In the spring, after the ice melt, logs started downstream through the sluicegate of the dam. Logs were gathered into a boom - a series of logs linked together by ropes or chains - to keep them from drifting away from the sluicegate. Men on a raft or in a boat turned a winch that kept the boom slowly pushing the logs toward the sluicegate, a process called kedging.

Once the logs passed through the sluicegates, they floated downriver to sawmills or pulpmills, where they were identified and sorted according to the owners' marks.

It was the job of the river driver, armed with peavy and pike pole, to keep logs moving downstream. Some drivers stood watch at bends in the banks or on bars or islands to keep logs from clustering, while others followed the drive, clearing the shores.