This is a Lombard Log Hauler, a machine used to haul wood. Lombards were invented and made by Alvin Orlando Lombard in Waterville, Maine, in 1903.
Lombards were used in Maine’s logging industry. Before this machine was invented, people used horses and oxen to drag logs on sleds. The Lombard could carry more logs than a team of horses. They could work all day, though sometimes they broke.
The first Lombards ran on steam power, but later models used gasoline. Instead of wheels, they moved around on a system of moving tracks, like you see on bulldozers or snowmobiles today. Drivers had to be careful because they had no brakes!
The machine you see in this image was used in Clayton Lake, Maine, from 1925 to 1933. Lombards were mostly replaced in the mid-1930s because new roads made it cheaper to carry logs on trucks.
Source 2 - Image
Source 2 - Image
Photograph of a Lombard Log Hauler
1914-1924
Maine State Museum 68.187.2
This photo shows a Lombard Log Hauler in action! This machine was used to haul wood. Lombards were invented and made by Alvin Orlando Lombard in Waterville, Maine. They were used in the early 1900s.
In the photograph, you can see two men posing on the machine. The Lombard is pulling a train of sleds stacked with logs. They are traveling through the snowy woods.
Lombards were used in Maine’s logging industry. Before this machine was invented, people used horses and oxen to drag logs on sleds. The Lombard could carry more logs than a team of horses. They could work all day, though sometimes they broke. Also, they had no brakes!
This photograph was taken sometime between 1914 and 1925. It was probably taken in the Androscoggin River valley in Western Maine or in Eastern New Hampshire.
Source 3 - Document
Source 3 - Document
Newspaper Editorial and Cartoon
November 15th, 1963
Bangor Daily News
Newspapers often contain editorials. Editorials are opinion pieces written by newspaper staff or by local readers who send them to the newspaper. This editorial was written in support of a new paper mill that was going to be built in Maine.
By the 1960s, other states were beginning to develop their own paper industries and were in direct competition with the companies in Maine. Larger national or international companies were also buying the paper mills in Maine. They were no longer independently run local businesses.
Georgia-Pacific was a company that started in 1927 in Augusta, Georgia. It began as a lumber company. The company grew during the 1930s and 1940s, buying sawmills and building plywood plants in the South and the Pacific Northwest. By the time this editorial was published in the paper, Georgia-Pacific owned factories all over the United States and had started making paper. By the end of the 1960s, their sales were more than one billion dollars a year.
[Audio version – read in 2024 by Mikayla Garcia, Cony Middle School, Augusta]
September 7th, 1970
Poland, Maine
Dear Senator Muskie,
I am writing to you to tell you about the Little Androscoggin. Once a ferry ran gracefully down the river from the bridge in Poland to Mechanics Falls. Deer could be see drinking the water which their reflections could be seen in. In the Spring pine and choke-cherry blossoms filled the air with the sweetest smell on earth. But now you couldn’t get a boat through this route even if you wanted to! Deer have but no other choice than to drink this water. Now in any season, you can smell the most sickening smell on earth! At the mouth of the brook, frogs have been seen gasping for air. And most of this caused by a log jam.
My uncle works for the government and just came back from Argentina. He almost died when he saw the river. He used to swim and fish in the river. But now, fish have been seen floating down the river dead.
The people of the area sent a petition to Governor Curtis. We haven’t heard any news yet, but I hope it broke through.
I am an 11 year old student going in the 6th grade at Poland Community School. I am sick of the river like this. Please do something about it.
One who loves Maine,
Suzanne Clune
P.S. Don’t throw this letter away!
Source 4 - Document
Source 4 - Document
Letter to Senator Edmund Muskie from Suzanne Clune
September 7th, 1970
Edmund S. Muskie Papers
Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library, Bates College
Suzanne Clune wrote this letter to Senator Edmund Muskie in 1970 when she was a 6th grade student in Poland, Maine.
Edmund Muskie was born in Rumford, Maine in 1914. He became a lawyer and was elected Governor in 1954. He served as a U.S. Senator for Maine from 1959-1981. While he was a Senator, he served on the environmental committee and helped write the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Clean Water Act of 1972.
The Clean Water Act limited the amounts of pollutants that could be released into waters in the United States. The goal was to make it safe for people to swim and fish in rivers, streams, and lakes. Businesses like paper mills and textile mills were required to limit the amount of pollutants they put into the water.
Susan’s letter talks about log jams. They were a problem because they left sap and bark in the water and on the bottom of the river, adding to the pollution problems. During the 1970s, Maine built many new water treatment plants to help clean up the rivers. Log drives and log jams became a thing of the past.
Source 5 - Image
Source 5 - Image
Aerial view of logs behind Ripogenus Dam
Circa 1957
Maine Department of Economic Development, DED-50.60-B-55
Maine State Archives Collection
This photograph was taken from an airplane flying above Ripogenus Dam near Chesuncook Lake in Piscataquis County. The dam was built to expand the lake for log drives down the Kennebec River.
Log “jams” are when logs get tangled up in the water like these did behind Ripogenus Dam. Log jams left sunken logs and other debris in the water, which clogged the waterways and hurt the environment. Today, logs are harvested mechanically and transported by trucks to the mills, so log drives are no longer used.
This photograph was taken by a photographer who worked for the Maine Department of Economic Development. The Department was created in the 1930s to advertise Maine as a good place to do business. It wanted to show that Maine had abundant forests from which trees could be harvested and waterways that made it easy to transport the logs to sawmills and paper mills.
Since colonial times, Maine has harvested trees to make wood for buildings, ship masts, ships, and paper. By the 1950s, Maine lumber and paper mills were in competition with mills in other states, so it was important for Maine to show that it was a better place for industry than other parts of the country.
Source 6 - Image
Source 6 - Image
“River drivers” on a stack of logs
Circa 1957
Maine Department of Economic Development, DED 50.60-G-11
Maine State Archives Collection
This photograph shows river drivers standing on a huge stack of logs. Lumbermen harvested logs in the woods, removed their branches, and then stacked them at the edge of rivers like the Penobscot or the Kennebec.
“River drivers” were people who worked to transport logs down the rivers to the mills. Their job was to keep the logs moving down the river. It was very dangerous, slippery work. The river drivers had to be very athletic and careful to keep their balance on the rolling, floating logs. If they fell off, they could quickly drown or be crushed by the surrounding logs.
The men in this picture are holding peavey hooks, which are tools with sharp points and a hook at the end. The hooks were used to roll the logs off the stacks into the river and to break up log jams, which is when logs get tangled up in the water. The logs were stacked at the edge of rivers like the Penobscot or the Kennebec.
Log jams left sunken logs and other debris in the water, which clogged the waterways and hurt the environment. Today, logs are harvested mechanically and transported by trucks to the mills, so log drives are no longer used.
This photograph was taken by a photographer who worked for the Maine Department of Economic Development. The Department was created in the 1930s to advertise Maine as a good place to do business. It wanted to show that Maine had abundant forests from which trees could be harvested and waterways that made it easy to transport the logs to sawmills and paper mills.
Maine Industry Primary Source Sets developed in collaboration between the Maine State Archives, Maine State Library, and Maine State Museum.
