Androscoggin Log Drives
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Les Draves Sur L'Androscoggin

, Rivers were the transportation and power for Maine's logging industry from the first sawmill in 1630 in Berwick until 1974. Lewiston's first sawmills were located near the Great Falls. Throughout the year, hardy loggers cut the trees upstream and stacked them on the riverbanks. Logging was a dangerous profession , loggers cut with handsaws and axes, and they used horses and oxen to haul the logs. During the spring floods, the logs were dumped into the river and carried downstream, guided by river men with long poles, spiked boots for traction, and bateaux (flat-bottomed boats). Booms across the river then captured the logs so they could be separated. Some went to sawmills; some became pulp in paper mills. The last log drive on the Androscoggin was in 1962.,