Gyde's Mill - Early cooperage mill in Aitkin

White Oak Lumber
Jack Pine Gives Way to White Oak
Following the region's fur trade era, pinery camps were the next big form of industry to enter the region. The Jack Pine's dominance of our region's lumbering era lasted only a couple of decades. Soon the abundance of hardwoods such as White Oak began to become more important .

White Oak was common throughout the region and the Mississippi provided an easy way to get the timber to Aitkin for processing. Aitkin became the white oak rendezvous point for logging operations where sawmills and cooperage mills would use white oak as raw materials for manufacturing.

Gyde's Mill was one such mill that used white oak as a raw material for cooperage such as barrels, pails and other woodenware. White oak was ideal for containers that held liquids and the resiliency as a hardwood, made white oak popular for furniture use as well. White oak had appeal in terms of color and grain structure and found use in elegant paneling, such as that which was found in the Aitkin Opera House Building. White oak's strength also made it popular for use as flooring.

 Back to the Pinery Camp

 Back to the Fur Trade Rendezvous


and the Mud River Music Fest
©2008 Aitkin Festival of Adventures Committee
"Festival of Adventures" is a trademark/servicemark of the Aitkin Festival of Adventures Committee

 

In addition to our Festival of Adventures fur trade rendezvous, we also offer an 1890s pinery camp experience. In the era that followed the statewide Jack Pine harvest, White Oak became an important replacement to Jack Pine. During the pinery camp era, White Oak was cut as a hardwood. White Oak was used in the making of furniture and for cooperage. As the river pigs floated the White Oak logs to the mill, deer would gather along the river to drink. Deer and the river were the constant companions of the men as they floated White Oak to the mill each spring.