Penn’s Woods
When European settlers first laid eyes on Penn’s Woods in the 17th century, trees covered more than 90% of the 28 million acres that would become The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The white pines, oaks, and hemlocks were so tall and dense that Europeans thought that the wood supply was endless.
The most sought-after timber was the Pennsylvania white pine. They were ideal for ships’ masts since those trees grew straight and resisted warping and wood rot.
American pines trees in preparation for loading aboard waiting ships which took them to England for finishing. Copyright S.F. Manning 1977
Nothing was more valuable than a blemish-free, 200-foot-tall white pine.
They were so treasured that English government passed laws to protect them. The 1711 White Pine Act was the first of three parliamentary laws meant to reserve the tallest trees in New England for exportation to English shipyards
Broadside dated January, 1770 addressing the removal of white pine logs from the "King's Woods" in the province of New Hampshire - Library of Congress, American Memory
Pennsylvania, because it was a Commonwealth, had no such laws. In Bucks County through the 18th century, woods were cleared to make way for agricultural fields. The fallen trees were then used to build houses and barns as well as for fuel in the winter and to support industries such as the Durham Iron Furnace. As the century drew to a close settlers had to go farther afield for their lumber as most of the forests in the local area had been cut down. Their was forest aplenty to the north, but the question was how to get it down river.
Lord High Admiral of the Delaware
Meanwhile in 1763, 200 miles upstream in Wayne County, Pennsylvania where the forests were relatively untouched, a man named Daniel Skinner had the idea to place a number of felled logs in the river, start them down stream, and follow them in a canoe. His goal was to deliver the logs to the Philadelphia market. Skinner was unsuccessful, one by one the pine timbers got beyond his control, and he lost them to the river.
The Legend of Daniel Skinner, Lord High Admiral of the Delaware River, Wally Life TV You Tuber Video
On his second attempt, Skinner lashed a number of the trees securely together, fitted an oar to each end, and hired a second man to accompany him on his makeshift raft. It took several weeks but they successfully piloted the raft to Philadelphia, sold the wood for a good price, and returned home on foot.
Skinner soon afterward built another raft, much larger than the first, and, aided by a man named Josiah Parks, later known as Boatswain Parks, ran it safely to market. For his achievements, Skinner was given the title of Lord High Admiral of the Delaware.
Their success stimulated others to engage in the business and the Timber Rafting Industry was the result.
The Logging Industry
When the lumber business was at its height in the Delaware region not less than 10,000 persons were employed as choppers, sawyers, teamsters and raftsmen, and most of the towns and villages owed their support, if not their existence, to the industry.
The peak period of lumber rafting was 1875 to 1885. Often more than 3,000 rafts would pass Easton during the spring freshet (high rivers due to melting snow), with up to 20 rafts visible at one time.
“It was no surprise to see a score or more rafts pass down the river from early dawn until the shades of darkness. The rafts, huge floating masses, were mostly composed of 'saw logs' and shaved timber.” --M.D.L. Shrope, Frenchtown Star, 1890s
Map of Frenchtown with a line of rafts floating along the Delaware, 1883
The lumber industry was a seasonal one. Trees were cut in the winter when they could be pulled by horses or oxen across the frozen ground. The trunks were piled along riverbanks until the spring thaw.
In the early spring the logs were lashed together to make rafts. Rafts were launched into the river when the Delaware was swollen by melting snows into a flood called the spring freshet.
Valley Girl Views Blog, Thursday, April 25, 2024, The Susquehanna Boom Co. Log Boom in Williamsport
In the summer logs were sawn into lumber at mills along the Delaware like the Stover Mill in Erwinna. Traces of these floated logs can be seen in the interior walls of the Erwin Stover Barn which sport round auger holes marking where one log was lashed to another as a part of these large rafts.
The journey was treacherous and required great skill to navigate the rocks, falls and bridges. If its crew was especially skillful and very lucky, the raft would reach Philadelphia after a voyage of less than three days.
The journey back to the upper Delaware was by foot in the early days, carrying the ironware used to hold their rafts together. Some portions of the return journey could be made by ship and in later years, by train.
About the Rafts
There were three types of rafts: spar, lumber and timber. A spar raft was made by lashing tall, straight tree trunks together. These rafts could be 80-100 feet long, and many still had bark attached.
A lumber raft consisted of logs that had already been sawed into lumber at a sawmill and could be sold as ready-to-use lumber.
A timber raft was made of squared or timbered logs that had been partially milled into square lumber, much the shape of a railroad tie.
To Make a Raft
Most rafts started out as 22 by 80 foot "colts" in the narrow headwater streams and would carry 150,000 board feet.
Logs were lined up and crosswise of the logs were placed 4 inch lash poles at intervals of 8 or 10 feet.
The method of fastening these lash poles to the logs was to bend 10 inch bows of tough elm, about an inch and a quarter thick around the poles at each intersection with the logs, and then to pound and plug these into 6 inch deep holes bored into each timber.
A Museum of Tools, by Eric Sloane, Ballantine Books, 1974
Once the raft arrived downstream into wider waters it could be lashed to other rafts to make a larger one. Large rafts had 2 oars at the bow and 2 or 3 at the stern, with the steersman always at the right stern oar. The oars, with 40 foot stems and 15 foot blades, were set on long pins in great head-blocks, wedged into the raft's framework.
The Bucks County Raftsmen
Raftsmen needed an abundance of determination, strength, and skill to deliver timber to market. They signed on as steersmen, fore-hands and navigators. It was rough, cold, wet work navigating the icy waters. Winter detritus, ice jams, rapids and objects hidden below the surface could easily stove the rafts.
The Legend of Daniel Skinner, Lord High Admiral of the Delaware River, Wally Life TV youtube video
The wages of rafting hands varied but "previous to the Civil War, the forehands were paid $10 for a trip to Easton and $15 a trip to Trenton. Steersmen earned $25 on the Trenton Run.
The Wells' Falls just below New Hope was one of the most treacherous spots on the trip. The Wellses Steerman were a group of raftsmen who specialized in navigating this route. They were picked up in Lower Black Eddy and paid a fee of 5 dollars to get the raft through, then hopped off and walked backa up to get the next raft through. Wellses Steersman of note were the Kuglers, Piatts, Crouses, Twadells, La Barrs, and Eddy's
Large crafts were crewed by as many as eight men. The pilot, or "steersman" was always on left hand rear side. He had to know every snag, rock and rapid in the river for 200 miles. As he moved around he would shout orders, “Pull Pennsylvania,” or “Pull Jersey,” according to the riverbank towards which the raft was to be steered.
The Legend of Daniel Skinner, Lord High Admiral of the Delaware River, Wally Life TV youtube video
1883 Account of a Rafting Journey down the Delaware
The length of the Delaware from its source in the Catskill Mountains to tidewater at Trenton was approximately 280 miles during which the river fell 1886 feet. The average fall was 6.7 feet per mile. Rafts floated downstream during a high freshet at a velocity of 3.6 to 4.3 miles per hour A raft traveling the entire distance from Walcot or Delhi to Trenton would take 50 to 60 hours
The story of the journey along the shores of Hunterdon County is told best by Joshua Pine III (1798-1888) who wrote in 1883 of his rafting experiences as a hand and steersman.
"The raft came in sight of... Riegelsville... where the Musconetcong emptied into the Delaware. Here there was slack water for a mile or more to Durham Rift."
"On the Pennsylvania side, about one mile below Riegelsville, where the Durham Creek empties into the Delaware is located..."
"the Durham Iron Works and a village, also the Durham cave, quite a large cavern in a limestone hill."--Joshua Pine III
Photo of Durham Furnace, Courtesy of the collection of the Spruance Library of the Bucks County Historical Society
After the Durham Iron Works "the river then sagged to Pennsylvania, and we looked out for Old Fry rock."
"About one and a half miles below Old Fry rock they came to Lynn's Island and falls."
Here, "they passed eight rods from the Jersey shore and at the foot got a sag to Pennsylvania and a stretch of nice water for about two miles."--Joshua Pine III
"On our right, a ledge of red sandstone, known as the narrows or palisades of Nockamixon, rises high and sheer from the ground, with just room between the river and the ledge for the public road and the canal."
"The river bears away to the west and we find a smart rift called Nockamixon and see the bluff half a mile below, and can see Upper Black’s Eddy...where almost all rafts stopped, there being good hotel accommodations, a good eddy and a great log and lumber market. Here more lumber is bought and sold than at any other place along the river. Below we have smart water and pass Gwinner’s."
"The deep, slow stretch of river immediately north of Milford was used for overnight layovers. It was known as Holihan's Eddy.
In May of 1880 the Milford Leader gives a glimpse of the commercial aspect of the layovers.
"Holihan's had 117 raftsmen for breakfast, averaging 10 buckwheat cakes per man, and that Gwinner's can accommodate 104 raftsmen in its 52 beds, with as many as two-dozen in one room."
Miford Historical Society Facebook Page
"At Milford, a village on the Jersey side, a lattice bridge crosses, go Pennsylvania of all the piers, follow along the shore to avoid the Lowery fish bars, for three miles, to Tan vat rift, run over to Jersey"
The Old Milford Bridge is shown in this undated photo (ca. 1890-1910). Hunterdon County Historical Society
"Looking down stream we see Frenchtown bridge that crosses the river here. If we want to go Pennsylvania of Man of War Island (also known as Marshall's Island) we have two piers Jersey of us."
"but if we go Jersey of the island, one pier, this is a bad place if the wind blows, and many a raft has been stove on the bridge piers."
Milford Historical Society Facebook Page
"Man of War Island was so named for the trees that once stood upon it, looking like the masts of a Man of War, but the trees are all gone having been undermined and washed away, and no trees are now on the island."
"Along by the island, the river is wide with low banks and a beautiful stretch of water for two miles."
Frenchtown was "a nice, thrifty looking place, and quite a manufacturing town." It was "situated in a beautiful country.
The raft came to "Stover Island and (went) Jersey of the group below, except Rush Island. A little above Rush is an island that inexperienced steersmen think is Rush that they go Pennsylvania of, and invariably stick, for which they get unmercifully chaffed. Going Pennsylvania of this island is what raftsmen call running Rush before they get to it."
"At the foot of Rush Island another of those mountain spurs or foot hills crosses the course of the river, but this time it is a different kind of rock through which the river runs, making a rift of quick water for three miles, called Warford's."
"The river is wide and the water shoal, and many rafts are stuck here every time there is a freshet, unless the water is very high."
"At the entrance of Warford's ripple, a rocky rift extends across from Jersey nearly to Cudbitch Island." The raft "between the rift and the island, and also between the island and bar below and soon (came) to another reef called Tumble Falls Dam. In this reef there is a break, through which a raft will go of itself."
"Passing out of Warford’s, we see Point Pleasant village on the Pennsylvania side, and Point Pleasant bridge. If we are going by Lower Black’s Eddy, without landing, we leave one pier Jersey; if we intend to land, we go Pennsylvania of two piers. Tohickon Creek comes in above the Eddy."
Lower Black Eddy, Pt. Pleasant, from the Collection of Lyle Rickards
"The bluff hides the country on the west, from view, but on the left it is open and fine, and an unobstructed view is had of it."
"We pass on, on quick water, by the village of Lumberville, on our right, and under the bridge that crosses here, at the lower end of the island."
"Past great stone quarries, where a large amount of stone is quarried and loaded directly from the quarries into canal boats, and taken to all the cities that are accessible by water."
Lumberton Quarries, from the Collection of Lyle Rickards
"We soon after pass Pennsylvania of Temple Bar, in the middle of the river, and go on good water two and a half miles to Eagle Island. On the island are trees, and below, on the Jersey side, a limekiln; keep the trees and kiln in range. The canal feeder is walled up from the river, and we run over to Jersey, but keep the limekiln in sight, and run back to Pennsylvania, and point to run Howell’s Rift."
"at the foot of Howell’s Rift, we pass under the bridge at Center Bridge (Stockton on the New Jersey side), leave one pier Pennsylvania. Below, straighten up, and have three-fourths of the river on the Jersey side."
https://www.westjerseyhistory.org/images/hunterdon/index.shtml
"We now come to Limestone Rift. We are just half way from Upper Black’s Eddy to Trenton. We can now see New Hope bridge, three miles below us, and looking back we can see Center Bridge bridge. Here are rocks in the river. We run along on slow water past Philip’s Eddy on the Pennsylvania side, and bear to Jersey to the middle of the river and pass Rabbit-run Rift, and Rabbit-run Creek from Pennsylvania."
"Head to Pennsylvania until we can see a mill on the Jersey shore, a mile below. We run to the right of all the bridge piers but one, straighten up and run close to the second pier,"
https://lambertvillehistoricalsociety.org/thenandnow/site1
"We pass under New Hope bridge, and a mile below enter Wells’ Falls."
"The channel is about one hundred feet wide; wings have been put in on both sides to deepen it. Here, the river being wide, the water shoal and the bottom rough and rocky, and a place where the wind blows hard at times, there is much sticking and staving."
"This is the place for which Wells' steersmen are hired at Lower Black's Eddy. Wells' is a rift, formed by one more of those peculiar ledges, through which the river seems to have cut its channel, and also the last one until we reach Trenton Falls. The rift is about one half mile in length and about as rapid as any along the river."
The Delaware River, looking upstream at the New Hope-Lambertville wing dam. https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2024/11/delaware-river-basin-managers-could-take-conservation-measures-if-drought-worsens/
Rocks which protruded into the channels were given special names. Those at Wells Falls were dubbed "Entering Rock," "Grass Rock," "The Foamer," "Dram Rock," "Rodmans Rocks," "The Bake Iron," "Buckwheat Ledge," and "Coryell's Rock."
"After leaving Wells, head to Pennsylvania, to pass a point on the left, and then turn and run back to Jersey to avoid sunken rocks on our right, called Bobtails. Go to the right of Keeler’s Island, below which, on the Jersey side, is Jack’s Cove, and on our right is Brownsburg."
https://www.westjerseyhistory.org/images/hunterdon/index.shtml
After finally passing successfully through Wells' Falls the rafts would leave the hills behind them and run "through beautiful country, a nice stretch of water for a mile or two and then pass a rift; straighten up" and were soon at Titusville on the Jersey side of the river.
"Only the bridges at Washington's Crossing, Yardley, and Trenton, the rapids at Scudders Falls and several bars, ripples and islands, were left to navigate before the raft landed at the City of Trenton."
View northwest up the Delaware River at Scudders Falls in Ewing Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, Wikimedia
By the 1880s, with advent of the railroads, the timber rafting industry was on the decline. Trains were fast replacing rafts as the main vehicle for lumber transportation.
With the new railroads, the logging industry was no longer dependent upon spring freshets to float the logs downstream.
Logging became a year-round operation which accelerated the cutting of trees, leaving behind a scarred and barren landscape. Soon, little remained of the great forests of northern Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania State Archives
The federal government recognized the need to protect and replenish the country’s wooded regions by the 1890s. It created the Division of Forestry, which established forest reserves around the country.
Deforestation in the United States from 1620-1920
The father of Pennsylvania forestry, Joseph T. Rothrock, became the state’s first forestry commissioner in 1895. Leaders in conservation like Governor Gifford Pinchot, Mira Dock, and J. Horace McFarland worked diligently to educate the public about forests.
By the 1920s, only twenty-five thousand acres of original forest remained.
Reforestation Effort in Pennsylvania
In 1901, Mira Lloyd Dock, a Pennsylvania botanist, environmentalist, and educator, was appointed to the new State Forest Reservation Commission by governor Stone to oversee the immense task of reforestation. Under her leadership the Commonwealth bought thousands of acres from the departing lumber companies.
Progress proceeded at a gradual rate until the Civilian Conservation Corps of the New Deal joined the effort, and thousands of unemployed laborers planted saplings across the state.
Credits:
The Legend of Daniel Skinner, Lord High Admiral of the Delaware River, Wally Life TV You Tuber Video Valley Girl Views Blog A Museum of Tools by Eric Sloane A Rafting Story of the Delaware River, Bucks County Historical Society Papers The West Jersey History Website