One of St. Maries' claims to fame is the St. Joe River. If memory serves,
it's the highest navigatible river in North America. This is a view of a few
rafts of logs floating in the river. If you look closely, you can see a
tugboat to the left of them. The logs are gathered and tugged along the river
for delivery to processing facilities (mills, to you and me).
Not far from this point, the St. Maries River enters the St. Joe. The St.
Joe then flows to where it enters the Coeur d'Alene Lake system. People
with the means can often be seen boating up from the city of Coeur d'Alene
on a sunny day. And, if you know just where to look, you can see a dock
where I spent quite a few warm afternoons splashing around in the water with
friends.
More evidence of the major industry in St. Maries. Of course, logging is
just part of it. There is also a lumber mill in town that runs 24 hours a
day. You can hear the shift-whistles from anywhere in the St. Joe River
Valley near town. The mill is really the industrial heart of St. Maries.
Without it, the place would fade away.
Another way logs and finished lumber are moved around the area is by rail.
Not so many trains move around as in the past, but you can still hear the
rumble of the diesel engines now and again. I used to enjoy walking the
tracks and looking for this and that along them. My friends used to put
pennies on the tracks and collect the smashed results after a train's
passage. I was always too cautious to try it. But as I think back to
remembered admonitions, I truly doubt a penny could de-rail a train!
Of course, no small town would be complete without a field where a few cows are
hanging around. And these are real cows. The cows you hear about in the
city are big, clean, friendly beasts that populate wall hangings and coffee
mugs. The cows in this picture have grass stuck in their teeth and smell
really bad. But I still think I like them better than city cows.