Cutting Across Time Logging, Rafting and Milling the Forests of Lake Superior

"Telling how John Schroeder logged pine, other softwoods, and hardwoods in northeastern Minnesota and the Apostle Islands lends color and vitality to the past. Towering white pine were cut, rafted and pulled by tugs across Lake Superior to Schroeder's lumber mill in Ashland, Wisconsin. In addition, pine, hardwood, and pulpwood from Oak, Michigan, Outer, and Stockton buoyed Ashland's economy for more than 30 years. At the Cross River in northeastern Minnesota, pines were cut and stacked through the winters of 1901 through 1905. In order for the Schroeder Company to get logs from the back country, changes were made to the Cross River. Seven dams were constructed to hold back water from the spring ice melt. This water transported the logs out of the woods. Wooden chutes and sluiceways were constructed through gorges and down the waterfalls to minimize log jams during the river drive. The top of the Cross River waterfall was dynamited and sheared flat to reroute the flow of water. Each spring, when the water was high enough, the river floated the logs down to Lake Superior where they were caught in a holding boom, then rafted to Schroeder's Ashland mill. Schroeder cut two hundred million feet of white pine from Lake and Cook counties in northern Minnesota. When this area was cleared, the company focused on the Apostle Islands."--Desc. from drystore.citymax.com catalog