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Bridge crews find artifacts in river

A log from Alpena's lumber era

One of the branded logs found in the Thunder Bay River. Courtesy: Ryan Brege

ALPENA, Mich. — Crews working on the Bagley Street Bridge recently made a historical discovery.

While excavating pier two, they dug up some sunken logs dating back to Alpena’s lumber era. How do we know lumbermen cut them down?

Managing director Ryan Brege said the answer was spelled out for them — quite literally.

“Several of these logs had stamps on the ends which would have indicated the company that cut them so they could identify them when they floated down to the mouth of the river.”

Brege said they cut the stamped ends off of the logs and donated them to the Besser Museum.

As for the progress update, crew’s spent the week driving piles into the ground so they can work on Abutment B. Construction remains on–schedule for a fall opening.