Boom piers in the river,Berlin,NH

[isawlogs]

The heavy rain also bring food to the fish ... worms and other insects
 The blown over trees created a natural hide out for smaller fish , and also bring food in
  Here the dams had slides incorperated into them to be able to slide the logs down from them .....The logs where gathered up river then tugged to the dam and where guided through the slide ....
  

[isawlogs]

Heres a picture of the Gatineau river where the drive was at one time done , Its a little froze up but at this place on the river was where they would do the booming of the logs to get then to the dam down river and let the logs go through the slide .....
 


 Looking up river to the north .....



looking acroos to the east



Looking to the south ... it is all ice up ready for skating ... The dam is about 3/4 of a mile down river to the south ...

[SwampDonkey]

Looks similar in size to the Tobique River here in New Brunswick. In late years the river has not been frozen solid enough to cross with trucks on ice bridges for logging.

A little history of Plaster Rock, along the Tobique River - here

Log driving on the Tobique River - here

[Fraxinus]

I can see that this thread got started just a bit before I signed on here.  As a New Hampshire native, I have to add my 2 cents' worth  
One question that wasn't answered was Joan's proximity to the place where the pictures were taken.  I believe she lives about 30 miles or so from there, to the south.
I remember the last drive on the Androscoggin River.  I believe it was in 1965.  It was not logs but 4' spruce and fir pulpwood.
NH has a long history of log drives.  I'm sure many of you have read "Tall Trees, Tough Men" and "Spiked Boots".  The big drives written about in those books were mostly on the Connecticut River.  I live on the Pemigewasset River and there were log drives here as well.  (The Pemi joins with the Winnipesaukee in Franklin to become the Merrimack and journeys south and then east into the Atlantic Ocean in Newburyport, MA.)  My great-grandfather worked in the woods and participated in log drives.  I believe the logs that were driven down the river here ended up at mills in Lowell, Mass; possibly other places as well.  My grandfather worked in the woods as well but was never on a log drive.  He was born in 1875.  His father was born in 1846.  My family has lived here in this same place since 1867.  Don't know enough to go anywhere else.  And we still work in the woods.  In fact, there's more woods than ever.  We've been losing ground!

[isawlogs]

  My great great grand father got the land from the goverment when colonisation of the upper Gatineau began in the mid 1800's and he lived off of it as did my great ganddad and so did my grandfather , my dad now has it and with the cattle and the trees he makes a go at it .... There still is alot of wood on it . they all worked in the logging camps during the winter and came back home after the drive was over .....
   You are not loosing ground with your trees you are only getting to now more about them and where they are , So why would you need to go anywhere else .... You got what a lot of people are breaking sweat to get all there lives ..... ;)

[Fraxinus]

I was just kidding about "losing ground", Marcel.  Well, maybe in a way, I wasn't.  When I was a kid, there were fields and pastures all around here.  Places where we used to cut hay are now places where you could go and cut wood.  Our old apple orchard has pretty well disappeared back to forest.  I'm not sure whether this is progress or not.
I certainly am lucky to be born into a family with the OPTION to use our several hundred acres of land for whatever purpose we choose.  Most folks don't have land to the extent that we do.  I think we're what is known as "land poor".  At tax time, owning all that land can be a burden.
My great grandfather was born in Derby Line, VT and lived in Coaticook before coming here in 1867.  The family he married into had already been here in NH for well over 200 years!!

[SwampDonkey]

I guess were all just down right proud as roosters in the chicken coop about our family histories. ;)  ;D

If you noticed in one of my links above the local school kids were proud enough of their heritage to create that site. Not every community school even take the time to discuss their local history. In fact my local church taught me more about the history of the area than my school did. The school thought acient Rome was of more importance, I didn't nor did many of my classmates.  :-/

[isawlogs]

Land poor ... yep We also have a good peice to be proud of . I'm glad to have had a forfather that liked to turn grass over in the spring and bring down trees in the winter ....
 We should all be proud of them they worked theres tails off to get us what we have .....
 Knowing where your from , can only help you to get to where ones going ...
   I can follow my anscesters back to when they where in a cabin here when they crossed over ... the other half was allready here  ;D