History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 28

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: [Chicago : Western Historical Co.?]
Number of Pages: 1050

USA > Wisconsin > Grant County > History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 28

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

189

Palme Per

LUMBER MANUFACTURE.

and, in the disastrous torrent that was created, piers, booms, or "pockets " for holding logs at the mills, together with a fine new mill, were swept away, and the country below where Eau Claire now stands was covered with drift-wood, saw-logs, and other debris. Such occurrences led to the invention of the since famous sheer boom, which is a device placed in the river opposite the mill boom into which it is desired to turn the logs. The sheer boom is thrown; diagonally across the river, automatically, the action of the current upon a number of ingeniously arranged "fins " holding it in position. By this means the logs are sheered into the receptacle until it is filled, when the sheer boom, by closing up the " fins" with a windlass, falls back and allows the logs to go on for the next mill to stop and capture its pocket full in like manner. By this method each mill could obtain a stock, but a great difficulty was experienced from the fact that the supply was composed of logs cut and owned by everybody operating on the river, and the process of balancing accounts according to the "marks," at the close of the season, has been one prolific of trouble and legal entanglements. The building of improvements at Eagle Rapids by the company above mentioned remedied the difficulty to some extent, but the process of logging will always be a difficult and hazardous enterprise until adequate means for holding and assorting the entire log product are provided. Upon the Yellow and Eau Claire rivers, two important branches of the Chippewa, such difficulties are avoided by suitable improvements. The entire lumber product of the Chippewa, with the exception of that consumed locally, is floated in rafts to markets upon the Mississippi, between its mouth and St. Louis. The quality of the timber is good, and commands the best market price. in the sections where it seeks market.

West of the Chippewa district the streams and timber are tributary to the St. Croix, and in all statistical calculations the entire product of that river is credited to Minnesota, the same as that of the Menomonee is given to Michigan, when in fact about one half of each belongs to Wisconsin. The important branches of the St. Croix belonging in this state are the Apple Clam, Yellow, Namekogan, Totagatic and Eau Claire. The sections of country through which they flow contain large bodies of very fine pine timber. The St. Croix has long been noted for the excellence of its dimension timber. Of this stock a portion is cut into lumber at Stillwater, and marketed by rail, and the balance is sold in the log to mills on the Mississippi.

Such is a brief and somewhat crude description of the main lumbering districts of the state. Aside from these, quite extensive operations are conducted upon various railway lines which penetrate the forests which are remote from log-running streams. In almost every county in the state, mills of greater or less capacity may be found cutting up pine or hard-woods into lumber, shingles, or cooperage stock. Most important, in a lumbering point of view, of all the railroads, is the Wisconsin Central. It extends from Milwaukee to Ashland, on Lake Superior, a distance of 351 miles, with a line to Green Bay, 113 miles, and one from Stevens Point to Portage, 71 miles, making a total length of road, of 449 miles. It has only been completed to Ashland within the last two years. From Milwaukee to Stevens Point it passes around to the east and north of Lake Winnebago, through an excellent hard-wood section. There are many stave mills in operation upon and tributary to its line, together with wooden-ware establishments and various manufactories requiring either hard or soft timber as raw material. From Stevens Point northward, this road passes through and has tributary to it one of the finest bodies of tim- ber in the state. It crosses the upper waters of Black river and the Flambeau, one of the main tributaries of the Chippewa. From 30,000,000 to 50,000,000 feet of lumber is annually manu- factured on its line, above Stevens Point. The Wisconsin Valley railroad extends from Tomah to Wausau, and was built to afford an outlet, by rail, for the lumber produced at the latter point.

The extent of the timber supply in this state has been a matter of much speculation, and

190

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

is a subject upon which but little can be definitely said. Pine trees can not be counted or measured until reduced to saw-logs or lumber. It is certain that for twenty years the forests of Wisconsin have yielded large amounts of valuable timber, and no fears are entertained by holders of pine lands that the present generation of owners will witness an

exhaustion of their supply. In some sections it is estimated that the destruction to the standing timber by fires, which periodically sweep over large sections, is greater than by the axes of the loggers. The necessity for a state system of forestry, for the protection of the forests from fires, has been urged by many, and with excellent reason ; for no natural resource of the state is of more value and importance than its wealth of timber. According to an esti- mate recently made by a good authority, and which received the sanction of many interested parties, there was standing in the state in 1876, an amount of pine timber approximating 35,000,000,000 feet.

The annual production of lumber in the districts herein described, and from logs floated out of the state to mills on the Mississippi, is about 1,200,000,000 feet. The following table gives the mill capacity per season, and the lumber and shingles manufactured in 1876 :

LUMBER

SHINGLES

DISTRICT.

SEASON CAPACITY.

MANUFACTURED MANUFACTURED

IN 1876.

Green Bay Shore.

206,000,000

138,250,000

85,400,000

Wolf River ..

258,500,000

138,645,077

123,192,000

Wisconsin Central Railroad

72,500 000

31,530,000

132,700,000

Green Bay & Minnesota Railroad.

34,500,000

17,700,000

10,700,000

Wisconsin River

222,000,000

139,700,000

106,250,000

Black River_

101,000,000

70.852,747

37,675,000

Chippewa River

311,000,000

255,866,999

79,250.000

Mississippi River - using Wisconsin logs __

509,000,000

380,067,000

206,977,000

Total

1,714,500,000

1,172,611,823

782, 144,000

If to the above is added the production of mills outside of the main districts and lines of rail- way herein described, the amount of pine lumber annually produced from Wisconsin forests would reach 1,500,000,000 feet. Of the hard-wood production no authentic information is obtainable. To cut the logs and place them. upon the banks of the streams, ready for floating to the mills, requires the labor of about 18,000 men. Allowing that, upon an average, each man has a family of two persons besides himself, dependent upon his labor for support, it would be apparent that the first step in the work of manufacturing lumber gives employment and support to 54,000 persons. To convert 1,000,000 feet of logs into lumber, requires the consumption of 1,200 bushels of oats, 9 barrels of pork and beef, 10 tons of hay, 40 barrels of flour, and the use of 2 pairs of horses. Thus the fitting out of the logging companies each fall makes a market for 1,800,000 bushels of oats, 13,500 barrels of pork and beef, 15,000 tons of hay, and 60,000 barrels of flour. Before the lumber is sent to market, fully $6,000,000 is expended for the labor employed in producing it. This industry, aside from furnishing the farmer of the west with the cheapest and best of materials for constructing his buildings, also furnishes a very important market for the products of his farm.

The question of the exhaustion of the pine timber supply has met with much discussion during the past few years, and, so far as the forests of Wisconsin are concerned, deserves a brief notice. The great source of supply of white pine timber in the country is that portion of the northwest between the shores of Lake Huron and the banks of the Mississippi, comprising the

191

LUMBER MANUFACTURE.

northern portions of the states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. For a quarter of a century these fields have been worked by lumbermen, the amount of the yearly production having increased annually until it reached the enormous figure of 4,000,000,000 feet. With all of this tremendous drain upon the forests, there can be pointed out but one or two sections that are actually exhausted. There are, however, two or three where the end can be seen and the date almost foretold. The pineries of Wisconsin have been drawn upon for a less period and less amount than those of Michigan, and, it is generally conceded, will outlast them at the present proportionate rate of cutting. There are many owners of pine timber lands who laugh at the prospect of exhausting their timber, within their lifetime. As time brings them nearer to the end, the labor of procuring the logs, by reason of the distance of the timber from the water-courses, will increase, and the work will progress more slowly.

In the future of this industry there is much promise. Wisconsin is the natural source of supply for a very large territory. ' The populous prairies of Illinois and Iowa are near-by and unfailing markets. The broad plains of Kansas and the rich valleys of Nebraska, which are still in the cradle of development, will make great drafts upon her forests for the material to construct cities in which the first corner-stone is yet unlaid. Minnesota, notwithstanding the fact that large forests exist within her own confines, is even now no mean customer for Wisconsin lumber, and the ambitious territory of Dakota will soon clamor for material to build up a great and wealthy state. In the inevitable progress of development and growth which must characterize the great west, the demand for pine lumber for building material will be a prominent feature. With the

growth of time, changes will occur in the methods of reducing the forests. With the increasing demand and enhancing values will come improvements in manipulating the raw material, and a stricter economy will be preserved in the handling of a commodity which the passage of time only makes more valuable. Wisconsin will become the home of manufactories, which will convert her trees into finished articles of daily consumption, giving employment to thousands of artisans where it now requires hundreds, and bringing back millions of revenue where is now realized thousands. Like all other commodities, lumber becomes more valuable as skilled labor is employed in its manipulation, and the greater the extent to which this is carried, the greater is the growth in prosperity, of the state and its people.

BANKING IN WISCONSIN.

BY JOHN P. McGREGOR.

Wisconsin was organized as a territory in 1836, and the same year several acts were passed by the territorial legislature, incorporating banks of issue. Of these, one at Green Bay and another at Mineral Point went into operation just in time to play their part in the great panic of 1837. The bank at Green Bay soon failed and left its bills unredeemed. The bank at Mineral Point is said to have struggled a little longer, but both these concerns were short lived, and their issues were but a drop in the great flood of worthless wild-cat bank notes that spread over the whole western country in that disastrous time. The sufferings of the people of Wis- consin, from this cause, left a vivid impression on their minds, which manifested its results in the . legislation of the territory and in the constitution of the state adopted in 1848. So jealous were the legislatures of the territory, of banks and all their works, that, in every act of incorporation for any purpose, a clause was inserted to the effect that nothing in the act contained should be

192

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

taken to authorize the corporation to assume or exercise any banking powers; and this proviso was even added to acts incorporating church societies. For some years there can hardly be said to have been any banking business done in the territory ; merchants and business men were left to their own devices to make their exchanges, and every man was his own banker.

In the year 1839 an act was passed incorporating the " Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company," of Milwaukee. This charter conferred on the corporation, in addition to the usual powers of a fire and marine insurance company, the privilege of receiving deposits, issuing certifi- cates of deposit and lending money,-and wound up with the usual prohibition from doing a banking business. This company commenced business at once under the management of George Smith as president and Alexander Mitchell as secretary. The receiving deposits, issuing certifi- cates of deposit and lending money, soon outgrew and overshadowed the insurance branch of the institution, which accordingly gradually dried up. In fact, the certificates of deposit had all the appearance of ordinary bank notes, and served the purposes of an excellent currency, being always promptly redeemed in coin on demand. Gradually these issues attained a great circulation all through the west, as the people gained more and more confidence in the honesty and ability of the managers ; and though " runs " were several times made, yet being successfully met, the public finally settled down into the belief that these bills were good beyond question, so that the amount in circulation at one time, is said, on good authority, to have been over $2,000,000.

As the general government required specie to be paid for all lands bought of it, the Wis- consin Marine and Fire Insurance company, by redemption of its " certificates of deposit," furnished a large part of the coin needed for use at the Milwaukee land office, and more or less for purchases at land offices in other parts of the state, and its issues were of course much in request for this purpose. For many years this institution furnished the main banking facilities for the business men of the territory and young state, in the way of discounts and exchanges. Its right to carry on the operations it was engaged in, under its somewhat dubious and incon- sistent charter, was often questioned, and, in 1852, under the administration of Governor Farwell, some steps were taken to test the matter; but as the general banking law had then been passed by the legislature, and was about to be submitted to the people, and as it was understood that the company would organize as a bank under the law, if approved, the legal proceedings were not pressed. While this corporation played so important a part in the financial history and commer- cial development of Wisconsin, the writer is not aware of any available statistics as to the amount of business transacted by it before it became merged in the "Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company's Bank."

In 1847, the foundation of the present well-known firm of Marshall & Ilsley was laid by Samuel Marshall, who, in that year, opened a private banking office in Milwaukee, and was joined in 1849 by Charles F. Ilsley. This concern has always held a prominent position among the banking institutions of our state. About this time, at Mineral Point, Washburn & Woodman (C. C. Washburn and Cyrus Woodman) engaged in private banking, as a part of their business. After some years they were succeeded by Wm. T. Henry, who still continues the banking office. Among the early private bankers of the state were Mr. Kellogg, of Oshkosh ; Ulmann and Bell, of Racine ; and T. C. Shove, of Manitowoc. The latter still continues his business, while that of the other firms has been wound up or merged in organized banks.

In 1848, Wisconsin adopted a state constitution. This constitution prohibited the legislature from incorporating banks and from conferring banking powers on any corporation; but provided the question of "banks or no banks " might be submitted to a vote of the electors, and, if the decision should be in favor of banks, then the legislature might charter banks or might enact a

193

BANKING IN WISCONSIN.

general banking law, but no such special charter or general banking law should have any force until submitted to the electors at a general election, and approved by a majority of votes cast on that subject. In 1851, the legislature submitted this question to the people, and a majority of the votes were cast in favor of " banks." Accordingly the legislature, in 1852, made a general banking law, which was submitted to the electors in November of that year, and was approved by them. This law was very similar to the free banking law of the state of New York, which had then been in force about fifteen years, and was generally approved in that state. Our law authorized any number of individuals to form a corporate association for banking purposes, and its main provisions were intended to provide security for the circulating notes, by deposit of state and United States stocks or bonds with the state treasurer, so that the bill holders should sustain no loss in case of the failure of the banks. Provision was made for a bank comptroller, whose main duty it was to see that countersigned circulating notes were issued to banks only in proper amounts for the securities deposited, and upon compliance with the law, and that the banks kept these securities good.

. The first bank comptroller was James S. Baker, who was appointed by Governor Farwell.

The first banks organized under the new law were the " State Bank," established at Madi- son by Marshall & Ilsley, and the " Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company's Bank," established at Milwaukee under the old management of that company. These banks both went into operation early in January, 1853, and, later in that year, the " State Bank of Wisconsin " (now Milwaukee National Bank of Wisconsin), and the "Farmers' and Millers' Bank " (now First National Bank of Milwaukee), were established, followed in January, 1854, by the "Bank of Mil- waukee " (now National Exchange Bank of Milwaukee). From this time forward banks were rapidly established at different points through the state, until in July, 1857, they numbered sixty - with aggregate capital, "$4,205,000; deposits, $3,920,238; and circulation, $2,231,829. In October, the great revulsion and panic of 1857 came on, and in its course and effects tried pretty severely the new banks in Wisconsin. Some of them succumbed to the pressure, but most of them stood the trial well.

"The great source of loss and weakness at that time was found in the rapid decline of the market value of the securities deposited to protect circulation, which were mostly state bonds, and largely those of the southern states; so that this security, when it came to be tried, did not prove entirely sufficient. Another fault of the system, or of the practice under it, was developed at this time. It was found that many of the banks had been set up without actual working capi- tal, merely for the purpose of issuing circulating notes, and were located at distant and inaccessible points in what was then the great northern wilderness of the state; so that it was expensive and in fact impracticable to present their issues for redemption. While these evils and their rem- edies were a good deal discussed among bankers, the losses and inconveniences to the people were not yet great enough to lead to the adoption of thorough and complete measures of reform. The effect of these difficulties, however, was to bring the bankers of the state into the habit of consulting and acting together in cases of emergency, the first bankers' convention having been held in 1857. This was followed by others from time to time, and it would be difficult to over- value the great good that has resulted, at several important crises from the harmonious and con- servative action of the bankers of our state. Partly, at least, upon their recommendations the legislature, in 1858, adopted amendments to the banking law, providing that no bank should be located in a township containing less than two hundred inhabitants; and that the comptroller should not issue circulating notes, except to banks doing a regular discount deposit and exchange business in some inhabited town, village, city, or where the ordinary business of inhabited towns, villages and cities was carried on. These amendments were approved by the people at the fall

194

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

election of that year.

Banking matters now ran along pretty smoothly until the election in 1860, of the republican presidential ticket, and the consequent agitation in the southern states threatening civil war, the effects of which were speedily felt; first, in the great depreciation of the bonds of the southern states, and then in a less decline in those of the northern states. At this time (taking the state- ment of July, 1860,) the number of banks was 104, with aggregate capital, $6,547,000; circula- tion, $4,075,918; deposits, $3,230,252.

During the winter following, there was a great deal of uneasiness in regard to our state cur- rency, and continuous demand upon our banks for the redemption of their circulating notes in coin. Many banks of the wild-cat sort failed to redeem their notes, which became depreciated and uncurrent ; and, when the rebellion came to a head by the firing on Fort Sumter, the banking interests of the state were threatened with destruction by compulsory winding up and enforced sale at the panic prices then prevailing, of the securities deposited to secure circulation. Under these circumstances, on the 17th of April, 1861, the legislature passed "an act to protect the holders of the circulating notes of the authorized banks of the state of Wisconsin." As the banking law could not be amended except by approval of the electors, by vote at a general election, a practical suspension of specie payment had to be effected by indirect methods. So this act first directed the bank comptroller to suspend all action toward banks for failing to redeem their circulation. Secondly, it prohibited notaries public from protesting bills of banks until Dec 1, 1861. Thirdly, it gave banks until that date to answer complaints in any proceed- ing to compel specie payment of circulating notes. This same legislature also amended the banking law, to cure defects that had been developed in it. These amendments were intended to facilitate the presentation and protest of circulating notes, and the winding up of banks failing to redeem them, and provided that the bank comptroller should. not issue circulating notes except to banks having actual cash capital ; on which point he was to take evidence in all cases ; that after Dec. 1, 1861, all banks of the state should redeem their issues either at Madison or Milwaukee, and no bonds or stocks should be received as security for circulation except those of the United States and of the state of Wisconsin.

Specie payment of bank bills was then practically suspended, in our state, from April 17 to December 1, 1861, and there was no longer any plain practical test for determining which were good, and which not. In this condition of things, bankers met in convention, and, after discus- sion and inquiry as to the condition and resources of the different banks, put forth a list of those whose issues were to be considered current and bankable. But things grew worse, and it was evident that the list contained banks that would never be able to redeem their circulation, and the issues of such were from time to time thrown out and discredited without any concert of action, so that the uneasiness of people in regard to the financial situation was greatly increased. The bankers finally met, gave the banks another sifting, and put forth a list of seventy banks, whose circulating notes they pledged themselves to receive, and pay out as current, until Decem- ber 1. There had been so many changes that this pledge was thought necessary to allay the apprehensions of the public. But matters still grew worse instead of better. Some of the banks in the "current" list closed their doors to their depositors, and others were evidently unsound, and their circulation so insufficiently secured as to make it certain that it would never be redeemed. There was more or less sorting of the currency, both by banks and business men, all over the state, in the endeavor to keep the best and pay out the poorest. In this state of things, some of the Milwaukee banks, without concert of action, and acting under the apprehen- sion of being loaded up with the very worst of the currency, which, it was feared, the country banks and merchants were sorting out and sending to Milwaukee, revised the list again, and

195

BANKING IN WISCONSIN.

threw out ten of the seventy banks whose issues it had been agreed should be received as current. Other banks and bankers were compelled to take the same course to protect them- selves. The consequence was a great disturbance of the public mind, and violent charges of bad faith on the part of the banks, which culminated in the bank riots of June 24, 1861. On that day, a crowd of several hundred disorderly people, starting out most probably only with the idea of making some sort of demonstration of their dissatisfaction with the action of the banks and bankers and with the failure to keep faith with the public, marched through the streets with a band of music, and brought up at the corner of Michigan and East Water streets.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 28

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: [Chicago : Western Historical Co.?] Number of Pages: 1050

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: [Chicago : Western Historical Co.?]
Number of Pages: 1050