The water made it easy to move timbers from forest to mills and overseas.
All you needed to do was tie the logs together in rafts and push them into the stream.
The log flume was the result of this necessity.
Rochat Creek Five Mile Log Flume, Idaho.
These flumes often spanned several kilometers crossing deep chasms and steep mountain slopes.
Log flumes facilitated a quick and cheap alternative.
Early flumes were square chutes that were prone to jams and required constant maintenance.
Crow’s Nest Pass Lumber Co.’s log flume at Bull River.
Eventually, they built a flume to float the lumber down.
Known as the Kings River Flume, it was longest log flume ever built.
Built in just over a year, this flume was a tremendous undertaking and an astounding feat of engineering.
A period of destructive deforestation followed.
Trees that stood for over 2,000 years were suddenly at the mercy of the lumbermen.
Only aboutone-fourth to one-fifthof all wood actually made it to the mill.
Even then, the Kings River Lumber Company was processing over3 million feetof lumber per month.
A flume and high ball landing operation.
Photo credit:www.clearwatermuseum.org
The Kings River Flume.
It connected the towns ofWillard and Hoodin the State of Washingtona distance of 9 miles or about 14 km.
Sections of the old flume can still be seen today.
Photo credit:historichoodriver.com
Broughton Flume, Hood River Junction on Columbia River at Washington/Oregon border, Hood.
Photo credit: Library of Congress
The end of the Oregon Lumber Company flume at Drano Lake.
This was the end of the original Broughton Flume before it was extended to Hood.
Photo credit:historichoodriver.com
Part of the Broughton Flume today.
