Forest History Center

 Today I stopped by the Forest History Center in Grand Rapids which is run by the Minnesota Historical Society. I had a grand time. Admission for me was eight dollars. I got there about 1:30 which meant I had time to browse before the last tour started at 2. I watched a film about the process of moving logs from the forest to International Falls on the Little Fork River. This was very dangerous work walking on logs and breaking up log jams. At 2 the tour started and a woman in clothing suitable in 1900 came to fetch me. They chose to reenact 1900 because that is the year that the most board feet of lumber left the forest. Logging the pine forests mostly ended in 1930. Her role in the camp was a cook's helper. She took me to a seating area where other people joined me in the audience. One guy pulled a little wooden puppet with moveable limbs on a stick. He sat on a tree trunk with a wooden platform protruding between his legs. As he held the puppet so the feet touched the platform he used his other hand to bounce the platform which made the puppet dance. Another man played music on an accordion. My internet is slow here tonight so I can't upload the pictures but maybe I will upload them later. They talked about life in the lumber camp which was held in the winter. The people worked from sun up to sun down. Each camp had a supervisor who earned 70 bucks a month, a cook who earned 50 bucks a month, cook's helpers who earned 25 bucks a month, a blacksmith who earned 45 bucks a month, a carpenter who earned 40 bucks a month, a saw sharpener who earned 40 bucks a month, many lumberjacks who earned a dollar a day, and road cutters who earned less than a dollar a day. The roads that carried the logs were cut into the earth like a reverse railroad track. Water from the river was hauled up and once the temperature got below freezing the water was put on the roads so the horses pulled the log sled on two long, thin tracks of ice. Life in the camps was not easy. The cook and the supervisor had it easier but the lumberjacks slept in bunkbeds with 70 men, two men to a bunk. These men were riddled with lice. They would have two circles drawn on a table to see whose lice was the fastest. The outhouse had one hole but 8 seats. The people who worked in these camps did not come from cities. They came from farms around this area or from farms in Europe. Northern Minnesota had 300 logging camps at the same time ranging in size from one family to hundreds of workers. This site in Grand Rapids was an actual logging camp. The buildings and equipment in it were used. They even have a horse who showed us how one horse could pull a log up onto a logging bed. The blacksmith had to shoe the horses and the horse shoes had special cleats to keep the horses from slipping in the snow and ice. The blacksmith had to repair broken chains. Horses were vital to a logging camp. If a logger was sick or injured and needed to go to the hospital, they had to walk because the horses were busy moving logs or hauling water. Each crew of 12 men had two horses. Their daily quota was two trailers of 16 feet long logs down to the river bank per day. Lumberjacks had to sharpen their own axes at the end of the day but their saws were sharpened in the shop for them. The symbol of the logging company was beat into both cut ends of the log like a brand on a cow. We also met the cook who had a very important role in the logging camp. With all the hard work the people were hungry. If the food wasn't delicious the workers would walk away and join a different logging camp. Milk and eggs were unavailable but they had plenty of salted or smoked meat, root vegetables, sourdough starter for pancakes and bread, coffee, tea, prunes and some dried apples. I had no idea the forest history center would be this interesting and informative. I am glad I took the time to visit.