Tools and implements the raiers used in their work
   

INTRODUCTION:

The forestry comprised various successive stages, lead respectively by, picadors, tiradors and raiers. Of the three jobs the first one, very developed, is still live. The other two have disappeared.

 
   
  JOBS:
The picadors had to cut down the trees, peel them, and condition the wood for its transport and its use. The only tool of picadors was the hatchet that, adopted a very characteristic shape in the Pyrinees. The hatchet was used for almost everything, like cutting the trees down, peeling them and drawing squares on the logs when it was necessary.
Once the trees were on the ground, it was necessary to cut the branches and peel them; that work wasn't easy, and it was very tiring. Besides, it involved the extra risk of slipping the hatchet to the foot or the picador' leg.
When the trees were clean, they were cut with pre-established dimensions, according to several measures: trunks, "rolls" or beams in order to make the rais.
   
The tirador's jobs consisted in taking out the wood of the forest and carrying it to the river (nowadays to the road ) where the raiers took care of it. This part was done with the help of mules and could be very dangerous, as you can see in the photos. Sometimes the path had to be protected with "cavallets o estisores" (which were made with the same logs) to avoid that animals and wood fall down the ravines or gorges. Other times they used ropes to cross a river. This was the case, for example, of the forest of Pentina, which is near the spectacular Congost de Collegats.
Raier: once the wood was on side of the river it was the raiers who took over. The wood was to be transported by the strength of the water by means of crafts called rais or rafts made of timber or logs, (from that the name loggers or timber rafts). In this way the rais were crafts but they were also the cargo itself. But quite often in the high mountainous areas the slope of the rivers, the stones, or the lack of water made impossible the wood to go down the rivers. In fact, when there wasn't enough water, the wood had to be let slide along the river as far as a site where the wood could get down without difficulty. This task of handling the wood without been tied was called "barranquejar".
   
WORK:  
Barranquejar was very hard. It was necessary to follow the wood from the bank of the river to prevent it from getting stuck and forming plugs. In case it happened ,they had to manipulate it in order to put them in the right direction with a specific tool called ganxes (hooks). The ganxes consisted of a handle of birch of about three meters of length that had in the end an iron with a picke and a hook.  
 
The enraiadors were the people that actually made the rais. They showed the places near the river where the rais had to be constructed. These areas used to be spacious and flat.

The estisorada was the kind of dam used by the raiers for picking up the barranquejada wood to enraiar-la (make the raft), when the flow of the river was already big enough to make it.

   
DOCUMENTS:  

Here is an important document to help know the history of the fluvial transport of the wood from the Pyrenean forests: the guia. This document (guia) authorised the transport of a determinate number of pieces of wood classified according to specific dimensions, for a particular period of the year and through a determinate and concrete route.

The document makes reference to the different names that the pieces of wood received depending on its size and of the entry to which they belonged according to its place of origin.
We can also deduce that made the proposal on the part of the carpenter employer, regarding the days of validity of the document, later this could be modified by the provincial authorities according to the interpretations or of the possibilities of use of the rivers.
   
THE RAFT CONSTRUCTION:


 
Once there, it was necessary to classify the pieces according to their dimensions into rais in order to form homogeneous sets. The rais were made tying logs or beams, one beside another through the ones named redortes (sprouts of birch) that had the necessary flexibility and made the function of ropes, each one of two or three meters of length. The redortes kept the rai well balanced through the holes in the tips of logs and beams, as well as that the one across pole or barrer. Once the rai arrived at its destination, the redortes and the barrers were often used as fuel, to switch on or to nourish a fire.

In all the above operations, the raiers used tools typical of their trade. Besides the ganxa to scroll the pieces, they used the "tribet" and the "cullera" to make the holes to nail the rowers, "l'estatge" or "llaçó" and the hatchet to condition the pieces to purpose and effect meet-them better, either to cut the "barrers", or to make the oars. This form of hatchet, which was used also by the picadors in the forest, was specially suitable to quadrejar the trunks even though it required force in the wrist and a special skill in its use.

The simplicity of all the technical process and the rational use of the resources of the forest to fix every raft are, probably, the two more curious characteristics of the process of assembling rais. Perhaps because of this simplicity the photographers of the time didn't manage to leave graphical evidence of these constructive details.
The rais could be formed by two, three, four or more stretches, or trams understanding as such the sets of trunks or beams grouped one beside another. The number of stretches of each rai depended fundamentally on the configuration and on the conditions of the river (slope, width, volume of water). The more difficulties the river had, the fewer streches the rai could have.
Once the stretches of each rais had arrived at the Ebre, wide and calm, many rais joined together in order to save labour hand since just two raiers could handle big amounts of wood.
   
PARTS OF A RAI:  

The parts of the raft are, among them the most important:
1. "Tram": Set of trunks, beams or pieces grouped one on the side of the other.
2. "Barrer": thick bar of birch, that placed transversally in the end of each stretch bears the interwoven of the "redortes".
3. "Estatge": was a pole similar to the ones described above, placed behind the leading raier, forming a triple or fourfold fork, and of which, therefore, the "fato" (the bundle of belongings) and the rope could be hanged. In the river Segre, "l'estatge" used to be ridden with two vertical poles and one of crossbar.
4. "Llaçó": Ring of birch, that is useful to clamp the rem of the behind if it does not work.
5. "Rem": Beam of seven or eight meters, they cut with axes, forming a wide shovel, and that it is useful to sending vessel as if it were a rudder. (One in the stretch of the front and one in the stretch of the behind).
6. "Remeres": were the place where the oars were tied although they preserved the mobility for directing the rai. They were made up of two poles, also of birch, nailed vertically to the logs, and tied together with redortes. For facilitating the soft movement of the oar, this was placed on a pillow of redortes as a kind of shock absorber.
7. "Tirants": "Redortes" used to clamp the "remeres".

Next you can find a picture that shows the parts of a raft.
As a matter of fact, the oars were not useful to promoting the raft as long as, of course, the current of water provided the propulsion. The oars of the raft were only used to direct the raft.
   
THE TRAVEL:  
There were two ideal seasons for the navigation: the first, from the beginnings of February to the first of May; and the second, from the beginning of July until the November. The stop in the months of May and June was due to the fact that the river carried too much water from the melting snow in the mountains.
The raiers worked in group. Each group used to be formed by 10 or 12 raiers with one of them in command. The group rented themselves to a sawmill owner and went to work where there was an entry of wood to be transported. They usually travelled along the Pyrenees according to the possibilities of work of every season.
The way the travelled the rais in the river, not far away one from the others to help each other if that was the case, was called gathering voyage (viatge reunit).
   
 


By: Cristina Carrillo, Joan Escales, Silvia Servent and Jaume Garcia