At the boom, floating timbers chained between piers caught and contained logs for sorting and measuring and rigging into rafts. At one time, the Stillwater boom extended a distance of 9 miles and employed 400 men to sort, scale and raft timber.
Lumber was rafted downstream from Stillwater. Boards were arranged in cribs or heavy crates, each 16 feet wide and 32 feet long. A lumber raft might contain as many as 200 cribs.
Logs were shipped by rail from northern Minnesota to Stillwater and made into rafts. They were then floated down the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers. The rafts usually consisted of 8 to 10 strings of logs fastened side by side, each string measuring 16 across and about 400 feet long. Some of these enormous rafts stretched 4 or 5 acres in size.
Landscape view; the view checked on the reverse of the card is: "View of Stone Arch Bridge." the bridge was completed in 1881-1884. The view might be from Hennepin Island. This bridge was built for the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad; James J. Hill's originally constructed the bridge with 20 catenary's arches.
Contributing Institution:
Hennepin County Library, James K. Hosmer Special Collections Library
Landscape view; from a series by M. Nowack; view checked on card is: "view of Suspension Bridge; " bridge completed about 1876. This is the second bridge over the Mississippi River. The third replacement bridge was constructed from 1886-1888.
Contributing Institution:
Hennepin County Library, James K. Hosmer Special Collections Library
Landscape view (photographer could be Doctor Lasby or Edward D. Mayo from Minneapolis). View of a railroad truss bridge with limestone piers; bare trees and snow on ground.
Contributing Institution:
Hennepin County Library, James K. Hosmer Special Collections Library