Log driving -- Maine -- Penobscot River

Abstract Alfonse Martin and David Seymour, interviewed by Mary Beth O’Conner for FO 107, October 1 and 8 and November 7, 1973, Old Town, Maine. Martin and Seymour talk about log-sorting booms on the Penobscot River, especially Argyle Boom; river drives; Penobscot Lumber Association (PLA); logging company marks used for sorting logs at the boom; construction and operation of boom; various jobs related to sorting and rafting the logs; tool and equipment used; living conditions for workers; other booms...

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Alphonse Martin, interviewed by Ann Pierter for AY 198, March 13, 1976, Old Town, Maine. Martin talks about the Argyle log-sorting boom on the Penobscot River; the structure and operation of the sorting gap; scaling; log marks; wintering over; bosses Gene Mann, Billy Mann, Walter Drake, Harry Bowlee; diagrams of the gap. Interview was part of a project that led to the issue of Northeast Folklore, XVII: “Argyle Boom.”

Abstract Alphonse Martin, interviewed by Elizabeth Warner and Jack Beard for AY 198, May 5, 1976, Old Town, Maine. 8 pp. Tape: 1/2 hr. w/ brief cat. Martin talks about the backway drive, which was for logs going to the International and Dan Cassidy mills in Orono, and Grey Canoe Shop mill in Stillwater; contractor Frank Davis; bosses Gene Mann, Billy Mann, and Walter Drake; sluices at Gilman Falls; use of wedges for rafting; shoring; endways or hedgehog rafting; cookhouse at Pea Cove; leisure...

Abstract 0784 David S. Brown, interviewed by Kenneth Whitney for FO 107 , October, 1973; by Susan Tibbetts for AY 125, November, 1975, Tenant’s Harbor, Maine. Brown talks about the Pea Cove log-sorting boom on the Penobscot River; his work on the boom in the summers of 1902-04 when he was 12 to 14 years old; the jobs of rafters, sorters, and runners; use of wedges to build rafts; meals; bosses; his marriage and work at Mt. Kineo; breaking up jams; daily pay; construction of boom and crib-work piers;...

Abstract David S. Brown, interviewed by Kenneth Whitney for FO 107 , October, 1973; by Susan Tibbetts for AY 125, November, 1975, Tenant’s Harbor, Maine. Brown talks about the Pea Cove log-sorting boom on the Penobscot River; his work on the boom in the summers of 1902-04 when he was 12 to 14 years old; the jobs of rafters, sorters, and runners; use of wedges to build rafts; meals; bosses; his marriage and work at Mt. Kineo; breaking up jams; daily pay; construction of boom and crib-work piers;...

Abstract 1202 Don Mitchell, interviewed by Roger Mitchell, his son, in 1976. Series of interviews about Mitchell senior's life and work as a woodsman and farmer formed the basis of Northeast Folklore XIX: "I'm a Man That Works." See also: NA 2008. Recording: C 0001 - C 0019 19 hours, CD 0341 - CD 0373, CD 0386 Text: 1240 pp. transcript Photos: P 5822 - P 5837, P 5858 - P 5873 C 0001 Side 1: Topics covered include a log jam breaking loose; winter shoveling while working at the Hunt Company; working at...

Abstract Leon Bussell, Emile Leavitt, Ernest Kennedy, Stephen “Rex” Buzzell, interviewed by class of FO 107, November 8, 1973, November 15, 1973, November 20, 1973, and November 27, 1973 (respectively) Room B South Stevens Hall, UMaine, Orono, Maine. During the interviews, there was a model of Argyle Boom on the table, tools of the trade, maps, aerial photographs, and a number of Archives photographs available for the respondents to comment on. Bussell, Leavitt, Kennedy, and Buzzell talk about the...

Abstract Emile Leavitt, interviewed by Mark LaFond for FO 107, October 25, 1973, Old Town, Maine. Leavitt talks about the Argyle log-sorting boom on the Penobscot River; construction of boom piers; checking, rafting, dropping off and other aspects of boom operation; use of wedges in assembling rafts; use of pickeroon; swings; the back way drive; meals and living conditions; Pea Cove and Nebraska booms; his work building dams for Great Northern Paper Co. The interviews are part of a project that led...

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Emile Leavitt, interviewed by Mark LaFond for FO 198, March 27, 1974, Old Town, Maine. Leavitt talks about log sorting booms on the Penobscot River. Topics covered include shoring, mill drives, scaling, and the boom in general. Argyle Boom Collection. The interview part of a project that led to an issue of Northeast Folklore, XVII: “Argyle Boom.”

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Ernest Kennedy, interviewed by Ann Pierter & Bessie Dam for AY 198, May 4, 1976, Argyle, Maine. Kennedy talks about on the log-sorting booms on the Penobscot River. Topics covered include checking, prize logs, the stray raft, boom stick, scaling and marking logs, wintering logs, shingling logs, jail booms, the “high mark,” Pea Cove Boom, rafting logs, Mexico Boom. Interview was part of a project that led to the issue of Northeast Folklore, XVII: "Argyle Boom."

Abstract 1114 Ernest Kennedy (b. 1889) interviewed by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, summer, 1977, at Kennedy’s home in Argyle, Maine. Kennedy, 88, talks about his life working in the woods, on river drives, and on the Argyle Boom. Kennedy was the principle informant for “Argyle Boom,” Northeast Folklore, XVII (1976) which explained the workings of the sorting boom on the Penobscot River where the logs from the river drives were sorted for delivery to the various saw mills. In this series of interviews he...

Abstract Ernest Kennedy (b. 1889) interviewed by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives, summer, 1977, at Kennedy’s home in Argyle, Maine. Kennedy, 88, talks about his life working in the woods, on river drives, and on the Argyle Boom. Kennedy was the principle informant for “Argyle Boom,” Northeast Folklore, XVII (1976) which explained the workings of the sorting boom on the Penobscot River where the logs from the river drives were sorted for delivery to the various saw mills. In this series of interviews he...

Abstract Ernest Kennedy, interviewed by Edward D. “Sandy” Ives and Susan Tibbetts, May 10, 1976, Argyle, Maine. Kennedy talks about the log-sorting booms on the Penobscot River. Topics covered include layout of boom related buildings on White Squaw Island; Costigan landing; the duties of the rear crew; points of origin of the drives; horse piers; fin booms; dropping off; swings; beats; and joints. Recording is in English. Interview was part of a project that led to the issue of Northeast Folklore,...

Abstract Ernest Kennedy, interviewed by Ken Whitney for FO 107, October and November, 1973; by Susan Tibbetts for AY 125, November, 1975; by Elizabeth Warner and Cindy Lamb for AY 125, October, 1975. Kennedy talks about the Argyle log-sorting boom on the Penobscot River; jobs such as checkers, runners; tools such as hookaroons, jiggers; method of tying joints to buoy; marks and prize (unmarked)logs; spring floods and jams; bosses Isaac Mann, Alonzo Mann, Wallace Drake, Walter Buzzell, Stephen...

Abstract 1039 George Knox, interviewed by Joan Brooks, May 7, 1976, Holden, Maine. Knox talks about moving to Eddington, Maine, in 1902; raising their own meat; Frank Davis, a local market hunter; the route the old Airline road took; peddling in Bangor; trapping; poaching; Cal Graves; moose meat; going to dances; card games; what weddings were like; Halloween pranks; dowsing; weather lore; working in the woods; camp songs; men who made up songs in the area; working as a river driver; working for...

Abstract 1039 George Knox, interviewed by Joan Brooks, May 7, 1976, Holden, Maine. Knox talks about moving to Eddington, Maine, in 1902; raising their own meat; Frank Davis, a local market hunter; the route the old Airline road took; peddling in Bangor; trapping; poaching; Cal Graves; moose meat; going to dances; card games; what weddings were like; Halloween pranks; dowsing; weather lore; working in the woods; camp songs; men who made up songs in the area; working as a river driver; working for...

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Harry Kennedy, interviewed by Mark LaFond for FO 107, November 12, 1973, Pea Cove, Maine. Kennedy talks about the Argyle log-sorting boom on the Penobscot River; rafting and dropping off logs; stray rafts; jillpoking; checking; Pea Cove and Nebraska booms; Gene Mann and Billy Mann; Walter Buzzell; Irish workers; Greenville; endway rafts; the trip. The interview is part of a project that led to an issue of Northeast Folklore, XVII: “Argyle Boom.”

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J. Kenneth LaFlamme, interviewed by Ralph Cook for FO 107, October 10, 1973, Hancock, Maine. LaFlamme talks about the Argyle log-sorting boom on the Penobscot River; his work at age 12 and 13 on the boom rafting logs; PLA; bosses; pay; lice and wet clothes; cook house and bunk house; music. Accession also includes correspondence and handwritten notes from LaFlamme. The interview is part of a project that led to an issue of Northeast Folklore, XVII: “Argyle Boom.”

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John Costigan, interviewed by Jack Beard for AY 198, April 14, 1976, Costigan, Maine. Costigan talks about the log-sorting booms on the Penobscot River; rafting; sacking; tools, especially sacking dogs; use of horses to sack or twitch logs; marks; the last drive on Sunkhaze Stream; operations around Chamberlain and Telos Lakes; diagrams of sacking dogs. Interview was part of a project that led to the issue of Northeast Folklore, XVII: “Argyle Boom.”

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John Costigan, interviewed by Mark LaFond for FO 198, April 22, 1974, Costigan, Maine. Costigan talks about the techniques of shoring logs after they had been sorted at the booms on the Penobscot Rive; the use of steam boats and bateaux to haul the rafts of logs to the appropriate spot on the shore; diagrams. Also included: two diagrams. The interview is part of a project that led to an issue of Northeast Folklore, XVII: “Argyle Boom.”

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Leon Bussell, interviewed by Jack Beard for AY 198, April 14, 1976, Costigan, Maine. 8 pp. Tape: 1/2 hr. w/ brief cat. Bussell talks about the log-sorting booms on the Penobscot River; building endways or hedgehog rafts; use of scull oar to propel rafts. Interview was part of a project that led to the issue of Northeast Folklore, XVII: “Argyle Boom.”

Abstract Leon Bussell, interviewed by Ralph Cook for FO 107, October and November 1973; by Susan Tibbetts for AY 125, October and November of 1975, UM Lambda Chi Alpha house, Orono, Maine. Bussell talks about log-sorting booms on the Penobscot River, especially Argyle Boom; hanging and taking in the booms; his own work along the shore; making rafts of the logs; kinds of rafts; dropping off; equipment and clothing; Captain Kidd’s buried treasure; steamboats and their use in river drives; rescues and...

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Copies of the Maine legislative acts incorporating the Penobscot Boom Corporation and the Penobscot Lumbering Association and additional acts concerning the corporation and association from 1832 to 1883.

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Series VI. Box 25. Home Papers. Ernest Kennedy Research. Includes NAFOH Accession NA1114, transcripts and summary documents. Text: typed and handwritten, 605 pp. Date: June 21, 1977-November 14, 1978. NA3746_MF027_Ives_Collection_Box25of30_Series_VI_Home_Papers_Ernest_Kennedy_Research

Abstract Nick Ranco, interviewed by Lucinda Lamb, November 21, 1975, for a class project, at Ranco’s house on Indian Island, Maine. Ranco talks about his work on the river which he worked “all his life”: the Argyle log-sorting boom on the Penobscot River; construction and operation of the booms; French, Bangor and Indian crews worked different sections; living conditions; meals; jams; rafts; salvaging rafting poles and rope to sell; leisure activities. Recording is in English. The interview part of a...

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Daily record of a log drive on the West Branch of the Penobscot River from April 13 to August 5, 1905.

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Stephen "Rex" Buzzell, interviewed by Ann Pierter and Susan Tibbetts for AY 198, May 11, 1976, Old Town, Maine. Buzzell talks about the log-sorting booms on the Penobscot River. Topics covered include marking and scaling logs; Argyle, Pea Cove, and Sheepshank (Greenbush) booms; wintering methods, diagrams. Interview was part of a project that led to the issue of Northeast Folklore, XVII: "Argyle Boom."

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Wallace “Del” Soule, interviewed by Lucinda Lamb for AY 198, spring 1976, Costigan, Maine. Soule talks about the Nebraska and Argyle log-sorting booms on the Penobscot River; running; rafting; shoring; hanging and taking in booms; the work of bateaux crews and steamboats. Interview was part of a project that led to the issue of Northeast Folklore, XVII: “Argyle Boom.”

Abstract William McLaughlin, interviewed by Elizabeth “Betsy” Warner for AY 125, November 22, 1975, Old Town, Maine. McLaughlin talks about the Argyle log-sorting boom on the Penobscot River; dropping off and running crews; marks; sorting logs; rafting logs; Nebraska and Pea Cove booms; White Squaw Island; friends Darky Willet, Harvey Cutliff, Dave Seymore, Cody Martin, Harry Cutliff; living conditions and meals; construction of piers; use of steam boats; mills. Interview was part of a project that...