The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1886-07-29
A HUGE RAFT.
The Blue Noses Make An interesting
| Experiment.
New Method of Transporting Lum-
Der to the New York Market.

Correspondence of Industrial Journal.
In addition to the interest in the fishery
question which occupies the minds of both
Yankees and blue-noses at the presept time,
the subject of the "bg raft is exciting con-
siderable interest not only in these provin-
ces, but also in New York and New England
as well and have thought that the readers
of The Journal might be interested in de-
scription of this much patented scheme for
transporting timber long distances by water,
without the expensive aid of vessels, which
is now being practically tested on the shore
of the Bay of Fundy on an immense scale.
The process is to build an immense raft of
logs, cut in full length trees, in form some
what resembling that of ship and have
them firmly secured by chains, the whole to
be lowed from the Bay of Fundy to New
York by steamer. This process is patented
in Canada, the United States, Great Britain
and Norway and Sweden by Mr.. Robertson
of st. John, who has contracted with Mr.. B.
B. Barnhill of Joggin Mines i'll Cumberland,
n S., to build raft of solid timber which in
bulk will rival the Great Eastern, and
will exceed it in weight by at least one
half.
Near the head of the Bay of Fundy and
situated between the Minas Basin On the
south and Chignecto Bay on the north and
in Cumberland county is triangle of land
reaching some forty or fifty miles into the
bay and containing hundred or more
square miles of wilderness land, which al
ways has been, and still is, an extensive
range for moose and caribou, and great
hannt for hears A c the shores settled
by farmers in some parts and by fishermen,
grindstone makers and lumbermen in others,
this almost unknown wilderness back from
the shore gives a capital chance for bears to
roam unmo lested and from which they sally
out on the unsuspecting focks of the inhabi-
tants of the shores and make great havoc
among the sheep and young cattle, few far
mers being fortunate to pass through a sea-
son without the loss of some stock.
Over this broad extent of territory the
growth is largely spruce, so much so that for
a score of years Boston and New York and
many other cities in and even beyond New
England have depended almost entirely on
these shores for their supply Of plllng for the
foundations of their wharfs and buildings.
This growth of timber comes. generally down
to the waters edge and the shores are gener-
ally perpendicular banks from fifty to two
hundred feet in height, but at place called
Finger Board, some six miles down the
bay from Joggin Mines, there is a depression
ing a raft of the required size, and as Mr..
Barnhill owns large tract of timber land in
this vicinity, this location is considered the
best on the bay for the purpose.
Last fall the ground was graded for the
foundation timbers and camps built in the
woods at different points Were timber cut
ting and hauling went on continually during
the winter. A cradle was built on the pre-
pared foundation having something the
form and appearance of the frame of a large
ship and was designed to give general form
to the raft and to hold it in form until the
chains have been attached and drawn taught !;
it will launch with the raft and then be de-
tached therefrom, the raft being held togeth-
er entirely by the chains. A few days ago |
went down to the shore to the point where
the raft nears completion. The road for
miles is rough one and through wilder
ness of broken timber.
Through thefog which partly shrouded the
sun we at last indistnctly discerned some
thing which resembled long hill rising
above the low surrounding trees. This was
the nearly completed raft, and though will
give the figures, they will give to the reader