38o 



LOGGING 



three days to six months. The average time is about six weeks. 

 One hundred men are required on the Ammonoosuc and about 

 sixty on the Connecticut River. The cost per thousand feet de- 

 livered at Bellows Falls for the 1909 drive, which was conducted 

 under favorable conditions, was $1.18 per thousand feet. In 

 1908 the cost was $1.71 and in 1907, $1.40, while in some 

 years it has been nearly $2 per thousand feet. The high cost 

 is due to the rough character of the Ammonoosuc channel which, 

 though fairly straight, contains many rocks. The annual 

 cost of improving the Ammonoosuc has been from .S500 to 

 $700. 



On the Penobscot River in ]\Iaine, the average length of drive 

 is approximately 150 miles and the longest drive which originates 

 on either the North or South Branch of the West Branch is 

 about 240 miles. The average quantity of material annually 

 driven down the West Branch is 130,000,000 feet, about three- 

 quarters of which goes to Millinocket, and the remainder to 

 Bangor and vicinity. The drive begins about April 20th and 

 the last logs reach the booms above Bangor about October 

 first. Approximately 2500 men are employed for the first 

 six weeks and after the logs reach the main stream the force 

 is cut to about 200 men, exclusive of those occupied at the 

 sorting gaps. 



The cost per thousand feet for driving logs on various portions 

 of the Penobscot River has been as follows: ^ 



^ "Water Resources of the Penobscot River Basin, Maine,' 

 Survey. Water Supply Paper, 279, Washington, 1912, p. 211. 



U. S. Geological 



