Logging

Sweden is a country with snowy winters, especially in the northern half, Norrland, and logging was carried out during the winter season. Logging involves cutting down trees, delimbing, bucking (cutting) the trunks into lengths of about 5m (16 ft), and hauling the logs with horses over snowy trails to riverbanks or onto the ice of frozen rivers. The trees were felled with axes and saws. In spring, when the ice broke on the rivers, snow thawed and water levels rose, the log drive commenced. In Sweden, each lumberjack (logger) completed the entire process of logging for the trees he felled. He felled the tree, delimbed it, stripped off the bark, and bucked the trunks into suitable lengths. The image shows Swedish lumberjacks, 1908. To complete the logging process, the lumberjacks needed several tools that they must bring to the snowy forests. The two-man crosscut saw (Swe: timmersvans) was used to cut the tree by the ground, the ax to delimb the trunk, and the bark spud to strip off the bark (the bark wasn’t always peeled off). A bow saw was used for the bucking of the trunk and timber tongs were used to move and lift the logs to a correct position for the hauling. Horses and timber sleds were used to haul the logs to the riverbanks. The image shows a logging camp with a log cabin, lumberjacks, a horse, and a timber sled in the interior of mid-Sweden, 1908. Before the arrival of the two-man crosscut saws, the lumberjacks only used axes to cut down trees. A two-man crosscut saw is a coarse-toothed saw designed for use by two sawyers and began to replace axes for felling trees in the late 19th century. In Sweden, such a saw would typically be about 2 m long with a handle at each end. There are also one- man crosscut saws. A bow saw is a metal-framed crosscut saw in the shape of a bow with a coarse wide blade. This type of saw is also known as a Swede saw. The first modern gasoline-powered chainsaws were introduced at the end of the 1940s in Sweden and the mechanization of forestry commenced. The image to the right shows a logger with a timber tong loading logs onto a timber sled hauled by a horse. Image: Jönköpings läns Museum, ID: JM.2014-1-369. Each timber firm had its own mark, which was placed on the logs, called an "end mark" (Swe: stukmärke). At the sorting area, the logs were captured by a log boom, and the logs were sorted for ownership. The end marks were cut into the logs with special marking axes. See images of end marks.

Log Driving

The log driving season began at the first big thaw when the ice on the frozen rivers broke-up and water levels rose. To control the flow of water, they built "flash dams" or "driving dams" on smaller streams, so they could release water to push the logs down when they wanted. The river channels were being cleaned of any obstacles that might prevent the driving, booms were placed to guide logs past obstructions avoiding stranded logs, etc. Sometimes, log flumes were used past difficult areas of the rivers. When the river was passing through a lake with a less steady flow, the logs were bundled with chains into large rafts and tugged or warped to areas where the current again was able to drive the logs downstream. One way of doing this was with so-called capstan rafts (Swe: spelflottar). They were special rafts with a vertical capstan in the center of the raft used to pull log booms across lakes. The capstan raft was rowed to a point of attachment, for example, to a bank or an anchored hold. The capstan raft was secured to the firm hold and the log booms were winched by the log drivers up to the capstan raft. The image shows a so-called capstan raft (spelflotte) pulling log booms through the Flosjö Lake, Dala- Floda, Dalarna. The capstan is in the middle of the raft where log drivers are winching the log rafts. The log boom is to the left. Image: Wikipedia. A later way of pulling logs across lakes was warping. A cable connected bundled log rafts to a warping boat. The warping boat was thereafter moved about circa 1,000–2,000 meters with slack cable and secured to a mooring post/buoy or simply anchored up. The train of log rafts was thereafter winched up to the vessel. Thereafter the process was repeated; the vessel was moved with slack cable yet another 1,000–2,000 meters and the log rafts were winched in. Such a train of bundled log rafts could contain over 100,000 logs. The last phase of the log driving season, before the rivers froze, was the final cleaning of the river channels and banks. This was called rumping (Swe: rumpning). Straggler logs stuck on the banks were removed and remaining log jams were broken up. Free-flowing log driving on rivers was the most common way of log driving in Sweden and it was pine timber that was driven. This was called “strömflottning” or “lösflottning” in Swedish. Towing bundles of log rafts across lakes or along the seacoast were called “fastflottning, havsflottning or buntflottning”. Log driving was seasonal work and an important extra income to people in the forest areas of Sweden. Log driving was in principle organized in the same way all the time until the end in the period 1960–1980. Log driving became increasingly unnecessary with the development of railroads and the use of trucks on logging roads. However, the practice survived in some remote locations where such infrastructure did not exist. In Sweden, legal exemptions for log driving were eliminated in 1983. The last log driving in southern Sweden was in the 1960s, with the floating era in the rest of the country ending completely with the last of the many log drives in the Klarälven River in 1991.

Log Drivers

The people working with log driving were called ”flottare” in Swedish. Log driving was seasonal work, and most log drivers were locals; small farmers, tenant farmers, crofters, etc. Log driving was heavy and dangerous work, with the drivers standing on the moving logs and running from one to another. Many drivers lost their lives by falling and being crushed by the logs. However, log driving also implied freedom, comradeship, and possibilities to take personal initiatives. To ensure that logs drifted freely along the river, the log drivers were needed to guide the logs and pushing along the straggler logs that were stuck on the banks. When a log jam started, they tried to get to it quickly and dislodge the key logs before many logs stacked up. If they didn't, the river would keep piling on more logs, forming a partial dam. The job also involved warping or tugging logs across lakes and sorting the logs for ownership at the log boom (Swe: skiljen) at the mouth of the river. The image shows log drivers with pike poles balancing on moving logs at Klarälven River, Värmland. Image: Wikipedia. At times, the log drivers needed to use dynamite to break up the jams. The log drivers were typically divided into several groups; Riverbank crew (landlag), Boat crew (båtlag) and, Sea crew (sjölag). The more experienced and nimble men comprised the Jam crew or Beat crew. This was an extremely dangerous job. The log drivers’ most important tool was the pike pole (Swe: flotthaken or båtshaken). They are long wood poles equipped with two metal hooks used for reaching, holding, or pulling logs. The drivers spent a lot of time wading in icy water and it was difficult to keep the feet warm, especially with ice-cold water in the boots. They used leather boots greased with tar or lye to make the leather hard and waterproof. If a driver fell into the water there was no chance to change into dry clothes, they could not bring another set of clothes on the river. Rubber boots weren’t for sale until the 1920s, but not until the 1940s were rubber boots with high bootlegs available. The early log drivers had no cabins to stay the night in. Log cabins weren’t in use until the 1930s. Usually, the drivers slept under a log-driving boat turned upside-down or on a bed of spruce twigs under a tree. Others made windbreakers of twigs and canvas between two trees with a log fire in front of the opening to keep warm and dry wet clothes. These windbreakers were called “gapakojor” in Swedish. Log driving was very resource-demanding, and many people were employed with log driving. Most of these people were seasonal workers, foremost local small farmers, and loggers. Being a log driver was a profession that often was passed on to their sons. The sorting job at the log booms demanded many drivers and these seasonal workers often came from other areas. More than 1,000 drivers could be working in a specific river during the log driving season. The peak of log driving was in the 1930s. About 50,000 log drivers were employed in Sweden then. Besides these, there were about 200,000 lumberjacks and sawmill laborers. It was a prestigious job with a romantic light around the log drivers. Songs such as Swedish Gösta “Snoddas” Nordgren’s the 1950s very popular song “Flottarkärlek” (Log Driver Love) tells the story of a young log driver which added to the romantic light of the profession.

Boom Sorting - The Timber Sorting Area

At the mouth of the river was the timber sorting area, the log boom (Swe: skiljet or sorteringsverket) where the logs were sorted for ownership before redirected to the different sawmills or paper mills. With several timber firms driving on the same stream, it was necessary to direct the logs to their owner's respective booms, each log identified by its owner’s patented timber mark (“end mark”). A large log sorting area was located at the mouth of Ljungan River in Kvissleby (just south of Sundsvall). Upstream, before the sorting area, was a large log boom designed to collect and or contain floating logs driven downstream from forests. The log booms (Swe: timmermagasin) could contain hundreds of thousands of logs. From these log booms, the logs were fed into the sorting area with the help small of so-called boom boats (Swe: knuffbåtar). If the destined sawmill wasn’t nearby the sorting area, the logs to this sawmill were bundled together with chains and tugged to the sawmill. The image shows the sorting area (skiljet) at a river where the logs are being sorted for ownership. Image: Järnvägsmuseet, ID: JvmKCAC14359. The largest timber sorting facility in the world was Sandslån boom on the Ångermanälven River, mid- Sweden. During the peak year in 1953, about 700 workers were employed at the boom manually sorting over 23 million logs.

Log Driving Boats

When the river was passing through a lake with a less steady flow, the logs were bundled with chains into large rafts and tugged or warped to areas where the current again was able to drive the logs downstream. Initially, this was carried out with so- called capstan rafts (Swe: spelflottar) but later with steam-powered capstan vessels. However, when more powerful steam-powered engines were developed, tugboats were used to tug the bundled logs across lakes. Such a bundled log train tugged through lakes could contain up to 160,000 boomed logs. The first steam-powered tugboat on Dalälven River, adapted for log driving, was launched in 1862. The steam engine’s boiler was fired with dried salvaged sunken logs. The boat crew consisted of about 7 men. The image shows the tugboat Sandslån III, launched in 1913 for the Ångermanälven River Log Driving Cooperative. Image: Sjöhistoriska museet, ID: Fo176877AB. The log driving crews used rowboats. The rowboats and the pike poles were the log drivers’ ever-lasting companions. The rowboats could be different in the various rivers, but they all have one thing in common; they were built to be robust, tough, and stand rough treatments by river rocks and logs. The hull was bulged and plump which made the boat extremely seaworthy. The boats were used to get the log drives in position on the rivers to drive the logs and break up jams. The image shows the type of rowing boats used by the log drivers. The rowboats in the image were used by the log drivers at Grådö, Hedemora, Dalarna. Photo: Arvid Andersson, circa 1920. Image: Wikipedia. The tugboats used to tug bundled log rafts on the sea were larger and more powerful than the tugboats used on the rivers.

Rumping

The so-called “rumping” (Swe: rumpning) was the cleaning-up of the timber-floating routes and was carried out at the end of the log driving season. This work involved cleaning-up of the riverbanks and river grounds from the logs that got stuck during the season. The rump crew was divided into a boat crew and a riverbank crew. The riverbank crew pushed stranded straggler logs into the river and broke up log jams on the banks. The boat crew broke up the log jams in the river and back currents.

Related Links

• Maps of the Sundsvall Region • Maps, the subdivisions of Sweden into lands, provinces and counties • Map, Swedish provinces • Map, Swedish counties • The Conception of Crofts and Crofters • The Old Agricultural Society and its People • The Swedish Emigration to the USA • History of Railways in Sweden

Source References

• Flottarna fick fart på exporten: Timmerflottning, av Nils Johan Tjärnlund, 6 juli 2010. Tidskriften Populär Historia 6/2010. • Skogen, flottningen och Norrbottens människor, Skogshistoriska Sällskapets Årsskrift 2016, sid 12- 21. • Flottningen i Norrland, Lars Karlman jk 92/96. • Sågverksindustrins utveckling i Norrland; från 1850 till andra världskriget. Inst. för vegetationsekologi och inst. för skogsskötsel SLU Umeå, Åsa Blom, Erik Willén 1991/95. • "Nyfiken på Sverige", Utbildningsradion (sid 4) • "Ådalen, industrihistorisk inventering", del 3, 1980, (sid 20 - 21) • Wikipedia Top of page

The Great Expansion of the

Lumber Industry

Water and Steam Powered Sawmills

The first sawmills in Norrland, the northern half of Sweden, were built at the end of the 1500s. These were water-powered sawmills and equipped with one coarse-toothed hand-forged sawblade. It is estimated that up to 15% of each log was wasted with these coarse sawblades. At the end of the 1700s, the technique of making rolled-iron was developed and it became possible to produce much finer sawblades. Later, it was possible to use several sawblades in the frames which improved the production capacity. In 1850 there were about 100 sawmills in Norrland. Naturally, the water- powered sawmills had to be located at suitable locations where there was a stream. The period between 1750 and 1850 was the golden age of water-powered sawmills. This was also a period when log-floating routes were established which significantly expanded the log driving. Creating log-floating routes was gigantic and laborious work. The river channels were cleaned of scrub and other obstacles. Dynamite was used for blasting troublesome rocks and stones and removed. The channels were dredged and made deeper and, at points, the rivers were made narrower to increase the power of the currents. The image to the right shows the water wheel of a water-powered sawmill in Pelarne, Vimmerby. Photo 1947. Image: Kalmar läns museum, ID: KLMF.A08825. The lumber industry was expanding fast during the 1800s. Steam power made it possible to establish sawmills by the coast, easily reached by the shipping lines. In 1849, the first steam-powered sawmill in Norrland was established in Tunadal by the Alnö Sound, just north of Sundsvall. Medelpad is a province in mid-Sweden and its major city is Sundsvall. Soon, more than 40 steam-powered sawmills were established along Medelpad’s coastline, and alone in the vicinity of Sundsvall city were 23 steam-powered sawmills established. Sundsvall became the center of the world’s largest lumber industry district. Other lumber district arose around the cities Härnösand, Kramfors, and Örnsköldsvik in Ångermanland but also further up along the Norrland coastline. An exceptionally large amount of people, not the least from Värmland province and Finland, migrated to Sundsvall to look for jobs with the many lumber firms in the region; sawmill laborers, loggers, log drivers, and charcoal makers. The Sundsvall region became a lumbering Klondike. Map, Swedish provinces / Maps of the Sundsvall Region

Raw Material - Forests

During the first half of the 1800s, lumbering expanded considerably. At this time, almost all forestlands were owned by the government or by private owners such as farmers. The booming lumber industry was interested in the farmers’ forests who owned large forestlands. The forests weren’t considered financially valuable; the farmers used them for firewood and make lumber for building material. Only the lumber tycoons saw the true value of the forests. However, since the farmers didn’t see this, the lumber industry managed to buy forestland from the farmers for next to nothing. There are many tales about how the farmers were fooled by the sawmill owners to sell their forestlands for chicken feed. The farmers were persuaded to sell for a bottle of vodka and a few hundred crowns. Naturally, most such tales are myths, but no smoke without fire. Nevertheless, forestland owning farmers thought they made a rather good deal. The image shows a crew of lumberjacks in Nedre Röra skog, Stenungssund, circa 1917-1919. At the front, a two-man crosscut saw. Others are having broad-axes in their hands. Image: Bohusläns museum, ID: UMFA53058:0001. At the beginning of the lumbering boom, the newly established lumber firms only procured rights to cut trees (Swe: avverkningsrätt) from the forestland owning farmers; they didn’t buy the forests. These rights usually were running for 50 years. However, in 1889, there was an Act passed in the Parliament limiting the cutting rights to 20 years. To secure the supply of raw material - the lumber - the lumber firms began to buy forestlands instead. Around 1850, with the introduction of steam- powered saws in Norrland, the production capacity of sawmills considerable increased. Increased production also increased the demanded for more timber to the mills. Therefore, both logging and log driving expanded and it was now forestland became truly valuable. The British duty of imported lumber was gradually reduced from 1842 and completely removed in 1866. At the same time, the duty for exporting lumber from Sweden was gradually reduced from 1835 and completely gone in 1865. This led to a considerably boom in the export of lumber to the UK. When the technique of making paper pulp and paper out of wood was introduced at the end of the 1800s the value of forestland increased even further. The sawmills used lumber of pine trees, now there was a demand for spruce trees too since the pulp mills used spruce lumber.

Sawmills

The steam engine made it possible to establish sawmills where it was most convenient. Earlier mills had to be built by streams to use waterpower. The industry now moved to the cities and with them the laborers. The steam power considerably increased the production capacity of sawmills. Before 1850, in the era of water-powered sawmill, most sawmills were located Västerbotten, up north. With the introduction of steam saws, Medelpad quickly grew as the major center for the lumber industry. In 1849, the first steam-powered sawmill in Norrland was established in Tunadal just north of Sundsvall, Medelpad. At the beginning of the 1860s, the number of sawmills increased from 100 to 250. Between 1860 and 1880 the water-powered sawmills declined on behalf of steam-powered sawmills. The steam saws were foremost located in Sundsvall, Härnösand, and Söderhamn. In 1900, there were very few remaining water saws. The image shows the timber inlet to the steam- powered saw at Dal Sawmill in Ramvik, Ådalen, 1898. image: Tekniska museet, ID: TEKA0148019. Almost all produced lumber was exported. Between 1850 and 1900, the export of lumber increased tenfold. The Swedish trade of lumber became the largest in the world. The production of lumber in Medelpad province was higher than the logging capacity there, so the sawmills in Medelpad had to acquire timber from other Swedish provinces such as Jämtland, Västerbotten, and Norrbotten, well even from northern Finland. At the beginning of the 1890s, fully 10 million logs were processed annually by the sawmills in Medelpad, and in 1900 about 15 million logs.

Sawmill Laborers

The work at the sawmills was labor-intensive and many people were employed by the sawmills. The laborers were sorting and sawing the timber, piled the boards for drying, and subsequently loaded the lumber onto freighters. The great need for laborers in mid-Sweden caused a great migration from other parts of Sweden to look for jobs at the many sawmills in this region. The sawmill laborers can be divided into three groups: laborers employed permanently, migrating laborers (Arbetsvandrare), and temporary laborers (Lösarbetare). The migrating laborers were seasonal workers. The booming sawmill industry was able to pay higher wages than other industries and they had no problem in acquiring the necessary manpower. The image shows sawmill workers and piles of boards at Gustavsberg Sawmill in Alnön, Sundsvall, 1908. Image: Sundsvall Museum, ID: SuM- foto021393. In 1879, there was a temporary recession for the lumber industry. The sawmill owners in the Sundsvall lumber area decided jointly to cut back the laborer’s wages. The pay cut for the laborers was 20 - 25% which caused a severe economic crisis for the workers. The workers demanded to keep their wage from the previous year, 1878. When the demand wasn’t met, a spontaneous strike broke out, the Sundsvall Strike. The strike began at the Heffner Sawmill on 26 May 1879 and spread quickly to the other sawmills. The laborers employed permanently were living in workmen’s dwellings owned by the sawmill firms and they were threatened with eviction and subsequent imprisonment for vagrancy (vagrancy was illegal). The temporary workers were threatened with compulsory enlistments in the army. Sundsvall is in Västernorrland County (Swe: Län) and the County Governor Curry Treffenberg finally acquired help from the military to force the laborers back to work. the strike ended on 4 June 1879. The Sundsvall Strike was one reason for the establishment of labor unions.

Lumber Tycoons

Lumber tycoon (also Sawmill tycoon) [Swe: Träpatron] was a term for the owners of large sawmill and lumber businesses that were established along the Norrland coast during the second half of the 1800s. The lumber tycoons made a fortune in connection to the industrialization of lumbering and among these tycoons were several of the wealthiest men in Sweden. The image to the right shows lumber tycoon Fredrik Bünsow (1824 - 1897). Bünsow’s lumber firm grew fast and became one of the largest lumber firms in the Sundsvall sawmill region. He didn’t settle with the sawmill; he also bought a lot of forestlands. Bünsow bought forests to secure the supply of timber to his sawmill business. Image: Wikipedia. The lumber tycoons also have been associated with shady business practices which at the time was nicknamed “baggböleri” in Swedish, but also with the rough treatment of the laborers in the Sundsvall sawmill strike in 1879. Hotel Knaust in Sundsvall is a well-known hotel & restaurant frequently visited by the wealthy lumber tycoons around the turn of the century 1900. Some well-known Swedish lumber tycoons in the 1800s: • Johan Carl Kempe (1799–1872) • Wilhelm Kempe (1807–1883) • James R:son Dickson (1810–1873) • Oscar Dickson (1823–1897) • Fredrik Bünsow (1824–1897) • Johan August Enhörning (1824–1885) • Per Fredrik Heffner (1788-1873)

The beginning of Log Driving in Different

Swedish Rivers

in 1911, a Swedish official report listed the approximate years for the beginning of log driving in the rivers of the north of Sweden, Norrland. The following years were listed:

Emigration from Sweden to North America

During the period between 1850 and 1930, about 1,200,000 Swedes emigrated from Sweden to North America. Many of the Swedish immigrants to the US settled in the Upper Midwest of which Minnesota was the most popular state. In 1879 there was a crisis in the lumber industry in Sweden at the same time as the ironwork industry had difficulties, which caused a peak in Swedish emigration. Therefore, many of the Swedish emigrants at that time were occupied within the lumber industry and this group of immigrants usually resumed their former occupations in the US, loggers, log drivers, and sawmill laborers. These immigrants settled in areas of the US with large lumber industries such as Maine and Oregon and of course Canada. For further information, see The Swedish Emigration to the USA. Historic Images

History of Swedish Log Driving

Introduction

Log driving or timber floating is a means of moving logs (sawn tree trunks) from an inland forest to sawmills and pulp mills downstream using the current of a river. It was the main transportation method of the early logging industry in Scandinavia and North America. The sawmills were usually located by the coast. The logs were driven by the current of rivers, creeks, and brooks. If the river, on its way to the coast, was passing through a lake with a less steady flow, the logs were bundled with chains into large rafts and were tugged or warped to areas where the current again was able to drive the logs downstream. The waterways used for log driving were called log- floating routes. Creeks and brooks were used to drive logs to the main river. The log boom area (Swe: Skiljet or sorteringsverket) was the sorting area located at the mouth of the river where a special boom crew sorted the log for ownership. The logs were sorted for ownership and quality, bundled, and tugged to the sawmills and pulp-mills based on the ownership. Special boom boats were used in the sorting area and tugboats towed the bundled logs to the respective mill. The bundles were chained to each other forming long a line of connected bundled log rafts. A pioneer in log driving was merchant Jakob Polack in Sundsvall, Mid-Sweden. In 1721, Polack obtained a contract to deliver lumber to the Navy. At that point, there were no cleared log-floating routes to drive the logs downstream to the coast. Polack obtained the rights to make a log-driving route on the Ljungan River in Medelpad province and immediately initiated the work of clearing the river channel of rocks and debris. The image at the top of the page shows log drivers with pike poles at a sawmill in the vicinity of Sundsvall, Medelpad, the 1910s. Image: Sundsvall Museum, ID: SuM-foto000066.

History of Log Driving and Logging in Sweden

Log driving was for centuries the only means of moving logs. The Swedish term for log driving is “timmerflottning” (or simply “flottning”) which means "Log floating". In Sweden, log driving had begun by the 16th century when rivers and other waterways were used for moving logs. Sawmills have been around in Mid-Sweden since the 1500s. With the establishment of iron mills, the need for lumber increased rapidly. By the Mid-1700s, log driving was extensive in large parts of Sweden, delivering logs to the water- powered sawmills. Log driving on Klarälven River, Värmland, is mentioned in sources in the 1730s. In the 1740s, sawmills in Lo and Kramfors by Ångermanälven River began log driving on the river. The owners of these sawmills also began clearing the river channel from rock and debris. Under a decree of 1739, the government gave burghers and farmers the right to pursue log driving in the so-called “kungsådran” of Swedish rivers. Further, fixing fishing tackles that would prevent the current from flowing was strictly forbidden which contributed to the expansion of log driving. The “kungsådran” was a part of the river channel which by law (Royal Decree of 1442) must be kept open. In the mid-1800s, steam-powered saws were established by the sawmill owners and this was the beginning of the great sawmill industry boom. The sawmills were able to process more lumber which leads to an increased need for logs. Therefore, the log driving was expanding too. New log driving routes were opened in Norrland (Northern half of Sweden, meaning Northland). Steam-powered saws were established along the Norrland coastline during the 1800s, especially in Medelpad province. At the end of the 1800s, we have the establishment of pulp-mills which further increased the need for lumber. During the first half of the 1800s, log driving expanded considerably. Forest land-owning farmers were then able to sell lumber to the fast-growing sawmill industry. At this time, almost all forestlands were owned by private forestland owners or the government. New log-floating routes were established, and log flumes were constructed so the logs could pass waterfalls and rapids. Under the work of the River Channel Cleaning-up Committee (Strömrensningskommittén) at the beginning of the 1800s, river channels were cleaned up from everything that could prevent the logs from floating downstream. Under the Log Driving Act of 1880 (Swe: Flottningsstadgan 1880), the log floating routes in the rivers of Mid-Sweden were improved under the supervision of the County Governors. The Act also prevented landowners of riverbanks to in any way block log driving. However, everyone interested in carrying out log driving had to join forces with others and establish log driving cooperatives (Swe: flottningsföreningar) funding the log driving and the maintenance of the log-floating routes. Between 1880 and 1900 the total length of the log- floating routes in Sweden increased from 5,165 km (3,209 mi) to about 20,000 km (12,430 mi). The total length of the routes constituted about 33,000 km (20,505 mi) in the 1940s and over 18 million cubic meters of logs were driven on the rivers. About 80 % of all Swedish log-floating routes were in Norrland, where the Ångermanälven River had the longest connected route of 3,538 km (2,200 mi) . About 50,000 log drivers were employed in Sweden in the 1930s. Besides these, there were about 200,000 lumberjacks and sawmill laborers. However, with better roads, logging roads, larger logging trucks, etc., log driving diminished in the 1960s and the epoch came to an end in the 1980s. Map, Swedish provinces, Map, Swedish counties