Ride the River Back in Time – Newaygo County’s Lumbering Legacy!
Being surrounded by densely forested land, Newaygo County is an area that was built on lumber mills. At its peak, loggers dumped thousands of logs into the Muskegon River a day to float down to the mills. At times there were so many logs that the Muskegon River would fill to the extent that log jams were created.
To help differentiate the ownership of the logs, each mill designed a unique log mark. The individual marks of each mill were required to be registered with the county clerk’s office. These markings proved useful for the last stretch of the Muskegon River where the logs were organized in the sorting grounds.
Today, you can still explore remnants of this history—walk the shores where loggers once stood, paddle the same waters that carried Michigan’s white pine to market, and imagine a time when the Muskegon River was the heart of a booming industry.
Below is an image of logs filling the Muskegon River near the Croton Bridge captured in the spring.
Huge thanks to the Heritage Museum of Newaygo County for curating this amazing history! Want to uncover more? Visit newaygocountyexploring.com/tourism-tips for even more historic gems!
