USA > Wisconsin > Buffalo County > History of Buffalo County Wisconsin 10847607 > Part 26
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
Elijah Swift, James Jenkins and M. M. Davis of the old Beef Slough Company still hold some stock and are directors in the new company. The M. R. L. Co. is a corporation organized nnder the laws of the State of Iowa, having its headquarters at the City of Clinton, Iowa, with a branch office at Chippewa Falls, and one at Beef Slough, Wisconsin, run in conjunction with the office of the Beef Slough Boom Company, and having the same staff of of- ficers.
To harmonize the conflict of interests between the Chippewa mill, men at Eau Claire and the Mississippi mill owners, operating the Beef Slough Boom, a third organization was formed in the year 1881, which united the two parties under the corporate name of the Chippewa Logging Company, commonly called the "Pool."
Under this arrangement the logs are all bought in common, and the Eau Claire parties take out of the promiscuous lot a suf- ficient amount to supply their mills, and let the balance pass on to Beef Slough. The Chippewa Logging Company has its prin- cipal office at Beef Slough.
1
As a matter of course there are many arrangements necessary to catch and manage.the logs that are coming down on the drive and are to be rafted. The first arrangements are the shear-booms
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360
TRANSPORTATION.
now required is that of the steamboat, re-enforced by a few hands to help in landing the raft and in securing stray logs in case of an accident. To carry on the operations on the Beef S.
there are about six hundred men engaged during the rafting sea- lough son, but during the remainder of the season about one hundred are retained for different kinds of work. For the accommodation of these men there are several camps:
Camp No. 1 on SE } of NE } of Section 27, T. 22, R. 13. At this camp or near it the office of the company is located, there are also different other buildings, among them a storehouse for cables and other things required in the operations of rafts and boats.
Camps No. 2, No. 3 and No. 3} are strung out along the bank in Sections 21 and 16. Camp No. 4 was out in the swamp west of the main Slough. Camp 5 is a short distance above in Sect. 16, all in Township 22, Range 13.
Camp No. 6 is in Sect. 12, T. 22, R. 14 at the head of Perrin Slough, Flat Bar Camp is in Sect. 36, T. 23, R. 14. A small crew camps at the Jam Boom, some are also at the Shear Booms, and occasional camps are formed at other places, especially by the Rear Drive Crews."All these camps are furnished with victuals and cooks, with beds and blankets by the company. The permanent camps are large and well ventilated. houses, affording such com- fort as may be or is usually afforded under similar circumstances. Meat and vegetables are usually supplied fresh, of good quality and sufficient quantity, procured from the butcher at Alma, and from people on farms in the neighborhood of the slough.
Something is yet to be said about the amount of logs handled by the Beef Slough Company and the other companies working with it as above explained. It is neither necessary nor particu- · larly entertaining to make a table of every year's output.
We find that in 1868 it was: .5,785,000 feet.
In 1875 129,066,630
In 1885 535,000,000
In 1886 463,847,560
The output for the present season is expected to be even larger than that of 1885, which has been the largest so far.
The necessity of inspecting the logs and lumber passing through the Beef Slough led to the organization of the 9th Lum_ ber Inspection District, This was done by Chapter 90, Laws of
361
TRANSPORTATION.
1870, and the first inspector appointed was Maj. J. F. Hauser from March 19, 1870, until May 20, 1871 when he resigned, John A. Mc Rae being May 31, 1871 appointed to fill the vacancy. He was succeeded by Geo. W. Gilkey who held the office from March 19, 1872 until April 27, 1874. Martin W. McDonnell held the office from April 27, 1874 to the same date 1878. Mr. D. J. Mckenzie has held the office, ever since.
For some of the information regarding the lumber inspectors of this district I am obliged to Mr. Henry Casson, Private Secre- tary of Gov. Rusk. Those who are specially curious regarding the extent of the 9th inspection district are referred to the chapter of the laws of 1870 above mentioned.
The office of the Lumber Inspector has nothing to do with the Beef Slough Company or the Mississippi River Logging Co., the latter in fact scaling their own logs. Lumber Inspector M. W. McDonnell says in his report for 1875, that less than one-fourth of the output of that year had been scaled by him, the balance by the M. L. C. Lumber Inspector D. J. Mckenzie reports that in 1885 he scaled 148 of the 535 millions and in 1886, 168 of 463 millions.
The operations at the Slough, as well as the necessary offices and other arrangements are under the direct superintendence of Mr. Irvine, the Secretary and Manager of the Mississippi River Logging Co. But, it being manifestly impossible for any man to supervise these extensive works, some points of which are so far apart, and the operations so multifarious, there are superin- tendents or bosses appointed, who are in their places and for cer- tain purposes the temporary authorities. At Round Hill, the northern picket of the grand encampment, Mr. A. B. Gilmore is in command, at the Jam Boom Mr. Mike Hawley, and over the Rafting Works, and the operations connected with them, Mr. Edw. Douglas has the superintendency. As a matter of course there must be some discipline among so many people of all sorts and so many new ones every season, and as there never was any serious disturbance or interruption on account of refractory men, the dis- cipline appears to be satisfactory. To this the regulation, that no liquor of any kind is to be brought and drank upon the premises belonging to the company, has assisted in a great measure.
The description of the assorting and rafting works, and so
362
TRANSPORTATION.
many minor arrangements would take too much room and could hardly be understood without plats and drawings. The same might be said in regard to the construction of a large reservoir for logs adjacent to the lower end of the Slough or rather the junc- tion of Beef River and Slough. In this the causeway across the swamp built by the village of Alma with some aid and assistance of the Town of Nelson and the county, has been utilized as a dam and the course of Beef River changed by putting locks into it at the eastern bridge.
The above naturally calls to mind the times and per ons of. the pioneers of this enterprise. They are mentioned in the course of the narrative, but those who at that time lived in, or had to come to and remain at Alma will especially remember Dr. M. M. Davis and his son, Mr. James H. Bacon, who for the time was the leader and motor of the whole; with him we saw his son, and his! nephew Edgar Warner, who built a little cottage near Camp No. 1. Elijah Swift was at that time frequently at Alma, also T. Crane. The American House then kept by J. A. (Squire) Hunner and afterwards by S. S. Cooke was the headquarters of the Beef Slough folks in general, though the office was kept, together with the law- office of Moser and Hunner, in the building now occupied by Ja- cob Burkhard as a saloon and residence.
After the management of the rafting works had been in differ- ent hands, the company engaged Mr. Charles Hewitt, under whose vigorous administration the extensive rafting works at and near Camp No. 2 were commenced, which were altered and enlarged as experience required. Mr. Hewitt, 'or, as he liked to be called among friends, Charley, lives now on his farm in the town of Ona- laska, in La Crosse County.
His successor was Mr. George Stiles, who did not stay very long. He is now in Minnesota. Mr. Stiles' successors were suc- ceeding each other so rapidly, that we could not keep up the rec- ord, though we caught the last of them.
At first it was customary to employ only old hands, that is such, who had been on the Slough from the start. Very soon this was impossible, as the supply gave out, and it was no longer neces- sary, since the work had become greatly changed and simplified. In course of time, therefore, the number of original hands dwin- dled down to about one dozen, all of them put into positions re-
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364
TRANSPORTATION.
advantages we had but few to apprehend. The first experiences with the "boys" as most of common employees of the company were called, could hardly encourage any hope of favorable rela- tions between the new company and the citizens of the neighbor- hood. During the nineteen years which have since elapsed, mat- ters have gradually improved, especially under the administration of the resident officers and managers of the Mississippi Logging Company, and it is a fact that a good understanding exists be- tween the company and its regular employees on one hand and the authorities and the citizens on the other, which goes to the credit of either party.
That there are exceptions to this, and occasional acts of vio- lence and disturbance occur, can not be denied, nor that it is some- times necessary to apply the law to refractory individuals. Yet, considering all the circumstances, I think there is but little cause for actual complaint.
The company owns very much real estate and numerous shore rights along the Slough. These parcels of land have been carefully mapped, first in a book in separate sections eight inches square, then in a continuous map about seven and one-half feet long, containing all the land from Sect. 35, Tshp. 22, Rge. 13 up to Sect. 31, Tshp. 25, Rge. 13, in which Round Hill is situated, or from Alma to within two miles of Durand, in which the company or some individual members of the same have any claim or property.
Incident to the subject of rafting, the old style of which I have above described among the earlier operations of the Beef Slough Co., we ought to remember the time, when more than 30 years ago, till a much later time, until after the establishment of this institution, not a few of our citizens earned money by the hard work connected with the management of an oar and other man. nual labor incident to rafting after the old method. For a time there was quite an amount of trading done with crews of rafts that were landed at Twelve Mile Bluff, or at Holmes' Landing. All this was quite desirable during a time when the resources of the country were yet entirely undeveloped. It is many years since shipping as a hand upon a raft was a habitual summer employ_ ment with any of our fellow citizens, and but few of the younger generation know anything about it. Usually the shipping was
365
1
TRANSPORTATION.
done at Read's Landing, that place being a sort of rendezvous for pilots. The rafts went sometimes as far as St. Louis, and the voy- age down and return consumed a considerable part of a summer. The work was hard, the treatment rough, the wages often small, payment not always secure, so that he who managed to save a few dollars out of a trip, might consider himself fortunate. But at home there was nothing to do and nothing to earn, so that any prospect for improving the situation, was eagerly accepted. For many the rough work and life had its charms and they followed rafting during the summer and went into the logging camps, or the pineries, as it was usually called, in the winter. The rafters,. as a class, were rather dreaded along shore, and if now they have -almost disappeared, it is not to be deplored. It was but too often the character of the regular rafthands, those who followed rafting for a business that made the existence of the accidental hands upon the rafts disagreeable and even perilous.
Long as the chapter on " Transportation " has grown, it can not be supposed, that the incidents and accidents still stored in th memories of the earlier settlers have been exhaustively related, but it is believed that the main points have been carefully enough collected, so as to give a picture of how things once were, how they gradually changed and how they. now appear.
366
AGRICULTURE.
AGRICULTURE.
The varied surface of Buffalo County, for the description of which I refer the reader to the chapter on "Topography" destined it for an agricultural community. The changes of hill and dale, of highland and lowland, combine many advantages and disad- vantages, which are to be taken into general consideration before entering into particulars. The great advantage of this configura- tion is that it affords chances for manifold uses in an agricultural sense, that is, the country is as well adapted to the cultivation of the different cereals usually cultivated in corresponding latitudes, as to the successful propogation and development of those do- mestic animals found with all civilized nations, and forming one of the great staples of life in the shape of meat and dairy pro- ducts and the uses to which wool and hides are devoted for ar- ticles of clothing and other subordinate appliances. There can be no question that a hilly country affords to live stock of any kind a natural protection, which is not to be found in a country essenti- ally level for many miles, open and subject to sweeping winds, and apt to experience periods of long continued droughts. The hills are the natural reservoirs from which springs derive their water, and the rills and creeks affording moisture for plants and drink for man and animals are certainly a most desirable provi- , sion for the cultivator of the soil. It is true that in a hilly coun- try there must be some land which can not be brought under cul- tivation, but as wood is one of the necessaries of life, and natur- ally grows upon those places where the plow can not be employed with advantage, this seeming disadvantage is no detraction from the general usefulness of the land.
Of disadvantages we must mention the difficulties of inter_ course or travel, which are occasioned by ascents and descents, and by swampy places which are the results o imperfect natural drainage, and compel the inhabitants to spend much time and
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368
AGRICULTURE.
when we begin to gain some leisure, we might well undertake to look into many matters with a more critical eye, than we were, and still are, in the habit of doing. But we now have to look to the development of agriculture and its present status in our county. As in the above I have alleged that it is more than thirty years since agriculture began to be practiced in this county, and began those improvements, which were necessary for its success, in the way of building roads and bridges, we must not suppose, nor per- mit ourselves to be led by our imagination into the error, that all the population with all the present appliances began to work. As a matter of fact we must lay down the maxim, that agriculture can not be developed any faster than the population increases, but that, as every public improvement increases facilities, and de- creases difficulties, we might blot out the first five or ten years of the settlements before we begin comparison with the present cir- cumstances.
Yet even then we would hardly do justice to the matter. The truth seems to be that up to a certain time the efforts in cultiva- tion are apparently so slow as to be hardly perceptible, though this is almost solely due to their being scattered and disconnected. The connection then, between the number of inhabitants and the progress of agricultural operations is obvious. From the census of population of 1855 we learn, that in that year there were 832 inhabitants. For the year 1850 official accounts are missing, but the most enthusiastic will not put the number of inhabitants pres- ent in that year above 50. Thomas Holmes and Major Hatch had left long before, and but few had assembled at the place vacated by them. In the chapter on "Settlement," we see how few there were known, and it is a fact that then everybody knew everybody else, not only because there were so few, that to know them was certainly easy enough, but every one was in some measure in need of such assistance, as had to be given personally, and found him- self obliged to give as well as take in this matter. The first at- tempt at settlement was not in the agricultural line, and very little could be undertaken in that way before the land was surveyed and in market. The table inserted in Topography shows when the land was surveyed, the following table shows when it came into market.
369
AGRICULTURE.
DATE WHEN THE LAND CAME INTO MARKET.
Township. No.
Range No.
When Offered.
When Withdrawn. When Restored.
18
10 and 11
June 18, 1849
June 3, 1856
April 5, 1858
19
10, 11 and 12
20
10, 11, 12 & 13
21
10
July 15, 1853
21
11
Oct. 17, 1852
21
12
Nov. 15, 1853
21
13
Oct. 17, 1853
22
10
July 15, 1853
22
11
Oct. 17, 1853
22
12
Nov. 15, 1852
"
22
13
Oct. 17, 1853
¥
22
14
*
Aug. 18, 1851
23
10
July 15, 1853
"
23
11
Nov. 15, 1852
LC
23
12
Nov. 15, 1852
23
13
Aug. 18, 1851
23
14
Aug. 18, 1851
¥
24
10
July 15, 1853
66
66
24
11
July 16, 1853
24
12
Nov. 15, 1852
24
13
Aug. 18, 1851
66
24
13
Aug. 18, 1851
66
66
60
"
66
66
The differences in the time of offering the land may have been occasioned by delays in the reports of surveyors. The with- drawal of the land from market was for the purpose of giving the West Wisconsin Railroad a chance to select the land granted in aid of its construction, or rather to give it time to establish a per- manent survey, for the selection was not exactly a matter of choice, the odd numbered sections being the ones subject to its claims, the distinction being between a fifteen mile limit and a six mile limit, the land in the former being simply with- drawn, in the latter all land being rated at double govern- ment price. The. fifteen mile limit ran through townships 22 and 23, the six mile limit through 23 and 24, nine miles north of the former. The even numbered sections were res- tored to market in about two years, the odd numbered ones in about ten years after withdrawal. Next to the possibility of buy-
370
AGRICULTURE.
ing the land, it was desirable to have the United States Land Of- fice conveniently near and accessible. The first entries had to be made at Mineral Point, now in Iowa County. The abstract of entries in the office of the Register of Deeds shows that but very few entries were made previous to 1854 and none of them for agri- cultural purposes. These purchases having a nearer relation to settlement in general than to agriculture, they are quoted under that head.
This condition of affairs could not endure. The destiny of the country was not for large towns, but for rural communities. The bulk of purchases in 1854 and '55 was of agricultural situa- tions.
The La Crosse United States Land Office was opened July 30, 1852. This was a great convenience, as the place could be reached by steamboat in summer, and on foot, or with a horse or wagon, at any time of the year. Nevertheless there were but few entries, in 1852 all in March, hence before removal of the office. In 1853 there was but one purchase, the prospective site of the county- seat, not for agricultural purposes.
In making purchases the newcomers usually preferred valleys to bluffs, open or but slightly wooded land to heavy timber; ex- ceptions to that we find in the neighborhood of trading centres already established. Some of these selections remain puzzles to the subsequent settlers. Aside from the settlements on sand prai- ries, that could not support any population for more than two or three years, we find that some people retired, voluntarily and at once, into inconvenient ravines, when they had the very best and first selection. It may have been taste, but it was certainly per- verted taste. The want of ready money was a great obstacle to the extension of agricultural settlement. After the opportunity for purchasing had been provided, it was not proposed to "squat" on the land. Hope, always the strongest in adventurers, led so many to pre-empt, and forced them to borrow money at any rate of interest, 40 per cent. being the highest I learned of, but the pos- sibility of more or higher is not to be disputed, perhaps not even the fact. And for security, the certificate or patent of the land ! Think of that, you young men! Think of it, you, who have fought the battle and lost it, as well as you, who came off victorious. Remember who became rich and who remained poor, who drew
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372
AGRICULTURE.
Oxen, at that time considered indispensable for breaking up the new land, to which the name of prairie was given more by compliment, as we may call a model the machine it resembles. Mowing grass was done by hand much longer than harvesting, and the mowing machine was usually at first but a partially disman- tled reaper. All these machines had been invented ten, or even twenty years, before our own first attempts at agriculture, but the. manufacture of it had not yet assumed the gigantic proportions of today's output, and the intrepid agent had not yet taken the name of legion. He and his brother, thelocust, were yet unknown to the Far West, in which our Western Wisconsin was quite naturally in- cluded. The introduction of horses as draught animals, at first scarcely desirable, became so by the improvement of the roads, and the introduction of harvesting, mowing, and especially thresh- ing machines. I suppose that the parties, who started up the first of these machines,-in the Waumandee, I think it was the broth- ers Theodore and Nick Meuli, and they brought their machine from Sauk Co., and took it down there again after finishing here- had to furnish most of the horses, five or six spans, or the few spans then present had to make the circuit through a whole ex- tensive neighborhood. The introduction of this machinery stimu- lated the production of the only staple article considered worthy of cultivation, wheat, almost to exclusiveness. The war and war prices had the same effect. No regard was paid to improvement or even partial rest of any land; it was, or ought to be inexhaust. ible. For years after years the mad race continued, crop after crop was taken and sold, nothing was returned to the land, and - it came, as every sane person had known it must come; crops be. gan to be light, prices were reduced by poor quality and increased western and foreign competition, debts had accumulated and fail. ures were iminent. Farmers as a class are probably as intelligent as any other class of citizens, but there is one failing which they seem to possess in excess of most other classes of industrials; they do not know of whom to take advice. Philosophic, scientific and philanthropic men, men too, who could not possibly have any selfish motives, had long sounded the alarm against that system of plun- dering and exhaustion, which was practiced by most farmers, but the farmers preferred the advice of the reaper agent, the man that had machinery to sell, whose very business and interest demanded
373
AGRICULTURE.
that the old method of uninterrupted croppings should continue ad infinitum. That the agent, or rather the firm or factory should at length in self-defence be compelled to open the eyes of the blind, to seize upon the securities forfeited by neglect or inability to pay, may not have been to their own taste, but was as naturally the re- sult of the system as the impending or actual banktruptcy of a great many farmers. May be somebody thinks that I have colored this picture too darkly, but let him try and find many pictures of the same subject of brighter colors, and he will soon be convinced, as I have been for some time already, that his task is much more difficult than mine would be, should I try in reality to find still darker pictures. The last ten years have worked a considerable change, not perhaps yet radical enough, while in some cases too abrupt and too radical. Agriculture, begins to occupy that posi- tion of conservative prudence or wisdom, which not only never risks all on one throw of the dice, as we might say, nor wants the courage to make reasonable risks. Finally there is some venture in every enterprise, courage and calculation are required in any business, failures are possible and not always avoidable, but for agriculture it is safe to say that its permanent success. lies in a var- iation of pursuits, without stubborn devotion to one crop or one mode of operation, or blind exclusiveness of any kind.
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