siderable quantity of beams or balks, charcoal-wood, pulpwood, and, in
some cases, even fuel-wood, is transported by floating'.
I f it were not for the floating-ways, it would, in many cases, -be
impossible to make use of the forest-products from the interior of the
country otherwise than for local needs. Sweden’s prominent position
in the world’s timber trade depends, therefore, to a certain degree upon
the numerous rivers and their suitability as floating-ways. In general,
the rivers of Sweden run towards the south-east, south, or south-west, a
matter of great importance for the floating of timber as, in consequence
of this trend of the rivers, the melting of the snow and ice begins first
at the mouths of the rivers and proceeds gradually up stream. This
makes the ice-drift and the flood-water of less extent than in the case
of rivers the course of which is to the north. As a rule, the banks fbf
the Swedish rivers are so high that the water does not flood the surrounding
country even when the rivers are highest, and so floating can
proceed at this period, too. The large rivers of Non-land and Dalame,
whose sources are in the high mountain ranges/ have such a constant
supply of water, owing to the melting of the snow on the mountains, that
floating can, as a rule, be carried on all through the summer. As regards
the waterways of Southern Sweden used for floating, as well as the
smaller rivers and tributaries of Northern Sweden, where the supply of
water is sufficient only during the time of the spring floods, the lakes and
mountain tarns through which they run have frequently been transformed
into adjustable water-reservoirs in the service of the floating by means
of relatively cheap dams.
There is a distinction made between public and private floating-ways. Nearly
all the main waters in Northern Sweden are public floating-ways, and so are
many of the tributaries. Private floating-ways now occur almost exclusively in
such cases where all the forests from which timber is to be floated down the
water-courses belong to a single owner. Public floating-ways are constructed,
after application to the Governor of the lan, by one or several of the fores:
owners interested therein. The line of the floating-way is then inspected by a
functionary appointed by the Governor of the lan. The riparian owners, and
others whose interests may be affected by the proposed regulation of the waterway,
having been consulted, it is then desided what constructions are to be
made, what amortization is to be paid in consequence, how the floating-course
shall be divided into sections, and when the construction is to take place. After
the work has been completed, the final inspection takes place, and the floating-
way is declared open; simultaneously, the Governor of the lan issues regulations
for a Floating Company, which has to superintend the floating and debit|the
expenses to the respective floaters; these costs include the amortization of the
building-expenses of the floating-way.
Some of our large rivers are used for timber floating, in larger or smaller
portions of their course, without any alteration, and in the very same condition
that Nature created them. For the regulation of the tributaries, proportionately
more work and expense are generally required, and, consequently, they have been
adapted to floating at a later date than the main rivers were. At present most of
them, probably, are cleared, but there are a few which aré still untouched.
Whether it will pay to form a floating-way or not, depends on the amount of
timber which can be expected to be floated down it, and on the costs of
regulation. As a rule, it may be said that it pays to adapt even quite small
water-courses to this purpose.
In the main waters of a large river the work of making a floating-way consists
principally in blasting away rocks which form obstructions, building wooden
troughs to regulate, streams or waterfalls or to narrow the water-course, building
facings along such river-banks as are specially liable to get washed out, and
placing booms to guide the floating timber in the desired direction, thus
protecting low meadows, mills and other water-works, bridge-piers, and the
like: In these large rivers, and also in such smaller watercourses as flow
direct into the sea, sorting-booms are placed at the mouths, where the
floated ■ timber is sorted according to the marks it bears, after which it
is delivered to its respective owners. In the smaller rivers, besides the above
arrangements, it is frequently necessary to build dams to regulate the depth of
the water, as, since these water-courses, unlike the large rivers, are not fed by the
melting snow in the' high mountains, they would otherwise contain sufficient
water for floating only during the spring floods. The dams are built either at
the outflow of these rivers from some lake or tarn, which by damming can
b e l used as a reservoir (which is the most usual manner), or at the lower
end of some swamp/i which is then made to serve the same purpose, or else
in some part of the water-course that runs more slowly (dead water). The dams,
as a rule, consist of stone coffers, strengthened in the front by banks of earth. In
the' dam there are made openings, which, by means of hatches, can be entirely
or ? partially closed, whereby the height of water can be regulated. A special
opening (the outlet-sluicer or “shoot”) is made in the dam for the escape of the
logs./ Like the other openings it is provided with timbered walls and a somewhat
sloping floor of round timber.
Eloating-channels (flumes) can, as a rule, not be dispensed with in the smaller
floating-ways. A precipitous stream with small water-supply, a large fall, an irregular
river-bed with large stones at the bottom, — such conditions make floating
channels indispensable. The trough or flume is made of timber and is either
supported by trestles or by beds of timber or stone, the latter being employed
when the flume lies low. In certain places (in Dalarne) the wooden channels
have been superseded by flumes of sheet iron, which have proved very practical.
— To ensure good floating, a tolerably equal depth of water should be maintained
all through the channel, and, consequently, the channel must' be made narrower
where its slope is greater: The width should b e 1 relatively large at the
beginning., of the channel and then decrease somewhat, because part of the water
is always lost by evaporation and leakage. The width and depth of the channel,
too, are adapted to the supply of water and the quantity of timber to be floated.
An incredibly large quantity of timber can be conveyed in a well-built floating-
channel, even if the dimensions of the flume are not considerable.
In front of the inlet of the channel there are leader-booms, so that the
timber is carried forward by the current toward the opening, where there are
always workmen posted, however, to regulate the entrance of the logs, which
should enter the channel evenly and so slowly that they do not accumulate in
such numbers as to burst the channel. By means of a system of signals
it is possible • tó give notice, i f necessary, from any part of the channel
when the feeding-in of the logs is to be interrupted. The lower end of the
channel has a slight slope, so that the logs will not strike against the
bottom when they leave the flume. I f the water-course is shallow here, there
is built below the trough of the channel a “sliding bottom”, of round timber,
over which the logs slide; this flooring, consequently, receives the first shock
of the issuing logs.