Work begins Tuesday on a restoration of the St. Croix Boom Site, the place on the river where floating logs were gathered and sorted during Stillwater's lumber milling heyday.
The deteriorating national historic landmark, on Hwy. 95 about 2 miles north of Stillwater, will close to the public until construction is completed in midsummer, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The work will be funded with a $500,000 federal grant.
The Boom Site opened in 1856, seven years after Washington County was formed and two years before Minnesota became a state. An estimated 15.5 billion feet of white pine logs cut farther north were stamped with owners' names and floated to the site, where men known as "boom rats" scurried over the slippery logs to organize them into "rafts" for sawmills downstream.
"It's the only place in the river where you can get to the river in a natural setting. It's a pretty unique place," said Marc Hugunin of Friends of the St. Croix Boom Site.
No trace remains of the operation, but the part of the river where logs were gathered is visible from three locations along the bluff.
The north end of what's now the St. Croix Boom Site became a roadside rest area on Hwy. 95 after the logging operation closed in 1914. The Boom Site, declared a national historic landmark in 1966, lies within the boundaries of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.
The south site, developed as a traditional "scenic view," will get a large National Park Service sign welcoming motorists to the riverway park area. Work there will include a repaved parking lot, new sidewalks accessible to people with disabilities and rain gardens for stormwater.
The middle site has a marker explaining the boom site's historic significance, another scenic view and concrete stairs leading to the riverfront. Boulders will be added around the parking area to keep motorists off the grass.
