Barron County, Wisconsin - Chapter 11: Logging Days and Lumbering Industry, 1922

Barron County, in the early part of the last century, was densely covered with forests, amid which sparkled sky blue lakes and rippling streams.

The northern third was stocked with a mixed forest of pine and hard¬ woods, the pine prevailing except on the ridge in the northwestern part of the country. In the central part was a great stretch of pine forest with a thin mixture of hardwoods, and occasional hardwood groves. The southeastern

The county was first chosen as the scene of logging operations in 1847 and work was started the next year. The work of denudation went on for half a century, and in 1897, just fifty years from the time that operations here were determined upon, the forests were practically gone.

In that year, 1897, a Government report showed that most of the pine has been cut, except in the extreme northern and northeastern towns. The stand¬ ing pine was in isolated bodies and was estimated at 150,000,000 feet. The hardwoods were culled, and in nearly all parts of the county damaged by fire. The scattering bodies of better hardwood were believed to represent a stand of about 250,000,000 feet, in which oak, basswood, birch and maple entered in nearly equal proportions. The swamps of the county were reported bare of merchantable timber in any large quantities.

Between the two dates lies a story of toil and hardships, of ambition and heartbreak, of fortunes and reputations made, of hopes realized or aspira¬ tions shattered, a story of drudgery and thrills, a story of the draining of the very life blood of the county's wealth, only to make way for the development of a still greater wealth along other lines.

The story of Knapp, Stout & Co., afterward the Knapp, Stout & Co. Com¬ pany, is inseparably interwoven with the first half century of the county's history. It was they who logged nearly all the county.

Captain William Wilson came from Fort Madison, Iowa, in 1846, and explored lands along the Chippewa river, as the result of which he and John H. Knapp, also of Fort Madison, purchased a half interest in a little saw mill situated at the mouth of what is now Wilson Creek, in what is now the city of Menomonie. They started work June 1, 1846, and in the fall bought the remaining half interest. August 19, 1850, Captain Andrew Tainter, of Prairie du Chien, purchased a fourth interest. Aug. 20, 1853, Henry L. Stout, of Dubuque, Iowa, bought a fourth interest and the name was changed to Knapp, Stout & Co. May 1, 1854, Thomas B. Wilson became a member of the firm, and a number of years later John H. Douglass, of St. Louis, a nephew of John H. Knapp, became a member. March 18, 1878, the firm was incorporated as the Knapp, Stout & Co. Company, with a capital stock of $2,000,000, which was doubled in 1882. The shareholders were John H. Knapp, Jelry L. Stout, Andrew Tainter, William Wilson, Thomas B. Wilson and John H. Douglass. John H. Knapp was made president; Thomas B. Wilson, secretary; and John H. Douglass, treasurer.

The company made vast purchases of pine lands in this region from the Government at $1.25 an acre. In 1863 it bought 10,000 acres of pine land and the mill at Waubeck from C. C. Washburn. In 1879-80 it purchased over 100,000 from Cornell University and the Northwestern and Omaha railroads. Other extensive purchases were also made.

In 1847, the year after he had formed his partnership with John H. Knapp, and bought the saw mill at Menomonie, Captain William Wilson, with two men, started up the Hay River on an exploring trip.

Reaching the mouth of Vance Creek they followed that stream for a short distance. Then they cut across the country, in a northeast direction, and in time came out on a blufT, overlooking the Hay River. Here lay the apex of a sightly prairie, narrowing among the hills to the immediate northward, and stretching to the southward in ever increasing expanse. Hazel brush grew in profusion, and here and there were to be seen patches of scrub oak.

A vision of the future when the rich timber lands of this region would become the scene of busy logging operations was already in Captain Wilson's mind. He foresaw that a central camp would be necessary, he realized that with the difficulties of transportation it would be wise to start a farm to supply the camp with food and fodder, and he contemplated also the advan¬ tages of a mill at such a camp.

The land upon which he gazed from the top of the bluff on that historic day answered every requirement. An advantageous situation on a swift flowing creek into which emptied many smaller streams flowing through heavily wooded acres; a sufficient drop to afford ample water power; and fertile land awaiting the plow of the husbandman.

"Prairie Farm," he exclaimed, as his eye swept the landscape and measured its resources. To this day the name has remained. A camp was established soon after Capt. Wilson's visit.

In 1848 Captain Andrew Tainter, who had been connected with logging and mill activities at Chippewa Falls and along the Menomonie, started logging some eight miles north of Turtle Lake, with four ox teams, and a few helpers, mostly Indians and half breeds. His wife, Poskin, gave her name to the region. When he reached Menomonie with his drive in the spring, he intended to take the proceeds and follow the Gold Rush to California.

Instead, he became interested in the operations of the Messrs. Knapp and Wilson, and soon after, as already stated, became a third partner, thus as he used to say, discovering a gold mine in the timber of Wisconsin instead of in the quartz of the Pacific Coast. The story is that Knapp & Wilson were unable to pay Captain Tainter for his logs, and so persuaded him to join his activities with theirs.

With this beginning Prairie Farm gradually developed. At the head¬ quarters here, all the supplies, equipment and provisions were kept, and from here sent out. At the farm established here, the mules, oxen and horses were stabled, and hay, oats, potatoes, other vegetables and a little grain raised for the camps. In 1863 a dam was established there for the purpose of facili¬ tating the handling of logs. The same year a sawmill was built for the purpose of getting out lumber for building operations in the neighborhood.

About 1856 the company extended its Menomonie River operations into the county, and gradually established camps further up the Menomonie and its tributaries. The camp was established at the present site of Barron in 1860, on the present site of Rice Lake in 1868, and on the present site of Chetek in 1872. Other less pretentious camps were scattered here and there in the woods.

The cruisers entered the magnificent forests and selected suitable places for cutting, a camp was put up in a location convenient to this cutting, the lumberjacks and teamsters arrived, the great trees were cut off, the logs were floated down the river to enrich Menomonie, and where a short time before the great primeval pines threw their splendor of living green, the skies soon beheld a desolate ruin of stump and brush, frequently swept by fire.

In the seventies the Knapp, Stout & Co. was said to be the greatest lumber corporation in the world. In 1873 this firm owned 116,000 acres of pinelands on the Chippewa and Menomonie rivers, from which it cut and manufactured during the year in its various steam and water-power mills, 55,000,000 feet of lumber, 20,000,000 shingles, and 20,000,000 lath and pickets. It maintained at Menomonie in addition to its mills a foundry machine shop and blacksmith shop, a grain warehouse of 40,000 bushels capacity, and a grist mill in which its yearly requirements of flour were ground. It owned six large farms in Dunn and Barron counties, containing 6,000 or 7,000 acres of improved land, upon which were raised its supplies of wheat and pork. It conducted general merchandise stores, the annual sales of which amounted to $750,000. Large lumber yards were maintained at Reed's Landing, Dubuque and St. Louis. Twelve hundred men were on its payroll.

The activities centered at Menomonie. There, each fall, gathered a motley crew from near and far. Some came from Europe, some from Canada, some from the older states, some from other parts of Wisconsin. Some lived near Menomonie. Indeed many of the men who had families settled on farms in

From Menomonie they came into this county. Some went to Prairie Farm, and from there spread into the surrounding camps further up the Hay River valley, or across to Barron and Rice Lake, and up the Menomonie and Yellow river valleys. Others came directly up the Menomonie to Chetek, Barron and Rice Lake, and from these points spread to other camps.

A picturesque sight along the tote roads in the early seventies were the four-mule wagons, bringing loggers and provisions from Menomonie to the camp at Rice Lake. A start was made at Menomonie early in the morning and the route led through Colfax to Sand Creek in Dunn County, which was even then well settled, and where a stop was made for the night at a farm house. From there the route led into this county and to Chetek, where the second night was spent. From there the teams followed a route which skirted to the east of the Cranberry marsh, at Cameron, and led to the camp at Rice Lake, and the men usually took a shorter route on foot, passing the foot of the cranberry marsh where Knapp, Stout & Co. had built a logging dam.

The tote roads were an interesting feature of Barron County life. They led everything through the woods and stumps to the logging camps. The main routes were fairly well cleared and gradually developed into well-traveled highways. The branch routes were of the roughest description, merely a trail cut out, with here and there a larger stump pulled out to make the going a little better, or a small log thrown down to fill a depression.

As the years passed, many of the workers in the lumber camps began to settle in Barron County. A site was selected, a little clearing made, and cabin put up, as the beginning of a farm. The family and household goods were brought in carts or wagons along the tote roads, and then carried on the backs of the pioneers into the claim in the woods. There the men worked in the growing season, clearing a little land each year, putting in a few crops, and wresting a scanty livelihood from the soil.

The scenes about the lumber camps in Barron County are ones never to be forgotten by those who saw them. Some of the camps were of a pretentious nature, with bunk shacks, cook shacks, stables, stores and blacksmith shops, and became the sites of permanent settlements. Others were temporary, and consisted of a shack for sleeping and eating, and a stable for the draught animals.

The more pretentious camps were in charge of caretakers during the summer season. The temporary ones were abandoned as soon as the timber in the vicinity was cut off.

A typical lumber camp in any of the Wisconsin pineries presented to the spectator a combination of animated sights and sounds. The rapid tap of the chopper's axe, the sudden crush as here and there a majestic pine thun¬ dered to earth, the swish of the needles as the branches were trimmed from the trunks, the commands of the foreman, the voices of the drivers, the rattle of chains as the logs were snaked into piles, the jingle of bells as the sled with its load of gathered logs slowly moved off to the river or lake bank, or returned on a run for a new burden of logs, the hearty shouts of the red shirted lumberjacks as they hastened about their work in the keen and exhil¬ arating air - all this was the foreground for which, in strange contrast, the background was the solemn grandeur of the forest.

darkness. Teamsters generally continued their duty long after daylight had gone, in the care and attention which it was necessary to give to their teams.

Next to the foreman the influential man in the camp was the cook. He had a helper who was termed a "taffel" or "cookee." When meals were ready the cook did not announce that "dinner is served," but he announced the same fact in two stentorian words, "grub pile." The food was not elaborate, but it was substantial and usually plentiful.

Energies of the lumbermen were then turned to the log drive. Presently rivers were freed from their imprisoning coat of ice and the spring floods were at hand to carry the logs to the mills.

Unfortunate indeed was the lumberman, particularly when his operations took him far up stream, if the melting snow and the spring rains produced only a slight raise of water. Then his logs were tied up, and he must wait for a more favorable year to carry them to market.

But -when the river was high, the red-shirts, handspike in hand, gaily set about the hazardous work of "breaking" the rollways, and delivering to the swollen stream the accumulated harvest of the winter's work.

The drive was the most picturesque, as it was certainly the most danger¬ ous period of the season's operations. Down the ice-cold torrent, thousands upon thousands of logs went surging and hurtling, sometimes halting at an obstruction, as if in hesitation, and piling up in rude masses, then rushing onward again with greater momentum than before.

It was the business of the drivers to keep this unstable mass constantly moving over obstructions, across rapids and waterfalls, and around bends in the stream. Occasionally, unless it could be quickly broken, an obstruction piled up the charging mass behind it to huge proportions. For many rods up the river the pine was piled and wedged, completely obliterating for that distance all sight of water. Upon such a confused and treacherous mass the hardy drivers ventured with their iron-shod spikes, seeking with practiced eye to discover and, if possible, dislodge the logs that formed the key to the triangle. Many a daring fellow lost his life in the wild rush of struggling pine that followed the successful breaking of the jam.

Every hour of the day was filled with thrills and danger and the most strenuous work. When night fell, the "Waunegan" boat that carried the tents, blankets and supplies, was headed for the shore, camp was made, fires were built, and after a hearty meal, tired out with the day's hard work, the men slept the sleep of the healthy, to be routed out at daybreak for a repetition of the labors of the day before.

There was a flavor or resemblance in these men, with their boats and camps and songs, that called up at once, their prototypes, the old French- Canadian voyageurs, but the days of them are now past and gone.

After the coming of the railroads, and the dwindling of the streams, many of the logs were taken to the railroad sidings and loaded on cars, in¬ stead of being piled on the river banks and floated down the stream. Some, too, were taken to the sawmills which began to spring up here and there in the county.

Even some of the younger men of the county remember the quaint "sum¬ mer logging" with the log tramways and the crude tramcars, especially that of the late eighties.

A scant snowfall made the usual winter logging difficult. The mills deeded the logs. Consequently, here and there tracks were laid of slender logs, mostly hemlocks and tameracks, pegged together. Over these crude tracks were operated the curious tramcar, with wide flanged wheels, the flanges of which fastened over the logs.

On a down grade, the horses were fastened behind the load instead of in front of it. Woe betide the luckless driver if his crude, break did not work,

The county was in the early logging days under the domination of an abso¬ lute autocracy. The lumber company, its superintendents and its foremen reigned supreme. They ruled with the great power of the influence behind them, and they ruled with fists as well. When an order was given it had to be obeyed.

A man in disfavor with the boss, superintendent or company official was bad off indeed. He could obtain no work in the entire region, he could get no provisions at the company stores, and even the hospitable bunkhouse bunk and meal, usually given free to any journeying logger, was refused him. A peremptory discharge left a man in the woods without money or food, with no means of obtaining transportation, and facing a long foodless tramp through the winter woods before he was out of the company's territory.

The company, for the most part, had charge of county affairs also. Its fav¬ orites were placed in office, and their every action dictated. Should a show of legality be desired, countless hundreds of lumber jacks could be claimed as residents and herded to the polls. Once in a while some man, independent of the company, was brave enough to offer defiance, as in the case of the bring¬ ing of the county records to Barron in 1874, but it took a courageous man in¬ deed to defy such absolute power, and as a rule, any man who would not lis¬ ten to company dictation, whether he was in the employ of the company or not, was speedily crushed and forced to leave.

Even after the close of the logging days the same spirit remained in the county to some extent, and well into the present century there were men who still attmpted to use the old lumber boss methods in obtaining their wishes in personal and public affairs.

On Aug. 12, 1903, the Knapp, Stout & Co. disposed of all its interests in Barron county to the Wisconsin Power Co. S. D. Stout, however, still owns a considerable tract about Cedar Lake, including the Lone Pine and Cedar Lake farms, two of the best equipped and best stocked farms in the county, and a beautiful island summer place.

In the late seventies sawmills assumed increasing importance. By 1881 there were quite a number in the county. Statistics for that year show an output as follows: Barron. George Parr & Son, 1,000,000 feet (cut, 500,000). Cartwright. D. J. Cartwright & Co., 900,000 (cut, 200,000). Chetek. P. Ben¬ son, 4,000,000; Forest Lumber Co., 5,000,000. Granite Lake. L. O. Larsen, 2,000,000. Knapp, Stout & Co. (not reported). Cumberland. L. O. Larsen,

At Barron, J. J. Smith and N. Carpenter erected a mill on the Yellow river in 1878. They sold to the Speed Brothers, who disposed of it to Parr, Post & Co. (consisting of George Parr, John Post and S. J. Parr). The mill was entirely rebuilt, the dam reconstructed, new water wheels and new machinery furnished, and other improvements made under the supervision of James Post, millwright. The plant consisted of a double rotary, with a capacity of 30,000 feet a day, a shingle mill of 35,000 production, a planer, lath and picket ma¬ chines, a resaw for the manufacture of siding, and a turning lathe for both wood and iron. Thomas W. Parr purchased John Post's interest in the prop^ erty in 1882 and the firm became George Parr & Son. In May, 1889, the firm became merged in the Parr Manufacturing Co. The mill property was burned Sept. 17, 1890. The company then bought the entire machinery and fittings of the steam sawmill at Turtle Lake, formerly belonging to Joel Richardson, and set it up near the site of the old mill at Barron. The new plant had a capacity of 40,000 feet a day. In the spring of 1891 the company purchased the shingle mill of J. W. Stone at Turtle Lake, and erected it near their other mill. A few years later the company disposed of the property. It passed through various hands, and was finally burned down. The waterpower is now used by the city of Barron.

In 1886, W. B. Judd erected a large steam saw and stave mill, principally for the manufacture of hardwood lumber, staves and heading, its capacity being 40,000 feet a day. This was northeast of the present canning factory. It was dismantled in the early nineties.

The J. W. McKesson stave and heading mill was erected on the present site of the canning factory the same year. It had a daily capacity of 26,000 staves and 10,000 headings.

E. N. Stebbins put up a stave and heading mill in 1891, located on the present site of the cattle sheds. His brother-in-law, W. L. Morris, and his son, E. N. Stebbins, Jr., later became partners, and the business was continued by them after the founder's death. The mill was burned in the fall of 1896, was rebuilt, damaged in the cyclone of 1898, rebuilt, burned in 1902, and in 1905 blew up, killing one of the workmen. It was then rebuilt and the busi¬ ness continued for some ten years more.

There are still two wood working establishments in Barron, August Weslin, of the Barron Wood Works, making sash doors and windows, office and store furniture, and other articles; and the Wenzel Brothers, manufacturing office and store furniture.

At Rice Lake in 1870, Knapp, Stout & Co. erected a waterpower saw¬ mill and grist mill. The grist mill was rebuilt into a planing mill. In 1890, the sawmill and planing mill were leased to the Rice Lake Lumber Co., re¬ modeled and fitted with new machinery. (

The Rice Lake Lumber Co. was organized in 1883, with a capital of $500,- 000, later increased. The officers were: President, O. H. Ingram; vice-presi¬ dent, William Carson; secretary, C. A. Chamberlin; treasurer, W. K. Coffin, all of Eau Claire. The company erected extensive saw mills and planing works, with large lumber yards. In 1890, as noted, it leased part of the Knapp, Stout & Co. property. On Aug. 19, 1919, the property was sold to the Park Falls Lumber Co., who have extensive works at that point, and operate one of the most important industries in the county. Most of its lumber comes from northeast of the county.

At the present time, in addition to the extensive operations of the Park Falls Lumber Co., the Rice Lake Manufacturing Co., the Ashland Manufac¬ turing Co. and C. Mercier & Sons, do general woodworking, the Hammond Lumber Co. has a mill, and the McKinnan Manufacturing Co. makes spokes, handles and hubs. There is also a large excelsior plant.

At Cumberland, Messrs. C. W. Griggs and A. G. Foster, of St. Paul, estab¬ lished a general store in 1879, and in connection therewith, engaged in pur¬ chasing cordwood, piling and railroad ties. In 1880, T. P. Stone and J. C. Maxwell purchased 100,000,000 feet of pine timber in the vicinity of Cum¬ berland, and in the fall put up a steam sawmill in the village. In 1881 the Messrs. Griggs, Foster, Stone and Maxwell consolidated, and organized the Cumberland Lumber Co. which a few months later was transferred to the Beaver Lake Lumber Co. of which H. E. Southwell was president, Jeff T. Heath, secretary, and L. B. Boyce, treasurer. The capacity of the mill was about 25,000,000 a year. After several changes in ownership the plant was sold to Messrs. C. W. Griggs, A. G. Foster and J. F. Miller, who incorporated the Beaver Dam Lumber Co. with a capital of $200,000 on Jan. 1, 1888, and in 1891 erected a band saw and shingle mill to cut 60,000 feet of lumber and 175,- 000 shingles daily.

Many other smaller mills were built at Cumberland, until at one time in the middle eighties, there were more mills at Cumberland than in all the rest of the county put together.

At North Cumberland, Mansfield & Lang built a steam sawmill with plan¬ ers, shingle and lath machinery. This was purchased by N. L. Hunter, who built it after its destruction by fire, giving it a capacity of 60,000 feet of lum¬ ber and 120,000 shingles daily.

The Cumberland Fruit Package Co. is the principal representative of the woodworking industry in the northwestern part of the county at the present time. It manufactures a general line of fruit packages, consisting of berry crates of all kinds, repacking baskets, grape and peach baskets and apple boxes. About a million feet of birch is used each year. Originally, this was obtained near Cumberland, but is now shipped in from outside. The busi¬ ness was started in 1910 by H. G. Monstad, Julius Ewald and Lewis Larson, of whom Mr. Larson is still actively identified with the concern. A com¬ plete history of the concern accompanies his biographical sketch which ap¬ pears in this volume.

At Barronett, formerly called Foster, the plant of the Barronett Lumber Co. was established in 1881. The company was formed that year at St. Paul, with a capital of $160,000. The officers were : President, Artemus Lamb ; vicepresident and general manager, W. R. Bourne; secretary and treasurer, David Joyce. The sawmill had two band saws, and there were also lath and shingle mills. The annual product in the busy years was about 10,000,000 feet.

At Turtle Lake, Stephen F. Richardson built a mill in 1879, which passed through several hands and in 1890 was purchased by the Parr Manufactur¬ ing Co. and removed to Barron. In 1890, J. W. Stone erected a saw and shingle mill at Turtle Lake, which was also sold to the Parr Manufacturing Co. and removed to Barron in 1891.

Near Chetek, Knapp, Stout & Co. erected a steam sawmill and planing mill in 1876, which they operated until 1888, when the lumber was exhausted. Willis Glaze erected a steam sawmill at Chetek in 1888, which a year or so later was removed to a location near the railroad. P. Benson and the Forest Lumber Co. had mills there in the eighties. Geo. Slawson now has a sawmill and a planing mill at Chetek.

There are still a few small sawmills in the county, mostly of the portable variety, and also a few small planing mills. With this exception, the mills of the county, except at Rice Lake, are about all gone. At Cumberland, the Cum¬ berland Fruit Package Co. is an important industry, and several other wood¬ working establishments are flourishing at different places, but woodworking no longer dominates the industrial situation.

Wood is cut each year in Barron county for fuel. Once in a while a load of logs is marketed. A little hardwood is still harvested. But the lumbering days are gone, and the county is now turning its attention to agriculture, and producing wealth, where during the logging and lumbering days, the county's life blood was continually drained out.

The reign of the lumber company is over, the power of the logging bosses is gone, the independent and prosperous farmers have taken their place. Year by year the blackened stumps are being cleared, and further and further the lumber camp days are receding into the memories of the past.