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
Exterior view of the G. W. Steinke wagon shop in St. Peter. It was located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Minnesota Avenue and Broadway.
Alex Moore, one of the great founding fathers of Sauk Centre, in 1885. He constructed the first dam in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, which was destroyed in the ice breakup of 1860 but soon rebuilt using the power for the saw and grist mill.
Exterior view of the Kruger Hotel in St. Peter, which was located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Fifth Street and Broadway Avenue. The hotel was operated by Mr. and Mrs. William Kruger. It was also called the Pink Hotel.
This postcard shows a view of a foundry in St. Peter. The image is a reproduction made from an earlier photograph. Several horse-drawn vehicles are shown.
Portrait photograph of J. A. Kiester. Kiester was an early settler-lawyer, member of the Minnesota House of Representatives and Minnesota State Senate. He was also an Episcopalian, Freemason and Faribault County historian.
Eight page photograph album documenting the life of the Peck family of St. James, Minnesota. Images include portraits of the various Peck family members, as well as views of buildings in and around St. James. Buildings depicted include the St. James High School, the creamery and the Watonwan County Courthouse. There is an early image of the Mount Hope Cemetery. Also included are a number of images documenting the activities of the members of the local Grand Army of the Republic Post and Drum Corps.
This is a photograph of the Church of the Holy Communion in St. Peter. The church is located on the west side of Minnesota Avenue between Broadway and Chestnut street.
Professional portrait of "The Church and Settled Pastors of Pontoppidan Lutheran Congregation from 1868 to 1918". Includes photos of P.J. Ostergaard, 1884-1886, Nils Olson 1868-1880, N.S. Heggerness 1880-1882, R. Anderson 1887-1890, H.S. Quanbeck 1893-1896, E.O. Larson 1898-1905, H.C. Caspersen 1905-1912, Johan Mattson 1913