Lumbering on White Lake / Staples & Covell Mill
N 43° 24.758 W 086° 21.034
16T E 552578 N 4806843
Located on a little road side parking lot near trail.
Waymark Code: WMPB8X
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 08/02/2015
Views: 7
Charles Mears built White Lake's first sawmill in 1838. Four mills operated on White River Tributaries during the next decade. Axmen, swampmers, skidders, loaders, and haulers cut and moved pine, hemlock, and cedar logs to the White River, where they were floated to the White River Log and Booming Company pens. There they were sorted and rafter to mills that produced lumber, shingles, lath, and pickets. In 1883, there were twenty-four mills in White Lake and vicinity. Lumber was rafted down the lake and carried on barges to ships in Lake Michigan. Between 1838 and 1907 White Lake mills shipped over 3 million board feet of lumber. The lumbering era ended on White Lake when the Staples and Covell Mill closed in 1907.
The first steam-powered lumber mill in Whitehall was erected on this site in 1856. Purchased in 1871 by Hiram Staples and Lyman Covell of the Staples and Covell Lumber Company; it operated until 1874. The new mill, built in 1875 was the largest and most modern on White Lake and had four saws and a 80-foot smokestack. By 1884, sixty men were making between $1.37 and $3.50 per day at the mil and could turn 1,400 logs into 60,000 board feet of lumber in an 11-hour shift. In 1894 the mill produced 10 million board feet of lumber. Schooners, barges, scows, and trains carried the lumber to Chicago and points east. The mill's closing in 1907 marked the end of the logging era on the White River.
Parking nearby?: yes
Registered Site #: L2167
Historical Date: Not listed
Historical Name: Not listed
Description: Not listed
D/T ratings: Not listed
website: Not listed
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