. C. Michells, a former cruiser and estimator. Mr. Michells is not only a strong preacher, but is physically able to care for himself when opposition is presented,—to this the ex-mayor of a lumber town can testify to his sorrow, as can others who saw the fallen political boss hauled home on a dray after the encounter with right and might. At the time of writing, Mr. Michells is preaching in the camps of Washington.
God is raising up men. Will the Christian church raise the means?
Through the work done in Minnesota and Wisconsin an introduction has been secured to all the Western States; the timber lands of the west are owned largely by the firms who have exploited the woods adjacent to the Great Lakes, and these companies know thegood accomplished here, hence a ready welcome is given to the missionary going to more western fields. The lumberjacks are naturally wanderers and in the camps of the Pacific slopes the Minnesota and Wisconsin woodsmen are already there to give the chaplains welcome. Mr. Higgins tells of preaching in a town on the Tacoma Eastern Railway in Washington:
"In one town where no religious organization was at work, I held services in a dance hall, and seventy-five persons were present, sixty of whom were loggers. After the service two lumberjacks came up to me and said: 'Hello, Pilot, don't you know us? We're a couple of your Minnesota boys. Don't you remember preaching in the Clearwater Camps on 'The Chances a Fellow Has if He'll Take Them?' Well, we broke away from the gang, came out here, have saved our money, and are the ones who rustled the crowd for you tonight.'
"On another occasion I was to speak in the open air, when an old Minnesota campman brought a pitcher of lemonade and placed it by my side. After the meeting he invited me to his home and wanted me to make it mine while I labored in that place.Such kindness from the men who had been my boys in the North Star pineries did much to make my work in Washington a pleasure."
By the past work the doors of the present have been forced open. The waiting men are inviting the bearers of good tidings to enter—shall we refuse? Where there is a need shall not the Christian Church supply it?
Douglas Malloch, the lumbermen's poet, presents us a picture of the field in the following poem:
THE PARISH OF THE PINES
"Where the winter's chill is deep and still,Where summer days are long,Where sighing breeze and branches fillThe air with sob and song,There lies a parish of the LordNo wall or street confines:There 'waits the coming of the LordThe Parish of the Pines."No tower uplifts its gilded spireAbove a house of prayer,No organ tower or swaying choirMakes sweetest music there,For 'tis a vineyard choked with weedsAnd lush with tangled vines;Yea, much it lacks and much it needs—The Parish of the Pines."Yet word of God is word of GodIn camp or pulpit told,And men of forest and of sodAwait the story old.'Tis time to hew away the sinThat now the soul confines,And let a little sunshine inThe Parish of the Pines."
"Where the winter's chill is deep and still,Where summer days are long,Where sighing breeze and branches fillThe air with sob and song,There lies a parish of the LordNo wall or street confines:There 'waits the coming of the LordThe Parish of the Pines."No tower uplifts its gilded spireAbove a house of prayer,No organ tower or swaying choirMakes sweetest music there,For 'tis a vineyard choked with weedsAnd lush with tangled vines;Yea, much it lacks and much it needs—The Parish of the Pines."Yet word of God is word of GodIn camp or pulpit told,And men of forest and of sodAwait the story old.'Tis time to hew away the sinThat now the soul confines,And let a little sunshine inThe Parish of the Pines."
"Where the winter's chill is deep and still,Where summer days are long,Where sighing breeze and branches fillThe air with sob and song,There lies a parish of the LordNo wall or street confines:There 'waits the coming of the LordThe Parish of the Pines.
"No tower uplifts its gilded spireAbove a house of prayer,No organ tower or swaying choirMakes sweetest music there,For 'tis a vineyard choked with weedsAnd lush with tangled vines;Yea, much it lacks and much it needs—The Parish of the Pines.
"Yet word of God is word of GodIn camp or pulpit told,And men of forest and of sodAwait the story old.'Tis time to hew away the sinThat now the soul confines,And let a little sunshine inThe Parish of the Pines."
Transcriber's Notes:Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.Simple typographical errors were corrected.
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected.