Before the construction of the
dam (1950–1960) the settlement was just a mountain village in Eastern
Carpathians where the main economic activity was timber harvesting. By
tradition, the tree trunks were linked together, forming a raft ; a raft man used to drive the raft on the Bistriţa
river downstream to wood processing facilities in Piatra Neamţ.
Building the dam created also a
horizontal industry: two cement and aggregate plants were built in Bicaz proper
