Lumbering was a major industry in Mackinaw City from around 1880 to 1930.

Our historic village needed a connection with that history so we researched ideas for a lumber mill or perhaps a re-creation of the clothespin factory that survived here for a few years. Often chance is better than research. We got a call from the Soo Locks, in existence since the mid-1800s, that they had received money to buy a new saw. They wondered if we would like their old one which was purchased around the turn of the century. Its purpose, we learned, was to cut the 12" by 12" timbers that line the locks. If a freighter bumps the walls, these timbers, which were cut on site, provide a forgiving surface. We gratefully took the saw and it is now housed inside the sawmill building. It is a circular saw with a blade 5 feet in diameter than can handle logs up to 12 feet in length.

Board member Greg Harwick volunteered to build structure to house the saw. He bought discarded highway sign posts, cut them, and built the framework. He then build the wooden structure.