The Mino’s were Methodists and non-Germans, so in the face of family disapproval, the young George and Kate moved to Port Huron. They lived there about five years where two children, George and Anna, were born.

During those years, George had become a "fair" carpenter, but the lure of a better fortune beckoned. To the north the pine lands were being opened.

Thunder Bay, Presque Isle, and Alpena sounded like fabulous new frontiers. For a dozen years sawmills had been buzzing, the first one at the mouth of the Devil River near the present site of Alpena. In 1860, 290 people lived in Alpena and Montmorency counties, Ten years later there were 2,256.

In 1865, the young Herron family sailed up Lake Huron to the boom town, Alpena. Sawdust filled the marshes. Board walks and cedar posts driven into the mud and mire made sidewalks and streets. George Herron built a home on Washington Avenue "near the flat-iron" and made a living at carpenter work. On June 5, 1866, a daughter, Kate was born.

Catherine, busy with three small children, evidently did not like the wild new town. Evenings would find George playing cards with the boys, and word had it that he "gambled." Kate’s dislike of card games was born. In later years she did not permit her children to have cards in the house. Flinch and dominoes were acceptable, however.

By this time George N. Fletcher had lumbered off the huge pine, 15 to 20 to an acre, on most of Alpena County. So at Catherine’s insistence, George bought 160 acres of land in Wilson Township at $1.60 an acre. The land was covered with maple, beech and hemlock and the six-foot huge pine stumps, "one of which furnished kindling for a whole winter." The family prepared for its move ten miles west and one and one half miles south of Alpena. The drive to the new home was over corduroy road, and it was all the young mother could do to keep the baby from hurtling out. She finished the trip on foot.

George built a log house, and finally, the house which now stands on the farm. He cleared land for crops. There was no sale for the timber left, so it was used for firewood. A fire burned off 20 acres, so that it was more easily cleared for farming. Stumps were so numerous that grain was "cradled" and hay cut with a scythe. In the burned-over hardwood, raspberry and blueberry bushes flourished. As the family grew, it was not unusual for Kate to can 100 quarts of raspberries and 100 quarts of blackberries besides making crocks of jam.

In the next 18 years, ten more children were born, three of whom died in infancy. The family included:

Anna, born 4/19/1864, died 8/2/1926, married William King

Kate, born 6/5/1866, died 8/10/1953, married James Willett

Frank, born 6/27/1868, died 3/9/1947, married Anna Compeau

Charles, born 11/19/1869, died -----------, married Ida Warren

Barbara L. born 3/23/1871, died 9/11/1873,

Fred, born 1/12/1874, died 5/12/1947, married Myra Spaulding

married Anna Alpenalp

Nellie, born 1/5/1877, died 6/19/1900, married Henry Aris

Ida, born 12/30/1880, died ------------, married George Schenk

James, born 5/17/1882, died 8/1882,

Willie, born 5/17/1882, died 8/1882,

Elmer, born 12/2/1884, died 12/12/1915, married Mary McKay

Those were busy years for the new community. George Herron built the first log school, which also served as a Methodist church and Sunday School which the Herrons attended.

Mail came only when some neighbor went to Alpena 10 or 12 miles away with horses and sleigh or horses and wagon. In summer, mail came from Detroit by boat in a week; in winter, from Bay City by dog sled and considerably longer time was needed.

When winter came men worked with oxen in the lumber camps. George Herron lumbered on Wolf Creek and the Upper South Branch of the Thunder Bay River. A distance of seven or eight miles which can now be covered in minutes, it was then a day’s journey away. A crew of ten men, more or less, would go into camp for the winter. George would buy stumpage off 40 or 80 acres. The logs would be piled on the bank of Wolf Creek. In the spring one man would "water the timber," as getting it into the water was called.

The regular drive would pick up the logs. This was conducted by a pool of mill owners. Each log had a separate marking. Booms would form in Thunder Bay River near Alpena. In summer, crews with peavies would sort the logs, and finally, the winter’s work would reap profit.

As the four older sons grew up, sometimes the crew of ten men would half consist of Herrons: the father, George, and sons, George, Frank, Charles, and Fred. Oftentimes married daughters, Kate or Anna, would be camp cooks while their husbands joined the timber crews.

In those days Wolf Creek was aptly named. Charles, when age 13, remembers walking in the early dawn on the tote road between the oxen to protect himself from the wolves.

The younger members of the family consisted of the "three little girls," Nellie, Stella, and Ida, and the baby, Elmer. When father came home from a trip, he would take one on his lap while he read. "We were as still as a mouse," said Stella. "He was always a hard-working man, and when he came to the house, Mother would say, ‘Hush, children, Pa’s coming.’ That was enough. We would go into a corner and play quietly."