America treated the vast forests of the Great Lakes as an apparently endless source of timber needed to settle the West, and farmers, factories, and mills depended on wood for fuel and building materials. Men went into the northern forests seeking fortunes by supplying wood to the nation, and for the next hundred years logging dominated the Upper Midwest. By the beginning of the 20th century, towns, logging camps, farms, log landings, mills, and railroad tracks had replaced the forest; some buildings were later reused by settlers, some were moved elsewhere, and most survive as archaeological sites. In the early years pine was the chief prize, and the lore of the lumberjack and river drive took shape. Although bold stories of life in the woods circulated back home, the work was actually tedious and dangerous, with loggers laboring from dawn to dusk in below-zero temperatures and having only Sundays and Christmas Day off, while river drivers worked long hours, sometimes slept on the logs, often stood waist-deep in icy water gathering strays, and risked death pulling the last log that would break a jam.