The annual drive of the Connecticut
Valley Lumber Co., is now passing
Turners Falls at record speed as a
large number of men are at the sluice
way, both night and day. The company has arranged lights and torches
on the island over the sluice and the
facilities are much better for handling
the drive than ever before. The boatmen have been tied up here for a little
over a week as the logs are running
more together then ever before and
it has been necessary to close the
boom at the narrows several times
to relieve the terrific strain on the
at its present pitch it is thought that
the entire drive will be past the dam
during the early part of the coming
week. There has been no friction
between the company and the boatmen this year and the company has
been very considerate in offering help
to launch owners whenever needed.
lower booms. If the water continues.
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved. Contact us for information about using this image.
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The annual log drive needed water to float the timber and as this article notes the timber company was hoping the water would remain high. This was one of the last big log runs down the Connecticut; the steady cutting of available timber in the upper Connecticut Valley meant that by 1908 there were ever fewer logs being floated downstream. After, smaller log drives would continue, but by the late 1920s and early 1930s this practice had entirely disappeared. By then, logs were almost entirely moved by large trucks.