Felled timber is taken down the Mattagami, a Northern Ontario River. The men who guide the logs on “the drive” are “famous for their dexterity” as poling and burling are demonstrated. In an amusing sequence the men are shown as “proverbial for their appetite.” The independence that workers enjoyed at this time and described in Ian Radforth’s history of the industry is evident. The cutting of the logs into planks and boards comes next. The product eventually finds its way to a lumber yard in Toronto, to be sold. Ontario’s “treasureland” of forest, mine and stream helps make Canada prosperous, the film concludes.

“The Drive,” 1925, film, 6 minutes 7 seconds, National Library of Australia collection accession number 1973-0182, item number ISN 21484, Library and Archives Canada.

Film editing by Annie Slotnick. Musical direction by Ewen Farncombe.

Songs:

Manda - Ben Bernie’s Hotel Roosevelt Orchestra (1924)

Climbing Up the Scale - Johnny Johnson Orchestra (1924)

Further Discussion

Radforth, Ian. Bushworkers and Bosses: Logging in Northern Ontario. University of Toronto Press, 1987.

Wilde, Terence P. "Masculinity, Medicine and Mechanization: The Construction of Occupational Health in Northern Ontario 1890-1925." PhD diss., York University, August 2014.