Chapter 43
May Day
Every northern Wisconsin lumber mill was working at full capacity on the first of May, 1884. Like most pinery boomtowns, Hayward’s streets were crowded with horses, wagons, and many lumberjacks eager to celebrate the end of the logging season. The smell of fresh-cut white pine filled the air. Plumes of smoke from the sawdust burners billowed into the clear blue sky.
The continuous whine of gang saws ripping through pine logs filled the air and echoed off each new brick building. Tall stacks of rough-sawn lumber filled every vacant lot, field, unused street, and open space. The large lake created by the new dam was choked with green timber. Long lines of railroad cars flanked each sawmill. More lumber-laden cars stood in the yard, ready to ship. Wagons heaped with hardware, furniture, food, beer, and other goods rolled from depot to downtown.