382 WOOD TRANSPORT BY WATER. 



v. Accessibility of the Banks of the Stream. 



Accessibility of the banks is another necessity whenever 

 a stream is used for floating timber. The water must be 

 accessible at least from one of the banks by a good foot-path, 

 so that the workmen may be able to fasten logs to the shore, 

 push off stranded logs, or land timber, and move about 

 expeditiously. 



The only difficulty in lower mountain-valleys and level 

 ground is to come to terms with the riparian owners about 

 sites for the construction of booms, etc. In the higher 

 mountain passes, however, steep precipices often line the 

 banks of narrow gorges, through which the stream passes, 

 and the logs can be controlled by the workmen only at great 

 risk to their lives. Such gorges are especially common 

 among limestone rocks ; they form passes between the higher 

 and lower stages of the valleys, the water falling in a series of 

 cascades among large boulders and masses of rock. The 

 floating wood is constantly sticking in such places, and a 

 whole sweep of timber may thus be stopped. In order to 

 prevent this mischance the gorges must be made passable ; 

 often a pathway is constructed with wooden galleries sup- 

 ported by numerous iron bars and wooden beams let into the 

 rock, and connected with one another by steps cut in the 

 rocks, and by ladders. 



3. Booms. 



Booms are constructions intended to arrest or divert the 

 passage of all floating wood at a fixed point in a stream. 

 All floating timber is stopped or diverted by the boom, and 

 where large sweeps of timber come down, the boom has to 

 resist considerable pressure and must be very strongly con- 

 structed ; its site also should be situated favourably for the 

 purpose in view. 



Booms, therefore, vary from those of the simplest nature to 

 colossal structures costing thousands of pounds. Most of these 

 booms are constructed by ordinary woodcutters or floaters, 

 who from long experience in the work frequently show great 

 ingenuity ; some of them may even be classed as engineers. 



