I started the team and it made them lay right in the collar to start the load and they took it about twenty feet and I stopped them to rest <page 120> and it would take about four pulls to get it out where we could load and turn from the dock.  He did not hear very good.  But he started a conversation by asking rather loud where I was taking that pole.  After telling him he straighten up and said you get another team to help you pull.  You are pulling that team too hard.  My question was to ask him if he had any stock in the outfit that I was working for? He said no! well than if you want me to stop you will have to get an officer for you do not look like the man that hired me and I am not taking orders from you.  He asked me who owned the outfit and I told him it belongs to Jim Lyons.  He went to the barn and made his complaint to Mr. Lyons.  Mr. Lyons asked him if he seen any scars or whip marks on the horses and he said no!no!  They look good in every way.  Well, Mr. Lyons said I am afraid there is nothing I can do for you Mr. Bothwick, so he went away.  When we came in in the evening  he was joshing me about the complaint and he got a big kick out of it.  This next incident I wish to mention happened after I went to work for Bothwick.  We had been there over a week before I seen him.  We were about half way-up the hump with a good heavy turn of logs.  We had stopped to rest as usual  <page 121> I never went over without resting.  It was a long drag.  While we were there Bothwick came along riding a big Gray stallion and was dressed immaculately just as he was in Portland when he ordered me to get some help to move a pole about 80 feet.  I did not say a word and was waiting for his salute.  He rode up and looked at me and began to grin and said in his loud voice, hello Bob, am glad to see you.  How is things going?  I said well, they haven’t fired me yet.  But, you may take that on yourself when I go to start this load for it is going to take a hell of a hard pull to get it under motion again.  He threw his head back  and laughed and said, oh it is different now Bob, go right ahead and I will see that no one molests you.  He was O.K., from that time on everything went as planned except a couple of times they ran out of feed for the horses.  I told them three days before about when we would need grain and the day it was supposed to come it failed to arrive.  We fed the last of the grain that morning and had none for noon.  We went the afternoon and made our regular trips.  There was still no grain for the team at night.  We gave them some hay and next morning we harnessed up <page 122> fed some more hay and cleaned out the barn and watered the horses and put them back in the barn.  Went back to the bunkhouse and picked up a book and went outside and set on a bench in the shade and began to read.  I knew it would not be long until the foreman would miss us and sure enough Jerry the boss came over and asked what the trouble was.  I told him we had fed the last of the grain we had the day before and we would not go out until we got some grain.  The work was too hard for a hay diet alone.  He said,  I don’t blame you one bit.  He asked if I had ordered in time?  On being told that the office had received the order about four days before.  He pulled his hat down and started for the office and it was not long until he came back and said he was sorry about the whole thing.  He said, the company teams both went to work and he did not know we were out of grain.  The next morning the company teams stayed in.  That evening the toat team met the boat and next morning there was plenty of feed for everybody and we forgot the past and all was well.  We got out early next morning and made our regular trips.  In a few days we ran out of tallow for the skid grease and had to change <page 123> to fish oil.  Of all the repelling odors that I ever experienced that old-fashioned fish head oil took the prize.  The horses noticed the change.  I had had one young grass horse in the team and he did not want to go ahead as he was one of the leaders.  He soon become accustomed to it.  He was one of them snorting high lifed animals and very intelligent.  We would hang the lines up on the harness and ride the pig sled back to the woods, but when we began to use that oil that horse would take every back road on the way back to the woods.  I had to ride the wheel horse and use the lines for three days.  Just a couple of days after we got them working nice there was another experience came our way.  One morning on our second trip we were back near the grease station when the lead team whirled and started for camp.  Bill McCormack and I were on the sled and we headed them off and looked to see what caused the disturbance.  There was a half-grown bear just at the side of the road.  He found a barrel with the head out and had crawled in the barrel about half of his length and was licking at the oil in the bottom <page 124> of the barrel.  He was so busy he did not know he was being watched.  McCormack picked up a rock and hit the barrel and you should have seen that bear move.  He put me in mind of the Irish story.  When Pat met his first train, instead of getting to one side he turned and ran back down the track and when they caught up with him they ask why he did not get out of the way? He said, bajesus if oui could not bate it in a straight track oui could not bate it in the bush.  And that bear ran up the skid road about a city block before he took to the bush.  I had to take down the lines which I had not been using much for some time and use some strong language for two days to get them lined up again.  But we got back to normal in a few days and Bill McCormick left and my brother Tom worked with me after that.  He was a good hand with a team and followed the logging game off and on for several years.  However he did not make a life of it like I did.  Will have more to say about him later.  A few lines about H.B.  Bothwick will follow.  He had a mill and cookhouse and store and a regular camp at Moorsville about 3 or 4 miles back from Goble and he had a hotel and a saloon and a lumber yard at Goble <page 125> The saloon was on a good sized barge so he did not bother about a city license.  A government license was all he needed and he done a land office business with that hotel and saloon.  The lumber was flumed from Moorsville to Goble.  He had the contract to furnish the major part of ties and bridge timbers for Astoria and Goble railroad when it was extended from Goble in the year of 1897.  He was buying ties and timbers all along the lower Columbia and from some of the Portland mills.  the most amazing thing about it all was how he ever got so much of the material as he did not have much backing and very little capital.  As I stated before, he was a shrewd business man.  I was told he had a brilliant young man who made it his business to visit all the good hotels and meet the lumber buyers and inspectors who were also getting themselves in line for this new development.  It being the first of any importance since the panic.  Bothwick had also been doing some looking around and hobnobbing with the white collar four hundred class of railroad men and some of the big contractors.  When he and his young subordinate thought everything was about to a welding heat they gave a big banquet and all the big-shots <page 126> were invited.  there was plenty of good cheer water and high class cigars.  No one knows whether or not the get together done any good.  A few days later when the bids were opened the major part of the building material went to Bothwick.  He had arranged with some substantial financier to go on his bond, no one around there knew who it was.  But he had a way of getting around and accomplishing many things that looked difficult to the ordinary observer.  He had some connection in a business way with another mill and logging concern but I do not recall its location, anyhow some of us boys from Moorsville were in Goble one Sunday evening and Bothwicks bull puncher was in the hotel and he was lit up like Broadway on a cloudy night and he wanted a raise in his wages.  He was getting $80.00 a month.  So the argument went on and on.  This mans name was Sallie Williams.  I never knew what his given name was.  Someone nick named him Sallie and some of the old-timers will recall when he was working along the Columbia River.  Bothwick did not want to change drivers on the team so he gave in and said all <page 127> right Sallie go back to work twenty dollars won’t make me much more work.  It just means I will have a few more glasses to wash and a few corks to pull.  He was about right for Sallie sure liked his toddy.  When he was young that is if I have not been misinformed about him, I was not well acquainted with him myself.  He had the reputation of being a high grad man when he was on the job.  When Bothwick gave him the raise that was proof-positive that the above statement about his ability was true.  Bothwick did not give away anything he could not afford at that time.  For example, the man who had the falling and bucking contract was getting twenty five cents per thousand board feet.  He was paying Mr. Lyons one hundred fifty dollars a month and board for myself and the seven horses.  The wages in the mill and dock ran from $1.50 to $2.25 per day and they paid fifty cents a day for board.  I do not know how much he got for his lumber.  It must have been a very low figure for there was several different mills bidding.  He had the smallest mill of any company that bid on the job, never-the-less he got the contract and delivered the <page 128> material on time and some of the more substantial companies were surprised for it took a lot of lumber.  The logging business was not geared very high at that particular time and neither were the mills very heavy producers.  I think Inman and Polson had the largest and best mill around Portland in 1897.  They were trying to get some kind of donkey to set a the pond to haul logs over the hump and I was wishing they would for it was getting hot and dry and dusty on that upgrade near the mill.  I liked the work but it was hard on the horses and the heat was making it worse everyday.  One evening along about the middle of August we came in from work and they were unloading the frame of an old snag puller that had been used on a dredge that the government used to deepen and widen the channel between Astoria and Portland.  They had junked the barge and salvaged the useable machinery.  There was no boiler so they set the frame near the mill and when the drums came they were ready to go.  They had piped steam from the mill boiler to the engine of this old snag puller.  It was a single drum, hydraulic friction, and brakes.  Two 12” by 14” engines and about five foot spur wheel <page 129> They pulled the line back with a span of mules.  They had a Spaniard named Gabe driving them.  I happened to get the first load that the engine took in.  I stopped where the end of the line was supposed to reach.  Gabe had not got there, I heard a racket, so went up that way.  The mules had quit and he was trying to get them to go and he was making lots of noise but no progress.  Jerry had gone back across the pond to have the engineer to slack the drum a little so it would roll easier.  He came back soon but the mules would not pull any more so I told Jerry that we would bring my lead team up and take the line out.  He said, I wish you would because he was very anxious to see how the engine would perform.  I hitched our team on the end of the line and took it out to the string of logs.  We hooked him on and gave him the signal, the engineer had never pulled a load of logs and he did not know how to start a heavy load.  Instead of giving the engine time to tighten up gradually he gave it too much throttle and jerked the dogs or crotch chains loose from the load and the end of the line and the dogs flew up the skid road about forty feet.  Jerry pulled his hat  <page 130> down and said, I told them that damn thing would not work.  He said, Billie what are we going to do now?  Oh, I said, this rig will work, but the engineer will have to start-up slow and give the load time to get in motion before he puts on much speed.  We put our team on the end of the line and pulled it back to the logs and Jerry went in and coached the engineer and we set the dogs and drove them in tight and gave the go ahead signal and he done very well for a new man.  The load moved out a little fast but did not pull apart.  He made the landing without anymore trouble.  Conboy came in before I got back and Jerry told me to go in and see if the mules could bring the line back and if not take my leaders and bring it back.  The engineer said, he had adjusted the spring cage between the spur wheel and the drum and it would roll much easier than before.  We rolled the logs into the pond and Gabe hitched on and started out and was driving his mules too fast.  I got him to stop and told him to let them go slow and rest them for a few minutes.  He tried to go out a thousand feet without stopping and the drum was riding the friction blocks <page 131> > and pulling so hard they got out of breath and would not pull any farther.  He was a good Spaniard and done as I wanted him to do and got out on the second trip all O.K.  This made it possible for him and his team to hold their job for the rest of the summer.  I expected to take the train back to Portland as soon as the engine started to take the logs over the hump.  But, they had the idea that the engine would take the logs from both teams by coupling the loads together.  When they tried the plan it did not work very good.  After a week trial they abandoned the idea.  If they could have made up the load in the woods for the engine and put the big logs ahead it would have worked good.  But couple two strings of logs made up for the teams you would have a mixed load with the big logs in the middle of the string and there was a slight curve in the skid road and them light logs in the middle would turn over and pull the load in to and take out the skids and make no end of trouble and could not take the logs away from the two teams as we were on a short haul and would be for sometime.  The engineer learned fast and soon got the knack of starting <page 132> > his load.  Gabe and his mules done very well after he found he could do more by using a little judgment with his team.  It was late in August when I got back to Portland and Mr. Lyons said, I guess you have earned a few days rest.  That sure sounded good to me after almost four months of early and late work on a hot and dusty skid road is no snap.  I liked the work and to prove my statement when he ask me to take the same team to Tillamook on a logging job about the first of September I accepted and was away again in about two weeks.  After leaving Goble we was logging on the Nehalem River about eight miles from Wheeler, just below the head of tidewater.  A man by the name of George Bielow had a contract with Himple and Wheeler who owned and operated a mill near the mouth of the Nehalem River.  He did not have any equipment of his own so he had to hire a team and Mr. Lyons took on the job and told me to take one of the old wagons to haul equipment and enough feed for three days journey with six horses and go over there as soon as possible as it was getting late and the season is short of logging with horses on the Coast.  We were ready in a few days <page 133> and got away early one morning.  Took the Wilson River road and it took most of four days.  I was alone and taking care of six head of horses, feed and watering took considerable of my traveling time.  They had to be watered and fed three times each day.  There was an old shed of a barn there to put the horses in.  They’d done some logging there some time with oxen, that's what one of the old timers told me.  They were not quite ready to start logging when I arrived but they gave me a man to help fix up the shed and a place to hang the harnesses and a bin for grain and some feed boxes> We also fixed up a blacksmith shop so we could shoe the horses and do light repairs such as welding links or any kind of light work.  They agreed to furnish good valley hay and oats for the team.  That had to be shipped from Portland or San Francisco as there was no road worthy of mention on the lower Nehalem River.  In 1897, coming in we had to ford the river near Balm that was the Post Office at the mouth of Foley Creek and the head of tidewater.  That evening the boss said he would be ready to start next morning.  I took the skid greaser out after supper and we looked the road over after he said everything was ready.  It looked like a hurry up job <page 134> and we had some trouble with a few high and low places and after jerking out a few skids and leveling them up we got started and everything thing went along fine until one night we had a rain and that put mud on the skids and that made us cut down of the size of the loads and reduced our output considerable, but the sun came out in a few days and we got the skids clean and smooth again and we were back to normal output.  Which he said, was 30,000 feet per day.  Bielow was scaling and keeping the books.  It was exceptonally fine timber.  Spruce and Yellow Fir mostly clear and the contract did not allow very knots.  There was lots of tops left in the woods from 24” to 30” in diameter on that account.  Prices were low on lumber and on account of the condition of the bar freight and insurance were high that is compared with all other commodities at that time.  Himple and Wheeler were small operators then.  The mill only cut 30,000 feet per day.  But it sure was a fine as any lumber I ever seen come from any mill.  The Hammond Lumber Company in San Fransico took most of the cut.  I do not know whether they shipped any to Portland of not.  I got some feed from <page 135> there and some other supplies at different times leading me to believe that a small portion of the lumber might be going to Portland instead of to California market.  We caught up with the skid road crew and had to stop logging for two days.  Bielow took two of the boys and the row boat to Nehalem for camp supplies.  While he was getting the cargo ready the boys went over to the Grog shop and proceeded to take on a load of booze and by the time the boss was ready to load up they were both steamed up a boiled owl and could not walk and of course he was aggravated but he made a quick decision there was and old Indian camp down below Nehalem on a small Island and there was an old Squaw living on this island.  He loaded them in the boat and took them down there and rolled them up on the bank where the tide would not reach them.  He went back and loaded his freight and come to camp.  We were eating supper when he came in.  We ask where the two boys were and he laughed and told us what had happened.  Some of the crew wanted to take the boat and go get them.  He said, nothing doing, just leave them there.  I will get them tomorrow <page 136> He left them there until afternoon the next day.  Then he went back and brought them to camp and they did not to Nehalem again until the camp closed down and they were careful not to drink too much then.  Bielow said, he wanted to make some kind of deal to log all winter and ask me what my opinion was on the subject and I told him he could not log on the skid road in the winter unless he planked the road or put in split material between the skids.  Otherwise the mud would get so deep the horses could not get over the road.  He said, he would think it over.  He went and seen Himple and Wheeler and got his statement and felt pretty low.  He had been having the scaling done at camp and the thought he was making some money but the statement did not bear out his opinion.  He said, I will send to Portland and get money to pay up and shut down for the winter.  He had about two more weeks of work for the team putting the logs in that were bucked.  So when that was done he gave me an order on Himple and Wheeler.  I presented it and C.H.  Wheeler said that there was not enough coming to pay it.  I told him that it was a small amount and I would like very much <page 137> to get some kind of settlement.  He finally said he could give me a time draft on the Hammond Lumber Company of San Francisco.  I told him that would be O.K> I went to Portland to spend the winter as there was nothing doing in the way of logging until spring and business was very quiet around Portland that winter.  Soon after my return to the city Mr. Bielow got in communication with Mr. Lyons and wanted to sell his contract with Himple and Wheeler.  Mr. Lyons wrote to Himple and Wheeler for some information about the contract and he received a reply in a few days stating Bielow had no contract with his company and not to deal with him on that basis.  Mr. Wheeler said in part that he would be in Portland in the near future and would call at Mr. Lyons place of business and talk the subject over with him at that time.  That broke off negotiations with Bielow, however he showed up several times before Mr. Wheeler come out from Nehalem and seemed anxious to sell his contract.  I am of the opinion that Bielow was honest in his trying to sell his contract.  He did not know that he had forfeited his contract by not <page 138> making the quota he had agreed to.  Mr. Lyons held up the deal until Mr. Wheeler came out which was early in 1898,.  They talked the subject over and asked me to join in the conversation and I answered the questions they ask me and they finally wound up by deciding to send me back to Nehalem when Wheeler got ready to go.  He did not know exactly when that would be as he was trying to get someone with a tugboat to go in there to do their towing over the Nehalem bar.  He finally made a deal with the owners of the tug Sampson to take her in there for a while.  She was a small, but sturdy and answered the purpose for some time.  Wheeler had made arrangements for his self and one or two men he had hired and for me to go in on the tug which we were to meet in Astoria.  At a certain day we were there on time but the Columbus bar was too rough the morning we were supposed to leave so we layed over for two days and we met at the dock and was just casting off when some fellows came on board and took the mate and went ashore.  They said, he was drunk when they signed him up and that he was violating his contract with another boat crew <page 139> which he legally belonged to, so that was that.  We had to stay over another day and the Captain found he could not carry us fellows as passengers, so he signed Wheeler up as mate and myself as second mate and one fellow as fireman and a man by the name of Sieley as Purser.  We put out to sea early the next morning and had no more trouble.  We made fair time down the coast and arrived off the mouth of the Nehalem about mid afternoon and we cruised around outside getting their bearings for some time.  The Captain had never been in there, so Wheeler was stretched out flat on his stomach on top of the cabin shouting the instructions to the Captain and he did a first class job.  We hit the bullseye right through the center of the channel without a bobble.  We landed at Himple and Wheeler dock about 4 P.M., and had a fine dinner at the company cookhouse.  A fellow by the name of Ed Lane was cooking and he was good at it and that Nehalem beefsteak is hard to beat, wish I had one now, this is 1946.  The year of tough meat.  <continued>