Barron County, Wisconsin - Chapter 9: Early Agriculture, 1922

Civilization gradually approached Barron County in the first half of the Nineteenth Century. The first permanent settlement in this region was made in 1828 when a saw mill was erected at the mouth of Wilson Creek, the present site of Menomonie. As early as 1839 three mills were in operation in the vicinity of Menomonie. St. Croix Falls was first settled in 1837, and Chippewa Falls in 1839. A saw mill at Eau Galle was built in 1840. A saw mill was built at Osceola in 1842 and a grist mill in 1848. Hudson was first settled in 1840 and the first farm opened there in 1841. Eau Claire was first settled in 1845. Settlers located at Pepin near the mouth of the Chippewa River in 1846, at River Falls in 1848, and at Arkansas in Pepin in 1862.

In 1848, Knapp, Stout & Co. started operations at Prairie Farm. In 1850, Levi Vance, who had been familiar with this region as an Indian trader as early at 1842, settled on section 5, township 31, range 13, just over the line in Dunn County near Prairie Farm. Others settled in his neighborhood. A little later farmers began to settle north of Prairie Farm village. Still later they began to come into the "oak openings" in Dallas Township, where the soil was more easily broken and tilled than was the land amid the trees and stumps in the heavily wooded portions of the county. With these be¬ ginnings the settlements penetrated further and further into the wilderness.

James Bracklin, speaking at Rice Lake, on July 4, 1876, gives Bank's neighbors as Ed. Delong, Mike Jones, George W. Jones and Thomas Snyder, and says they settled in that neighborhood in 1856. Banks, he says, after living a while on section 33, town 32, range 13 (Prairie Farm), moved outside the county to section 21, township 31, range 13, in Dunn County. Peter Deery, according to the same authority, settled in section 21, township 32, range 13, in 1859.

George W. Jones and John Banks both had children born in the county in the fifties, and there is some dispute as to which was the first born. Some gave the distinction to a daughter of Mike Jones, born in 1857. The first death was that of a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Philander Ball, near Barron, in 1863. Mrs. Ball died a few days later, the tradition being that she was poisoned by squaws jealous of her popularity. Mother and daughter were buried at Loupville, so called, in section 19, town 34, range 11, on the bank of the Me¬ nomonie River, about a mile north of the Soo railroad bridge east of Barron.

now Barron County. John Banks, aged 36, born in Ohio, and his wife, Parmelia, aged 31, born in Minnesota, had then four children: John, Jr., aged 9, born in Ohio; Almira, aged 6, born in Minnesota; and Benjamin, aged 4, and Frank, aged 2, both born in Wisconsin, and probably both born in the present Barron County. Banks' real estate is valued at $140 and his personal property at $66. George W. Jones, aged 34, born in Canada, and his wife Margaret, born in Wisconsin, had then three children: Susan, aged 11; Samuel, aged 8; and James, aged 3, all born in Wisconsin, and the last named probably born in what is now Barron County. The Jones real estate is valued at $275 and the personal property at $65. Banks and Jones are both classed as farmers. Thomas Snyder, aged 28, born in Pennsylvania, and Joseph Abair, aged 31, born in Canada, are both classed as permanent residents, and their occupation given as hunting. This census was taken Aug. 20, 1860. The region is spoken of as the town of Alden. It is probable that there were a few cabins in the woods overlooked by the census taker.

Gradually and slowly the settlement increased. A few of the settlers, as noted, came to establish farms, and usually settled in the oak openings where the land could be easily broken and tilled.

But some thirty years or so, the majority of the settlers were men who came here as employes of the lumber companies, and after working in the woods a season or so, selected a tract of land, built a cabin, made a small clearing, and thus established a home where their families could live, and where they themselves could do a little farming to help make a living during the seasons when they were not otherwise employed.

Much of the color and romance, the hardships and privations, the sorrows and joys, the hard work, the drudging toil, and the arduous and faithful labor which with the passing of the years brought success, and created prosperous farms from the unfriendly wilderness, is told in the biographical and family sketches found in this volume. Each family had its individual situation to meet, the memory of which will ever be held in precious remembrance in the heart of the descendants.

But in a general way, with individual variations, the experiences which these families underwent mingles in certain broad sweeps which makes up the real story of the making of the county.

As already noted in the chapter on the Lumbering Days, most of the Barron County settlers in the early years came first to Menomonie. Those who brought their families usually located them in that place, or near by in Dunn County, until they could look about.

Then they selected a location in Barron County. Some of the land was bought for credit or part cash from Knapp, Stout & Co. Some was preempted from the government at $1.25 an acre, some was taken under the homestead laws. Some was bought from the North Wisconsin railroad which had a large grant in this county. Some was purchased from Cornell University which also had holdings in the county. Some was bought from some older settler, who, through discouragement or restlessness, was ready to move onward to a new location.

Some of the tracts the settlers chose were in the pines, some were among the stumps, some in the "slashings," and burnt-over land, some in the hard¬ wood which was then considered a nuisance to be gotten rid of as speedily as possible. It was imperative that water of some sort, lake, stream or spring should be near by. Sometimes there was not even a trail leading to the loca¬ tion, and even the far-away tote road was little more than a rude track.

A few of the settlers had enough money to own a yoke of oxen. Most of them, however, hired the owner of a yoke of oxen or a pair of horses or mules at Menomonie, to bring their goods along the highway or tote road to the point nearest the claim, from which the goods must be carted to the cabin upon the backs of the men and older boys, the women and children helping as they could.

Most of the settlers had a stove, cooking and eating equipment, bedding, flour, bacon and salt, and little more beside. Furniture was made on the little clearing with an axe. For clearing and farming, many had but an axe, a shovel and a hoe.

A few brought a pig or two, and mayhap a chicken or two. Only a few had a cow, though many secured one soon after their arrival. Often the cow was used as a beast of burden.

A fortunate feature, however, was that oxen, mules, horses, cows, pigs and other live stock could usually be purchased from Knapp, Stout & Co.

When provisions were needed, the men trudged to far away Menomonie, Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, or other places, and brought back flour and other food on their backs. Stories are told of men who even brought in stoves in this way.

With the coming of winter, the men-folk, even those who eventually intended to make a living by farming, made for the woods, with the older boys. Those who had horses, or mules, or oxen, were fortunate, for these they could also take into the woods as a source of profit.

Drear indeed was the lot of the devoted mothers left with the children in the lonely cabins. Wild beasts ranged the woods, Indians were sometimes in the neighborhood, neighbors were far away, letters and reading matter was a rare treat. There were chores to do, the animals to look after, the household tasks to perform. Often provisions ran low, sometimes illness and even death stalked across the humble threshold.

In addition to the other duties, many of the women, especially those from the European countries, spent their extra time in carding, spinning and knitting. The cherished possession of many such families is now a spinning wheel brought far across the seas, and upon which some devoted mother spun as she dreamed dreams of a future in which she and the husband should have attained prosperity and comfort, and when the children should have grown to adult years, an honor and comfort to their parents, and happy in the possession of the comforts and opportunities of which she and her hus¬ band were denying themselves. The yarn being spun, it was knit into mittens, socks and even jackets to supplement the meagre supply of clothing.

In some of the neighborhoods there were schools which the children could attend part of the year. They w,pre of the crudest kind, usually with hand hewed benches. But for a number of years the more isolated children received only such instruction as their mothers could give them.

Happy indeed were the mothers, when some traveling minister or priest came along, held a meeting or mass at their home, baptized the children, and gave them Bible or catechism instruction. Some of the pleasantest memories of many of the older people now in the county is that the first meetings of the congregation in their neighborhood were held in their humble cabins.

For a number of years but little was raised on the little clearings except the food needed by the family. This was supplemented by wild game, and such staple provisions as could be purchased at the far away stores out of the slender family funds. Wheat and corn were taken to distant mills and ground into flour. Meat was dried and cured in the back yards, or hung up, preserved by the intense cold.

As the acreage of the clearings was increased, a little surplus, especially of rutabagas, hay, oats and meat could be sold to the lumber company.

The Knapp-Stout company itself was doing considerable farming during these years, and as already noted, the settlers on the more open land were progressing a little faster with their farming, and raising crops of a more general nature than those in the little clearings in the woods.

It should be repeated however that until toward the close of the past century, lumbering was the dominating occupation in Barron County, farming was secondary. Old settlers tell us that even toward the close of the nineties, or sometime later, few people had the vision to realize that a wide measure of prosperity could ever come to the county, or that the land would ever reach any more than a nominal value.

Failure to grasp the realization of the future possibilities of the county was in some measure due to the fact that the general opinion, based on the nature of the pine lands in many other portions of the state, and in many other states, is that pine land is sandy and unproductive. The pine soils of Barron County, however, are of the greatest richness, and susceptible to still further improvement to an almost unbelievable degree, by the use of scientific methods.

The first county assessment in Barron County of which there is any record was taken in 1869. It is probably not absolutely accurate, but nevertheless gives a general picture of conditions at that time.

The assessor found 40 horses which he valued at $4,020, a little over $100 apiece. There were 276 neat cattle valued at $9,646. Probably a goodly portion of the 276 were oxen and steers. Many mules were then used by the Knapp-Stout people, but only 21 were assessed, their value being placed at $2,220. The sheep and lambs assessed numbered 36 and were valued at $81.00. The swime numbered 68 and were valued at $377. There are now many single farms of 80 acres in the county which have more hogs and sheep than were in those days to be found in the whole county.

There were 121 wagons, carriages and sleighs, assessed at $3,805, and the manufacturers and merchants stock was assessed at $700. Fourteen watches were valued at $122. Other personal property was assessed at $11,- 654.00, bringing the total assessment of personal property to $32,624. The acres of land assessed amounted to 103,533, upon which was placed a valuation of $229,426.50.

The organization of the county and the increasing activity of the logging operators brought quite a few new families to the county in 1869 and 1870, new cabins were put up in the woods, new clearings made, and additional live stock brought into the county.

The population of the county increased from thirteen in 1860 to 538 in 1870. The assessment of 1871 showed considerable increase over that of 1869.

The number of horses assessed had more than doubled so that in 1871 there were 93 on the list. The number of neat cattle was also more than doubled, the assessed number being 603. Only six mules and asses appear. The sheep had increased but three, being numbered at 38. Wolves were plentiful, and sheep raising was an uncertain occupation. The number of swine had increased five times, the number assessed being 290. Swine were not hard to raise among the trees and stumps, they furnished food for the families, and as stated found a ready market at the lumber camps. There were 23 watches and 261 wagons, carriages and sleighs. The value of the merchants and manufacturers stock was placed at $2,600. Other personal property was valued at $26,772, making a total personal property assessment of $61,459. The number of acres assessed was 131,964, upon which a valuation of $254,606 was placed. The total assessed valuation of the county was $316,065.

The county had a small exhibition as a part of the state exhibit at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876. Feb. 29, of that year, A. Dewey, Ed. C. Coleman and H. J. Sill were appointed a committee to get this exhibit ready, and $25 was appropriated for the purpose. A touch of humor was added when it was voted that the committee be named a standing one to serve 100 years to the next Centennial.

The population of the county increased from 538 in 1870 to 7,023 in 1880. One railroad, now the Omaha, in the western part of the county, was put through in 1877-79. Several villages were platted between 1875 and 1880 but none were incorporated until later. Eleven townships, Chetek, Sumner, Stan¬ fold, Rice Lake (now Stanley), Prairie Farm, Dallas, Lakeland (now Cumber¬ land), Cedar Lake, Maple Grove, Clinton, and Turtle Lake were organized from the original town of Barron, before the census of 1880.

The assessment of 1881 showed 1,216 horses; 4,654 neat cattle; 173 mules and asses; 1,809 sheep and lambs; and 1,456 swine. Horses, carriages and sleighs to the number of 1,243 were valued at $16,075. Watches to the number of 128 were assessed at $1,386. Pianos and melidions to the number of 63 were valued at $2,240. The value of merchants and manufacturers stock was placed at $81,338. There was $350 in bank stock assessed at Rice Lake. The value of all other personal property was placed at $73,405, making a total personal property assessment of $306,229. The acres of land assessed had nearly trebled in the ten years since 1871, the 1881 assessment being on 378,112 acres. The value was still low. The assessed valuation of $858,880 meant an average valuation of less than $2.50 an acre. Platted lots were assessed at $44,457 and were located at Rice Lake, Cumberland, Barron and Chetek.

Between 1880 and 1890, the population was more than doubled, increasing from 7,024 to 15,416. Cumberland was incorporated as a village in 1881 and as a city in 1885. Rice Lake and Barron were incorporated as cities in 1887. The new townships of Vance Creek and Oak Grove were organized. The Omaha line in the western part of the county was built in 1882-83; the Soo line in the central part in 1884.

Along the line of the Omaha in the western part of the county were Turtle Lake, Perley (section 8, town 34, range 14), Comstock, Sprague (section 24, town 35, range 14), Granite Lake (section 17, town 36, range 13), and Barronett.

Along the line of the Omaha in the eastern part of the county were: Cartright, Chetek, Cameron (then North Cameron), and Rice Lake. Along the line of the Soo were Turtle Lake, Poskin (now abandoned), Poskin Lake (then called both Poskin Lake and Cosgrove, now the village of Poskin), Barron, North Cameron and Canton. Prairie Farm was quite a village, and Dallas a thriving hamlet. Sumner was in section 31, Sumner township, and Ironwood was a settlement in section 33, Cedar Lake.

Between 1890 and 1895 the population increased to 20,122. Chetek was incorporated as a city in 1891, and Cameron as a village in 1894. Dovre, created years before, was organized as a township. But there were as yet no telephones, no rural mail delivery, no automobiles.

The year 1895 was toward the close of the logging period. Farming did not reach its modern scientific basis, but agriculture was nevertheless assum¬ ing considerable importance.

No one as yet fully realized the tremendous possibilities of agriculture in the county, but with the passing of the timber resources, it was evident that the people must make their living exclusively from farming, if the county was to progress. A few leaders here and there were seeing the light, and urging the introduction of blooded dairy stock, and the opening of co-operative creameries and cheese factories.

Although the population has nearly doubled since 1895 (from 20,122 to 34,281) the elements of nationality in the county remain about as they were then. In fact since the early logging days there has been little practical change in the ratio, the Scandinavians leading, the Germans next, the Cana¬ dians next, and a scattering from other countries. In 1895 the census showed 3,484 born in Norway and Sweden, 1,023 born in Germany, 615 born in Canada, 179 in England, 79 in Ireland, 15 in France, 8 in Holland. Of the whole popu¬ lation of 20,122 there were 14,097 native born. It must be understood, how¬ ever, that the Americans of English stock do not figure largely in the list, most of the 14,097 being children born in the state of Scandinavian, German and Canadian parents. Since that time while the ratio, as stated, has remained about the same, among the dominant nationalities, there has been an influx of Italians, Russians, Poles, Finns, Bohemians and Hungarians.

Of the 561,000 acres, in round numbers of land in Barron County, only a little over 43,000 acres were cultivated in 1885. In 1895 there were but 264,819 acres classed as farm lands, of which but 79,260 were improved. In farm woodland there were 60,745 acres, and in unimproved land, 124,814 acres. The farm land was valued at $2, 528, 037 and the farm implements at $76,848. In 1905 there were in round numbers, 136,000 acres of improved farm land.

In that year there were in the county 5,795 milch cows, valued at $123,911. The cheese produced amounted to 18,270 pounds, valued at $1,714. The butter produced amounted to 528,125 pounds, valued at $72,834. Thus the entire value of butter and cheese produced was $74,548, less than the value now produced in a single month by the Barron creamery. Most of the butter and cheese made was on farms. The census of 1894 shows two creameries, one in Cumberland Township and one in Cumberland city. One cheese factory is reported in Oak Grove Township.

The potato industry, now second in importance to dairying in the county, amounted in 1885 to little more than a garden crop. The acreage planted was 760 and the bushels raised amounted to 86,443. The next ten years showed a rapid increase, so that in 1895, there were 3,164 acres planted, yielding 151,002 bushels, valued at $62,722. Following the industry into the modern period, the year 1905 shows 5,962 acres yielding 614,336 bushels.

The survey of 1895 showed 4,047 hogs in the county, valued at $19,353. During the year 3,087 hogs had been slaughtered, valued at $29,325. The cattle and calves in the county numbered 11,169, valued at $166,709. During the year 2,827 cattle and calves had been slaughtered, valued at $35,439. The 5,795 milch cows, valued at $123,911, have already been mentioned. There were 12,391 sheep and lambs in the county valued at $20,065. During the year 2,858 sheep and lambs had been slaughtered, valued at $5,068. The wool produced amounted to 33,790 pounds, valued at $4,225. There were 4,724 horses and mules, valued at $267,100.

The hay harvested amounted to 21,349 tons, valued at $175,924; the timothy seed, 77 bushels, valued at $197 ; the clover seed, 31 bushels, valued at $165; and the flax seed, 6 bushels, valued at $9.

The maple sugar produced was placed at 395 pounds, valued at $44; the maple syrup, at 224 gallons, valued at $294. The 1,444 colonies of bees pro¬ duced 35,574 pounds of honey, valued at $6,185; and 341 pounds of wax, valued at $4,015.

Few people believed in 1895 that apples could be raised in the county. The census showed a production of 47 bushels. There were but 25 pounds of cultivated grapes. Three acres were planted to berries, yielding 52 bushels, valued at $128.

The miscellaneous items for 1895 are also interesting. The lumber, shingles and lath produced were valued at $575,180, the other wooden articles at $49,850. There were 35,900 yards of woolen fabrics produced, valued at $16,664. Iron goods produced amounted to $600 and leather goods at $1,000. The flour made amounted to 34,755 barrels, valued at $120,077. There was also 1,500 barrels of beer brewed, valued at $10,500.

But despite the evidences of agricultural progress shown in the census of 1895, which marks the dwindling years of the lumber era, the county was then scarcely developing from a wilderness. It is true that there were pros¬ perous farming communities, with a few good homes, but these settlements were scattered. Less than one seventh of the county was under cultivation, vast stretches of wild land were to be found on every side, the landscape pre¬ sented a dreary aspect.

A better day, however, was approaching, and with the dawn of the new century the forces were forming, the influences were at work, which were to result in the glorious story of modern agriculture and dairying, a story which Had written the name of Barron County in the foremost ranks of the prosperous Wisconsin communities, and well in the front among the flourish¬ ing agricultural regions of the whole country.