FACT SHEET
TITLE:Dynamite, Whiskey and Wood—Connecticut River Log Drives 1870-1915
American Public Television
LENGTH:1/0:56:40
RELEASE:4/7/2006
CONTRACT4/7/2006-4/6/2010
TERMS:
PROGRAM WGBY
SUPPLIER:
DESCRIPTION:“Dynamite, Whiskey and Wood—Connecticut River Log Drives 1870-1915”brings the forgotten history of the months long and frequently deadly Connecticut River log drives, America’s longest, back to life.
PROMOTIONALPress release attached. Additional press kits are available MATERIALS: by request. Black and white and sepia photography is
available electronically, by request.
RELATEDThis program is available to individual viewers
MATERIALS:on VHS or DVD for $19.95 + s/h
or order online at or call 888-255-9231
COMMUNICATIONS:Charley Rose
413-781-2801, ext. 258
“Dynamite, Whiskey and Wood—Connecticut River Log Drives 1870-1915”
From the producers of The Great Flood of 1936 and Under Quabbin comes this fascinating documentary that brings the forgotten history of the Connecticut River log drives back to life. These log drives from Quebec to western Massachusettswere the longest in America and were frequently deadly. Caught logs collected into jams, some so huge only blasting with dynamite could free them. As many as a dozen men drowned in a single drive, and sometimes the tremendous force of the jams would rip bridges from their stone pier foundations. When the drives would stall, sometimes for as long as six weeks because of dams across the river, saloons did a brisk business, and in addition to fighting the river, loggers found themselves fighting local townsfolk and each other.
“Dynamite, Whiskey and Wood—Connecticut River Log Drives 1870-1915” brings this slice of American history to life through archival photographs, early film footage, contemporary newspaper accounts, personal reminiscences and fascinating underwater footage. "Tall tales" that were the river lore of the 1800s are now brought back to life in “Dynamite, Whiskey and Wood,” and it airs on (STATION) on (DATE) at (TIME).
Every year hundreds of very tough river men descended from the North Woods to
guide this wooden juggernaut of 250,000 spruce logs down the Connecticut, taking four months to travel the 300 miles from the river’s headwaters near Quebec to sawmills in Massachusetts. The drive began in April, with the logs flushed out of the woods’ streamsand brooks by snow melt. The loggers built large wooden dams to hold back heads of water behind artificial lakes providing the force necessary to float 40-foot-long logs to the mainstem of the Connecticut River. Once the logs reached the Connecticut, the difficulties multiplied,as the river had many stretches of white-water rapids. Logs caught in natural obstacles collected into jams, and sometimes thousands of logs formed a huge jam that had to be freed through the dangerous practice of using dynamite.
As many as a dozen men drowned in a single drive, with most of these drownings occurring trying to untangle jams. In addition to natural obstacles, the Connecticut was spanned by many bridges with stone supporting piers. Log jams against these piers were very common events, and sometimes the jams grew so large that the bridge was swept away.
At BellowsFalls and Turners Falls, Mass., the log drive often stalled, sometimes for as long as six weeks, because of these dams. The saloons in these towns did a brisk business, as did the purveyors catering to the men’s “more earthy” needs, and it wasn’t uncommon for fights to break out not only between loggers, but between them and the locals.
An important and revealing part of the program is the underwater footage of the log drive sites, shot by the film’s director, University of Massachusetts Biology Professor Emeritus Ed Klekowski and his diving students, who regularly explore the waterway as part of the university’s Connecticut River Project.
“In many places the riverbed of the Connecticut is a museum of log drive artifacts: lost tools, whiskey bottles, boom chains, log cribs that anchored booms, sunken bateaus and even the occasional spruce log have been found by divers. Underwater exploration of these sites is what inspired this documentary,” Klekowski said.“I’m fortunate to have a really great production team: Elizabeth Wilda, who is a talented and very creative editor, and my wife, Libby, who is a very careful historical researcher and is extraordinary in finding old photos and other historical resources and shares my passion for local history.”
“Dynamite, Whiskey and Wood—Connecticut River Log Drives 1870-1915”
is distributed by American Public Television.
About American Public Television:
For 44 years, American Public Television (APT) has been a prime source of programming for the nation’s public television stations. APT distributes more than 10,000 hours of programming including JFK: Breaking the News, Simply Ming, Globe Trekker, Rick Steves’ Europe, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, Battlefield Britain, Jungle, America’s Test Kitchen, Lidia’s Family Table and classic movies. APT is known for identifying innovative programs and developing creative distribution techniques for producers. In four decades, it has established a tradition of providing public television stations nationwide with program choices that enable them to strengthen and customize their schedules. Press should contact Donna Hardwick at 617-338-4455 ext. 129 or via email to . For more information about APT’s programs and services visit APTonline.org.
About the Producer and Host
Ed Klekowski was a biology professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst for 37 years and is now professor emeritus. An avid diver, he became interested in uncovering the forgotten history in, around and under local waterways on a 1993 underwater outing in the Connecticut River with his daughter, Amanda, when they discovered the wreck of a bridge that was swept away in the 1936 flood. That experience eventually led to his first documentary, “Under Quabbin,” which was followed by “The Great Flood of 1936” and “Under the Connecticut.”
Station contact: Charley Rose, WGBY
413-781-2801, ext. 258
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