The World of Work: History of Work in Minnesota
 
   

27   


Logging camps were set up each winter season in the forest areas scheduled for harvest. The crews were made up of relatively poor and untrained workers, led by a few company-trained, woods-savvy supervisors. Many workers were recent immigrants from northern Europe who were striving to eke out a living as farmers or by working in the budding mining industry during the spring through fall seasons. Pay was low, hours and the workweek long, and work hazards abundant. Wages in lumber camps ranged from $15-to-$30 a month; in bad times, wages were $6-to-$12 a month.

[MIACOC & WFMFED]



 		 Lumberjacks

 

Sawing felled trees

Sawing felled trees into logs, ca. 1890

Minnesota Historical Society


Loggers camp

Loggers Camp

Engraving from Harper’s Weekly, ca. 1890s


Sawing into logs

Sawing into Logs

Engraving from Harper’s Weekly, ca. 1890s
PREVIOUS      CONTENTS      NEXT

|| Text Version ||           THE WORLD OF WORK HOME