The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 28

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 840

USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 28

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LUMBER MANUFACTURE. BY W. B. JUDSON.

Foremost among the industries of Wisconsin is that of manufacturing lumber. Very much of the importance to which the state has attained is due to the development of its forest wealth. In America, agriculture always has been, and always will be, the primary and most important interest; but no nation can subsist upon agriculture alone. While the broad prairies of Illinois and Iowa are rich with a fertile and productive soil, the hills and valleys of northern Wisconsin are clothed with a wealth of timber that has given birth to a great manufacturing interest, which employs millions of capital and thousands of men, and has peopled the northern wilds with energetic, prosperous communities, built up enterprising cities, and crossed the state with a net- work of railways which furnish outlets for its productions and inlets for the new populations which are ever seeking for homes and employment nearer to the setting sun.

If a line be drawn upon the state map, from Green Bay westward through Stevens Point, to where it would naturally strike the Mississippi river, it will be below the southern boundary of the pine timber regions, with the single exception of the district drained by the Yellow river, a tributary of the Wisconsin, drawing its timber chiefly from Wood and Juneau counties. The territory north of this imaginary line covers an area a little greater than one half of the state. The pine timbered land is found in belts or ridges, interspersed with prairie openings, patches of hardwood and hemlock, and drained by numerous water-courses. No less than seven large

186

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

rivers traverse this northern section, and, with their numerous tributaries, penetrate every county, affording facilities for floating the logs to the mills, and, in many instances, the power to cut them into lumber. This does not include the St. Croix, which forms the greater portion of the boundary line between Wisconsin and Minnesota, and, by means of its tributaries, draws the most and best of its pine from the former state. These streams divide the territory, as far as lumbering is concerned, into six separate and distinct districts : The Green bay shore, which includes the Wisconsin side of the Menomonee, the Peshtigo and Oconto rivers, with a number of creeks which flow into the bay between the mouths of the Oconto and Fox rivers ; the Wolf river district ; the Wisconsin river, including the Yellow, as before mentioned; the Black river; the Chippewa and Red Cedar; and the Wisconsin side of the St. Croix.

Beginning with the oldest of these, the Green bay shore, a brief description of each will be attempted. The first saw-mill built in the state, of which there is now any knowledge, was put in operation in 1809, in Brown county, two or three miles east from Depere, on a little stream which was known as East river. It was built by Jacob Franks, but probably was a very small affair. Of its machinery or capacity for sawing, no history has been recorded, and it is not within the memory of any inhabitant of to-day. In 1829, John P. Arndt, of Green Bay, built a water- power mill on the Pensaukee river at a point where the town of Big Suamico now stands. In 1834, a mill was built on the Wisconsin side of the Menomonee, and, two years later, one at Peshtigo. Lumber was first shipped to market from this district in 1834, which must be termed the beginning of lumbering operations on the bay shore. The lands drained by the streams which flow into Green bay are located in Shawano and Oconto counties, the latter being the largest in the state. In 1847, Willard Lamb, of Green Bay, made the first sawed pine shingles in that district ; they were sold to the Galena railroad company for use on depot buildings, and were the first of the kind sold in Chicago. Subsequently Green Bay became one of the greatest points for the manufacture of such shingles in the world. The shores of the bay are low, and gradually change from marsh to swamp, then to level dry land, and finally become broken and mountainous to the northward. The pine is in dense groves that crowd closely upon the swamps skirting the bay, and reach far back among the hills of the interior. The Peshtigo flows into the bay about ten miles south of the Menomonee, and takes its rise far back in Oconto county, near to the latter's southern tributaries. It is counted a good logging stream, its annual product being from 40,000,000 to 60,000,000 feet.

The timber is of a rather coarse quality, running but a small percentage to what the lumbermen term "uppers." About ten per cent. is what is known as Norway pine. Of the whole amount of timber tributary to the Peshtigo, probably about one third has been cut off to this date. The remainder will not average of as good quality, and only a limited portion of the land is of any value for agricultural purposes after being cleared of the pine. There are only two mills on this stream, both being owned by one company. The Oconto is one of the most important `streams in the district. The first saw-mill was built

on its banks about the year 1840, though the first lumbering operations of any account were begun in 1845 by David Jones. The business was conducted quite moderately until 1856, in which year several mills were built, and from that date Oconto has been known as quite an extensive lumber manufacturing point. The timber tributary to this stream has been of the best quality found in the state. Lumber cut from it has been known to yield the extraordinarily high average of fifty and sixty per cent. uppers. The timber now being cut

will not average more than half that. The proportion of Norway is about five per cent. It is estimated that from three fourths to four fifths of the timber tributary to the Oconto has been cut away, but it will require a much longer time to convert the balance into lumber than was necessary to cut its equivalent in amount, owing to its remote location. The annual production

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LUMBER MANUFACTURE.

of pine lumber at Oconto is from 50,000,000 to 65,000,000 feet. The whole production of the district, exclusive of the timber which is put into the Menomonee from Wisconsin, is about 140,000,000 feet annually.

The Wolf river and its tributaries constitute the next district, proceeding westward. The first saw logs cut on this stream for commercial purposes were floated to the government mill at Neenah in 1835. In 1842, Samuel Farnsworth erected the first saw-mill on the upper Wolf near the location of the present village of Shawano, and in the following spring he sent the first raft of lumber down the Wolf to Oshkosh. This river also rises in Oconto county, but flows in a southerly direction, and enters Winnebago lake at Oshkosh. Its pineries have been very exten- sive, but the drain upon them within the past decade has told with greater effect than upon any other district in the state. The quality of the timber is very fine, and the land is considered good for agricultural purposes, and is being occupied upon the lines of the different railways which cross it. The upper waters of the Wolf are rapid, and have a comparatively steady flow, which renders it a very good stream for driving logs. Upon the upper river, the land is quite rolling, and about the head-waters is almost mountainous. The pine timber that remains in this dis- trict is high up on the main river and branches, and will last but a few years longer. A few years ago the annual product amounted to upward of 250,000,000 feet; in 1876 it was 138,000,000. The principal manufacturing points are Oshkosh and Fond du Lac ; the former has 21 mills, and the latter 10.

Next comes the Wisconsin, the longest and most crooked river in the state. It rises in the extreme northern sections, and its general course is southerly until, at Portage City, it makes a grand sweep to the westward and unites with the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien. It has numer- ous tributaries, and, together with these, drains a larger area of country than any other river in the state. Its waters flow swiftly and over numerous rapids and embryo falls, which renders log- driving and raft-running very difficult and even hazardous. The timber is generally near the banks of the main stream and its tributaries, gradually diminishing in extent as it recedes from them and giving place to the several varieties of hard-woods. The extent to which operations have been carried on necessitates going further up the stream for available timber, although there is yet what may be termed an abundant supply. The first cutting of lumber on this stream, of which there is any record, was by government soldiers, in 1828, at the building of Fort Winne- bago. In 1831, a mill was built at Whitney's rapids, below Point Bass, in what was then Indian territory. By 1840, mills were in operation as high up as Big Bull falls, and Wausau had a population of 350 souls. Up to 1876, the product of the upper Wisconsin was all sent in rafts to markets on the Mississippi. The river above Point Bass is a series of rapids and eddies ; the current flows at the rate of from 10 to 20 miles an hour, and it can well be imagined that the task of piloting a raft from Wausau to the dells was no slight one. The cost of that kind of transportation in the early times was actually equal to the present market price of the lumber. With a good stage of water, the length of time required to run a raft to St. Louis was 24 days, though quite frequently, owing to inability to get out of the Wisconsin on one rise of water, sev- eral weeks were consumed. The amount of lumber manufactured annually on this river is from 140,000,000 to 200,000,000 feet.

Black river is much shorter and smaller than the Wisconsin, but has long been known as a very important lumbering stream. . It is next to the oldest lumber district in the state. The first saw-mill west of Green Bay was built at Black River Falls in 1819 by Col. John Shaw. The Winnebago tribe of Indians, however, in whose territory he was, objected to the innovation of such a fine art, and unceremoniously offered up the mill upon the altar of their outraged

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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

solitude. The owner abruptly quitted that portion of the country. In 1839 another attempt to establish a mill on Black river was more successfully made. One was erected at the same point by two brothers by the name of Wood, the millwright being Jacob Spaulding, who eventually became its possessor. His son, Mr. Dudley J. Spaulding, is now a very extensive operator upon Black river. La Crosse is the chief manufacturing point, there being ten saw-mills located there. The annual production of the stream ranges from 150,000,000 to 225,000,000 feet of logs, less than 100,000,000 feet being manufactured into lumber on its banks. The balance is sold in the log to mills on the Mississippi. It is a very capricious river to float logs in, which necessitates the carrying over from year to year of a very large amount, variously estimated at from 150,000,000 to 200,000,000 feet, about equal to an entire season's product. This makes the business more hazardous than on many other streams, as the loss from depreciation is very great after the first year. The quality of the timber is fine, and good prices are realized for it when sold within a year after being cut.

The Chippewa district probably contains the largest and finest body of white pine timber now standing, tributary to any one stream, on the continent. It has been claimed, though with more extravagance than truth, that the Chippewa pineries hold one-half the timber supply of the state. The river itself is a large one, and has many tributaries, which penetrate the rich pine district in all directions. The character of the tributary country is not unlike that through which the Wisconsin flows. In 1828 the first mill was built in the Chippewa valley, on Wilson's creek, near its confluence with the Red Cedar. Its site is now occupied by the village of Meno- monee. In 1837 another was built on what is the present site of the Union Lumbering Company's mill at Chippewa Falls. It was not until near 1865 that the Chippewa became very prominent as a lumber-making stream. Since that date it has been counted as one of the foremost in the north- west. Upon the river proper there are twenty-two saw-mills, none having a capacity of less than 3,500,000 feet per season, and a number being capable of sawing from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 The annual production of sawed lumber is from 250,000,000 to 300,000,000 feet ; the production of logs from 400,000,000 to 500,000,000 feet. In 1867 the mill-owners upon the Mississippi, between Winona and Keokuk, organized a corporation known as the Beef Slough Manufactur- ing, Log-Driving and Transportation Company. Its object was to facilitate the handling of logs cut upon the Chippewa and its tributaries, designed for the Mississippi mills. At the confluence of the two rivers various improvements were made, constituting the Beef Slough boom, which is capable of assorting 200,000,000 feet of logs per season. The Chippewa is the most difficult stream in the northwest upon which to operate. In the spring season it is turbulent and ungovernable, and in summer, almost destitute of water. About its head are numerous lakes which easily overflow under the influence of rain, and as their surplus water flows into the Chippewa, its rises are sudden and sometimes damaging in their extent. The river in many places flows between high bluffs, and, under the influence of a freshet, becomes a wild and unmanageable torrent. Logs have never been floated in rafts, as upon other streams, but are turned in loose, and are carried down with each successive rise, in a jumbled and confused mass, which entails much labor and loss in the work of assorting an 1 delivering to the respective owners. Previous to the organization of the Eagle Rapids Flooding Dam and Boom Company, in 1872, the work of securing the stock after putting it into the river was more difficult than to cut and haul it. At the cities of Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls, where most of the mills are located, the current, under the influence of high water, is very rapid, and for years the problem was, how to stop and retain the logs, as they would go by in great masses and with almost resist- less velocity. In 1847 is recorded one of the most sudden and disastrous floods in the history of log-running streams. In the month of June the Chippewa rose twelve feet in a single night,

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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

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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.

205,000,000

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

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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.

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The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 28

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 840

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 840