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.
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.
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.
Landscape view; address given for photographer is 119 Washington Avenue North, Minneapolis; building is not identified but may be Eastman Flats; Eastman Flats were constructed starting in 1877 on Nicollet Island; verso of card is advertising for a number of Minneapolis businesses; card gift of Stuart Dudley Diamond.
Contributing Institution:
Hennepin County Library, James K. Hosmer Special Collections Library