Model of Raft

Rafts were made of 5 or 7 equal stretches of beams fastened together in a plastic chain four to six men could navigate through the river-bed with long (8-10 m) sculls. A typical raft in Daugava was 12 to 15 m wide and up to 70 m long comprising some 280 beams. The crew included men who had different functions while sailing the raft downstream: the captain was also the main pilot of the raft giving orders to men who operated with four sculls and the so-called plug when it was necessary to stop the raft. Every beam in the raft had its price and was listed on documents compared both at the point of departure and at its final destination in Riga. In most cases, the rafts were tied up in upstream region in Belorussia and also the crew was recruited there; sometimes women were also working on rafts as local pilots in most complicated stages of the waterway. Raft could reach Riga in distance of some 500 km from its departure in two weeks if water in river was high enough to cross the rapids successfully. A man who was responsible for safeguarding the whole caravan of rafts also had the list of all beams; in case some beams were lost by the way, prescribed crew members had to pay for it.

On the second half of the 19th century and before the World War I, Riga was among the biggest timber export places in Europe and in the Russian Empire in particular. Every year roughly 19 000 rafts reached Riga and were settled for some weeks on the river banks for several kilometers from Dole Island to the Iron or Railway Bridge on Daugava. Rafts were fastened to special stone piles arranged for this purpose along riverbanks near Dole Island and in Riga.