The Raftsmen of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers.

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

Throughout the 1800s the economics of Upper and Lower Canada (now Ontario and Quebec) were fuelled by the timber business. For many years square timber was Canada’s chief export. The forests offered seemingly unlimited quantities of trees: the challenge was to harvest them and get them to market in a land without roads. Robidoux looks at all aspects of meeting that challenge. Starting with selecting, felling, and squaring the timber, he then introduces the logging camps with their attendant limited food choices, rough accommodations, and dangerous working conditions. Once cut, the logs had to be transported by water to the sawmills or ocean-going ship. That’s where the art of rafting came into play.

Although much of the narrative is delivered in a stilted, monotonous tone, it suddenly springs to life on the topic of rafting. The impact of the enormous size of the rafts, the huge volume of timber moved, and dangers on the water practically leap off the page as the author rushes into his passion—the story of cribs, drams, slides, shooting the rapids, logjams, and the bigger-than-life men who excelled at this dangerous way of life.

Rafting did not occur in isolation, so the work includes information on some of the colourful pioneer businessmen involved, the communities that grew as a result of the timber industry, an account of at least one famous tavern, types of canoes and boats in use at the time, and the development of the canal and lock system.

The book has nearly 200 archival photos and illustrations. Unfortunately, most are rather murky, and there are no captions beyond the location.

The content and scope of the work suggests there must be extensive research behind it. This, however, is not credited. Not only are there no references, with very few exceptions quotes are attributed only to “a writer,” “a traveller,” etc.

The lack of sources, a glossary, an index, and captions undermines what would otherwise have been a useful addition to Canadian history.