A timber slide is a device for moving timber past

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

and waterfalls. Their use in Canada was widespread in the 18th and 19th century

timber trade There are multiple market layers for wood products. Each country has its own domestic market that may be connected to a regional or global market. Timber supply to domestic markets in many tropical forest countries is largely provided by informal lo ...

. At this time, cut timber would be floated down rivers in large

timber raft Timber rafting is a method of transporting felled tree trunks by tying them together to make rafts, which are then drifted or pulled downriver, or across a lake or other body of water. It is arguably, after log driving, the second cheapest mean ...

s from logging camps to ports such as Montreal and

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

. Rapids and waterfalls would, however, damage the wood and could potentially cause log jams. Thus at these locations timber slides were constructed. These were thin water filled chutes that would run

parallel Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of IB ...

to the river. They would usually only be wide enough for a single log and one at a time the logs would be directed down it. The idea is attributed to

Ruggles Wright Ruggles Wright (1793 – August 18, 1863) was a Canadian lumber merchant, the second youngest son of Philemon Wright. He was born in Woburn, Massachusetts but moved to Canada with his parents while still young. He later joined the family busine ...

who introduced the first one in 1829 not far from what is today down-town Hull, Quebec, Canada. Later, the slides could often be up to a kilometre in length. They were most commonly found on the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...

system. The

Bonnechere River The Bonnechere River is a river in the Saint Lawrence River drainage basin in Nipissing District and Renfrew County in eastern and northeastern Ontario, Canada. Shows the river course highlighted on a topographic map. The river flows from Algonqui ...

Eastern Ontario Eastern Ontario (census population 1,763,186 in 2016) (french: Est de l'Ontario) is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies in a wedge-shaped area between the Ottawa River and St. Lawrence River. It ...

had five chutes along the waterway before emptying into the Ottawa River. In some areas the timber slide became a tourist attraction, the most notable being the 1.2 km chute bypassing the

Chaudière Falls , image = Ottawa Chaudiere Falls.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = Chaudière Falls in June 2006, at summer water levels , map_image = , map_size = , coordinates = , coords_ref = , location ...

on the Ottawa River in Ottawa. Its most notable visitors are the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Du ...

, who later became King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Quee ...

, and his wife, the Duchess of York Mary of Teck.Elizabeth Cavaliere "Sliding down the Timber Chute: The 1901 Royal Tour of Canada" NiCHE Blog http://niche-canada.org/2016/08/15/sliding-down-the-timber-chute-the-1901-royal-tour-of-canada/ Timber slides disappeared after the construction of canal networks and the decline of the timber trade. They were almost all out of service by the First World War.

References

{{reflist * Lee, David. "Lumber Kings and Shantymen: Logging, Lumber and Timber in the Ottawa Valley." Ottawa: Canada, 2006. Wood Water transport Log transport Forestry in Canada History of forestry

See also

References