What is the Log Slide Wayside

"What is the Log Slide?" Wayside

The easiest way to get cut timber from here to the nearest sawmills was to float the logs on Lake Superior. Several wooden chutes, or “log slides”, were constructed along the shore to send logs down to the lake. One of the most famous log slides was the one here at the western end of the 300 foot (90 meter) Grand Sable Dunes, known as the “Devel’s Slide”. As the lake thawed in spring, timber cut in winter was sent down the massive chute. Lumberjacks gathered the logs using a floating barrier, called a log boom. Then boats towed the logs to sawmills in Grand Marais.  

During the height of the timber boom, the population of Grand Marais was over 2,000 people. When the timber supply was depleted in the 1910s, logging companies moved on to other areas. Once these companies left, only a few hundred people remained in Grand Marais.  

Today, no evidence remains of the wooden log chute – only memories of a bygone era.  

The chute pictured here is very similar to the one that would have been constructed at this site.  

Much like the rest of the logging operation, sending logs down these slides was dangerous. Logs flew down the chute into the lake with immense force. Out of control logs could kill workers. Legend has it that the dry chute even caught fire once die to friction from the fast-moving logs.  

Once milled, the boards would be shipped to Detroit, Chicago, and other distant cities.