Shanty, Forest and River Life in the Backwoods of Canada (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1883. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XXX. Settling up in Quebec. HE "settling up" in Quebec is an anxious time for both the lumber merchant and the shantyman. The former has now to square his accounts for the year, to take stock of his expenditures, and the quantity and quality of his timber after the wear and tear of the drive, and the probabilities of the market, to find out how he stands in the world. For the past year it has been a continual outlay of money without the return of a single cent. A hundred or more men have had to be fed during that time, perhaps as many horses during the winter; timber licenses, Government dues, slidage.interest on capital paid for limits, and a hundred other expenses peculiarly incidental to the lumbering business, have been draining his pockets for the last twelve months. The year's expenditure from the time the first tree has been cut in the fall, until the whole raft has been passed over into the hands of the buyer at Quebec, foots up a heavy sum, all gone in hard cash. w There is no business that I know of in which there are so many and such large demands upon the purse as that of the lumber merchant. No wonder, then, he is anxious about the state of the market, which perhaps is the most uncertain and fluctuating of any in the world. A European war, a depression in stocks, a rise or fall in Turkish or Egyptian bonds, a score or more of causes, may so operate as to make or mar a fortune for the lumberman. And such is the nature of the business that these gentlemen are not satisfied, like ordinary mortals, with a fair and reasonable profit; no, they expect a bonanza with every recurring season. A few thousands will not do; they look for tens and scores of thousands to stand at the foot of the balance sheet to their credit when the year's business is wou...