The Lumbering Era

The Lumbering Era. . Mackinaw’s economy was originally built on the fur trade. When that faltered in the 1840s, it was supplanted by fishing, lumbering, and today’s tourism. , The hot, dry, and windy summer of 1871 fanned the flames of devastating fires across the Midwest, including the Great Chicago Fire. In search of timber to rebuild, lumbermen spread across Michigan. , They first harvested the vast white pines in the center of the state, then moved to Northern Michigan. Lumbering around the Straits was short-lived, thriving from the 1880s until the early 1900s when the timber stock was depleted. , Lumbermen skidded logs to narrow gauge rail lines which carried the logs to mills and ports. , A branching network of small rail lines across Northern Michigan carried the logs to the newly-sprouted village of Cecil Bay on Lake Michigan. At its peak, Cecil Bay bustled with two lumber mills, a boarding house, post office, livery stable, ice house, school and twenty-five homes housing 200 people. It was a thriving community from 1878 until the mill closed in 1917. Today the area is Cecil Bay Park. , After major lumber exports had been shipped, the city turned to manufacturing shingles, barrel staves, excelsior, railroad ties, and pulpwood.