The vast forests that covered the hills ringing the Grand Prairie provided the timber that built the railroads, mines, and cities that developed after the Civil War.

In the fall and winter, after the crops were harvested, day laborers felled the trees and hewed the logs into mine timbers and railroad ties. Enterprising timber men established year-round timber camps around a sawmill and, often, a box and barrel mill.

These men are not identified. Union County, Illinois, probably in the Pine Hills.

More on logging equipment such as the broadaxe and demonstrations of old techniques
Woodchoppers, Union County. (ca. 1890-1900) n.d. Morris Library, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Donated by Myrtle Williams, Collected by Jane Adams
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