Logging Days in the North Country

Bob Pike's family roots are in Waterford, Vermont, and in Riverside Cemetery is his stone, recognizing a life well lived. Happy hours of reading arrive with either of his most noted books: Spiked Boots, and Tall Trees, Tough Men. Bob's daughter Helen Chantal Pike sells Spiked Boots and you can order a copy at her website. In its pages are tales of the river men who brought the logs down the Connecticut, often starting them off in smaller ponds and streams in the northern woods. Meet "Grinner" Schoppe, Dan Bosse, George Van Dyke, the characters whose real lives were full of adventure until the logging days ended with the last "long log" drive and then, in 1930, the closing of the river route completely with the construction of Commerford Dam in Waterford.