The Bingen Booms () is a system of

log boom A log boom (sometimes called a log fence or log bag) is a barrier placed in a river, designed to collect and or contain floating logs timbered from nearby forests. The term is also used as a place where logs were collected into booms, as at th ...

s on the

Glomma The Glomma or Glåma is Norway's longest and most voluminous river. With a total length of , it has a drainage basin that covers 13% of Norway's surface area, all in the southern part of the country. Geography At its fullest length, the river r ...

River below

Sørumsand Sørumsand is a small railway town, situated in Lillestrøm municipality in Akershus in Norway. Sørumsand was the terminus of Urskog-Hølandsbanen also known as "Tertitten". Stomperud A well known figure from Sørumsand (Sørum) is the cartoo ...

in the municipality of

Sørum Sørum was a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Romerike. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Sørumsand. Sørum was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The first boom system at the site may have already been built in the 14th century, and was certainly in place by the 16th century. At the booms, timber was sorted and bundled before it was driven down the Glomma River and distributed to sawmills on the shore of Lake

Øyeren Øyeren is a lake in the Glomma River watershed, southeast of the city of Lillestrøm (town), Lillestrøm. It is located within the municipalities of Enebakk, Lillestrøm, and Rælingen in Akershus county and Indre Østfold municipality in Østfol ...

. A railway bridge across the Glomma River in Fetsund was built in 1861. This created an obstacle for

log driving Log driving is a means of moving logs (sawn tree trunks) from a forest to sawmills and pulp mills downstream using the current of a river. It was the main transportation method of the early logging industry in Europe and North America. History ...

, and the sorting infrastructure was moved downriver to

Fetsund Fetsund is a village in the municipality Lillestrøm, Akershus, Norway. The name comes from the local geography, ''Fet'' means "where water meets grass". As for the ''-sund'' part, it simply means 'strait, inlet'. Accordingly, Fetsund is located a ...

. At Bingen, catch booms were set up; this was a system of large stone piers and booms that held the timber back. From here, loose timber was released downriver to Fetsund. Log driving on the Glomma River came to an end in 1985, and for a long time the Bingen Booms were poorly maintained. The Bingen Booms Heritage Society was established in 2011. Bingen lenser 05.jpg, The booms, facing north toward

Bingen lenser 02.jpg, The booms, facing south toward

Bingen lenser 13.jpg, One of the stone piers in the river

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline, Bingen lenser, Bingen Booms
Bingen Booms
website
Map of the Bingen Booms
from 1806 Culture in Akershus Buildings and structures in Akershus Timber rafting