The sticks were collected at the mouths of the tributaries and taken a short distance by tug or by river current to the rafting sites. To bring the sticks to this site and make them into cribs took three to four weeks of hard work. In the construction of the crib the lower layer was always made from pine because it floated readily, then another layer was added with the appropriate oak pins and traverses. Cribs were not usually more than twenty-six feet wide in order to fit the timber slide runways, and they were usually forty to fifty feet long. A full raft consisted of 100 or more cribs. Men were hired because of their special skills, their navigational experience, and their knowledge of the river. The new crew might consist of fifty men, depending on the size of raft and the distance to Quebec. A shanty was set up on the crib. The cook and his helpers were near the centre of the raft with a fireplace built on a layer of sand. The rest of the crew rested on the river shore wherever they put in for that night. Some preferred the decks of the cribs.
Courtesy: Ginn and Company and Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa
