Browse Items (13 total)

Black and white photograph in poor condition of Traverse City around 1860 to 1863. Notation on photograph says the image was captured while the photographer was standing on Front Street, downtown Traverse City, looking north towards Grand Traverse…

Hannah Lay sawmill on Grand Traverse Bay with the Boardman River in the foreground. Logs are banked and in the river. This was a steam powered mill with wood scraps providing the fuel for the boiler. The tall rocket shaped item is the sawdust…

The sawdust burner at the Hannah Lay sawmill on the bay.

J.J. Fay, Jr. & Co. Dock and Yards. Fay purchased the Hannah Lay mill on the Boardman River at the bay in 1887.

Hannah and Lay sawmill on the bay with the steamer "Charlevoix" coming through the ice to reach the dock.

Hannah Lay sawmill on West Bay. The logs were caught coming down the Boardman River and taken to the mill. This was a steam powered mill built in 1852.

Railroad bridge at Front Street on the bay, "Squaw Point", waterfront

Logs in the Boardman River at the Hannah Lay sawmill. Built in 1852.

Early in Traverse City's history, most of its able-bodied men were employed at the Hannah, Lay & Co sawmill. As a "fringe benefit," workers were allowed to help themselves to all the scrap lumber (or slabs) they wanted. Soon an entire neighborhood of…

Black and white photograph of the overview of the waterfront, Boardman River, We-Que-Tong Club and the Hannah Lay Sawmill. Picture taken from a railroad water tower.