A vintage sepia-toned photograph capturing a massive log jam filling a wide river. Over a dozen loggers holding long pike poles stand balanced across the floating timbers, with rolling hills visible on the distant shoreline.

Maine Logging

Massive log jam at Pishon's Ferry, Skowhegan, ca. 1870. Photo: Collections of Skowhegan History House.

Maine's enormous supply of trees fueled its leading industry and proved its most valuable natural resource. Lumber was necessary for shipbuilding, building construction, and the barrels and boxes in which most merchandise was transported until the 1900s. One key to Maine's early lumbering success was the expansive and interconnected lakes, streams, and rivers rushing to the Atlantic. Floating logs down-river to mills and onto ships for delivery was significantly cheaper than transporting them overland, giving Maine an economic edge.

After the Civil War, railroads dominated transportation. This drove western expansion, lowered the demand for wooden ships, and increased the cost of shipping lumber from Maine. As the American population center moved west, so did the demand for lumber. Midwestern and Western tree stands drew many experienced Maine loggers seeking better wages and new opportunities.

To compete with western markets, Maine's lumber industry diversified its products. Turning from board lumber for construction, lumbermen processed wood to meet growing demands for paper. By the 1890s, much of Maine's lumber went to pulp and paper mills. Maine reached its peak lumbering years between 1890 and 1910 as advancing technology such as mechanized log haulers and gas-powered chain saws enabled loggers to harvest more trees deeper into the Maine woods.

While still competing with international and western markets, throughout the 20th century, the lumber industry rose and fell with the economy. For example, the Depression era housing slump contributed to a decline in Maine's lumber production, but it bounced back in the post-war building boom. From the 1960s on, the industry saw a steady improvement, but with pressures from western markets and overharvesting key species, Maine's national share of lumber production remained in a low range of 1% to 2 % in the 20th century. Since the late 1990s, there has been a wholesale change in the ownership of Maine's forestlands. Forest products companies that once owned both forests and mills have virtually disappeared. The forest products industry, which once owned 60% of Maine's North Woods, now owns just 15%.

With strong conservation policies in place, the logging industry remains steady today. Although there have been declines in some lumbering sectors, diversification has kept the industry afloat. The state supplies such products as paper, paperboard, corrugated box manufacturing, lumber, millwork, and plywood among other more technical companies. Wood product manufacturing was the state's largest lumbering subsector in 2022.

Patten Lumbermen's Museum

A vintage sepia-toned photograph showing two horses pulling a massive, snow-dusted sled piled high with logs. Four loggers are positioned across the timber stack, with a dense evergreen forest stretching across the background. — Bryson Logging Team, 1915. Photo: Collections of Aroostook County Historical and Art Museum.

A vintage black and white group photo inside a rustic, low-ceilinged log cabin bunkhouse. A large group of male loggers, many sporting thick mustaches and suspenders, sit tightly packed together looking toward the camera. — Carlisle and Potter Lumbering Operation, ca. 1900. Photo: Patten Lumbermen's Museum.

A historic black and white photograph of a large crew of loggers working along a rocky riverbank. The men are using long wooden poles to maneuver logs through the shallow water against a backdrop of pine trees. — Crew of men taking logs off rocks. C. 1900. Photo: Patten Lumbermen's Museum.

A black and white winter photograph showing an early steam-powered log hauler on tracks positioned in a clearing. Several logging sleds loaded with timber sit nearby on the snow-covered ground surrounded by a sparse forest. — Dunn's logging crew using a Lombard log hauler. The log hauler, invented by Alvin O. Lombard of Waterville, was patented in 1901 and revolutionized the way the lumbering industry operated in Maine.Photo: Patten Lumbermen's Museum.

A vintage black and white photograph of a large wooden mill building with a very tall smokestack. A group of mill workers stands on an elevated wooden platform structure, while others stand below near railroad tracks. — Lumber business in the early days of the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad. The station is typical of ones built along the railroad in the years following 1892. This is possibly the one on Patten Branch, 1895-96. Photo: Patten Lumbermen's Museum.

A historic black and white photograph of a long, angled wooden log flume or sluice structure running through a wooded area. Water rushes through the wooden framework next to a line of tall birch and evergreen trees. — Log sluice, Maine woods, ca. 1900. Photo: Patten Lumbermen's Museum.

A vintage black and white photograph showing a group of loggers actively clearing logs in a rushing river. The men stand balanced on top of large floating timbers, using long pike poles to guide them downstream. — Men on log drive using peaveys at unidentified location. Several of the men are Arthur York, third from left, Orville Clark and Edmund Nedeau. Photo: Patten Lumbermen's Museum.

A black and white photograph taken from behind a group of loggers looking down toward a wide, fast-moving river filled with logs. Large piles of harvested timber line the right side of the riverbank next to a dense forest. — Crew rolling logs into stream to start the drive. C. 1900. Photo: Patten Lumbermen's Museum.

A vintage black and white photograph showing a steam log hauler pulling a train of heavy sleds loaded with large log bundles across a snow-covered field. Large piles of snow-dusted logs are stacked in the foreground. — Hauling logs with Lombard Log hauler, Sherman Lumber Co., ca. 1915. Photo: Patten Lumbermen's Museum.

An antique full-length portrait of two bearded working men in hats standing together, holding a large log-driving tool and a shovel. The image is a distressed, weathered tin-type or early plate photograph with dark flaking borders. — Two log drivers, Bangor, ca. 1865. Log drivers (also known as river drivers) posed with the tools of their trade: a peavey, an ax, a pike pole, and a shovel. Their cheeks have been hand-colored in pink. Photo: Maine Historical Society.

A close-up black and white portrait of a native woodsman wearing a fedora hat and a buttoned flannel shirt. He looks slightly past the camera with a subtle smile against a dense background of tangled, bare forest branches. — "Spring pulpwood drive on the Brown Company timber holdings in Maine. Indian woodsman from Canada 1943." Photo: Library of Congress.

A black and white photograph showing log drivers standing on massive piles of timber filling a wide river. They use long pike poles to clear a log jam while a thick, pine-filled forest lines the background shore. — Log drivers clearing a log jam near Limington in 1946. Photo: Maine State Archives.

A black and white photograph focused on a man in a hat leaning forward to pull a log with a long peavey tool. Other log drivers are visible working in the blurred background across a wide, flowing river. — Man with a peavey works at a log jam. George French image, 1937. Photo: Maine State Archives.

A black and white photograph capturing three men in hats balanced on a pile of large logs at the edge of a rushing river. They are actively prying timbers with long poles to break up a jam, with a dense evergreen forest stretching along the far bank. — Men clearing a log jam on a river. George French image, 1936. Photo: Maine State Archives.

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