The floating of timber is nowadays one of the forgotten modes of timber transportation in Slovakia. The impulse for this diploma thesis came from the fact, that the only reconstructed functional and operational water flume exists in the valley Rakytovo. We compared it with three other technologies -- horses, forest cableways and tractors and we compared them with each other. It's logical and certain, that water flume in its original version has a small chance to returning to practical use. But due to the significant climate change and fears of the devastating consequences, there is a potential for using principles of simple gravitational transport or also principle of water flumes. As a result of an increasing interest in nature protection and environmentally friendly use of natural resources, there is more intensive attention paid to effective but ecologically acceptable and energy-saving mechanisms in forestry, especially in the forest harvesting industry. This paper points out the advantages and disadvantages of four technologies based on their mutual comparision from various points of view. It also shows the options of utilizing the flume principle by modern and inovated form with the use of current scientific and technical knowledge.