 A wooden dam was constructed at the outlet in order to hold the water back until it was needed for the drive in the spring, although there was no guarantee that the sluice would actually work.In the spring of 1900, after years of backbreaking work, anxiety, and mounting debts, McKenney gave the order to open the gate at the dam, the first load of long logs were guided into the sluice, and down they sped.It was said that it only took the logs one and a quarter minutes to travel the length of the one and a quarter mile sluiceway.