You needed to be strong and quick for this work. Stout boots were a must. Outdoor winter clothing required. After all, you were building a legend — you were the kernel of truth behind Paul Bunyan.
You worked in the northern woods felling trees and skidding/hauling them to frozen rivers and streams. Oxen and horses shared your working conditions along with a few mechanical beasts in the later years.
Guiding logs into the river, preparing to raft them downstream to the sawmills. You needed to be alert and have an excellent sense of balance. More than one man drowned while doing this work.
Fictional Elm Ridge, Illinois has a sawmill powered by a creek. They buy white pine rafted down from Minnesota in the sweet romance, Stitching a Dream. An owner rough around the edges gives Polly Black a few sleepless nights as she weighs options of bad and worse. Check out the book blurb at the link. https://amzn.to/3VwoeFh
