Logging has long been a major industry in the Sacopee Valley
and surrounding towns. In the early days
timber was most often cut in the winter. If not hauled to local or portable saw mills near
by, the logs were transported by horses or trucks to landings along the Ossipee
and Saco river banks to wait for spring and high river waters. In about April after the river ice was gone men
called “river drivers” rolled them into the river and floated them down stream
all the way to the mills of J. G. Deering & Son and Diamond Match Company on
the Saco River in Biddeford.
River Driving - 1918
River
driving was an annual occurrence on the Great Ossipee River from the 1820’s
right into the middle of the 1960’s. Here
men are knee-deep in the frigid water of the Ossipee River in an effort to keep
the logs moving over the dam at Kezar Falls.
Many logs were destined for mills along the Saco River. The Kezar Falls covered bridge is in the
background and Garner Island is on the right.
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