A Thrilling Ride

            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.

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