Boats played a important role on the river drive in Maine. There were 3 types of boats, a winch boat, a pushing boat,and a towing boat. There were regular wooden boats, horse powered boats, and bateaux's. There were kicker boats and what they called a wash tub used for a winch boat. Winch boats were used for different things. A tug boat brought the rafts back. Wilfred Sanipas and Gerry Bigelow have both worked a winch boat: on a winch boat there was a boat operator and he would become a deck hand. A pusher boat and a winch boat would work together. A pusher boat was a fairly good sized boat. There was a blade in front and it was 15 ft in length. The blade dropped down and pushed the wood along. The motors in some of the boats were like motors in cars. Another boat was a flat bottomed boat. It was square at both ends. Working with lumber on lakes and small ponds may seem easy but it was hard. The men had to be alert and know the depths of the water. One had to know the wind because they used it to their advantage. Logging in the winter part II River drivers worked as loggers in the winter if they lived in the area. Younger boys did dishes and got food for the men. As soon as spring came, logging stopped and river driving began. Indians and Canadians helped log in the winter. For many men logging was just as important as river driving. Young boys of 8 years would take on small jobs in the logging operations. One small job was"swamping". Swamping was clearing out the roads for choppers. An example would be clearing out trees and cutting out roads. Men worked in crews. 4-5 men were in a crew. There was a swamper, 2 choppers, and someone to unload at the landing. The highest paid man on the job was a chopper. Back then you were paid by the day, not by the hour. Logs were peeled by stripping of bark. That way it was easier and lighter. Then they would take a spud{a peeling iron} a foot long, and take the bark off. But if knots were there it took a lot longer. Horses moved logs from place to place in the woods. A "scoot tender"made his own sleds which were pulled by horses. They had "platforms" which were used to roll logs onto scoot sleds. Logs were scaled by the Landing man. Scaling was measuring the logs. The rule had a wheel on it and they would measure length of the logs and calibrate them. That would determine what the log sawed out. The piles were measured, 8 ft long and 4 ft high. In a yard, logs were marked with a letter to identify the owner. Each company had their own mark, like L,B, C,or X. When the logs went down river, each company got their own logs back. Near the end there was a sorting station where logs were separated according to owner. Two loggers went cruising for contracts with lumber companies. Cruising was when a company determined how much wood was on a piece of land. |
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