Timber Rafting

Have you ever heard of timber rafting? It is fascinating! I knew from the first time I stumbled on this type of transporting logs that I wanted to use it somehow in my writing.

Unlike driving loose logs down a river, timber rafting consists of tying the logs together in massive raft-like structures and floating them down wide, quiet rivers like the Mississippi. There is evidence of this practice dating back to the sixteenth century and up into the 20th century, possibly even today.

How does timber rafting work? Think of the way boxcars are coupled together to form a train. This is kind of like the long, snaking timber sections coupled together to keep the whole shebang traveling together, but allowing each section to break with the bends in the river. Each section was linked together with flexible coupling poles so the raft could maneuver around bends. Sometimes hardwood or sycamore was used at intervals to make the raft more buoyant.

The size of timber rafts depended on the width and swiftness of the river to be navigated, how serpentine the river was and how many men the logging operation had to work the raft. 

According to one Wikipedia article, “Timber rafts could be of enormous proportions, sometimes up to 600 metres (2000 ft) long, 50 meters (165 ft) wide, and stacked 2 metres (6.5 ft) high.” It could take up to 500 men to drive such a huge raft. And since these raftsmen were living on the raft and the river for weeks at a time, they build cabins and galleys on top of the rafts.

Raftsmen had their own lingo and terminology for the tools they used. “Chain dogs” or “raft shackles” were two iron spikes on either end of a short chain to hold the poles in place. “Steering oars” and “steering sweeps” were used more like rudders to guide the timber raft down the river and to keep it from running aground more than they were used to paddle.

TIMBER RAFT By Frances Anne Hopkins, Public Domain

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FAHopkins_Lumber_Raft.jpg

The “sweep man” was at the mercy of the raft’s speed in the current. Massive sweeps were mounted at the front of the raft on a special bolster. It had a hole in it to accommodate a large peg that was the pivot for the sweep. Think of the rudder on the back of a boat, but instead mounted not the front and much larger. The sheer weight of such a beast would have made controlling it almost impossible. But the raftsmen did have a few tricks up their sleeves. “Pike poles” or “jampikes” were used by men stationed at points along the rafts to keep it shoved off rocks, sandbars, and snags. “Snub poles” were often made of hickory and used near the rear to slow the raft down. Depending on the depth of the water, longer poles were inserted between the logs to drag the river bottom and slow the raft down.

There were ways to tie off on shore on slower moving rivers, but it was risky and the crew had to work together to accomplish such a feat. Long ropes were kept at the ready and men had to either swim for shore and tie up to trees along the way.  Each section of the raft would need to be secured at exactly the right time or it could be disastrous for the crew. 

Check out this video from an almost a century old German documentary 16mm silent film. This may be the Hozu river near Kyoto.



In my research, I developed a healthy respect for the tough men who became raftsmen on these larger than life timber rafts. Just from watching the videos, it’s obvious they had to be quite skilled at their jobs.

Timber rafting makes an appearance in The Crossing at Cypress Creek, the third installment in Pam Hillman's Natchez Trace Novel series, the O’Shea brothers cut a path through the wilderness between the lawless Natchez Trace and the Mississippi River. Their plan is to drive logs down the river to feed the booming construction in the city of Natchez.

Soulé Steam Feed Works, Meridian, MS

by Pam Hillman

Sometimes you live within a few miles of something that impacted your community-- or the world-- and don't even know the significance of it. You might not even know it exists! This happened to me since I started writing and researching interesting tidbits about my part of the country. I was introduced to the Soulé Steam Feed Works, which is about fifty miles from me in Meridian, MS.

Soulé focused on servicing the lumber industry from 1892 until the mid-1950s. I wrote a series of novellas set in the 1890s focused on the logging industry, and the main occupation of the men in my Natchez Trace Novel series is logging and lumbermills.

I found the entire place fascinating. The founder of Soulé Steam Feed Works, George W. Soulé, patented more than 20 items during his lifetime. Some of Soulé's most notable products were rotary steam engines, lumber stackers, mechanical log turners, and a cotton seed huller. Soulé's steam engines are still in operation today, deep in the forests of India and Australia.

I signed books at the Soulé Live Steam Festival and enjoyed the experience tremendously. Approximately 2000 people tour the restored buildings at the festival and watch the steam engines belch out steam and enjoy reminiscing about the industrial revolution. 

Given the nature of this event, many of the attendees are male. Late on the first day, one of the museum volunteers and a steam engine enthusiast who'd just arrived hurried into the area where we'd set up our book table next to the welcome desk. Both men looked like two kids on Christmas morning. The enthusiast had brought a steam whistle with him that was so large he hadn't been able to build up enough steam to blow it. They were making plans to connect it to a bigger steam engine so they could try it out.

I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked since I was signing books, but I hope to be back next year. In addition, there were so many people I would have loved to interview for HHHistory.

There are thousands of handcrafted mahogany patterns for large and small gears, balcony railings, andirons, etc. on display throughout the museum. This one was a manhole cover for the city of Meridian. 

A nameplate for the lumber stacker manufactured in 1897.

Technology students from the local community college demonstrate the antique equipment in the machine shop. The Soulé Steam Works Machine shop contains an operating 120' (that's FOOT) line shaft with original belt-driven equipment that dates from the turn of the 20th century.

Manual Underwood typewriter. One of the curators at the museum gave me a private tour a few months before the festival, and she said that Mr. Soulé kept everything, so a lot of the antiques are literally pieces that were used in the daily operations of the business. The vault even has copies of receipts and payroll records from the the 1890s and early 1900s.

The steam is chugging out and the wheel is in motion....

1928 Wurlitzer Caliola. Only about 300 of these were produced and this one is in working order. This one was on loan from the historic Temple Theatre, in Meridian, MS.

This building is across the brick-laden alley from the original office and machine shop where our book signing  was held. It's a huge open building with rough timbered woodwork and is host to many receptions and weddings. The upstairs houses turn-of-the-century employee locker rooms. I failed to get pictures because I needed to get back to the book signing. Next year for sure!

Several steam engines doing their "stuff" at the entrance of the  Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum where the festival was held. The lattice truss frame sign was completed in 2013.

This is the brick-paved alley between two of the buildings that are part of the museum complex. The ambience between the buildings with the steam billowing out of the pipes was an interesting experience. The museum staff and volunteers have done an amazing job restoring the buildings and the steam engines.

Pam Hillman and a young fan who bought a book for her grandmother!

Sometimes all we have to do is get out and about to find fascinating things about where we live. I've made notes on my phone of day trips in my area as soon as I have the time. There's a cypress swamp which I'm really anxious to see and is first on my list since The Crossing at Cypress Creek releases in June 2019! And there's an old mill that's still in operation, a cafe that dates to 1884, and many others.

There just isn't enough time in my day/week/months to do it all. But I'm making plans.

What about you? What interesting historical places would you like to see or have seen that's within a day's journey of where you live?

Minnesota Historical Sites ~ The Folsom House

Awhile back, I took on the task of cleaning out the storage area in my basement. I felt as if I was on an archaeological expedition! Which made me think of our next stop on the Minnesota Historical Society Tour we've been on for the past year.

The Folsom House is located in the St. Croix River town of Taylors Falls, MN. I remember visiting one hot summer day and being thoroughly charmed by the town, the house, and our tour guides, an elderly couple who lived on the site and watched over 'their house.'

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sangre-la/ 

From the MNHS website, here's a description of the house and its history:


The Folsom House was completed in 1855 by William Henry Carman Folsom, a lumber baron, businessman and politician. It lies in the Angel Hill district in Taylors Falls which is noted for its concentration of New England style buildings.

About W.H.C. Folsom

W.H.C. Folsom arrived in the St. Croix River valley in 1846 at age 29. Born in Maine, Folsom left his family home at the age of 15 in search of work. He took jobs as a farm laborer, logger, camp cook and dam builder before settling in Taylors Falls in the hopes of establishing himself in the lumber business. Folsom invested in a variety of enterprises, including a hotel, a lumber mill and the first bridge to cross the St. Croix River. He became a respected community leader, serving as a state representative and six-term state senator. Folsom died in 1900 at his home in Taylors Falls.

About the Folsom House

Between 1840 and 1870 settlers from New England, and particularly the forests of Maine, arrived in the St. Croix Valley attracted by the timber. For a brief period it was the Northern white pine center of the world. In a setting of rolling hills, formidable rock outcroppings and thick forests that strongly resembled their homeland, the New Englanders built villages closely resembling those they had left. The national architectural style was Greek Revival, but homes in New England were often built without the high ceilings or shaded porches, in effect, applying Grecian detail to structures which were otherwise Georgian or Federal in style. The homes in the Angel Hill area are mainly New England variation of Greek Revival. The buildings are almost all built of solid white pine frame covered with white clapboard and trimmed with green painted exterior wood blinds.

The Folsom House is a two story wood clapboard home distinguished by the unusually delicate treatment of its front porches, Federal style details and the louvered fan lights in the pediments. The house is otherwise Greek Revival in style. Except for the portico at the main entrance, and for kitchen and bathroom updates, the house is essentially unaltered.

The Folsom House is furnished with the family’s original belongings, including a Hews rectangular grand piano, Folsom’s vast library, clothing and other personal items. Guides tell the history of the Folsom family, who lived in the home for five generations, and their influence on the development of the area and the state.

The Folsom House is a contributing building in the Angels' Hill Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. The district is characterized by a "homogenous group of mid-19th-century Greek Revival frame residences, public buildings, and church in the hills above the Taylors Falls business district."

http://sites.mnhs.org/historic-sites/folsom-house

So why did cleaning out my basement make me think of the Folsom House? When we visited, the guides told us that when the Historical Society took over the house, it had been in the Folsom family for several generations, and each time they redecorated or bought new furniture, the old furniture was placed in the capacious attic. The farther they got back in the attic, the older the furnishings became. When they reached the back of the attic, they discovered that W. H. C. Folsom's original, federal style furnishings were all there. The horsehide sofa, the piano, the books, and so much more. So now when you visit The Folsom House, it is full of William's possession, an excellent time capsule of early life in 1855 Minnesota. 

Taylors Falls is located on the banks of the St. Croix River, which was a major waterway for floating logs from the North Woods down to the sawmills in lower Minnesota and Wisconsin. Near Taylor Falls is a sharp bend in the river known as the Dalles. In 1886, one of the largest logjams in history occurred at the Dalles. More than 5 miles long, containing more than 150 MILLION board feet of lumber, the jam took months to clear--in the end, they resorted to dynamite to unclog the jam. 

You can learn more about the Folsom House, view more photos, and learn about special events on their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/folsomhouse/  

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ERICA VETSCH can’t get enough of history, whether it’s reading, writing, or visiting historical sites. She’s currently writing another historical romance and plotting which history museum to conquer next! You can find her online at www.ericavetsch.com and on her Facebook Page where she spends WAY TOO MUCH TIME! www.facebook.com/EricaVetschAuthor/

Minnesota Historical Sites ~ The Forest History Center

Erica Vetsch here:


First, let me say, this year has flown by! This month marks my first anniversary of blogging here at Heroes, Heroines, and History! It's been such a pleasure getting to know both the readers here and my fellow bloggers better!

Second, winter is upon us here in Minnesota, though as I write this, the temperatures are rather moderate. However, snow is always on the horizon here in the North Star State anytime after Halloween.

Which thought brings us to our next stop on the tour of Minnesota historical sites: The Forest History Center.

Why does winter remind me of the Logging Camp? Because Logging in the Northwoods is a winter-time activity.

The Minnesota Historical Society operates The Forest History Center in Grand Rapids, Minnesota (The birthplace of Judy Garland!) to preserve the history of logging and forestry in the state.

When you visit, you will step back into the early 1900s and be greeted by historical re-enactors in the roles of bull cook, tool sharpener, lumberjacks, and clerks. You'll be introduced to the foreman, known as "The Push" and the stablemen and their draft horses.
 

The Clerk's bunk. He got a room of his own!

Touring the bunkhouse will make you glad you don't have to sleep three to a bunk and deal with the miasma that housing twenty or thirty sweaty, woolen-clad men in a small space would bring about.

My daughter checking out a pair of boots with Ice-cleats.

You'll meet the camp "Dentist" who won't give you a root canal, but who will sharpen all the saws and axes in camp. A cross-cut saw takes about an hour to sharpen, and there were usually twelve saws to sharpen each night.

The cook reigned supreme at a logging camp, and his rules and word were law. You'll be introduced to a creative vocabulary of food terms used nowhere else on earth. For example:

Axle grease = butter

Fly bread = raisin bread

Monkey blankets = flapjacks (There are a lot of terms for flapjacks!)

Mud = coffee

Overland trout = bacon

If you're up for a bit of a stroll, you can follow the path from the camp down to the Mississippi River and explore the "Wanigan," a sort of floating cookhouse that traveled with the loggers when they floated the winter's haul down river in the spring. The wanigan was where loggers could catch a meal, a nap, or get a bit of first-aid.

Vast stands of red and white pine used to cover the northern half of Minnesota, a seemingly endless supply of timber. The logging of white pine in Minnesota began in 1839 with the first sawmill built along the St. Croix River. Peaking around 1900, soon the slash and burn method of logging dwindled the supply and quality of white pine, driving up the price. The last river drive of logs happened in the spring of 1939.

Today, less than 2% of Minnesota acreage is virgin red and white pine forest. However, there is one forty-acre plot of land that survived the logging boom. Located in the Chippewa National Forest, east of Blackduck, MN, forty acres of virgin pine forest still stand due to a platting error. Several different logging companies assumed the land was owned by someone else, and therefore didn't harvest the trees there. (It was a serious offense to poach trees off someone else's land!) As a result, forty beautiful acres of trees, some more than three hundred years old, still stand!

You can learn more about The Forest History Center and Logging in Minnesota by visiting the Minnesota Historical Society Website.


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ERICA VETSCH can’t get enough of history, whether it’s reading, writing, or visiting historical sites. She’s currently writing another historical romance and plotting which history museum to conquer next! You can find her online at www.ericavetsch.com and on her Facebook Page where she spends WAY TOO MUCH TIME! www.facebook.com/EricaVetschAuthor/

For the Love of History

Gabrielle Here:

I've always been fascinated with history, since the time I can remember. When I was little, and learned about the Civil War era, I begged my mother for a hoop skirt and gown. My sister and I repeatedly embarrassed our older brothers by parading about in our historical garb, with our horrible southern accents (I was born and raised in Minnesota, so you can about imagine how bad it sounded), when their friends were around.

As I grew older, I fell in love with historical fiction. For the space of a few hours, I could immerse myself in the times and places that so captured my imagination. No longer was I living and breathing the 1860's. After I discovered my love for books, I was a princess in a medieval fortress, a lady-in-waiting in Queen Victoria's court, a brave pioneer on the American Frontier, a gold-digger in the California hills, and a young woman coming of age in a charming turn-of-the century Midwestern town. The options were endless and I reveled in them.

Here I am sitting near the Lindbergh piano, portraying
Evangeline Lindbergh (Aviator Charles A. Lindbergh's
Mother) in a living history event at the
Lindbergh Historic Site.

I went on to work at a historic site, and later a county historical society. I delved deep into the history of my own hometown on the banks of the Mississippi River, and I swam with abandon. I sang with the voyageurs as they plied the lakes and rivers, I shot the rapids with Zebulon Pike on his search for the headwaters, I stood on the lookout with Chief Hole-in-the-Day as he watched the white men come into his region, I rejoiced and cried with the men and women who toiled to start my hometown, I balanced on the billions of logs as they floated downriver to the mills, and I waved toward the sky when Charles A. Lindbergh, our hometown boy, became a national hero and world-renown pilot. The stories of these brave men and women, many of them as common and ordinary as me, did extraordinary things with the time and resources they were given.

These people from the past began to speak to my heart, and I longed to tell their forgotten stories. People who lived, fought, and sometimes died so I could enjoy the "simple" luxuries of life. They harnessed the falls in the Mississippi for power to cut logs, mill grain, and ultimately produce electricity. They cleared, leveled, and paved roads so I can drive down the street with ease. They constructed bridges, so I can effortlessly traverse the wild Mississippi River several times a day. They hauled thousands of wagon loads of dirt to fill a massive ravine, so commerce could fill our downtown, and make life easier for all of us. They designed the courthouse, with its high tower, and built it from local, handmade brick, and did it all before modern technology produced skid steers and power tools. The list goes on and on.

As I discovered all these things, and began to share my love of history with those around me, I realized that most people think of history as dry and boring. To me, it's anything but boring! History is alive, it's active, it's dangerous and fierce. History allows us to look at the past from a place of safety and step into the shoes of the people who lived it out. It teaches us lessons on what to do and what not to do. It's full of wisdom, insight, and experience.

When I was in college, it became my deepest desire to tell the stories of the men and women forgotten by history. I don't want to retell the stories we all know so well; I wanted to resurrect the names and places of people that didn't make it into the textbooks. The stories I love telling are found in old letters, dusty journals, faded photographs, and yellowed newspapers. Their stories are like buried treasures, waiting to be discovered and unearthed, full of untold riches for those lucky enough to find them. 

One of those stories was told in my novel, A Family Arrangement, which released with Harlequin's Love Inspired Historical (LIH) line last December. A second came when Inherited: Unexpected Family released in September with LIH, and the third is found in The Gift of Twins, which releases this December with LIH. All of these stories are inspired by real people, places, and events in my hometown's history--and they are just a morsel of the stories I long tell.

Your Turn: What are some true stories you've heard about your hometown? What do you love about history? What's your favorite era? How were you first introduced to history?

Gabrielle Meyer lives in central Minnesota on the banks of the Mississippi River with her husband and four children. As an employee of the Minnesota Historical Society, she fell in love with the rich history of her state and enjoys writing fictional stories inspired by real people and events. Her next novel, The Gift of Twins, releases with Love Inspired Historical in December 2017.

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River Wannigan

Gabrielle Here:

I live on the banks of the Mississippi River in central Minnesota and my hometown was the site of the largest sawmill in the world in the 1890's. But before the mill could cut all those logs, they had to be sent downriver from the lumber camps spread throughout the Big Woods of Minnesota.

Pine Tree Lumber Company in Little Falls, MN

Millions of feet of lumber flowed downriver from the logging camps in northern Minnesota each spring/summer/fall. All winter long the logging camps would cut and stack logs along streams and riverbanks. When the river thawed they would roll the logs into the Mississippi.

With each "drive" of logs, the camp would send along one or two river wannigans to travel with the men driving the logs.

The wannigan was a floating shack, usually 25 to 30 feet long, and built low to the water to keep it stable on the fast moving river. The main wannigan was used as a cook shack, and the second (if there was one) might be used for sleeping.

Your Turn: Have you ever heard of a wannigan before? Would you like to ride in one?

Gabrielle Meyer lives in central Minnesota on the banks of the Mississippi River with her husband and four children. As an employee of the Minnesota Historical Society, she fell in love with the rich history of her state and enjoys writing fictional stories inspired by real people and events.

Find her on Facebook
Find her on Amazon
Find her on Goodreads
Find her on My Website
Sign up for Her Newsletter

Logging in the UP and giveaway!

Please welcome a friend and fellow author, Carrie Fancett Pagels to Heroes, Heroines, and History. Carrie is giving away a copy of her new release so be sure to read down to find out how to enter.

Thanks, Debbie Lynne, for the opportunity to be a guest on HHH, talking about the turn of the century in Michigan, when lumber camps were common in the straits of Mackinac. My Christy Lumber Camp Series shows the progression of three children of a lumber camp boss as they transition from life in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan to the Upper Peninsula in pursuit of better logging possibilities at the turn of the century.

First of all, where are the straits of Mackinac? The straits of water lie between the Lower Peninsula of Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Three cities are the main gateways to this corridor, both today, and historically: Mackinaw City, Mackinac Island, and St. Ignace, Michigan. North of the straits of Mackinac we use a “c” at the end of this Indian word and in the Lower Peninsula, a “w” is placed at the end of Mackinac/Mackinaw. In between, the jewel of the straits, lies Mackinac Island. At the turn of the century, St. Ignace was a bustling city with four newspapers and was a mecca for tourists. Today it is a small town just over the Mackinac Bridge, into the Upper Peninsula.

Lilacs for Juliana, which releases in August. The photo was taken on Mackinac Island, during their annual Lilac Festival. It may be hard to imagine, but at the turn of the century, Native Americans were often educated away from home at “Indian Missions” including on Mackinac Island. Children were separated from their parents and lived at school, sometimes for years.

So, at the same time that lumber jacks were chopping down the pines to create beautiful structures like the famous Grand Hotel, the local Chippewa and Odawa were struggling and being “managed” by Indian Agencies, which sad but part of the history of this locale. This gorgeous lilac-covered island has a long history of strategic military location, too, with a French fort in Mackinaw City before the French-Indian Wars, moved to Mackinac Island during the American Revolution, and targeted by the British in the War of 1812.

Although Mackinac Island has a dearth of lumberjacks, lumber camps dotted the countryside both above and below the straits, with easy shipment, by water, of lumber to the mills. This was the prime time and location for Michigan’s “White gold” – the white pines that were frequently as wide across as a man’s height. The woods of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, full of hardwoods as well as pine, beckoned the lumber camp owners north as the massive white pines were thinned out. This necessitated the transition of lumber camps from Lower Michigan into the Upper Peninsula.

Many lumber camps had almost criminal reputations, and it’s not difficult to find descriptions of some of the nefarious activities that went on, if you search for those. However, this is unlike the family lumber camp, my setting for The Fruitcake Challenge. My Kentuckian grandfather was born near Traverse City, Michigan, during this time—presumably where his father worked as a lumberjack and he returned to run his own family lumber camp. In the 1800s and 1900s, a great many men came up from the South, worked in the woods, and then returned home. As the 20th century approached, lumber camp owners were searching for more virgin woods and they crossed the straits to the eastern and middle portions of the Upper Peninsula. Expanding railroad lines, during this time, made the expansion possible, too. I try to show this in my series, with the Christy family moving their camp to just east of St. Ignace and have a scene with the railroad cross-straits transportation, which was a fun thing to learn about at Mackinaw City’s lighthouse museum. Can you imagine having railroad cars pulled across Lake Michigan?

Want to learn more about lumbering? You can visit the Tahquamenon Logging Museum, in Newberry, Michigan, my home town – where my great-grandparents’ cedar cabin still stands, to get a good idea of what lumberjack life was like. Also, below the straits, in central Michigan is the beautiful virgin white pine stand at Hartwick Pines State Park, which I highly recommend visiting and they have a Logging Museum as well.


GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment to enter to win a pair of teapot earrings made by Carrie plus an ebook copy of the brand new Christmas Traditions Eight-In-One collection, The Fruitcake Challenge (A Selah finalist) The Lumberjacks’ Ball, or Lilacs for Juliana.

Bio: Carrie Fancett Pagels, the author of The Christy Lumber Camp Series, resides in Virginia’s Historic Triangle and enjoys reading, traveling, baking, beading, and researching--but not all at the same time!

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Purchase Links:
Christmas Traditions Eight-In-One collection (August, 2015) on Amazon in Kindle. (Includes Carrie’s story, The Fruitcake Challenge, and seven other novellas by authors Gina Welborn, Darlene Franklin, Jennifer Allee, Cynthia Hickey, Patty Smith Hall, Angela Breidenbach and Niki Turner.

Lilacs for Juliana releases in August, 2015, on Amazon.

The Lumberjacks' Ball (2015) on Amazon in Kindle and paperback.
The Fruitcake Challenge (2014) on Amazon and on Barnes and Noble in ebook and paperback formats.