North Country At Work

Loggers pose in front of a pile of logs during the winter. Man second from the left is Frank Lapelle. Circa 1890-1910. Long Lake, NY. Photo courtesy of the Town of Long Lake Archives.

Ed LaVine of Potsdam drove this rig that carried “the largest load of pulp wood ever drawn out of the woods by a single team of horses.” The 12-cord load of 4-foot logs was 10 feet wide, 10 feet high, and 18 feet long. The load was hauled 10 miles to the Racquette River, where […]

The No. 9 log train actively loading logs with a steam hoist. 1909. Wanakena, NY.

Timber Scaler Jack Hanley poses with five pieces of birch lumber in Cranberry Lake. Dave Mac bought one of these pieces to be used as a restaurant counter. Circa 1920. Cranberry Lake, NY.

An exterior shot of Bissell’s Mill, featuring the mill pond, stacked lumber, a wagon, and elevator which took bark and slab waste to an incinerator on the right. Written on the photo is: THE NEW SAW MILL AT CRANBERRY LAKE. Mill erected in 1908.  Cranberry Lake, NY.

Four men, two of which hold peaveys, one a pike pose amidst piles of logs at a skidway. Circa 1910. Cranberry Lake, NY.

An exterior shot of a lumber mill and pond, filled with floating logs. On the right a man helps guide logs onto a conveyer belt which lifts the logs into the mill to be processed. Circa 1910. Cranberry Lake, NY.

A man runs alongside railroad flat cars stacked with logs, being taken out of the woods by train. Circa 1920. Cranberry Lake, NY.

Men and horses at work building a trestle bridge for wooden railroad tracks, which were built to bring temporary trains to haul logs out of the woods. Circa 1900. Cranberry Lake, NY.

Men pose with four teams of horses pulling four bobsleds of logs in winter. March of 1932. On Emporium Forestry Company land in Brandy Brook in the Edgar Tract, Cranberry Lake, NY.