As eastern forests were depleted before the Civil War, investors began buying stands of Michigan's abundant white pine, the wood most in demand for construction, By 1869, Michigan produced more lumber than any other state, a distinction it maintained for the next thirty years. Vast quantities of this white pine were used to build houses, barns, and fences on the treeless Great Plains, while millions of board feet were also consumed by the nation's rapidly expanding system of railroads.

Michigan's lumbering industry not only helped satisfy increasing demands for cheap, high quality lumber, but also stimulated development of the state's own transportation network and the growth of many cities and towns. Altogether, one hundred and sixty billion board feet of pine were cut in Michigan by 1897, a quantity sufficient to build ten million six-room houses of to floor the entire land area of Michigan with one-inch pine boards, with enough remaining to cover the state of Rhode Island. The dollar value of Michigan's timber was greater than that of all the gold mined in California during the same period.

The logging museum at Hartwick Pines tells this fabulous story through artifacts and photographs. In the Interpretive Center visitors can learn about lumber barons who made millions buying forested lands and selling the trees, and about the "shanty boys" who cut the trees, hauled them to rivers or railroad sidings, rode logs down the Manistee, Tittabawassee and other Michigan rivers, worked the saw mills, or cooked in the camps.

A walk back through the magnificent old growth pines brings visitors to the logging exhibits which feature a bunkhouse and mess hall where the crews slept and took their meals. Also on exhibit are large pieces of logging equipment, and a steam operated sawmill, which is operated during Festivals. An hour and a half visit to these museums provides today's traveler with an educational and enjoyable experience in one of Michigan's most historic periods, the White Pine Era of 1840-1910.