作为一个在魁北克加蒂诺河(Gatineau River)上长大的孩子，看着拖船拖着圆木栅栏顺流而下是很平常的事，而那些松了的圆木是一种很好的娱乐和探索来源。任何大到可以容纳一群孩子参加滚木比赛的房子都是人们梦寐以求的。

There were legitimate reasons for stopping the log drive, but you cannot deny that a flowing river is a pretty efficient way to transport lumber, as it still is in many parts of the world. And of all the logs that passed by, there were many others that sank before they reached their destination.

Be it folklore or fact, I've heard that the Gatineau River for one, is several feet deep with logs at the bottom. This may or may not be true, but even if it's a foot deep with logs, that's a whole bunch of forest down there.

© Divemi via flickr

在我的生活中，有几次水位很低，你可以看到一团乱糟糟的木头从水面露出来，所以我不怀疑这些估计。

And that is just one bay on one river in this vast country of ours. During the peak of the log drive in the latter part of the 20th century, 1.3 million cubic meters of wood was floated down the Gatineau River each year.

From the 1830s to the last log drive on the Gatineau River in 1990, logs travelled some 400km until they arrived at the mill on the Ottawa River, just a stone's throw from Parliament Hill. Ontario logs came down the Ottawa River headed for that same mill.

Along the Ottawa River and its tributaries is whereLogs Endoperates, a salvage company that has been diving down and hauling up 19th century timber since 1997.

"There are some areas where logs are hard to find, others where they are lying on top of each other," says Rob Black of Logs End. And regarding quality he adds, "the dense forest canopies of the 19th century caused trees to grow slow and straight. This resulted in wood with very tight grain and rich colours, providing a strength and beauty that you just don't find anymore with modern logging practices."

And that strength isn't diminished by being submerged for centuries. It may seem counterintuitive, but underwater is a great place to store wood. Water pressure forces the sap from trees, so the wood is actually quite well preserved.

在我们的河流底部也有木材的尺寸，这在今天的森林中是罕见的，这使得木板的尺寸在现代的伐木场中几乎是前所未闻的。

Rob Black goes on to say "We are starting with a raw material that has had the sap and resin forced out of it by a century of water pressure. This leads to a much more stable product, allowing for wider widths in our flooring, without the risk of cupping."

So as far as 'eco' building materials go, it doesn't get much better than this. The end product is of superior quality, and you are essentially cleaning up rivers and saving forests at the same time.

从历史的角度来看，加拿大的一项遗产正在这里浮出水面。利用这种隐藏的资源制造有用的建筑材料意味着下图中人们的努力没有白费。

The following images of finished flooring are testament to the quality of reclaimed river wood, and are courtesy ofLogs Endbased in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.