West Branch Timber to Market 1840s-1907

West Branch Timber to Market 1840s-1907. . , When the first pioneers came to Clearfield County early in the 19th century they found an endless forest of white pine trees. After homesteads were established much of the timber left standing was made into log rafts. Rafts would be floated downriver in the spring floods past Harrisburg to places like Marietta where the timber was cut into lumber for eastern markets. In 1871, Clearfield County floated 2,600 rafts to market. As sawmills were constructed upriver, the West Branch became the only river in the state of Pennsylvania on which great log drives took place. Booms collected the logs and converted them to lumber at towns like Curwensville, Lock Haven, Jersey Shore and Williamsport. Raftsmen objected to log drives as logjams prevented their progress down stream. The West Branch was divided into Rafting Divisions: , 1. Headwaters to Lock Haven , 2. Lock Haven to Marietta , 3. Marietta to Port Deposit, Md., [Photo captions, clockwise from bottom left, read] , . Logs floating past county jail, post 1871. The Kerr House, site of the present Clearfield County Historical Society Museum, in the extreme upper right. Each log was stamped for identification at the mill., . Lumber raft snubbed here at Pine Street above old Nichols Street Bridge. Pre 1860's., . Lumber rafts at "The Point," the intersection of Front and 2nd Streets (Looking upriver), . Coal ark snubbed here at Pine Street. Men in bateau working floating log jam above old Nichols Street Bridge.