Lumberman's Monument

Lumberman's Monument is a bronze sculpture featuring three figures representing different logging roles: a timber cruiser with compass, a sawyer with a saw, and a river worker with a peavey. The sculpture sits on a granite platform along the road and remains accessible throughout the year.

Robert Ingersoll Aitken created this monument in 1931 to honor Michigan's logging industry, which supplied timber to developing prairie states following the Civil War. The region experienced its timber boom roughly 150 years ago, when log drives down the Au Sable River transported wood to mills.

The granite base displays names of local logging families whose work shaped this region for generations. These inscriptions connect visitors to the real people who built their lives around timber work.

The monument is freely accessible year-round at Monument Road in Oscoda. A nearby visitor center operates from May through October and offers exhibits about the region's history.

The monument overlooks Cooke Dam Pond and the Au Sable River, where logs were transported downstream during the timber boom of the late 1800s. This location connects the sculpture directly to where the work depicted actually took place.