Lumbermen

Lumbermen came to the Pigeon River area in 1880. In 10 years, the white and red pine were gone. Over the next 25 years, the hardwoods were cut and shipped away by rail. Branches left behind dried into tinder. Fires consumed as much of Michigan’s forest as the loggers cut. In 1911, it was so smoky during a fire that people around the Pigeon River Country could not see the sun for days. In those later years, lumber mills burned and were not replaced; there wasn’t enough timber left to harvest. ~Introduction to Pigeon River Country by Dale Clarke Franz