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    Much hardwood was cut after most of the white pine had disappeared. Maple and oak, especially, were used for flooring and trim. The doors and trim at the Alpena City Hall are good examples, which wer

    A boom was a "pen" of logs chained together into which the logs were sorted according to the mill to which they were being sent. A boom house was a shelter for boom workers.

    This is now called Rotary Island Mill Park.

    "Fletcher, Pack & Co., River & Sulphite Mill, 1890"

    Logs were piled or "banked" along the river banks; then they were rolled into the river and floated down to the sorting gap before being sent to the saw mills.

    "Minor Lumber Co. & Fletcher, Pack & Co., Bay Mills, 1889"

    Looking across the Second Avenue Bridge towards downtown Alpena. The wooden bridge is seen in its closed position. To open, it would pivot from the center to run parallel with the river. Vessels coul

    Logs banked on the Thunder Bay River ready to be processed at the Comstock Lumber Mill.

    Logging operation with loggers, horses, and log piles.

    Skidding logs using a steam driven donkey engine.

    Information taken from "Lumbering in Michigan" by Maria Quinlan.

    Information taken from "Lumbering in Michigan" by Maria Quinlan.

    Teams of horses hauling logs.

    Cut logs floating down the Thunder Bay River to be cut at Alpena sawmills.

    Logs being loaded on a railroad flatcar by an A-frame steam jammer.

    Log jam on the Thunder Bay River.

    "Below 9th St. Bridge, 1906"

    The breaking gap was where a log jam was broken apart.

    The STEPHEN C. HALL (built 1880) sits on the far left. This vessel was owned by F.W. Gilchrist of Alpena. See the Great Lakes Maritime Collection database for more information on this vessel. Logs ar