THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOGGING OPERATIONS 



275 



nesota, the rivers of those regions were turned to account 



in carrying pine and hemlock logs. Rivers further south 



were highways also for the transportation of logs, but 



not quite to the extent of those north and east. The 



Ohio river throughout its whole length from Pittsburgh 



to its mouth, was long a 



famous logging stream. Its 



forest burdens were chiefly 



in the form of rafts, rather 



than of single logs that 



floated free without human 



guidance. Log rafts have 



not yet wholly disappeared 



from the Ohio, or even 



from the Mississippi. 



Both loose logs and log 

 rafts have been carried by 

 the same streams in most 

 cases, where depth of 

 water has been sufficient ; 

 but many small rivers, and 

 many of larger size but 

 with rough channels, have 

 transported loose logs but 

 few rafts. The rafts are 



steered by men, but logs which float free are carried 

 wherever the currents drive them, and they are liable 

 to lodge against rocks and banks, or remain stranded 

 when the floods which follow rains have subsided. It 

 was and is the log driver's business to follow the driva- 

 ble rivers and free the logs 

 that have lodged and send 

 them upon their way. In 

 many regions log driving 

 was a trade, and men work- 

 ed at that who did little 

 else. They endured all 

 sorts of wind and weather, 

 and faced many dangers. 

 Not infrequently the driv- 

 ers lost their lives in whirl- 

 pools, log jams, and ice 

 gorges. 



It is necessary to speak 

 of log driving largely in the 

 past tense for in recent 

 years the tapline railroad 

 has captured much of the 

 logging work from the 

 rivers ; yet in some localities 

 the streams still do their 

 full share in transporting 

 logs from forests to dis- 

 tant mills. 



The "drivable" or "float- 

 able" rivers and creeks, so called because they are large 

 enough to carry single logs in times of freshet, have 

 played their part in state and national politics and in 

 "porkbarrel" history. Congressmen have been many 

 times accused of playing politics by securing liberal ap- 



WHERE LOGS ARE MEASURED BY THE ACRE 



On large rivers like the Mississippi and some of its tributaries enormous 

 rafts of logs are not unusual. Water transportation is cheap and it 

 has been made use of on most rivers of medium or large size in the 

 wooded parts of the United States. The movement of such rafts is always 

 with the current, and the steering is done with oars at each end. 



A TWO-WHEELED LOG CART LOADED 



A common name for a vehicle of this kind is "high wheels." There are 

 several makes and they are widely used, and they do well on rocky ground 

 and can pass over low stumps and small logs. The horses are hitched to 

 the end of the pole, and the pull lifts the logs from the ground and holds 

 them suspended during the haui. 



propriations for streams of that class, when the actual 

 merits of the cases did not call for appropriations. It 

 was sometimes said ironically that with a good appropria- 

 tion back of it, a log would float down a stream "so long 

 as the ground was the least bit damp." Though that was 



intended as sarcasm, there 

 was some truth in it ; for, 

 with the aid of splash dams, 

 quite small streams could 

 be made to carry logs. 

 Splash dams, or drive dams 

 as they may be called, im- 

 pound the small quantity 

 of water flowing in the 

 channel, and at intervals let 

 it loose as artificial floods 

 which carry the logs fur- 

 ther upon their journey. By 

 such means many insignifi- 

 cant streams have been 

 made to do splendid service 

 in the transportation of 

 logs, and regions have been 

 logged which otherwise 

 would have remained in- 

 accessible without building railroads, and often the cost 

 of such roads place them out of the question. 



The rivers west of the Rocky Mountains have not had 

 as important a part in logging operations as the rivers 

 of the east, yet some log floating and log rafting have 



been done on western 

 streams. Many of those 

 rivers are not very suitable 

 for log carrying purposes , 

 and there has been another 

 handicap laid on those riv- 

 ers, in the fact that much 

 of the western timber is of 

 such large size that a pret- 

 ty deep stream is required 

 to float the logs. But a 

 more potent reason for the 

 smallness of the use made 

 of western rivers as log 

 carriers has been the fact 

 that railroads were in use 

 before much logging was 

 undertaken in that region, 

 and operators preferred to 

 build railroads to bring 

 their logs out of the for- 

 est. That was not the situa- 

 tion during the early period 

 of eastern lumbering. Rail- 

 roads were then unknown. 

 Log rafts have been of many sizes and of nearly all 

 shapes, from three or four logs tied together with grape 

 vines, hickory withes, or birch hoop poles, to enormous 

 structures carefully built and held in form with chains. 

 Small streams can carry only small rafts, and sizes of 



