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Logging on Hamlin Lake

 Hamlin Lake is more than 12 miles long and 5,000 acres large. Hamlin Lake touches Manistee National Forest on the north, towering dunes in the west and miles of undeveloped wilderness all around. This man made lake originated during the logging hey-day when lumbermen dammed the Big Sable River to make an enormous holding pond for trees felled upstream.

Cheater Logs

 Chris Moyer, Hamlin Lake, near the Narrows

"Cheater logs" are legendary on Hamlin Lake.  According to the old timers we have known, back in the logging days, the companies would brand their logs on the end for identification as they were floated down to the sawmills. Another company would come along and saw off the end and put their brand on, creating disks of wood termed "cheater logs". We have found several of these old, nicely worn logs, but never have found evidence of a brand..