FLOATING AND RAFTING 369 



the stream improvements are made and the drive is conducted 

 by one firm. On reaching the larger stream the logs of all 

 parties become intermingled and the drive is then conducted as a 

 "union" drive or as a corporation drive. 



On union drives which have been frequent in the Northeast, 

 the expense of improvements and labor hire is apportioned 

 among the companies and individuals according to the amount 

 of timber each has in the stream. The direct control of the drive 

 is vested usually in the interested members, in rotation, and each 

 one has an employee at the sorting gap to look after his interests 

 when the logs are assorted. 



A more common method is the control of the main drive by 

 boom companies chartered by the State in which the business 

 is conducted. The stream, if long, may be divided into several 

 sections, each in charge of a separate corporation. The member- 

 ship of such corporations is usually confined to loggers who use 

 the river for log transportation ; however, it often does not include 

 some of the smaller operators. Many of the boom companies 

 operating in the Lake States, especially on the Mississippi River 

 and its tributaries, have a limited capital stock divided among 

 a few shareholders. 



Another form of membership is represented by companies, 

 such as the St. John River Log Driving Company, operating 

 in the vicinity of Fredericton, New Brunswick.^ Each logger 

 having 100,000 feet or more passing through the limits of the 

 company is eligible to membership, on filing with the Secretary 

 a statement of all logs placed in the stream and their point of 

 origin, a list of all log marks used, and certain other required facts. 

 On filing this report the applicant becomes a member and is 

 entitled to one vote for each 100,000 feet of logs he has in the 

 drive. Thus every logger of any consequence has a voice in the 

 administration of the drive. 



All states having large streams which are used for the transport 

 of logs have laws relating to the rights and privileges of loggers 

 and setting forth the duties and liabilities of incorporated boom 



1 St. John River Log Driving Operations, by G. Scott Grimmer, Canada 

 Lumberman and Woodworker, Vol. XXXII, No. 11, June, 1912, p. 28. 



