OUTPUT OF LOGS INTO THE MISSISSIPPI 291 



until we learned to make and use cement and could 

 afford to buy more expensive lumber from the south or 

 northwest on which the rail charges are higher than the 

 cost of the lumber put on the cars. 



Logging out of the Wisconsin river ended about 1876. 

 Logging out of the Black river ended in 1897. 

 Logging out of the Chippewa river ended in 1905. 

 Logging out of the Saint Croix river ended in 1914. 

 Logging out of the Saint Paul boom ended in 1916. 



The Last Log 



"There is a picture hanging in the Gazette Office^ 

 showing the old boom-master, Frank. McGray, hitch- 

 ing the last log that came through the Saint Croix 

 boom; the log was a large one, scaling, I should say, 

 five hundred or six hundred feet and this closed opera- 

 tions at the boom for all time; that was on the twelfth 

 day of June, 1914; on this day also, the last meal was 

 served in the old cook house and among those that sat 

 down to dinner that day were Mr. McGray, James R. 

 Brennan, then the boom master, D. J. McCuish, Eu- 

 gene O'Neal, Rev. John McCoy, then pastor of the 

 First Presbyterian Church, R. S. Davis, W. C. Master- 

 man and several others, whose names escape me at this 

 writing." — Stillwater Gazette, April 2, 1928. 



There has been much discussion as to when rafting 

 ceased at West Newton where the M. R. L. Company 

 handled the great output of logs from the Chippewa. 



I could not harmonize the positive but conflicting 

 statements of numerous persons to whom I appealed 

 for information and was greatly pleased when I finally 

 got a letter from Mr. Andrew Thompson of Nelson, 

 Wisconsin, which closed the discussion. 



Mr. Thompson had been a foreman at West Newton 



