In his mind's eye he apportioned the sections of the upper
river. Among the remoter wildernesses every section must have its
driving camp. The crews of each, whether few or many, would be
expected to keep clear and running their own "beats" on the river.
As far as the rear crew should overtake these divisions, either it
would absorb them or the members of them would be thrown forward
beyond the lowermost beat, to take charge of a new division down
stream. When the settled farm country or the little towns were
reached, many of the driving camps would become unnecessary; the men
could be boarded out at farms lying in their beats. A continual
advance would progress toward the Lake, the drive crews passing and
repassing each other like pigeons in the sown fields. Each of these
sections would be in charge of a foreman, whose responsibility
ceased with the delivery of the logs to the men next below. A
walking boss would trudge continually the river trail, or ride the
logs down stream, holding the correlation of these many units. Orde
himself would drive up and down the river, overseeing the whole plan
of campaign, throwing the camps forward, concentrating his forces
here, spreading them elsewhere, keeping accurately in mind the
entire situation so that he could say with full confidence: "Open
Dam Number One for three hours at nine o'clock; Dam Number Two for
two hours and a half at ten thirty," and so on down the line; sure
that the flood waters thus released would arrive at the right
moment, would supplement each other, and would so space themselves
as to accomplish the most work with the least waste.
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