# Are companies still pulling up sunken timber from Lake Superior et al.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2025, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-companies-still-pulling-up-sunken-timber-from-lake-superior-et-al/1014811 "2025-02-26T04:17:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 3
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-companies-still-pulling-up-sunken-timber-from-lake-superior-et-al/1014811/3 "2025-02-26T04:31:30Z")
> [@Hatchie](#): > > You mean that wood that has been underwater for decades or even centuries is still good? It must take some heavy baking to get it dry enough to use. Or are there actually applications where sunken wood is preferred? Those logs were from old-growth trees, which grew slowly, and thus, had very dense grain, making the wood from them very different – and, it seems, higher quality – from what we get now, from modern, fast-growing farmed trees. In addition, the cold temperatures and low oxygen content at the bottom of Lake Superior helped to preserve the logs. This article (from 1998) indicates that the wood was being used for furniture, woodcrafting, and, yes, musical instruments. > **[Jurrasic Bark: Underwater Logging in Lake Superior – Mother Earth News](https://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-living/nature-and-environment/underwater-logging-zmaz98onzraw/)** > > Sunken hardwood trees from decades of lumbering operations have made underwater logging a viable business opportunity in the Great Lakes. Originally published as "JURRASIC BARK" in the October/November 1998 issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-companies-still-pulling-up-sunken-timber-from-lake-superior-et-al/1014811)._