Since the Civil War, the strident whine of massive saws and the smell of sawdust dominated Washington’s waterfront. Steam whistles echoed between the riverbanks as tugs towed rafts of logs to the mills or hauled barges with milled lumber from the wharves. The mill whistles kept cadence with the workday. Men shouted to each other as they balanced on floating logs, herding them toward the steam hoist that would drag them into the mill. It was a loud, bustling, boisterous waterf