I’ve found some really
interesting stories from the past. While reading a town’s website for my Iron Making and Other Pennsylvania
Industries book, I read about the start of lumber rafting down the Delaware
River which is Pennsylvania’s eastern border. Men lashed whole logs together to
make a raft and rode them downstream to businesses that would buy wood. Shipbuilders
along the Delaware needed long straight poles for masts and crossbeams. Philadelphia
furniture makers also wanted wood.
Long after the
first log raft in the 1760s, Frank Walton and his crew cut down trees, constructed
a raft, launched it onto the Delaware River, and floated down in 1869.
Riding
a raft of lashed together logs with no good way to hang on would be daring enough,
but another thrill in the trip occurred when Frank and his crew sighted
elephants in the water ahead near the town of Milford, Pennsylvania. With no
brakes or any other way to stop the raft, they barreled into one of the
giants, an angry mean one! The men shouted and fought him with their oars to
keep him from hurting them. Finally, they were able to push away and continue
their dangerous trip down the river.
Why
would a group of elephants be crossing the Delaware River of all places? A
circus traveling in the area thought a bridge over the Delaware might break
from the weight of the elephants and chose the river bed instead as a safer
route. The elephant that the lumbermen landed up against had the name of Tippo
Sahib who had killed his trainer recently.
The
next time you cross a Pennsylvania river on a bridge, look down and think about
how you would feel seeing elephants plodding through the water.
Do
you know any amazing lumbermen stories, past or present? The job was and still
is one with lots of danger. Please share your story in the comment section.
Reference: “The Lord High
Admiral.” Townofcocectonny.org. Web Aug 2018.
Photo Credit: “Pennsylvania. Lumbering and Lumber Towns –
Log Raft on West Branch of Susquehanna.” Library
of Congress. Wikimedia.org. Web
24 Oct 2018
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pennsylvania._Lumbering_and_lumber_towns_-_log_raft_on_West_branch_of_Susquehanna._LCCN2016650769.tif.
_log_raft_on_West_branch_of_Susquehanna._LCCN2016650769.tif.
