Lumber Mill (Civ6)/Civilopedia

For centuries the purpose of a lumber mill has not changed: logs go in one end, and cut beams, boards, posts, and shingles come out the other. The earliest known sawmill that can be reliably dated is a Roman water-powered mill uncovered at Hierapolis dating to the 3rd Century AD. Small, water-powered mills were common throughout Europe and the Middle East where trees were plentiful, and the designs later went with European colonists so they could start chopping down the virgin forests everywhere else as well. The Industrial Revolution sped the whole process, as steam railroads could transport the logs to steam lumber mills, and then haul the “finished” (in more ways than one) wood products to market in the booming cities. In time, even the byproducts of the trimming and cutting were used – for paper, fuel, and packing.