Yup, I'm still stuck on one of the 30,000 Islands, my ship is sunk and all the treasures are at the bottom of Georgian Bay. The chests are full with artifacts, they are achives full of photos like these of old lumber camps.

A pair of heavy horses are pulling a full load of logs along an iced path. This method for transporting lumber was the most efficient in winter because of the minimum resistance of the snow. They would transport these logs to an open waterway. In the spring they would be carried down stream to the mills. The logs were often piled on frozen rivers to be carried down stream to larger lakes in the spring; to where the mills operated.
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Because many families depended on work in the lumber camps, many lumberjacks brought their wives and children with them. How would you like that, living in below zero degree weather for months. You can see the boy in the center of the photo on the stump with his dad's hand on his shoulder.

Here's a good example of a log boom. Booms were hundreds of logs put together to make a raft. This made it easier for them to be carried down stream to the lumber mills (in background). Although sometimes these logs booms broke apart, which made a real mess.
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This picture shows six lumberjacks taking a break from their strenuous work. There work conditions were horrible, they had to work 12 hour days in below freezing weather. The axes they are holding were used to cut down the trees, today these men would be in heaven with a chain-saw!

What would the lumberjacks use to cut down trees?

a) chainsaw

b) axes

c) beavers

Cool Links

Lumber Mills in Midland

Playfair-White Era

Railroad in Midland

Then and Now

Links Around the World

Lumber Industry in Hearst. Overview of the lumber industry in the town of Hearst.

Mackenzie's John Dahl Article on logging.

Further Reading and Bibliography

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Good quality copies of J.W. Bald's photo can be obtained from the Huronia Museum c/o Bill Smith 1-705-526-2844 or through the National Archives of Canada, just refer to the archive number at the bottom of each picture.

Huronia Museum, Little Lake Park, P.O. Box 638, Midland, Ontario, Canada, L4R 4P4.

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