Stillwater lumbermen descend the St. Croix River at Hudson, Wisconsin, just after dawn to remove wooden pilings underneath a bridge. Although the pilings support the bridge, they are blocking navigation along the river. Lumber companies in Stillwater had obtained a court injunction requiring a 200-foot clearance between the pilings to allow timber rafts to float through, but workers building the bridge had ignored the order. The lumberjacks return to Stillwater with about 100 pilings, and the event becomes known as the "Battle of the Piles."