29

LOGGING RAFT
1940
Early Ontario

30

LOGGING RAFT

The forests of Ontario had white pines that in first growth grew to a height of as much as 150 feet and could be four feet in circumference. These were highly desirable and easily obtained for cutting. The problem was how to get them to the sawmills. In the winter, they would be drawn by horse and sleigh. The preferred method of hauling the balance of the year, the timber was drawn to a river or lake and the lumberjacks became river-drivers as they herded large "booms" of timber downstream. Once the water widened, timber cribs were constructed. A crib consisted of ten or more sticks of about the same length, bound firmly together side by side. Several cribs where made into a band and several bands formed the raft. Using these rafts or cribs, meant having to dismantle them several times over rapids and through narrows. The timber market would be finally reached or the railway terminus for the final trip to the sawmills or for export.