78 North American Forests and Forestry 



straight in the channel. The greatest rafts ever 

 constructed have been on the Lakes, but this is 

 not the usual way of transporting logs there. The 

 risk of the rafts breaking up and the logs scatter- 

 ing in a high sea is too great. Since the pine 

 growing in the immediate neighborhood of the 

 rivers large enough for rafting has been cut, the 

 lumbermen have gone up to the very headwaters 

 of the streams and along brooks of the smallest 

 kind. On these the logs cut during the winter 

 are floated down loosely, taking advantage of the 

 high water when the snow melts. Usually the 

 freshet caused by frequent rains in June is relied 

 on to drive down the logs which were not brought 

 in by the early high water. But of recent years 

 much complaint is made that the June freshet fails. 

 When the logs coming down the smaller streams 

 reach the main rivers, those belonging to different 

 proprietors are very apt to become mixed. To 

 make the severing of property of different parties 

 possible each log is identified by the mark of its 

 owner. These marks are registered in official 

 records, kept by the proper State officials. To 

 facilitate the sorting of logs belonging to different 

 people, arrangements have been devised known 

 as booms. These may be described as lines of 

 anchored logs floating on the water, by which the 

 river is divided into various compartments. The 

 ends of these compartments can be opened and 

 shut. If the lower end is shut, no log can float 

 out. If the upper end is closed, none can come 



