Log driving on the river

Back then, logging operations, north of Forestville, involve about a hundred woodcutters spread across five camps. The annual production goes from 15 000 to 20 000 logs cut by axe. Those are then carried to the the Sault-Aux-Cochons river by horses. The floating logs are then driven down the river following the rising water level of spring.

The main objective of the Anglo-Canadian Pulp & Paper Mills in Forestville is lumbering. The first works in the forest are made in fall of 1937 on about 15 sectors. The logging is then done old school as camps using mechanized equipment won’t arrive before 1944.
 
Picture: A camp for Anglo Canadian Pulp & Paper Mills forest engineers over at Croche lake in 1948.

During the 1960s, the Anglo Canadian Pulp & Paper Mills company is the main employer with about 300 permanent jobs. In the logging season, about 1 500 lumberjacks come in the worksites.

At the end of the same decade, working conditions improve greatly. Chainsaws, tractors and trucks are now used. Fewer forest workers are thus needed. However, there are still about 1 000 workers across 10 camps

Pictures: Anglo’s offices in 1947. In the background, logs are drived on the Sault-Aux-Cochons river.

Over 100 km and ending in the Saint-Lawrence river, the Sault-Aux-Cochons river proved to be an important element in Forestville’s economic growth.

Pictures: Sault-Aux-Cochons estuary in 1937.

Log driving, commonly called ”drave” by French-Canadians, remains a very typical mean of transport that consists in letting logs float downstream. In Forestville and for the Anglo Canadian Pulp & Paper Mills, log driving on the Sault-Aux-Cochons river represents a great portion of wood transport from the forest to the dock.

In 1992, log driving, considered a pollutant, is now forbidden on the rivers de la province. 

Pictures: Log driving on the Sault-Aux-Cochons river.

The year of 1942 marked the very beginnings of lumbering operations in Forestville. The construction of the dock and the breakwater are started and an aqueduct system with a reservoir is installed.

The flume, device built to transport the logs from the river to the dock, is in construction as well.

Photo: The flume 1946.

The first of the three waterfalls and the small hydroelectric plant in 1947. It is still in this place today and is today operated by Boralex.

The logging industry has drastically declined in Forestville by 1992 as the Daishowa paper mill (currently known as Papier Stadacona) gave up on their activities in the town. Since then, the Sault-aux-Cochons river has been calm and now propose an interesting option for fishermen and canoeing.

For informative purposes, after crossing the footbridge you can have an easy access to kilometers of a fine sand beach.