Log Drivers on the Cowlitz River - c. 1905

A group of log drivers, sometimes called "river hogs", pose with their pikes - the long poles used to maneuver logs as they moved down the river to sawmills.

This was dangerous work, requiring skill and a good sense of balance, as slipping from the logs could result in being pinned between two of them. The original print came from the Koontz family, and Emmet Koontz, born in 1881, is the man on the right.

-- This photo is restored and printed by Old Oregon.