“Hinckley was a typical place,” wrote an 1895 report on Minnesota forest fires that had occurred across the state the previous year. The modest midwestern settlement was like many that dotted the Midwest at the end of the 19th century. It boasted a handful of churches, hotels, and stores, as well as a town hall, a restaurant, two railway depots, and a public school with four teachers. The economy of Hinckley, Minnesota revolved around the town sawmill, owned by the Brennan Lumber Company, which employed 300 people and cut 200,000 feet of lumber per day.
This 1895 photo depicts the hauling of cut logs, one step in the onerous logging process. Public Domain
