er timber put into the Connecticut River. The logs had to be marked to qualify for protection, and if they were left on pri- vate land or within a public highway, a re- cord was made of what was found and the owner had three months to remove them and pay the damages, or risk a suit to col- lect the same.21


Then, in 1785, the Gener-


al Assembly established the right to treble damages for interference with the logs, but holding the driver to a nine-month period to remove them before forfeiture.22


Most


logs passed down the river, but some were stranded on islands and riverbanks, much to the displeasure of downstream farmers, and some procedure was needed to sort out who owned the logs and when they be- came the property of the landowner. In a 1787 act, the legislature estab- lished standards for logs in streams and riv- ers, mandating a length of no more than twenty feet, and requiring them to be well- trimmed, on penalty of paying damages to those who were harmed by the failure to follow those standards.23


About a centu-


ry later, in 1884, the law set standards for measuring dimensions. You would “multi- ply the average diameter of the top of the log, inside the bark, in inches, by half such diameter in inches, disregarding fractions of an inch less than a half, and regarding fractions greater than a half as a full inch, and the number obtained as the product will represent the contents in feet of a log of that diameter twelve feet long.” There were separate methods of measuring di-


mension when the logs were more and less than twelve feet in length.24 In 1915, the courts were relieved of the duty of assessing damages from log drives, and it became the responsibility of the Public Service Commission.25 The present law is a museum of regula-


tion of the log driving industry. When lum- ber, including “spars, masts, square timber, logs, or sawed lumber,” being driven down a river or stream, is not taken away before May 1, the owner of dams or lands in or on which the logs remain may detain them until damages are paid.26


By November 1,


lumber not removed becomes the proper- ty of the landowner or dam-owner where the logs have been abandoned, although the original owner can redeem them be- fore the succeeding May 1.27


Those claim-


ing the lumber are required to post notice in town describing the lumber, the owner’s marks, if any, and to record the notice with the town clerk in September.28


The fees for


the advertising are set in statute—$0.34 cents for the copy left with the town clerk and $0.06 a mile travel. If the logs aren’t re- deemed, the finder pays these costs.29 If you stop or convert floating lumber


from floating down a stream in Vermont, and if the lumber is marked with the own- er’s name or mark, you will be liable for tre- ble damages for the value of the lumber at trial if found to have done it in bad faith; otherwise, you pay actual damages.30


Se-


lectboards are charged to decide the loca- tion of anchors of booms used to contain


logs in rivers or streams, and set the value of damages, if any, and no boom may be anchored until the fees are paid.31


Should


log drives come back, the law awaits them. A Question of Constitutionality 1841-1844


The Council of Censors


looked into the constitutionality of private laws authorizing the removal of obstruc- tions from Vermont rivers and streams. Its Committee on the Powers of the Constitu- tion took up three bills, enacted in 1832, 1835, and 1839 respectively, authorizing improvements to the Nulhegan, Passump- sic, and Moose Rivers, and Paul’s Stream, and allowing the collection of tolls from log drivers to repay the petitioners.32


The


Committee was initially concerned because these were not boatable waters:


The streams are high above the ebb and flow of the tides, and are not of sufficient dimensions for the floating of vessels, or other water craft, of any considerable size. They are not, there- fore, such as come within the descrip- tion of those rivers or waters which be- long to the public. Nor could these waters be used by the public without improvement by widening and clear- ing out their channels. They would not belong to the public unless so dedicat- ed by the owners of the soil through which they pass, or made public by act of the legislature.33


12


THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • FALL 2011


www.vtbar.org


Ruminations: The Law of Log Drives


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