Port Huron and how it grew...

"Port Huron after the Civil War was known for a signature sound that could be heard miles upriver… and across the way in Canada. Edison remembered it from his boyhood as an incessant gnawing “hum” of enormous circular and vertical blades. More than a dozen screaming saw mills – many powered by new steam-driven machines – operated from first light to last along the busy Black and St. Clair river fronts.

The city was in the midst of a timber boom as Michigan in the late 1860s became the nation’s primary source for construction-grade lumber. Some of the dirt streets were not yet named, nor were all the houses numbered, but what once had been little more than a trading post now boasted a couple of small shipyards, two feisty newspapers, a large bank, a rail line, even a high school."

From 'Fianna' written by Michael Plemmons. ©Ray McCormack, 3A Publishing