PIONEER LUMBERING
The arrival of the explorers and fur traders in this area, brought the "Coureur des bois" or bushman. There was plenty of trees to be cut, trimmed and shipped to the capital for exportation. J.R. Booth was one of the biggest employers in this region in the 1850s. Many shanty camps and make shift mills were built along the Mattawa and Ottawa rivers during the last century to supply his demand. The arrival of the railroad along the Ottawa River in 1881, allowed them to ship more logs to his mills in Ottawa and brought in more labourers to work his limits.
A team of horses is pulling out a load of logs during the winter season.
The men are tying a group of logs together to make a raft to float on the log drive down the Mattawa River.
Log jams were not unusual to see along these creeks and rivers. The loggers would have to risk life and limb to walk on the logs that were floating and unjam the logs that were stuck together .
Living in a shanty camp was not an easy life. You were many miles away from civilization, in a one room camp which consisted of a common kitchen and beds for the workers. You ate what the cooks fed you and you slept in cramped quarters surrounded by men. You rarely saw women in these camps and if you did, they were cooks.
Building of a mill along the Ottawa River
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