In Journey Back to Lumberjack Camp, you read about Gus's experience going back in time to a Michigan lumberjack camp in the late 1800s. You got a feel for what it was like to work in the cookshack, and also what it was like to sleep in a bunkhouse with men who haven't taken a bath in months! Yet, the study of lumbering in Michigan would not be complete without taking a look at the men who felled, and cut, the massive white pines. What was it like to be a lumberman, or "shanty boy"?
After reading the first internet site listed below, you will answer some questions, and label a picture using vocabulary words from the lesson. Next, you will be reading a series of short stories about life as a "shanty boy", or lumberman, in the second internet site. After learning some "shanty boy" slang, you will write your own short story about life as a shanty boy. To do this, you will use vocabulary words, slang, and facts from the two internet sites, and Journey Back to Lumberjack Camp.
1. Read the first internet site listed in the Resources section.
2. Answer the following questions about the tools that shanty boys used.
-What was a cant hook used for?
- What was used to strip bark off logs?
- Would you want to be a log scaler? Why or why not?
- Describe what a river hog's job was.
- Of the jobs mentioned, which would you prefer to do if you were a shanty boy?
- Which of the described tools can you see in the picture at the bottom of the page?
3. Make a copy of the photo from the internet site used above. Label on the photo the words in
bold print using arrows.
4. Read the shanty boys stories from the second internet site listed in the Resources section.
5. Notice all of the slang words that the storytellers used. Pick 5 from any of the stories, and write the real English word that it stands for. Example: 'n means and
6. Using what you know from Journey Back to Lumberjack Camp, and the two internet sites you just used, write a short story telling what it was like to be a lumberman, or "shanty boy" in Michigan in the late 1800s. Be sure to use some of the shanty boy slang that you learned from #5 above. Also, use at least three bold face words from #1 above. Of course, any facts that you learned from Journey Back to Lumberjack Camp may be used.
This page written by R-K
This page was adapted from Bernie Dodge 's WebQuest_Template1.html by Tom March