The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-09-23
Mammoth Timber Crib
lowed Across the
Ocean.
BY wALDON FAwCETT.


Special Correspondent, The Technica
Il World Magazine.
| Internationally the most picturesqu,
method of transporting logs known t
of late years been employed on the Pa
lcific Coast. and which is nov to be IN
Itroduced in trans-oceanic traffic. Raft
ing is means of conveyance univer-
lsally adopted in the lumnering in
Idustry in all countries from time inme-
Imorial; but, as followed on the Western
coast, rafting attains a dignity hereto
fore undreamed of. because of the
! enormous size OF the cribs and the fact
that lengthy deep-sea voyages are made
in all kinds of weather.
EXCLUSIVELY PACIFIC.
The giant log RATS of the Pacific
would be impracticable of construction
in any other part of the world. For
one thing, it would be impossible to
! obtain elsewhere timbers of the requi-
site size and length in sufficient num-
and, secondly. the price which such
logs would command in almost any
other quarter Of the globe would prob
ably prohibit the taking of such risks
as are involved in this unique method
of transportation.
The Pacific Northwest, the marvellous
forests of which contain upward of one
fourth of all the standing merchantable
timber in the United States, is mani
testify the only source of supply quail
fed to furnish material for the giant
RATS. Here alone may be found the
towering frs, standing from 100 to 200
feet without limb, whence come the
spars and piling of which these great
RATS are made. Yet, strangely enough,
the idea of the monster log raft did not
originate in the territory which has
been the scene of it's development
The inventor, Mr.. Hugh R. Robert
son, was a resident of ST. John, New |
Brunswick, Canada, when he first con- |
ceived the idea of a log raft larger in
every way than anything which had
been built up to that time. The funda-
iISlldi upon WHICH he TetIcu
to make it practicable to navigate these |
gigantic cribs, was found in the novel |
form of the craft-the cigar shape |
which remains today their chief distinc-
tive characteristic.
IN 1887, Mr.. Robertson built at jog
gins, Nova Scotia, his pioneer raft of |
this type-a log structure $50 feet long
and 35 feet deep. Like many other first
ventures, however, it came to grief /
while en- route to New York.
The raft builder persisted, however,
in his belief in his new theory; and as
soon as possible, built another log l.
structure which justified his expecta-
tons by making a successful journey
Of 700 miles in ten days. From the
late of the inception of the idea of the
pig raft, Mr.. Robertson had looked up
IN the north Pacific Coast with its eI-
,eptiona1 timber resources. as an ideal
heater of operations. So, when an OPP
1ortunity came to dispose of his rights
or the Atlantic Coast, he awaited him
self of it and migrated to the Pacific
Slope.
THE CRADLE.
One very notable improvement in !
construction methods which Mr.. Rob- s
rtson made after establishing himself {
IN the Pacific Coast, is found in the |
invention of the cradle, supporting /
tructure, in which every large raft is /
low built. The RATS built in Nova i
Gotta were constructed resting oblique- s
y on the shore on timber foundations, |
nd were launched only with the great J
st difficulty. The problem of getting
he great bundle of big sticks into the c
rater quickly and without damage to
he raft, is admirably solved by the /
resent-day floating cradle. '
Crudely described the cradle might n
e said to consist of a long series of Il
alf circles of wood placed side by side. i
ecurely bolted together and held in t
lace by ribs of thoroughly seasoned 6
mber. In appearance the cradle looks t
luch like the skeleton frame of a great C
hip-it is longer than the biggest
cean liner-and this resemblance is