1234 K. G. ivKwas 



streams and piled on the ice which at that time covers the siurface. When 

 the rivers break up in the spring the freshet carries the logs with it out to 

 the mouths of the rivers, where they empt}- into the great rivers like the 

 ySt lyawrence or Ottawa or the great lakes hke Huron or Ontario. Here 

 the logs are boomed (i) and the logs of the different owners separated by 

 means of the timber brands on the ends of the logs. The logs thus 

 separated are sawn into boards and planks in the mills located along the 

 river bank. 



The practice is now prevalent of bringing the mills as close as possible 

 to the forest and shipping out only the finished product, but in the early 

 days the mills were located at lumber centres on the great rivers and the 

 logs were formed into rafts and these rafts were floated down the rivers, run 

 over rapids and towed across lakes to the mill. For many years the export 

 trade consisted largely of square timber, that is timber squared by the axe 

 in the woods. This trade, which emplo^'ed many hundred saiHng ships, 

 had its centre at the port of Quebec, where sometimes as many as three 

 hundred ships were to be seen loading at one time. It reached its highest 

 point about 1870 and since that, owing to the wastefulness of the trade and 

 the dangerous condition in which it left the woods, owing to the chips 

 and debris, it has been attacked from both the conmiercial and legislative 

 sides and had dwindled away to almost nothing. 



Nowadays the steamer, schooner or barge carries the sawn lumber from 

 the lake port or river town to the seaport where it is loaded on ocean-going 

 ships. The method thus differs from those employed in the United States, 

 where the transportation is largely done b}^ logging railways. This water 

 transportation feature with the risks and dangers attending the " driving" 

 of the logs down the small streams and, attending the " booming " and 

 " rafting " "and " shooting " of rapids and running of '' log-chutes ", has 

 bred up a hardy, adventurous class of men equally skilful in the use of 

 the axe, the pikepole (2) and the paddle, and has developed a Hterature 

 in prose and verse which has forever given a touch of romance to 

 Canadian lumbering. 



The Forest Trees of Canada 



by 



R. G. lyEWIS. 



Coniferous forest growth prevails over the greater part of Canada's po- 

 tential forest area. If we eliminate from our conception of potential forest 



(i) " Boomed " ; that is floated iuto great enclosures formed of floating logs chained to- 

 gether end to end and anchored to piers set in the river. As the logs float through a narrow 

 entrance the river men or "log drivers " skilfully direct them into the enclosures of the differ- 

 ent owners as indicated by the brands or marks on the logs. 



(2) The pikepole is a pole fifteen or twenty feet long fitted with a sharp spike and hook at 

 one end, which pole the river " driver " uses to balance himself as he walks along the floating, 

 rolling logs, and to draw the logs into the desired chaimels or awaj' from rocks. 



