Transport of Timber from the Forests.
Probably but few of our readers think of the means by which timber is conveyed from the forest where it grows, to the spots where it is to be applied to the purposes of building. And yet it must be evident that the means of transport form a matter of no small importance. We know that our timber-yards are plentifully supplied with the various kinds of wood necessary for building; and that the timbers are shaped by the axe and the saw. But, in most cases, the wood which we employ is brought from foreign countries, often many miles inland. It is conveyed across the ocean in ships; but the mode of transporting it from the forests where it grows to the ports where it is to be shipped, is a curious subject, and one well worthy of a little attention.
The main circumstance that forms the groundwork of all the plans adopted for this purpose is, that nearly all kinds of wood are, bulk for bulk, lighter than water, and will consequently swim on its surface. Now as all countries are, more or less intersected by rivers, which flow from the interior into the sea, a very simple and economical mode of transport for timber is at once attained, by causing it to float down running streams, either by the mere force of the descending water, or by the aid of mechanical agents. There is no necessity that each piece of wood should be floated separately down the stream; for they may be fastened together and steered down the middle of the river, in the form of a long and broad raft.
Beckmann says: “It is probable that the most ancient mode of constructing vessels for the purpose of navigation, gave rise to the first idea of conveying timber in the like manner; for the earliest ships or boats were nothing else than rafts, or a collection of beams and planks bound together, over which were placed deals. By the Greeks they were called schedai, and by the Latins rates; and it is known, from the testimony of many writers, that the ancients ventured out to sea with them, on piratical expeditions, as well as to carry on commerce; and that after the invention of ships, they were still retained for the transportation of soldiers, and of heavy burdens.”
There are some passages in the Bible which allude to the floating of wood. 1 Kings v. 9: “My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea; and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me.” 2 Chron. ii. 16: “And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need: and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa, and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem.” These passages relate to a compact between Solomon and Hiram, king of Tyre, by which the latter was to cause cedars for the building of the Temple to be cut down on the western side of Mount Lebanon, above Tripoli, and to be floated to Jaffa or Joppa, probably along by the sea shore.
The Romans transported by water both timber for building and fire-wood. When, during their wars against the Germans, they became acquainted with the qualities of the common larch, they caused large quantities of it to be carried on the river Po, to Ravenna, from the Alps, particularly the Rhætian, and to be conveyed also to Rome, for their most important buildings. Vitruvius says, that this timber was so heavy that the waters could not support it, and that it was necessary to carry it in ships or on rafts. Could it have been brought to Rome conveniently, says he, it might have been used with great advantage in building. It has also been supposed that the Romans procured fire-wood from Africa, and that it was brought partly in ships and partly on rafts.
But it is in Germany that the transportation of timber by means of floats has been most extensively carried on, partly on account of its noble forests, and partly through the possession of the river Rhine. There is evidence of the floating of timber-rafts in Germany so far back as the year 1410. A letter from the Landgrave of Thuringia says, that on account of the scarcity of wood that existed in their territory, the landgraves had so far lessened the toll usually paid on the river Sale as far as Weissenfels, that a Rhenish florin only was demanded for floats brought on that river to Jena, and two Rhenish stivers for those carried to Weissenfels; but the proprietors of the floats were bound to be answerable for any injury occasioned to the bridges.
In 1438, Hans Munzer, an opulent citizen of Freyberg, with the assistance of the then burgomasters, put a float of wood upon the river Mulda, which runs past the city, in order that it might be conveyed thither for the use of the inhabitants: this seems to imply that such a practice was not then uncommon. When the town of Aschersleben was adorned with a new church, in 1495, the timber used for its construction was transported on the Elbe, from Dresden to Acken, and from thence on the Achse to the place of its destination. In the year 1561, there was a float-master in Saxony, who was obliged to give security to the amount of four hundred florins; so that at that time the business of floating must have been of considerable importance.
When the citizens of Paris had used all the timber growing near the city, the enormous expense of land carriage led to the suggestion of an improved mode of transport. John Rouvel, a citizen and merchant, in the year 1549, proposed to transport timber, bound together, along rivers which were not navigable for large vessels. With this view he made choice of the forests in the woody district of Morvant, which belonged to the government of Nivernois; and as several small streams and rivulets had their sources there, he endeavoured to convey into them as much water as possible. This great undertaking, at first laughed at, was completed by his successor, René Arnoul, in 1566. The wood was thrown into the water in single trunks, and suffered to be driven in that manner by the current to Crevant, a small town on the river Yonne; where each timber-merchant drew out his own, which he had previously marked, and after it was dry, formed it into floats that were transported from the Yonne to the Seine, and thence to the capital. By this method large quantities of timber were conveyed to the populous towns.
A similar mode of transporting timber from the central parts of Germany to the great towns or to the seaports is practised at the present day. Mr. Planché, in his Descent of the Danube, says: “Below this bridge, (at Plattling on the Danube,) the raft-masters of Munich, who leave that city every Monday for Vienna, unite their rafts before they enter the Danube. They descend the Isar upon single rafts only; but upon reaching this point, they lash them together in pairs, and in fleets of three, four, or six pairs, they set out for Vienna. A voyage is made pleasantly enough upon these floating islands, as they have all the agrémens, without the confinement of a boat. A very respectable promenade can be made from one end to the other, and two or three huts erected upon them afford shelter in bad weather, and repose at night.”
But the anonymous author of An Autumn near the Rhine gives a more detailed account of the timber-rafts of Germany, of which we will avail ourselves. A little below Andernach, on the banks of the Rhine, the small village of Namedy appears on the left bank, under a wooded mountain. The Rhine here forms a little bay, where the pilots are accustomed to unite together the lesser rafts of timber, floated down the tributary rivers into the Rhine, and to construct enormous floats, which are navigated to Dordrecht and sold. These machines have the appearance of a floating village, composed of twelve or fifteen huts, on a large platform of oak and deal timber. They are frequently eight or nine hundred feet long, and sixty or seventy in breadth. The rowers and workmen sometimes amount to seven or eight hundred, superintended by pilots and a proprietor, whose habitation is superior in size and elegance to the rest. The raft is composed of several layers of trees, placed one on the other, and tied together. A large raft draws not less than six or seven feet water. Several smaller ones are attached to it, by way of protection, besides a string of boats, loaded with anchors and cables, and used for the purpose of sounding the river, and going on shore. The domestic economy of an East Indiaman is hardly more complete. Poultry, pigs, and other animals, are to be found on board, and several butchers are attached to the suite. A well-supplied boiler is at work night and day in the kitchen. The dinner hour is announced by a basket stuck on a pole, at which signal the pilot gives the word of command, and the workmen run from their quarters to receive their allowances.
The consumption of provisions in the voyage to Holland is almost incredible, sometimes amounting to forty or fifty thousand pounds of bread, eighteen or twenty thousand pounds of fresh meat, a considerable quantity of salt meat, and butter, vegetables, &c., in proportion. The expenses are so great, that a capital of three or four hundred thousand florins is considered necessary to undertake a raft. Their navigation is a matter of considerable skill, owing to the abrupt windings, the rocks and shallows of the river; and some years ago the secret was thought to be monopolized by a boatman of Rudesheim and his son.
The timber of the spruce firs which grow on the sides of the Alps, is considered much finer than that which is produced in other situations; but the inaccessible nature of these Alpine forests long prevented those useful trees from being sent in any great quantity to the market. During our long continental war, however, a bold and skilful plan was invented, by which this timber was procured in abundance. M. Rupp, an enterprising foreigner, constructed an immense inclined plane of wood on the sides of Mount Pilatus, near the Lake Lucerne; its length was eight miles and a half. Twenty-five thousand large pine trees were employed in its construction. These were barked and put together very ingeniously, without the aid of iron. It occupied one hundred and sixty workmen during eighteen months, and cost nearly a hundred thousand francs, or 4250l. sterling. It was completed in the year 1812.
The following description of the slide appeared in a German periodical shortly after its completion:—“This slide has the form of a trough, about six foot broad and from three to six foot deep. Its bottom is formed of three trees, the middle one of which has a groove cut out in the direction of its length, for receiving small rills of water, which are conducted into it from various places, for the purpose of diminishing the friction. The whole of the slide is sustained by about two thousand supports; and in many places it is attached, in a very ingenious manner, to the rugged precipices of granite.
“The direction of the slide is sometimes straight, and sometimes zig-zag, with an inclination of from 10° to 18°. It is often carried along the sides of hills and the flanks of precipitous rocks, and sometimes passes over their summits. Occasionally it goes under ground, and at other times it is conducted over the deep gorges by scaffoldings one hundred and twenty feet in height.
“The boldness which characterizes this work, the sagacity and skill displayed in all its arrangements, have excited the wonder of every person who has seen it. Before any step could be taken in its erection, it was necessary to cut several thousand trees to obtain a passage through the impenetrable thickets. All these difficulties, however, were surmounted, and the engineer had at last the satisfaction of seeing the trees descend from the mountain with the rapidity of lightning. The larger pines, which were about a hundred feet long, and ten inches thick at their smaller extremity, ran through the space of three leagues, or nearly nine miles, in two minutes and a half, and during their descent, they appeared to be only a few feet in length. The arrangements for this part of the operation were extremely simple. From the lower end of the slide to the upper end, where the trees were introduced, workmen were posted at regular distances, and as soon as everything was ready, the workman at the lower end of the slide cried out to the one above him, ‘Lachez’ (Let go.) The cry was repeated from one to another, and reached the top of the slide in three minutes. The workman at the top or the slide then cried out to the one below him, ‘Il vient’ (It comes), and the tree was instantly launched down the slide, preceded by the cry which was repeated from post to post. As soon as the tree had reached the bottom, and plunged into the lake, the cry of Lachez was repeated as before, and a new tree was launched in a similar manner. By these means a tree descended every five or six minutes, provided no accident happened to the slide, which sometimes took place, but which was instantly repaired when it did.
“In order to show the enormous force which the trees acquired from the great velocity of their descent, M. Rupp made arrangements for causing some of the trees to spring from the slide. They penetrated by their thickest extremities no less than from eighteen to twenty-four feet into the earth; and one of the trees having by accident struck against another, it instantly cleft it through its whole length, as if it had been struck by lightning.
“After the trees had descended the slide, they were collected into rafts upon the lake, and conducted to Lucerne. From thence they descended the Reuss, then the Aar to near Brugg, afterwards to Waldshut by the Rhine, then to Basle, and even to the sea when it was necessary.
“It is to be regretted that this magnificent structure no longer exists, and that scarcely a trace of it is to be seen upon the flanks of Mount Pilatus. Political circumstances having taken away the principal source of demand for the timber, and no other market having been found, the operation of cutting and transporting the trees necessarily ceased.”[4]
Professor Playfair, who visited this singular work, states, that six minutes was the usual time occupied in the descent of a tree; but that in wet weather, it reached the lake in three minutes. He found it quite impossible to give two successive strokes of his stick to any, even the largest tree, as it passed him. The logs entered the lake with such force, that many of them seemed to penetrate its waters to the very bottom. Much of the timber of Mount Pilatus was thus brought to market; but the expense attending the process rendered it impossible for the speculator to undersell the Baltic merchant, when peace had opened a market for his timber, and so the Slide of Alpnach fell to ruin.