The lumber industry has changed over the last 150 years. The industry started when the euro-Americans came and saw 13.5 million acres of forest. In 1830 lumbermen entered Minnesota which at the time was Wisconsin territory. In 1839 the first commercial sawmill was built along the St. Croix River. The industry's peak was between 1890 and 1910. At its peak year the lumber industry was producing 2.3 million board feet of lumber. The industry needs 20,000 lumberjacks to work with another 20,000 lumber related jobs. Many forests and cities were being burnt down because the lumberjacks left slash (dry tops of trees) in the forest in big piles that then was ignited by natural causes. The industry today now uses gas or diesel machines instead
