Logs were shipped by rail from northern Minnesota to Stillwater and made into rafts. They were then floated down the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers. The rafts usually consisted of 8 to 10 strings of logs fastened side by side, each string measuring 16 across and about 400 feet long. Some of these enormous rafts stretched 4 or 5 acres in size.
Lumber was rafted downstream from Stillwater. Boards were arranged in cribs or heavy crates, each 16 feet wide and 32 feet long. A lumber raft might contain as many as 200 cribs.
Landscape view; address given for photographer is Merchant Block, 22 Washington Avenue, Minneapolis; building may be the Cataract House Hotel on Sixth Ave South; verso of card is advertising for a number of Minneapolis businesses
Contributing Institution:
Hennepin County Library, James K. Hosmer Special Collections Library
At the boom, floating timbers chained between piers caught and contained logs for sorting and measuring and rigging into rafts. At one time, the Stillwater boom extended a distance of 9 miles and employed 400 men to sort, scale and raft timber.
Landscape view; address given for photographer is Merchant Block, 22 Washington Avenue, Minneapolis; building is identified as the Nicollet House Hotel located on Hennepin (view may be from 3rd St); awning on building in background says, "Williams Book Store." The verso of the card contains advertising for a number of Minneapolis businesses.
Contributing Institution:
Hennepin County Library, James K. Hosmer Special Collections Library
Aerial view looking from St. Anthony side of river; first suspension bridge; log jams; lumber stacked up on Nicollet Island, town of Minneapolis with mills, houses, businesses in background.
Contributing Institution:
Hennepin County Library, James K. Hosmer Special Collections Library