408 LOGGING 
the melting snow and hence the drive must begin as soon as 
the ice goes out of the streams, since the water supply gradually 
decreases as the season advances, and on the smaller streams 
may be insufficient by early summer. 
In the Appalachian mountains and in the South where the 
snowfall is limited or absent, reliance is placed on freshets or 
heavy rainfalls for water to float the logs and the drive is conducted 
whenever water is available. On large bodies of water like the 
Great Lakes, Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean the governing 
factor is the storm period, consequently the summer months are 
preferred. 
Conduct of Drives. — The business conduct of drives on streams 
may be under the control of one man, a group of individuals, or 
a corporation, depending upon the ownership of the timber. 
Rafting is carried on both by individuals and corporations. 
Drives upon large rivers often originate on numerous small 
streams, from each one of which come the logs of an individual 
or a company. Under these circumstances the small stream 
improvements are made and the drive upon it 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" 
or corporation drive. 
On union drives 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 con- 
trol of the drive is vested usually in the interested members, in 
rotation, and each one has an employee at the assorting gap 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 
in 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's River Log Driving Company, operating 
