FLOATING AND RAFTING 
419 
RAFTING ON STREAMS 
Rafting is a common method of handling logs on large streams 
and lakes and is practiced in all parts of the United States. The 
motive power is usually end-wheeled or side-wheeled steamers on 
small bodies of water, and screw-propelled tugs on large bodies of 
water. Rafts are now seldom drifted with the current. The 
advantages of rafting are : 
(1) It prevents loose logs from scattering and becoming 
Fig. 149. — A Mississippi River Log Raft, Showing the Method of Control 
b}' End-wheeled Steamers. 
entangled in bushes along the banks, and from being stranded on 
flats submerged at high water. 
(2) It enables the water transport of non-buoyant species 
which can be held up by fastening them to logs which float. 
(3) Extensive booms are not required at destination to catch 
the logs as they come down. 
(4) It insures prompt delivery on lakes and other waters 
where there is no current to carry the logs along. 
(5) The Federal Rivers and Harbors Act of March 3, 1899, 
declares ''that it shall be unlawful to float loose timber or logs 
in streams actually navigated by steamboats in such manner as 
to obstruct, impede, or endanger navigation." 
