from a friend

Burrel Boom the village in the Belize District derives its name from
two sources:

1. In times past, this spot on the Belize River was the staging ground
for the logs that were on their way to Belize City and from there to
mother England. In the dry these logs were log jammed at this village
and "booms", huge chains anchored across the river kept this precious
export in check.

When the rainy season began the booms was opened and the logs would
then float down to the old port town.

2. The Burrel family lived in the area of the main "boom", thus
Burrel's Boom was born, and Creoles called it Burrel Boom and the name
stuck.

Young men were paid a few cents per log to order and chain together
the logs - remember there were several contractors - Burrel, Thurton
etc. and their logs would often be mixed up.


http://www.fallingrain.com/world/BH/1/Burrell_Boom.html