From the early 1800s, a saw mill stood on or near Falls Island, and in the 1800s the James Spears Saw Planing and Shingle mill operated there, producing lumber for local markets, for a sash and blind factory, and probably for a regional market. Extensive remains of the structure include stone and concrete walls along the race, the race itself, the foundation of the steam boilers, and the ruin of the sawdust bunker, a square concrete structure probably connected to the east side of the mill by an iron blow pipe. James Spears used tramways on trestles to move lumber to the northern end of Falls Island, and by 1910 he had converted the operation from water power to steam, using sawdust and wood scraps as boiler fuel for a more reliable power source, though with greater fire danger. The mill burned in 1912 and was not rebuilt. Logging followed a seasonal cycle in which fall and winter were devoted to cutting timber and spring to moving it to the mills: trees were cut into 13-foot lengths, hauled by sled or skidded to the river bank, and marked with each mill owner’s registered log mark before entering the river. During the spring break-up, usually in April, melting and rains raised the Grasse, and hundreds of thousands of logs were released into the river in a single mass. Gangs of lumberjacks traveled with the drive, using peevies and pike poles to keep logs moving, push them off meadows, and break up jams before they formed. At the sorting gaps, logs were either directed to a holding area or allowed to continue downstream to the next mill, while near Falls Island they were sent down the east channel close to the island to be lifted by winch into the saw mill, and some may have entered the sluiceway through the center of the island.