The timber trade began in the early 1800s when Philemon Wright came from Vermont to settle on the north shore of the river near the Chaudiere Falls. Wright began floating timber down the river to Quebec for export to Britain in 1806. Ottawa Valley lumber was later exported to the U.S. and by 1902, the peak year of the timber trade, 150 million trees had been cut. But markets for wood are down and many of the cutting areas are too far from the river to use the waterway for transport.

"We are discontinuing the log drive this year for economic reasons," said Dan Pickard, general manager of the Improvement Company of the Ottawa (ICO), the firm responsible for running the log drives. "We aren't moving as much wood as we used to." The company will continue to clean 320 kilo-" metres of the river and 960 km of shoreline in Quebec and Ontario between Temiscaming, Que. and Braeside for about two more years. ICO will remove stray logs, piers and anchors from the waterway.

The end of the log drive will cost 35 to 40 log drivers their jobs. Operating under a federal charter dating back more than 100 years, the ICO now floats about 200,000 cubic metres of logs on the river each year compared to an average 1.1 million between 1894 and 1983. It once transported logs by water for E.B. Eddy in Hull, Canadian International Paper Co. in Gatineau and Temiscaming, and Stone in Portage du Fort, but currently moves logs only for Consolidated Bathhurst at Braeside. Consolidated general manager Robert Nugent said logs will be transported to the mill by truck at about the same cost as the river drive. "Because of the lower volumes of wood, the log drive has become very expensive," he said.

Many tourism industry representatives believe the decision to end the log drive means boating, fishing and swimming will improve. "This is super news. I'm just ecstatic," said Diane Malancon, general manager of the Ottawa Valley Tourist Association. "It means we won't have people with $60,000 boats hitting big logs and wrecking their crafts. Logs won't be sinking to the bottom and ruining spawning beds for fish."

Dennis Foy, past commodore of the Britannia Yacht Club, said partly submerged logs will remain a problem for boaters and water skiers for years. "The log drive has been fun to watch, but now it is part of history," Foy said. "There are more boats now than there were years ago and safety is an important factor." Lorne Spotswood, owner of Laurentian View Resort near Westmeath, said the end of the drive signals the beginning of improvements for tourism. Spotswood, president of the Council for the Champlain Waterway, a group formed in 1981 to open the river for boating from Ottawa to Pembroke, said floating logs have been a constant threat to boaters. "Historically, it's the end of an era...just like passenger rail service to Pembroke," said Chris Thuemen, president of the Ottawa Valley Historical Society.

Photos by Roger Read.

 

This photo might be late 90s. This is still the appearance of the boat in Nov. 2018. Ryan Carson comments "you can see where the yellow ends just before the stern, thats about as far as any resto has gotten."

 

SV notes: This photo was taken in the summer of 2004 in Port Dover. The vessel is moored beside Hamilton Trader at Harry Gamble Shipyards. It is quite obvious that she is a Russel "ville" class tug.

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RBF notes: Appears to be a "Ville Class" Russel Tug.
Name "Nedelec" is on Port side. (Port Dover, ON April 4, 2004)

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April 18th, 2006, Port Dover. From the Gerry Ouderkirk Collection

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Oct. 12, 2007. Port Dover, Ont. The junction of the
Lynn River and Black Creek. www.earlhartlen.com

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Nedelec at left, Gamble Yard, Port Dover, ON, Sept. 2016. Photo by Carl Burkett.
source: http://carlzboats.blogspot.ca/2016/10/former-fish-tug-slo-moe.html

 

Ship grave yard in Port Dover, ON, Sept 20, 2016. Photo by Nelges.
source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/126717692@N05/29488987193/

 

Mike Cunningham photo of Nedelec, June 2017, Port Dover, ON.

 

Jan. 28, 2018, Port Dover. Photo by Scott Bruley. Matthew Carlson comments: "I was talking to them (former Harry Gamble shipyard) about it but not worth it for me to get it. It would cost too much for me to have it hauled all the way here to Thunder Bay. That's the Nedelic. I've been told she's in rough shape, metal work isn't a issue and she needs a engine and gearbox."

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Nedelec at left, Gamble Shipyard, Port Dover, Spring 2018. Photo by Earl Hartlen.

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An investor who is in the process of acquiring waterfront property at the Gamble Shipyard in Port Dover says he and his partners are interested in converting the land into a waterfront condominium community. MONTE SONNENBERG / SIMCOE REFORMER
source: http://www.simcoereformer.ca/2017/03/17/investors-envisage-condos-on-shipyard-property

 

Nedelec, Gamble Shipyard, Port Dover, Spring 2018. This large piece of riverfront property owned by Harry Gamble Shipyards for many decades has been sold to a new company called Port Dover Developments Inc.
source: https://www.portdovermapleleaf.com/port-dover-prime-riverfront-property-sold/

 

Nedelec Aug. 3, 2018. Photo by Helen Bingleman.

 

Nedelic in Port Dover, Nov. 24, 2018. Photos courtesy Ryan Carson.

 

Nedelec still afloat, Port Dover, Dec. 27, 2018. Earl Hartlen photo.

 

Nedelec still in Port Dover, March 7, 2019. Photos by Rob Kindree. Michael Guy comments (Mar. 11, 2019): "I didn't take a measuring tape today but I am betting that Nedelec and maybe Loganville are the 38' versions of the class. Torville and Tay are 40' loa. Being aboard both Nedelec and Loganville they both felt a whole lot smaller below than Torville. I may be all wet on this but there are clearly differences. No way would a 4-71 fit under Nedelec's pilot house the way we did with Torville."

 

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Reports of Nedelec's imminent demise seem to have been exaggerated...here she is at Pete Spencer's Tiller Marine in Port Dover April 12, 2019.

 

Nedelec leaving Port Dover, April 16, 2019. Photo by Pete Spencer. Tiller Marine just loaded it onto the flat bed. The new owner (a younger guy with a construction business in Muskoka, Torrance, ON) will handle the rebuild. Nedelec will be pushing a barge up in Muskoka.

 

Nedelec Apr. 20, 2019. Photo courtesy Pete Spencer.

 

Nedelec Feb. 26, 2020. Photo courtesy Pete Spencer.

 

Cabin back on. Nedelec April 21, 2020 in Torrance, Ontario. Photo courtesy Pete Spencer.

 

Nedelec in the Muskoka Lakes, Sept. 2020. Photo courtesy Alex Rieger.

 

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