Technological Revolution – Marine on St. Croix - Minnesota Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

This historical marker points to the remnants of the sawmill’s steam engine powerhouse, along with a drawing of how it functioned. The text reads:

Technological Revolution

"... a lonely and forgotten reminder of the hopes of men and of the lusty lumber industry which did much to build an expanding America."

James Taylor Dunn, The St. Croix:
Midwest Border River, 1979

The stone ruins before you include the foundation of the smokestack and portions of the walls of the powerhouse that once contained a steam engine. The artist's rendering shows the mill and powerhouse as they may have looked just before they were finally shutdown in 1895.

Silent witness to technological revolution

When this sawmill opened in 1839, a slow-turning undershot waterwheel powered its single saw blade. By 1852 a 40-foot-tall overshot wheel (see diagram below, left) driven by water from the newly constructed millpond (across Judd Street) had been installed. This wheel powered multiple saw blades that could process more than two million board feet of lumber a year. In 1873 the Walker, Judd and Veazie Lumber Company remodeled the mill, installing a 50-horsepower steam engine that was linked by belts to faster circular and gang saws. Operating as Anderson and O'Brien in 1888, the mill boasted a new 150-horsepower steam engine, electric lights, and a planing mill. When the mill closed for good in 1895, the frame buildings were torn down and the equipment sold to firms in Minneapolis and Stillwater.


Minnesota Historical Society
Marine Mill

Marker Type:: City

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