Clark County, Wisconsin - Chapter 12: Lumbering, 1918

The settlement and development of Clark County was due to its vast stretches of pine, immediately tributary to the great waterways. North and south flows the Black River, that famous logging stream, while the Eau Claire branches in the west flow to the Chippewa, and the Eau Pleine and Yellow River branches in the east flow to the Wisconsin. ;

The pineries in this region originally embraced a vast tract commencing on the Black River about twenty miles below Black River Falls, and extending to Iron Mountain, about twenty miles from Superior. The most southern reaches of this great forest consisted of gray and jack pine, while proceeding up the river the gray pine diminished, nearly disappearing ten miles above the Falls. A change of the sandy soil to a loam, clay, and in wet places, to hard pan, takes place some three miles below Wedge's Creek on the east, and three miles above the creek on the west side of Black River, twenty miles above the Falls. Where the heavy soil existed the red pine nearly disappeared, and the lofty groves of white pine alternated with splendid tracts of hard wood timber composed of sugar maple, white ash, basswood, elm, butternut, cherry birch, white oak and red oak. The hard wood timber region in its soil, flora and timber presents nearly the same appearance as the hard woods of New England, except the oak replaced the New England beech. Along the banks of the river and large branches, the balsam, fir and spruce were found scatteringly in small trees.

Originally about one-fourth of Clark County was covered with white pine. This was sent to the market largely through the Black River and its branches. Some was sent down the Eau Claire from its branches in this county and thence into the Chippewa. The Wisconsin River also received Clark County logs from its branches in the western part of the county. The hardwood and hemlock which covered nearly three-fourths of the county, was not extensively used for commercial purposes until the nineties and later. Generally speaking the pine was along the river courses and low lands, while the hardwood was on the higher land and ridges.

Sherwood, Washburn, Levis, Dewhurst, Hewett and Mentor were in a great part covered with medium-sized pine with some hardwood ridges interspersed. This was cut off in the early days, The great fires of 1885 and 1886 burned thousands of acres in these towns clean, and in time they were covered to a great extent with wild grass. In the other townships the greater portions of the lands were covered with hardwood timber, although all the towns had considerable quantities of pine.

Hendren, Beaver, Unity, Butler, Meade, Warner, Reseberg, Longwood and Worden. These towns were covered with a dense vigorous growth of white and red oak, linden, maple, rock elm, birch, ash and some butternut. In 1890 the vast forests of Hendren, Butler, Meade, Fremont, Reseberg and Longwood had scarcely been touched by the woodsman's axe, and even the other townships in the hardwood had but comparatively few settler's clearings.

Large bodies of hardwood were also found in the northern portions of the towns of Sherwood and Washburn, the northeastern portion of Levis, and the towns of Thorp, Withee, Hixon, Pine Valley, Lynn, Seif, Sherman, Colby, Green Grove, Mayville and Hoard.

The northern portion of the towns of Mayville, Hoard and Withee also had a large quantity of hemlock, while scattered with this was some of the choicest birch timber in Wisconsin. The oak belt did not seem to extend north of the Popple River on the east side of Black River, but on the west side it extended north through Taylor County.

The most universal of the hardwoods were the linden or basswood, which constituted nearly one-half of the hardwood suitable for lumber, and was found in every town in the county, of excellent quality and very abundant. Next after this was oak, red and white, which in about equal quantities constituted nearly one-fourth of the whole amount, while the ash, maple, elm, birch, basswood and butternut constituted the rest. The hard maple was not so abundant or large and thrifty as was found in some portions of Wisconsin, but it was very largely birds-eye maple, and consequently the more valuable. The soft maple was found in considerable quantity, good, first clear logs, two and three feet in diameter, being frequently cut. The red oak was very large and healthy, and was probably as good as can be found anywhere in the Northwest. It was most abundant on the west side of Black River, many forties being found that would cut upwards of 100,000 feet of this timber in that locality. The white oak is said to be the best in the works for barrel stock and wagon timber, being very sound and tough, and yet cutting easily. It lacks the brittleness found in all white oak growing south of the Wisconsin River. This timber was found most abundant on the east side of Black River, south of Popple River, although there were considerable quantities on the west side of the river.

The rock elm was most abundant in the towns of Fremont, York, Loyal, Hendren and Eaton, where it grew abundantly on the higher lands, and was remarkable for the thriftiness and great length of the bodies of the trees before reaching the limbs. This timber is chiefly valuable for the manufacture of wagons and buggies, being much used as a substitute for hickory, which it greatly resembles in toughness. White ash was not found in considerable quantities, but the black ash was found abundant in all portions of the county on the low lands, and of excellent quality, and was much in demand, being by many considered more beautiful than black walnut when finished, and is susceptible of a high polish, having also the clearest grain of any wood growing in Wisconsin. The birch was found most abundant in the northern portion of the county, and proceeding south it became more scarce and of poorer quality. In the town of Hoard much birch was found, the trees being frequently three feet in diameter and very sound. This is a close-grained and very hard wood, the white portion on the outside being valuable for stained work in furniture, and the red or black heart in the large trees is extremely beautiful in its natural color and will take the highest polish. This portion of the birch was the most valuable hardwood grown in northern Wisconsin.

The Black River is the largest and the principal stream of Clark County. It has its headquarters in eastern Taylor County, and flows through Clark County in a southerly direction, entering the county in the town of Hixon (Town 29, Range 2 West) and leaving it at the south line of Township No. 23, Range 3 West, the town of Dewhurst. The length of the river in the county is about sixty-two miles. Its tributaries are mainly streams flowing from the east and northeast, the principal ones being the Poplar or Popple River, Rock Creek, Cawley Creek, O'Neill Creek, Cunningham Creek, and the east fork of the Black River. The principal tributary from the west is Wedge's Creek.

The distance by river from the "Soo" Line railroad bridge over Black River on the Duluth branch, to a point near La Crosse, where it joins the Mississippi, is 131 miles.

Black River, until in very recent years, has been used almost solely as a natural watercourse and highway for the transportation of logs, lumber and timber. Its usefulness in that line has passed away for the reason that practically it has no more saw logs on or about its banks to be boated away. The river, however, has great possibilities in its undeveloped water powers.

Black River has by far the steepest grade and the swiftest current of any river of its size within the State. Some of the rivers flowing north to Lake Superior have generally swifter currents, but they are much smaller.

The mouth of Black River, where it joins the Mississippi, is 628 feet above the level of the sea. At the "Soo" Line bridge on the Duluth branch, 131 miles distant, the elevation above sea level is 1,198 feet, showing the descent of the river to be 570 feet, or an average of about four and onethird feet per mile. The descents between points vary considerably. From the "Soo" Line bridge, just mentioned, to the railroad bridge just west of Withee, a distance of six and six-tenths miles, the descent is 11 feet, or an average of 1.7 feet per mile. From the Withee railroad bridge to the bridge on Sections 20 and 29, Town 20, Range 2 West, the distance of 5.5 miles, the descent 20 feet, an average of 3.6 feet per mile. From the last named bridge to just above Hemlock dam is six miles, the fall is 16 feet, an average of 2.7 feet per mile. From above Hemlock dam to 600 feet below the dam, a distance of one-tenth of a mile, the descent of 19 feet. From below Hemlock dam to a point between Sections 27 and 22, Town 27, Range 2 West, a distance of 3.2 miles, the descent is 25 feet, an average of a little over 8 feet per mile. From the last named point to the new Greenwood dam, a distance of one mile, the descent is 2 feet. From the Green- wood dam to the Fairchild & Northeastern Railway Co. bridge, a distance of 1.5 miles, the fall is 11 feet, an average of 7.3 feet per mile. From the Fairchild & Northeastern Railway bridge to the wagon bridge in the town of Weston on Sections 9 and 16, Town 25, Range 2 West, a distance of 4.7 miles, the descent is 36 feet, an average fall of 7.9 feet per mile. From the wagon bridge last named to the mouth of O'Neill Creek, a distance of 8 miles, the fall is 45 feet, an average of 5.6 feet per mile. From the mouth of O'Neill Creek to the center of Section 22, Town 24, Range 2 West, a distance of 4 miles, the descent is 60 feet, an average of 15 feet to the mile. From the point last named to the mouth of Cunningham Creek, 2 miles, a descent of 20 feet, the average fall is 10 feet to the mile. From the Cunningham Creek to the mouth of Wedge's Creek, 6.3 miles, the descent is 16 feet, and the average fall 2.5 feet per mile. From Wedge's Creek to the Dells dam, 1 mile, there is a descent of 19 feet, From the Dells dam to the mouth of the East Fork, 3.5 miles, there is a fall of 28 feet, or an average of 8.5 feet per mile. From the mouth of the East Fork to the railroad bridge at Hatfield, just south of the Clark County line, the distance is 3 miles, and the descent is 8 feet, or an average of 2.7 feet per mile. The elevations above the sea level have been determined at a number of the railway stations in the county, on and adjacent to Black River and its tributaries. Abbotsford and Dorchester are each 1,420 feet above sea level, Colby 1,363 feet, Curtiss 1,570 feet, Thorp 1,277 feet, Withee 1,268 feet, Owen 1,242 feet, Eidsvold 1,135 feet, Chili 1,232 feet, Lynn 1,139 feet, Granton 1,112 feet, Humbird 1,022 feet, and Neillsville 997 feet.

For nearly thirty years after the organization of the county, logging and lumbering were the principal industries here. The first loggers were the Mormons, who, in the forties, got out timber for their temple at Nauvoo, and were afterward employed in considerable numbers by Nathan Myrick, a La Crosse lumberman. The heavy loggers of the forties in this "ounty were Nathan Myrick, of La Crosse, and Jacob Spaulding, Andrew Sheppard, Amos Elliott and William T. Price, of La Crosse.

Amos Elliott, in a paper prepared in 1907, tells something of the operations in those days. In his narrative he states that he was born in Chester County, Pa., in 1822, and came to Black River Falls in 1845. Myrick, of La Crosse, was then logging with Jacob Spaulding, on the river above Neillsville. Mr. Elliott hired out as an ox teamster to Myrick, who furnished four yoke of cattle, and board for men and team, and paid 50 cents a thousand for the work. He left Black River Falls in September, 1845, and went through where Neillsville now is, and found Henry O'Neill, brother of James O'Neill, Sr., building a shanty on the creek. Elliott logged the winter of 1845-46 on the east side of Black River, above Cawley Creek, and that same winter, William T. Price logged below him on the west side of the river, having his camp on the river bank.

The winter of 1846-47, Mr. Elliot states that he went up the river from the Falls, with Tom Wilson, an old Quaker from Pennsylvania, and put in logs for one Grover, just opposite the mouth of Cunningham Creek; they stayed there all that winter, without a letter, paper or communication

In the fall of 1848, Mr. Elliot formed a partnership with William T. Price, which continued for several years. The winter of 1848-49, Elliot run a camp for the partnership, putting in logs on the west side of Black River, four miles above Cawley Creek. These logs were put in for Col. B. F. Johnson.

The winter of 1849-50, according to Mr. Elliot, the snow throughout Clark County was very deep, deeper, in his opinion, than it was some years later in, 1856-57, a winter that has ever since been known as the "winter of the deep snow." In the fall of 1850, Mr. Elliot took a logging job from Andrew Sheppard, on the east side of Black River, two or three miles below what is now Greenwood. That winter T. J. La Flesh worked for him.

In 1853, Samuel Weston, accompanied by David Robinson and several others, came from Maine and located at what has since been known as Weston's Rapids, two miles above Neillsville. They commenced running logs down the Black River and thus became the first local loggers in Clark County independent of the local mills, those previous to them, not connected with the local mills, having been residents of La Crosse or Black River Falls. In 1860 this logging center was a spirited little village with a store, a saw and grist mill, a furniture establishment, a large public house, a postoflice, a lawyer and some 260 inhabitants.

Clark County rapidly became a logging center, and for the next thirty years the great natural wealth of the county was poured out on the bosom of its streams. Down the Black River the logs were run to La Crosse, while down the Eau Claire they were sent to Winona and other points by way of the Chippewa River and Beef Slough.

The economic effect of this is apparent. La Crosse, Winona and other Mississippi points grew rich with the milling industry. Township after township in Clark County was denuded, leaving in the track of the loggers rotting stumps, dead trunks, inflammable brush and rubbish, and such standing trees as were unsuitable to the pine loggers' purpose. The loggers came in the fall and left in the spring, taking with them their wages, having in the meantime, for the most part, purchased their provisions, supplies and clothing in other localities.

In the latter sixties the three principal local logging firms in Clark County were Hewett, Woods & Co., Leonard R. Stafford and Robert Ross. Hewett, Woods & Co. continued in business for many years. At the height of the logging business they cut from 12,000,000 to 18,000,000 feet a year. Among the early contractors for this concern were Ed Allen, John Dwyer, Richard Hawks, Charles W. Hyslip, Jones Tompkins, Hiram Palmer and numerous others. Richard Hawks lived at Neillsville and had some little pine on O'Neill Creek close to its bank. The pine was large and would go two and one-half to three logs to the thousand feet. It was the very best quality, and would saw out a great deal of it, into clear lumber. In 1867, he put in these logs and sold them for $3.75 per thousand feet, board measure. Such logs today

John Dwyer lived in the town of Grant. He was short in stature, but exceedingly stout, but notwithstanding his heavy weight, he was very light on his feet, able to execute a double shuffle with rare agility. He was a most jolly man, addicted to whistling, and would occasionally drop into poetry. His rhymes always had some local or personal flavor, and were always made on the spur of the moment. He died at his home in the town of Grant in the year 1882. Hewett, Woods & Co. usually put in most of their timber themselves, that is it was let out to others. They would build their own camps and put in their own foreman to oversee or "run" the camp as it was termed. Prominent among these foremen were Chet Olson, Hiram Palmer and 8. B. Hewett.

In the seventies, in addition to Hewett, Woods & Co., the principal local loggers were Schofield & Weston and Thompson & Root. The Thompson & Root Co. consisting of B. F. Thompson and Homer C, Root logged eleven winters and cut in all some 55,000,000 feet.

There were many others engaged in logging in Clark County in the latter years mostly in putting logs on contract for the owners, some of them, however, put on their own account, although the main portion of their business was generally done under contract. Among them were Henry Huntzicker, Jacob Huntzicker, Richard Dewhurst, Jones Tompkins, S. C. Boardman, George L. Lloyd, Hiram Palmer, Daniel Gates, Joseph Gibson, Anson Green, J. L. Gates, Andrew Emmerson and many others. In fact, at one time or another, most of the adult male population of the county have been engaged either directly or indirectly in the logging business, Nearly every farmer in the county has at some time sold a part of his timber to be converted into saw logs.

The last logger to do any business on Black River was Alvin 8. Trow, of Merrilan, Jackson County, who died in September, 1909. The last large tract of pine in the county was cut and hauled by train in Town 26 on the F. & N. E. Railway, a few years ago.

In the seventies the principal outside firms logging in Clark County were Bright & Withee, Gile & Holway, Sawyer & Austin, W. W. Crosby, Hixon & Withee, C. L. Coleman, John Paul, P. S. Davidson, Robert Ross, W. H. Polleys, D. J. Spaulding, C. C. Washburn and Abner and Philander Coburn,

Among other outsiders who have conducted extensive lumbering operations in Clark County may be mentioned Alex McMillan, D. D. McMillan, S. L. Nevins, W. C. Bussell, Hiram Goddard, E. L. Brockway, L. G. Merrill, Cullen Ayers, the Eau Claire Lumber Co. and others.

The control of the Black River for log driving purposes, ever since the year 1864, has been with a corporation known as the Black River Improvement Company. This improvement company was created by the act of the legislature (Chapter 84 of the P. L. laws of 1864, as amended by Chapter 447 of the P. and L. laws of 1866).

The officers and directors were all lumbermen operating on the Black River, as, indeed, were all of its stockholders. The purpose of the corpo- ration as expressed in its articles of organization was to improve the navigation of Black River and lakes near the mouth of the same, in the counties of Clark, Jackson, Trempealeau and La Crosse, by building dams, break jams, deepening, widening and straightening the channel, closing up chutes and side cuts leading from the Black River into the Mississippi, and into its bottom lands, and into sloughs; to erect booms and piers, to construct levees or dikes, and repair and straighten the banks of Black River; and they were authorized to prescribe, charge and collect tolls on the running of logs down Black River,

This improvement company had complete control of the river from the time of obtaining its charter until the driving of saw logs ceased. It was the policy of the company to discourage the manufacture of lumber on the river, except at its mouth. It was a selfish one and took no thought of the years to come.

After the year 1872, when, by constitutional amendment, the legislature was prohibited from creating corporations by special law, several corporations were organized under the general laws of the state, for the purpose of competing with the improvement company. Among them were the La Crosse Booming and Transportation Company and the Black River Flooding Dam Association. In litigation that afterwards ensued between the improvement company and the new corporations, the latter were uniformly beaten.

The Supreme Court of the State decided that the Black River Improvement Company, having under their charter taken and retained possession of a part of the river, for the purpose of improving its navigability, the other companies had no right under the law, and took no authority to improve any part of the stream, even if it was a part of the river, that the improvement company had never attempted to take and improve - that the possession of a part of the river was in law a possession of the whole of it, by the elder company. From thence on the Black River Improvement Company held undisputed control of the river.

Details and statistics of the logging operations year by year in Clark County are not available. The statistics that are available are for the Black River and Chippewa River output, without reference to county lines. The general situation, however, may be mentioned briefly. Logging operations gradually increased in Clark County from 1845 to 1856. The early fifties with the great increase of settlers into the upper Mississippi region not only created an ever-increasing demand for building at good prices, but also made more labor available. In addition to this the quick occupation of the government lands nearer the Mississippi, and the certainty that the time was not far distant when all the best land would be pre-empted, caused a number of home-seekers to consider more favorably the prospects of establishing farms amid the forests of Clark County.

Some of the settlers, indeed, chose this county in preference to the open lands, for while the prairie sod had but to be broken before responding with a wealth of harvest, nevertheless the prairie lacked wood and water. In Clark County there was an abundance of water, fuel and building material secured on the spot, lumber could be obtained from nearby mills, ready cash could be earned by working for the loggers and millers, and the presence of the mills and camps made supplies available and furnished possibilities for companionship.

But then came the winter of the deep snow when forest work was almost impossible, followed by the panic of 1857 and its succeeding three years of suffering and privation. Logging and milling operations were almost entirely suspended. What little money the millers received for the lumber and the loggers for their work was in paper of doubtful value, which sometimes became worthless in a day,

Men who had established their little homes in the wilderness, planning to work in the woods in the winters and thus secure money to pay the preemption requirement and to buy supplies for immediate necessities, while devoting their summers to gradually clearing and developing their farms, found themselves without money, without resources, and with their prospective farm land still uncleared.

Many left the county. Some, however, grimly held on and waited for better times. During the succeeding years their hopes rose and fell. The year 1860 was one of prosperity; the opening of the Civil War brought industrial and financial depression. In 1863 there was a revival of the demand for lumber. In 1865 came the great floods, which carried away mills and logs and lumber. With the close of the Civil War began a period of prosperity, but little affected by the national depression of 1867.

A citizen writing in 1890, just before the diminishing of the logging business made these estimates of the industry: "The cut of pine on the Black River and its tributaries for the past ten years has been nearly 200,- 000,000 feet annually, and of this probably 140,000,000 annually has been cut in Clark County, The cut in Clark County on the Eau Claire River has been 20,000 feet per annum, and the cut on Yellow River in Clark County has been about 5,000,000 feet per annum."

Greenwood was laid out in 1867 and Humbird in 1869. In 1871 and 1872 there was an increasing demand for lumber, especially after the great October fires of 1871, one of which swept Chicago and caused a great demand for lumber, while another devastated the lumber regions of northwestern Wisconsin, and thus cut off the supply from that region. In the winter of 1871-72, probably 350,000,000 feet of logs were cut in Clark County, The panic of 1873 again wrought havoc with lumber operations in Clark County, and for a few years there was little progress. The "Al. Brown winter" of 1877-78 brought practically no snow, and the operations for that winter were at a standstill. But the next year marked the beginning of the halcyon days of pine lumbering in Clark County, which continued until the early nineties.

During these flourishing stages of development the county had gradually increased in population. In 1855 there were 232 people in the county. In 1860 there were 789, during the war the increase was small, and 1865 found the population 1,011. In 1870 there were 3,450 people in the county, and in 1875, in spite of the fact that ten townships had been

The amount of pine cut and floated down Black River during the forty years or more of logging, according to the records, was 8,000,000,000 feet board measure. At a value of $12.50 per thousand, it was worth $100,- 000,000.

And it must be borne in mind that this vast amount of timber does not embrace the many millions of feet cut in Clark County, that were landed in the tributaries of the Eau Claire River, nor the large amounts of pine that came from this county that was landed in the Yellow River and other tributaries of the Wisconsin River. Neither does it include the large amount that has been taken out by railroad, nor sawed in the numerous sawmills.

To realize the stupendous figures of 8,000,000,000 feet board measure, it may be observed that if these logs averaged 200 feet each, or five to the thousand, of 16 foot logs, that a 1,000 feet board measure, and the logs placed end to end, would measure 80 feet, and 8,000,000,000 feet board measure would extend over 121,000 miles, or about five times around the world.

For several decades the hardwood was considered a nuisance to be gotten rid of as soon as possible. In clearing the land for agricultural purposes valuable hardwood was piled up and burned, thus destroying great stores of natural wealth. But in the nineties the hardwood resources received increased attention. The railroads provided shipping facilities, the growing population demanded fuel in increasing quantities, while the charcoal needed in the smelters of the state created a demand for the hardwood not available for timber.

Brightened prospects were held out to the prospective settler. An enthusiastic resident wrote: 'The settler with $300 can for $400 get forty acres of first-class land, as good as the world affords, paying $200 down,. and using $100 in getting up his house to live in, and the next day after getting his family located, can get work at his own door at good wages, at the same time he can be making a farm. At no period, summer or winter, is there a time when a man cannot get work at remunerative wages."

In 1897 it was estimated that there was still 200,000,000 feet (board measure) of pine still standing in the county. A government report that year says: "The greater part is a level loam land area, which was formerly covered by a forest of hardwoods, mixed with a remarkable stand of large white pine. Most of the area of the county today is still covered by culled hardwoods, much of it is settled and only the sandy pinery presents tracts of bare waste many miles in extent. Hemlock occurs only in the northeastern portion. The western and southern part is invaded by the sandy area, covering Jackson and Eau Claire counties, and was formerly covered by a pine forest without hardwoods. The pine has nearly all been cut and was sawed at La Crosse and Eau Claire, and only about

200,000,000 feet are believed to be still standing. The hardwoods are culled especially for oak and have suffered from fires. The remaining supply is estimated at only about 650,000,000 feet, of which oak is still nearly 30 per cent, the remainder being chiefly basswood and elm. Clark County has few swamps, and these are poorly stocked."

A logging camp on Black River presented to the spectator a combination of animated sights and sounds. Here, camped in log shanties, and with log stables for oxen and horses, were congregated together anywhere from twenty-five to nearly a 100 men, according to the size of the winter's work laid out for them.

Some of the men would be engaged in cutting down the pine trees, and were called "choppers;" some were engaged in sawing the logs into lengths, varying from 12 to 18 feet, or more, the average being 16 feet, others with oxen were busy in skidding the logs and others called teamsters engaged in hauling great loads of logs on immense sleighs, from the skidway down to the river, when they would be unloaded either on the ice on the river, or else put on rollways on the river bank, from thence at the opening of the river in the spring, to be tumbled into the swift running stream, the last work mentioned being termed "breaking the rollways."

Before the logs were landed, they were marked on the bark on the side of the log with the owner's log mark, and stamped on the ends of each log several times with what was known as the "end mark." Each logger had his own marks, which were registered in the lumber inspector's office at La Crosse.

The log mark of Leonard B. Stafford was a long line cut across the back, with four smaller lines cut across at a certain angle, making it have the appearance of four X, and was called the long forty.

Hewett, Woods & Co.'s mark was a large notch cut in the bark, and three smaller ones extending diagonally from right to left from the large notch or blaze. Their end mark was a barred "S," having much the appearance of a figure 8, or like a 'dollar mark or symbol.

A full collection of all the various log marks used on the river by the various loggers would show considerable ingenuity in their make up, no two of them being alike, and the purpose also was to design a mark that could easily be cut upon the log with an axe,

With the coming of spring and the disappearance of the snow from the logging roads, labor in the forest came to an end. The loggers now turned their energies to the log drive. Presently rivers were freed of their imprisoning coat of ice and spring floods were at hand to carry the logs to the mill. Unhappy the logger, particularly when his operations took him far up stream, if the melting snow and the spring rains produced only a slight rise 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, gayly set about the hazardous work of "break" the rollways and delivering to the swollen stream the accumulated harvest of the winter's work. The drive was the most picturesque as it certainly was the most dangerous portion of the season's operations. Down the icecold torrent thousands upon thousands of logs went surging and hurtling, sometimes halting at an obstruction as if in hesitation and piling up in ride masses, then rushing onward again with greater momentum than before.

A crew of men furnished with boats or bateaux, with tents, blankets and provisions, would follow down the river behind the floating logs, and with pike pole and cant hooks endeavored to keep the immense sea of logs floating down the river in constant motion. Often the logs would be piled up against some obstruction like a rock, or the pier of a bridge, and they would become, what was termed, jammed. Sometimes these log jams would extend for more than half a mile up the river, and the problem was how to break it.

The work was done at the head of the jam and the drivers attacked the logs, that like the keystone of an arch bound and held the great mass together. The work was dangerous and sometimes a daring fellow lost his life, but it was well paid, log drivers in the late sixties and early seventies received from $3 to as high as $7 per day.

When night the "Waunegan" boat that carried the tents, blankets and supplies was headed into 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 just, 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 their songs that called up at once, their prototypes, the old French Canadian Voyageurs, but the days of them are now past and gone.

Work in a logging camp was no sinecure, No union labor there, nor eight hours a day's work, The hours commenced at daylight, and only ended with darkness. Teamsters generally continuing their duty long after daylight had gone, in the care and attention that was necessary to give their teams.

The nominal boss of the camp was the foreman, but the real czar was the cook. He was a veritable "autocrat of the breakfast table," he had a helper who was termed a "taffel'' or "cookee," a sort of an assistant cook.

The menu had a sameness about it that bordered somewhat on the monotonous. Breakfast consisted of pork, beans (with or without vinegar) hot biscuit with molasses, tea generally, but occasionally coffee. Dinner was the same as breakfast varied occasionally with stewed dried apples, and supper was a duplicate of breakfast, except that on Sundays,

The drive in the spring when the ice had gone out, the river full of water, and the rollways broken, was a scene and a subject to inspire both the painter and the poet.

When the logs were banked at the landings they were visited periodically by a "scaler" who measured the logs, with the Scribner rule, and estimated the number of feet in each log, afterward giving the owner a "seale bill" stating the number of logs scaled with their marks, and the number of feet board measure that they contained, and filed a copy of the same with the Lumber Inspector at La Crosse.

Fire was the dread scourge of the lumber industry. Sawmills and sawmill towns, flimsily constructed of inflammable pine, and consuming the airy fuel left by their saws, were periodically swept by the flames. It was 4 rare sawmill that was not burned to the ground and rebuilt at least twice, while only one thing was more astonishing than the frequency with which sawmill towns were partially or wholly destroyed, and this was the speed with which they rose from their ashes.

Forest fires were an appalling source of loss. As lumbering operations became more extensive, and settlements pressed in close behind, the danger of forest conflagrations steadily increased. The careless logging methods of the time, still in vogue in some parts of the United States, were an invitation to the flames. The loggers removed only the choicest pine, while on the floor of the forest they lett great heaps of branches and tops, known in the vernacular of the trade as "slashings." Such dead material, soon dry as tinder, needed only a spark from some careless hunter's camp or farmer's burning brush pile, or a chance stroke of lightning, to set it off in an all-devouring blaze. It was characteristic of the attitude of the period toward natural resources that forest fires were merely left to exhaust themselves in their own fury, no effort being made to impede or check the course of the flames.

The year 1864 witnessed one of the most disastrous of these conflagrations. As the result of an unprecedented drought, by the middle of May fires were running briskly through the forests on the upper Wisconsin and Black rivers. As the season advanced and the heavens brought no relief, the whole northern woods seemed suddenly to burst into flame. From the St. Croix, the Chippewa, the Black, the Wisconsin and Wolf River pineries, and from Brown, Kewaunee and Manitowoe counties came accounts of raging seas of smoke and fire. Scores of villages and hamlets were threatened with destruction. Wausau, Two Rivers and Neillsville fought off the engulfing flames only by the heroic efforts of their entire populations. For six weeks the northern pineries were ablaze, and immense quantities of valuable timber were destroyed.

In 1868 forest fires again ran through the northern woods. The pineries on the Chippewa, the Black, the Wisconsin, and the Wolf rivers, and the forests in Kewaunee and Door counties, were again the scenes of wide devastation, while along the entire line of the Chicago & Northwest

As already stated, milling operations were started in Clark County in 1845 by James and Alexander O'Neill. In the late thirties these gentlemen were living at Prairie du Chien. From there, in the summer of 1839, a colony had set out for the Black River country and had located at the present site of Black River Falls. In the fall the O'Neill Brothers likewise determined to try their fortunes in that region. With their followers they came up the Mississippi and Black rivers, in September, and located a few miles from Black River Falls, on the bottoms of Robinson Creek, where they spent the winter in getting out timber, Before spring they moved to the mouth of Perry Creek in the same locality and erected a frame mill. In a few years, however, they became convinced that there were better opportunities further up the river.

Accordingly in June, 1845, James O'Neill, Henry O'Neill (who died in 1859), with E. L, Brockway (who subsequently became a resident of Little Falls, in Jackson County), and Samuel and William Ferguson, aa companied by a number of laborers, removed to the present village of Neillsville, and became the first permanent settlers in what has since been organized as Clark County. The party came overland in a wagon drawn by an ox team, cutting their way through the brush and other obstructions, and were two days on the trip. This was the first road ever made in the county. Upon reaching the site of Neillsville, they built a mill, equipped with one upright saw with which they turned out 4,000 feet per day, which as fast as sawed was arranged in small rafts and run to the mouth of the creek, where larger rafts of about 10,000 feet to the crib were formed, which on passing the falls were again made into rafts of from 40,000 to 50,000 feet and run to Burlington, lowa, where Alexander O'Neill established a yard for its sale.

In 1846 a mill of about the same character was erected near the mouth of Cunningham Creek, two miles below Neillsville, by Andrew Grover, Hamilton McCullom and James Beebe. This mill, rebuilt afterwards became the property of Moses Clark, for whom the county is named. The same year, Jonathan Nichols and John Perry erected a mill on Cauley's Creek, some three miles above Neillsville.

The Myrick & Miller mill on Cunningham Creek, was built in 1847, by Nathan Myrick, H. J. B. Miller, Isaac S. Mason, Thomas La Flesh, William Dibble and others. This afterward became the William K. Levis mill. The next year Leander G. and Benjamin H. Merrill built a mill near the Myrick & Miller site. Mills were built about the same time by John Lane and John Morrison. Van Dusen & Waterman, who settled here in 1848, built a mill about eighteen miles further up the river, at what became known as Eatontown, Albert Lambert building one near the same place. The Van Dusen & Waterman mill was a few years later purchase and operated by Elijah Eaton. These mills were all of small caliber.

ing center. Many a lonely mill went up on the banks of the Black River and its tributaries, and the hearts of the owners beat high with hopes of the future. But milling was beset with many difficulties. Freshets and floods and high water washed the mills away, and swept the logs and sawed lumber down the rivers to total loss. Seasons of drought and subsequent low water were almost as disastrous, Marketing the lumber was a serious problem at all times, both for geographical and commercial reasons. The rafting of lumber was a dangerous and usually unprofitable proceeding, while the mill towns on the broad Mississippi had many advantages over the isolated mills on far inland streams. A few mills, it is true, continued to exist in Clark County, and Neillsville grew up as a milling center. In 1860 there were seven mills in the county with a combined capital of $44,500 and an annual output valued at $32,601. In 1870 there were ten mills with a combined capital of $51,000, employing eighty-seven men, paying annually wages of $20,470, and having an annual output valued at $63,715. Some important mills were erected in the seventies, but generally speaking, the milling industry was overshadowed by the logging industry until the coming of the railroads in 1890, coincident with the diminishing of the pine supply and the increasing marketing of hardwood.

The rafting of lumber to market in the early days provided picturesque features comparable with the river logging. The interesting process of constructing a raft need be but briefly described. The boards as they came from the saws, were piled twelve to twenty courses deep, fastened stoutly together to form so-called "cribs," and top-loaded with bundles of shingle and lath. Six or more cribs fastened end to end formed a "string" or "rapids piece," upon which the hardy raftsmen gaily descended the most dangerous waterfalls, usually with success, sometimes, however, to their sorrow. Where the rivers ran quietly, from two to four "pieces," the number varying in individual cases as well as upon different streams, were coupled side by side to form a river raft. Guided fore and aft by ponderous sweeps, but propelled chiefly by the force of the current, such a raft floated down the river, halted now and then to be divided into the constituent parts in order to pass some difficult obstruction, then uncoupled to go on as before.

The romance of river rafting is a subject over which the historian would fain linger. The Black River above the Falls is a rapid and rocky stream, filled with granitic boulders and the water rushes down at times with great power and velocity. To pilot a clumsy "rapids piece" safely over these steep descents of roaring water, where a single slip meant to be dashed to pieces on the rocks below, called for cool daring, strong muscle, and consummate skill. It was hard and rough work, the crew being often immersed to the waist in water whence the chill of ice and snow had not yet departed. When one "rapids piece" was carried safely to a quiet eddy and tied up, the riverman must trot back - "gigging back" it was popularly called - to repeat the perilous operation, until the whole raft was over the falls. Then there was a brief respite until the next obstruction in the river was reached.

serious mishap at the Mississippi to the satisfaction of all on board, for then the dangerous work of the journey was well over. Before continuing down the Father of Waters, a further consolidation of the lumber took place. From eight to eighteen great "strings" were combined into a single great hulk known as a Mississippi River fleet, and upon it were erected the cabins of the crew together with a number of rude oars or sweeps on each end. The trip down the Mississippi to the towns where the lumber was sold was usually uneventful, enlivened, however, by drinking and fighting on the part of the uneasy raftsmen,

Ira S. and Leroy Graves, about 1870, built a mill at Colby, on the Wisconsin Central Railroad; J. S. Edminster also built a mill at this point in 1872, as did Potter & Ferguson Bros. some years later; this mill was twice burned and was blown up by the explosion of its boiler, but was each time rebuilt in an improved condition. E. Decker & Co. built a saw and shingle mill two miles below the village, In 1876 William Stevens built a saw mill which was destroyed by fire the following year. J. D. Thomas built a saw and shingle mill with broom-handle factory west of the village.

At Dorchester R. C. Evans built a mill in 1874 at a cost of $50,000, having capacity for cutting 6,000,000 feet per season with a double circular, also shingle and lath machinery. This mill was burned in 1880, but was immediately rebuilt.

At Hemlock, twenty miles north of Neillsville, a flooding dam was built in 1879 by the Black River Logging Company, to further facilitate the running of logs, through the storage of a large body of water for use upon subsidence of the spring freshets. Upon this dam N, H, Withee erected a saw mill and grist mill, the former containing an upright and rotary saw, and in 1880 C, G. Reul built a shingle mill of 80,000 per day capacity.

With the increase in railroad transportation facilities, the mills became more common, and a considerable portion of the product of the latter years of the pine industry was made into lumber in these mills.

When the pine began to disappear, the hardwood situation began to occupy an increasingly important place in the industrial life of the county, and a number of head, staye and box factories were built.

In the early nineties there was organized at Neillsville what was popularly known and termed as the "Furniture Factory," but the true corporation name of which was the Neillsville Manufacturing Company. To seven men of the county whose names will shortly follow, is due the respect and gratitude of at least all of the citizens of Neillsville. The men who so organized, built the plant and carried on the business of the factory, during troublesome times, and in a financial panic, were Charles C. Sniteman, George Huntzicker, Fred Klopf, James H. Reddan, John G Klopf, B. Dangers and Mathew Kapellan. All, with the exception of Sniteman and Dangers, lost practically every dollar they had in the world in the venture. After the disaster the factory passed into the hands of

Some of the hardwood was used in making charcoal and coke to be shipped north for use in the iron furnaces. Charcoal pits were operated at Thorp, Curtiss, Colby, Unity and Yolo near Chili. At one time there was a potash factory at Dorchester,

The Owen Lumber Co. of Owen, is still one of the most important concerns in the county, its logs being brought in from the north by railroad, and milled at Owen. Several of the other villages also still have mills.

Some pine is still being cut in the county, and is sawed into lumber for local use, by portable mills, of which there are several operating throughout the county.

But except as an attribute of its other interests, lumbering and logging have ceased to be an important factor in Clark County life, and the attention of the people is now turning more and more to agriculture and dairying.