This dining crew posed inside a camp “dining car” for the Stearns Salt & Lumber Co., Camp 1 — a portable mess hall that fed workers out in the woods. Long wooden tables are already set with plates and cups, and the cooks wear full aprons as if they’re ready for the next rush.
Stearns Salt & Lumber was based in Ludington and operated lumber camps in western Michigan, where logging crews lived and worked seasonally. The photo isn’t dated here, but the style and equipment suggest the early 1900s (not confirmed).
Do you have family stories about Michigan lumber camps — or recognize the photographer name “Whipple”?
#MichiganHistory #LudingtonMI #MasonCounty #LumberCamp #VintageMichigan
