The Pequaming mill was the first large-scale lumbering and milling operation in the Lake Superior region, and in the years between 1880 and 1900, the mill cut an average of over , in boards and in lath). When officials realized the white pine supply was nearly exhausted, they switched to hemlock and cedar. The pine was made into 1x4 lumber, the cedar into shingles, and hemlock into lath; other products included rail ties and hemlock bark for tanneries. For shipment, the products were loaded into box cars, which were placed onto scows and towed across the bay to Baraga, and then shipped by rail to their destinations. The original sawmill operated until 1887, when it burned in a fire of unknown origins, and was replaced by a larger mill within 60 days.