The Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 13, number 2, December 1929

              176 the life of a lumberman would sleepily and noiselessly arise pull on their outer gar ments and depart for the barns where they fed cleaned and harnessed their horses in preparation for the day's work this done they returned to the camp dressed their feet fully washed for breakfast and perhaps took a chew of plug tobacco as an appetizer chewing tobacco reminds me of ed erickson ed was one of the best woods and river foremen we ever had and he was a gentleman to boot he started his career as a teamster and he was as good a man at handling horses as he later be came at handling men like most scandinavian woodsmen especially teamsters ed loved his chewing tobacco when ever he pulled his plug of tobacco out of his pocket the horses would turn their heads expectantly towards him and he always had to give each of them a chew before putting the plug back they loved the stuff and ed being a gentleman always treated them but it ran his tobacco bill pretty high by the time the teamsters were ready for breakfast the camp reveille blown on a big tin horn had roused the rest of the camp at about 4:35 a m and the jacks had rolled out of their blankets pulled on the clothes they had taken off the night before — few enough in truth — taken their heavy socks from the drying racks donned them and were washing for breakfast at 4 50 or 5 00 a m the gaberal would blow the breakfast horn as a signal to the jacks to come and get it there would be a rush for the long tables in the cook shanty and a pitched battle would ensue between the lumberjacks and the marvelous products of the cook's culinary efforts with the jacks invariably the victors breakfast in a lumber camp was no such light meal as the morning fruit cereal and coffee titbits eaten by modern business men it was as large and important a meal as any other and the bill of fare would read more like a dinner than a breakfast to the average person of today flapjacks