Maine Memory Network

Historic Hallowell - Logging

"The Steam and Boom Company was where all the logs got delivered and collected and also contained floating logs timbered from nearby forests."

Ambajejus Boom House

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Skowhegan Community History - Kennebec River Log Drive

"Booms were large logs attached together by a chain. The booms circled the logs, not letting them escape."

Western Maine Foothills Region - Building Boom and Piers above the Falls

"The piers were the anchors for the booms. The booms were tree-length spruce logs, chained together with heavy chains, called “boom chains,” and these…"

Historic Hallowell - Sweat on the Kennebec ~ Hallowell Steam and Boom Company

"Drift logs were a boom to dwellers along the river banks, who got a fixed price from the owners according to the distance below Hallowell at which…"

Western Maine Foothills Region - Hugh J. Chisholm, Sr. - Page 1 of 2

"… Rumford Falls Publishing Company, Rumford Falls Boom Company, Rumford Falls Light and Water Company, Rumford Falls Woolen Company, Rumford Falls…"

Western Maine Foothills Region - Mexico Corner

"… stores were being built to supply the building boom due to the construction of the Oxford Paper Company across the Androscoggin River in Rumford."

Biddeford History & Heritage Project - The Civil War/Reconstruction Era as Experienced in Biddeford & Saco - Page 2 of 17

"… During the Civil War, Maine laborers worked in logging, milling, papermaking, built ships, fished, and processed fish; mined and cut granite and…"

Historic Hallowell - Earning Our Keep

"Earning Our Keep Hallowell Boom and Steam Co., Log Drivers, Hallowell, ca. 1890Hubbard Free Library How do you earn your daily bread? How do…"

Biddeford History & Heritage Project - The Civil War/Reconstruction Era as Experienced in Biddeford & Saco - Page 8 of 17

"… Era as Experienced in Biddeford & Saco Log Drive, Saco River, ca. 1894McArthur Public Library As more businesses and industries were using…"

Biddeford History & Heritage Project - IV. Engulfed by nationalism: Revolutionary Biddeford

"The earliest logs were cut from around the falls. By the end of the 18th century the logs were being sent down from Fryeburg and points north."

Biddeford History & Heritage Project - II. Ripples of change: European exploration & settlement at Winter Harbor - Page 2 of 2

"… & settlement at Winter Harbor Piles of logs along the Saco River, ca. 1910McArthur Public Library The earliest settlers lived almost…"

Guilford, Maine - Early Manufacturing - Page 1 of 3

"… and during one flood, the boom chain that held logs broke, and the logs washed over the dam during high water, smashing nearly every window in the…"

Historic Hallowell - Early Industry and Bombahook

"Maine's domeless State House in Augusta can be seen center right in the distance just above the boom islands in the Kennebec."

Maine's Swedish Colony, July 23, 1870 - Industry

"From 1900-1920 was boom time for this community. By 1920 Stockholm’s population had soared to 1,038, surpassing New Sweden’s population of 963."

Life on a Tidal River - Bangor: Lumber Capital of the World

"Finally, the lumberman sawed the logs into lumber for shipment. Companies from around the world came to Bangor for the huge amount of revenue waiting…"

Guilford, Maine - Pre-Settlement And The First 100 Years

"Boom Chain, Guilford, 1908Guilford Historical Society In late September of 1909, the boom strung across the river at Guilford Manufacturing Company…"

Historic Hallowell - Shipbuilding

"… bigger and thicker ones were used for the softest logs while the thinner axes were used for the hardest logs."

Maine's Swedish Colony, July 23, 1870 - The History of Stockholm

"By 1910 Stockholm was beginning to boom. The population was 715 in 1910, 1038 in 1920, and 1300 around 1925."

Maine's Swedish Colony, July 23, 1870 - Stockholm, Maine

"Other people just skied for fun. Stockholm-Boom and Bust The population in Stockholm had climbed from 715 to 1,300 in just 15 years."

Lubec, Maine - Lubec History

"… Washington, D.C., 1965Lubec Memorial Library The booming economy brought by the sardine industry resulted in more tax revenue for the town."