Logging was a huge part in the history of the northern part of the United States, especially in Northern Minnesota. Logging has influenced the way the whole country has evolved and expanded in the 1800's through today. There are few general topics that you should learn about in this paper, they are logging camps, logging railroads, peak years, and the Virginia-Rainy River logging company.
LOGGING CAMPS Logging camps are the small towns in the woods where the lumberjacks lived during the winter. In the logging camp there was usually a blacksmith shop, camp store, cook/ sleeping shack, and an extra shack to store the horses or oxen. In each camp there was the camp cook. This cook made or destroyed the camp. If it was a good cook people would …show more content…
In 1862, settlers could buy 160 acres of land for $1.25 an acre. With this new land, Saw mills would buy as much land as they could and log it for a huge profit. By 1875 logging white pines was the main source for the economy in the northern part of the country. "In 1875, you could ship 141 rail cars full of lumber in one week with a fast moving team"(Mimi). Soon after all the wood was cut around the town of Minneapolis, it became one of the biggest boom towns in the Midwest. The wood finally ran out in 1905 around Minneapolis. "Duluth's population increased by 80% in 5 years, that's the highest increase in any city that fast in Minnesota"(Mimi). With more and more people that meant more and more jobs, with more jobs, that meant more money for the big sawmills. After all the major white pines had been cleared from northern Minnesota, mining quickly took a big jump. Mining became the biggest resource and still is the biggest resource in …show more content…
The company covered 300 acres and cut 300,000,000 board feet of wood a year. With that much wood the company had over 1500 men and woman on their pay roll. The Virginia-Rainy lake company could find a job for every person who applied. They didn't turn a single person down if they thought they had a job for them. The population of Virginia, MN. in September of 1881 was less than 200 people. By June 1893 there were over 5,000 people! With this many people there were just as many kids. In 1904 the Roosevelt building was created and made into a High school. The cost to make the building was only $65,000 in that time. "By 1920, when logging was at its peak in Virginia there where 14,022 residents" (Van Brunt). Virginia had the largest white pine mill in the northern United States, but in 1929 it shut down and ended an era of "Big Logging"
LOGGING CAMPS Logging camps are the small towns in the woods where the lumberjacks lived during the winter. In the logging camp there was usually a blacksmith shop, camp store, cook/ sleeping shack, and an extra shack to store the horses or oxen. In each camp there was the camp cook. This cook made or destroyed the camp. If it was a good cook people would …show more content…
In 1862, settlers could buy 160 acres of land for $1.25 an acre. With this new land, Saw mills would buy as much land as they could and log it for a huge profit. By 1875 logging white pines was the main source for the economy in the northern part of the country. "In 1875, you could ship 141 rail cars full of lumber in one week with a fast moving team"(Mimi). Soon after all the wood was cut around the town of Minneapolis, it became one of the biggest boom towns in the Midwest. The wood finally ran out in 1905 around Minneapolis. "Duluth's population increased by 80% in 5 years, that's the highest increase in any city that fast in Minnesota"(Mimi). With more and more people that meant more and more jobs, with more jobs, that meant more money for the big sawmills. After all the major white pines had been cleared from northern Minnesota, mining quickly took a big jump. Mining became the biggest resource and still is the biggest resource in …show more content…
The company covered 300 acres and cut 300,000,000 board feet of wood a year. With that much wood the company had over 1500 men and woman on their pay roll. The Virginia-Rainy lake company could find a job for every person who applied. They didn't turn a single person down if they thought they had a job for them. The population of Virginia, MN. in September of 1881 was less than 200 people. By June 1893 there were over 5,000 people! With this many people there were just as many kids. In 1904 the Roosevelt building was created and made into a High school. The cost to make the building was only $65,000 in that time. "By 1920, when logging was at its peak in Virginia there where 14,022 residents" (Van Brunt). Virginia had the largest white pine mill in the northern United States, but in 1929 it shut down and ended an era of "Big Logging"