In 1906, Camp #8 of the St. Croix Logging Company served as a winter logging camp and later for several seasons as a spring camp for log drivers. A new lumberjack signed up that morning at the sawmill in Winton, three miles east of Ely, then rode in a sleigh with other men as workers were dropped off at logging camps along the Stony River while horses traveled the St. Croix Tote Road, later known as Highway 1. At Camp #8, the newcomer was greeted by the camp boss and an older jack called Old Sven, who introduced him around camp under the nickname Sapling.