Fifty Years In The Northwest

THE CRANBERRY MARSHES

The cultivation of the cranberry is an important industry in Burnett county. The berry is raised chiefly in townships 38 and 39, ranges 17 and 18. The writer of these sketches visited the localities named in 1873, and although there have been many changes and improvements since then, the description quoted from an essay read before the Horticultural Society will still be generally applicable:

"The scene on approaching these marshes, where the native cranberry was found, before the white man had commenced to improve them, was picturesque in the extreme to those who have a taste for Nature's handiwork. There are extensive tracts of land covering thousands of acres, dotted here and there with islands of young pine and points of highland projecting in various shapes into the marshes. It reminded me of an ocean bay, in a calm, only changing the ocean water color to endless green. There are in these marshes somewhere from one to two townships of land, on which cranberries were then growing, or susceptible of being improved so that cranberries can be raised thereon. One township contains 23,040 acres. The parties operating on the marshes I visited already have some 30 or 40 miles of ditch made, averaging 5 feet at the top, 3 feet at the bottom, with an average depth of 4 feet, at a cost of about 75 cents per rod. These ditches are to drain the water from the marshes when desired. They have dams across these ditches, to flood the marshes when desired. The flooding of the marshes aids in subduing the wild grasses and other incumbrances, also is essential to the growth of the berries. On these marshes, wherever the flowage is killing the grass, the vine is rapidly spreading, without transplanting. Undoubtedly they would yield a quicker return by transplanting. Large tracts of these lands, which, at this time have no vines, are bought by companies, mostly from the cranberry lands in Eastern Wisconsin, who are experienced in this business, and know what they are doing. They openly declare that vines can be grown on these marshes, where sufficient water can be obtained and controlled to flow the lands. Mr. Irvine informed me that this flooding process, and the manner in which it was controlled, was the key to success. I examined the effect which one year alone had accomplished, as these companies commenced operations in 1872. It surprised me when I saw the mode, and heard it explained, that so little was generally known of this business. After the marshes are subdued, dams and ditches built, there is comparatively small cost in raising the fruit until the harvest, when men, women and children flock in from the farming countries to pick, to pack, to store, to dry, to box, and convey to market. An expert will pick from five to ten bushels per day by hand, no rakes being allowed. In 1873 these marshes had an abundant yield. These companies paid to outsiders one dollar and fifty cents per bushel. There are several companies operating in Burnett county. They have made and are making substantial improvements, in building roads, dry houses, dwelling houses, etc. The past year a saw mill was erected for sawing staves for barrels, lumber for boxes, etc. These marshes are about twenty miles east of the Superior railroad."

WASHBURN COUNTY

Washburn county was organized in 1883, and embraces townships 37 to 42, inclusive, and ranges 10 to 13, inclusive, a total of 24 townships. It is drained by St. Croix waters with the exception of the southeast corner, which is drained by a branch of the Chippewa river. It has been a rich timbered region and large forests of pine still remain. The greater part of the county is adapted to agriculture, and is settling rapidly. Two lines of railway traverse the county, one from south to north, and the other from southwest to northeast, giving the county excellent facilities for transportation and marketing of products. The county is divided into two towns, Bashaw in the south and Veasie in the north. These towns were organized in 1877, while Washburn was a part of Burnett county. The first supervisors of Bashaw were: L. E. Thomas, chairman; John Arbuckle and John McMullen. The town of Bashaw was the first settled. John McMullen settled in township 38, range 13, in 1872, in Bashaw valley. He married a member of the Hart family, old settlers of the town. He died in 1878. L. E. Thomas was the second settler in Bashaw and in Washburn county, and has been officially connected with the town and county organization. He is a native of Michigan, and has followed lumbering and farming. L. E. Thomas built the first house. Nellie Raberge taught the first school in Bashaw, in 1881. Miss Raberge has since become the wife of Milton Stratton. The first post office was established in 1880, Mrs. Malcolm Dobie, postmistress. The first sermon was preached by Rev. Ellingwood. G. P. Pearly was the first physician; A. L. Bugbee, the first lawyer. Messrs. Hart, Baker, Gardner and others have large farms in Bashaw valley. By the act organizing the county,

SHELL LAKE

was made the county seat. It is beautifully located on the shores of Summit lake. It has a court house, built at a cost of $11,000, in 1885, one of the most tasteful buildings of the kind in the St. Croix valley. The town is built on railroad lands, purchased by the Shell Lake Lumber Company, and by them surveyed into lots. The streets are from sixty-six to eighty feet wide. A restriction in the deeds to the lots and lands against the sale of alcoholic drinks has been continuously violated. In 1883 the town board fixed license at five hundred dollars, a plain violation of the original agreement.

A fine school building with four apartments was built in 1885, at a cost of $5,000. Prof. Halphyde is principal of the schools. The Episcopalians and Catholics have church buildings. The Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans and Presbyterians have church organizations. The Masons, Good Templars and Knights of Labor have organizations.

Summit lake, on the west bank of which the town is situated, is about two and a half miles broad by three and a half long. It has bold, gravelly shores. The water is deep, clear and pure. The slopes surrounding it are covered with evergreen, and hardwood timber. One small steamer floats upon its waters.

The first board of county officers was as follows: Treasurer, Leander E. Thomas; clerk, Frank B. Nelson; sheriff, James Wynne; attorney, Frank Gudette; register of deeds, Albert L. Bugbee; judge, L. H. Mead; clerk of court, A. Gibson; superintendent of schools, Clara Stratton; surveyor, Patrick Kelly. The first circuit court was held in June, 1883, Hon. S. S. Clough, presiding. The county has two court terms for the year, in June and December.

The Shell Lake Lumber Company was organized in 1880, under Iowa laws. It is composed of C. Lamb and David Joice and sons, of Clinton, Iowa; Laird, Norton & Co., of Winona; Weyerhauser & Dinkeman, of Rock Island, Illinois; S. T. McKnight, of Hannibal, Missouri; D. R. Moore, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Their mills are located on the northwest side of Summit lake. They have a capacity of 50,000,000 feet per year. The capital stock amounts to $500,000. Employment is furnished to 250 men. In 1880 the hour system of labor was adopted. A narrow gauge railroad, twelve miles long, supplied with two locomotives and fifty cars, is used for bringing logs to mill. This road has a steel track and 3,000 feet of piling. The refuse burner of the mill is 20 feet in diameter and 102 in height. There are 63 tenement houses to accommodate the laborers. A. H. Earle superintends this vast concern.

Sawyer creek obtained its name from Seth M. Sawyer, of Stillwater. This stream flows into Yellow river, five miles from Summit lake. It rises from springs three hundred feet from the lake, and one hundred feet lower down, and may be considered its subterranean outlet, as visible outlet there is none. The lake, literally a summit lake, the receding and descending slopes, the springs uniting to form a larger stream, form a peculiar landscape, quite park-like in some of its features, and worthy of being converted into a park.

SPOONER,

In the township of Veazie, on the north branch of the Yellow river, township 39, range 12, is a dinner station on the North Wisconsin railroad. The railroad company have fitted up an elegant eating house, and a few neat buildings, the nucleus of a much larger village, cluster around it.

VEAZIE VILLAGE

Is in township 41, range 10, and has a post office. The town of Veazie, occupying the northern part of the county, was organized in 1877. Millions of feet of pine timber have been gathered and marketed from this town, and it is estimated that 150,000,600 feet still remain. Ames and Sinnot station are in the township of Veazie.

SAWYER COUNTY

Sawyer county was organized March 9, 1883. It is comprised of townships 37 to 42, and ranges 5 to 9, inclusive. Of these townships twenty-five are drained by Chippewa waters and five by Namakagon river. The county is heavily timbered with pine, though vast quantities have been taken and marketed. The county seat was located at Hayward in the bill organizing the county. The county officers, appointed by Gov. Rusk, were: Sheriff, A. Blaisdell; clerk, C. H. Clapperton; register of deeds, H. E. Ticknor; treasurer, R. L. McCormack; county judge, H. W. Hart; attorney, N. E. Ticknor; superintendent of schools, Miss M. Mears; surveyor, W. J. Moulton; coroner, E. G. Gregg.

The court house was built in 1885, at a cost of $18,000. The county at its organization assumed the following indebtedness:

All this indebtedness, with the exception of the unsettled claim of Flambeau, Chippewa county, has been paid. Since its organization the county has expended $30,000 on roads to Chippewa waters. This, added to the cost of the court house, $18,000, a school house for the town of Hayward, $6,500, town hall for Hayward $5,000, makes a total of expenditures for the county within the past three years of $106,420, a remarkable sum for a new county with so sparse a population to pay, but not so remarkable when we take into account the immense value of its lumber products and standing timber.

Hayward is the only town in the county. Its first board of supervisors were: A. J. Hayward, chairman; Thos. Manwarin and Michael Jordan. A. L. McCormack was first treasurer, and C. C. Claghorn, clerk. The village is situated in sections 21 and 22, township 41, range 9, upon a level pine plateau on the north side of Namakagon river, a tributary of the St. Croix. The village was platted in 1883, but a post office had been established the year before, C. H. Clapperton being the first postmaster. The first marriage in the town of Hayward and county of Sawyer was that of Fred Emmons and Mary Lindmark, in 1883. The first birth was that of a daughter to Al. Blaisdell. The first death was that of Nels J. Eggin. Rev. A. Safford preached the first sermon. Anna Shafer taught the first school. E. G. Gregg opened the first store. H. E. Ticknor was the first lawyer and J. B. Trowbridge the first physician.

The first school house, built at a cost of $5,000, was burned. There was an insurance of $4,500. A new building was erected at a cost of $6,000, with three departments, and with steam heating apparatus. Prof. F. A. Nichols was the principal.

The Congregational church at Hayward is one of the finest church buildings in the Northwest. It is built in the Queen Anne style, with circular seats, the whole finished in exquisite taste. Senator Sawyer, after whom the county was named, contributed a town clock and bell worth $1,000. The Catholics have a church here, and the Lutherans an organization. The Odd Fellows and Knights of Labor have organizations.

The Sawyer County Bank was organized March 9, 1884, with a capital stock of $200,000, divided equally between three stockholders, R. L. McCormack, A. J. Hayward and E. H. Halbert, the latter being general manager and cashier. The bank deals in real estate, abstracts, insurance and general monetary business. The business transacted for the year ending June 6, 1886, amounted to $3,000,000. The bank building is a substantial brick. The Hayward Lumber Company has a mill on the Namakagon river. The water power has a fall of eighteen feet and a flowage of about three miles. A sixty foot channel has been left through the flowage for slucing logs. The saw mill has a capacity of 35,000,000 feet per annum. It has a planing mill attached. The company is composed of T. F. Robinson, Weyerhauser & Dinkeman and R. L. McCormack. Mr. Weyerhauser is president of the company. Mr. Weyerhauser is also president of the Rock Island Lumber Company and of Weyerhauser, Dinkeman & Co., of Rock Island, and is a stockholder in Renwick, Crosset & Co., Cloquet, Minnesota, Shell Lake, Barronett, Masons, White River, and Chippewa Falls Lumber companies, and is president of the Beef Slough Boom and Chippewa and Mississippi Logging companies. Mr. Weyerhauser is the most extensive holder and owner of unoperated pine lands in the West, or probably on the continent. The stockholders of the Hayward Lumber Company are all men of wealth accumulated by their own industry. Mr. R. L. McCormack, the resident stockholder and manager, is admirably adapted for the position he holds. Mr. McCormack was a citizen of Minnesota for fourteen years, and a member of the Minnesota legislature in 1881. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1847.

Dobie & Stratton, contractors for pine stumpage on the Lac Oreilles Indian reservation, reside in Hayward. They cut 28,000,000 feet of logs in the winter of 1885-86.

Malcomb Dobie, of this firm, is a native of Canada. He came to the St. Croix valley in 1864, and was married to Harriet Stratton, at St. Croix Falls, in 1874.

Milton V. Stratton, brother of Mrs. Dobie, was raised at St. Croix Falls, and engaged in business with Mr. Dobie. In 1886, his health failing, he removed to California.

BARRON COUNTY

Barron county was formerly a heavily timbered tract of country, but is now being rapidly cleared and settled. It is well watered by the Red Cedar and its tributaries, and has many beautiful lakes, among them Turtle, Beaver, Chetek, Red Cedar, Rice, Bear, and Long lakes. The county was first established as Dallas county, in 1859, and attached to Polk for judicial purposes. In 1868 it was organized for county and judicial purposes, and the county seat was changed from Manhattan to Barron, section 26, township 34, range 12. By act of legislature in 1869, the name of the county was changed to Barron, and the county seat was called by the same name, in honor of Hon. Henry D. Barron, then judge of the Eleventh circuit. It comprises townships 32 to 36, inclusive, and ranges 10 to 14, in all 25 townships. Barron county has three railroads, on the lines of which thriving settlements have sprung up. The railroads are three, the North Wisconsin, a branch line of the Omaha, and the Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic. The North Wisconsin railroad passes through the northwestern part of the county. The Chippewa Falls & Superior City branch of the Omaha enters the southeast corner, and traverses the county in a direction west of north. The Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic passes through the middle of the county in a direction from east to west.

TURTLE LAKE TOWN

Was organized in 1879. The village of Turtle Lake is situated in sections 30 and 31, township 34, range 14. It contains a large saw mill with a capacity of 40,000,000 feet per annum; a union depot, used by the North Wisconsin, and Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic railroads, and stores, shops and dwellings, all new. The Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic railroad was built through the county in 1885, and completed in 1887.

BARRON,

The county seat, is a growing lumber town, with farming lands to the south. It has a population of over 1,000. The "Soo Line" railway has a station here.

PERLEY VILLAGE

Is located also in Turtle Lake town, in section 8, township 34, range 14, and on the line of the North Wisconsin railroad. It has a large saw mill with a capacity of 16,000,000 feet per annum. The village is beautifully located on Horse Shoe lake.

CUMBERLAND VILLAGE

Is situated in the town of Cumberland, section 7, township 35, range 15, on Beaver Dam lake. It is pleasantly situated, and is the largest village on the line of the Northwestern railroad. Its appearance gives evidence of enterprise and thrift on the part of its citizens. The Beaver Dam Lumber Company have here a saw mill with a capacity of 24,000,000 feet per annum. Cook & Co. have a saw mill (burned and rebuilt) with a capacity of 6,000,000 feet. The village has a bank and one newspaper, the Cumberland Advocate, first issued in 1880 as the Herald.

Cumberland was organized as a village in 1881, and organized under a city charter in 1885. The population is now about 1,700. The mercantile business will aggregate about $500,000 annually. The aggregate output of lumber is 30,000,000 feet, while other industries aggregate $200,000 per annum. There are four churches, one graded school of five departments in which students are prepared to enter college. There is here one banking house.

SPRAGUE

Is a village in Cumberland, on the Northwestern railroad. It has a saw mill with a capacity of about 15,000,000 feet per annum.

COMSTOCK,

In Cumberland, on the Northwestern railroad, has a shingle mill and saw mill, the latter having a capacity of about 5,000,000 feet.

BARRONETT,

In Cumberland, is located in township 36, range 13, in the midst of a well timbered region. Its saw mill, directly on the county line, has a capacity of 25,000,000 feet. M. Bowron has a farm adjoining the village of 250 acres, improved and yielding tame grass.

De Graw and Granite Lake Mills are also located on the Northwestern railroad.

Turtle Lake, Scott's Siding, Cosgrove, Barron, the county seat, Cameron and Canton, are on the Minneapolis, Soo Ste. Marie & Atlantic railroad.

Chetek, Cameron Junction, Rice Lake and Bear Creek are located on the Omaha branch.

Charles Simeon Taylor. – Mr. Taylor was born in Geneva, Wisconsin, October, 1851; graduated at the Wisconsin State University; studied law and settled at Barron, Barron county, in 1876, where he practices his profession and edits the Barron County Shield. He was elected member of the Thirty-seventh Wisconsin assembly in 1885-86 and represented the counties of Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, and Washburn.

CHAPTER IX.
ASHLAND, BAYFIELD AND DOUGLAS COUNTIES

ASHLAND COUNTY

Ashland was originally a part of Crawford county, afterward of St. Croix and La Pointe, and was set off from the latter March 27, 1860. It is bounded on the north by Lake Superior and Montreal river, on the east by Oneida, on the south by Price and Chippewa, and on the west by Bayfield and Chippewa counties. It includes townships 41 to 47, ranges 1, 2, and 3 east of the fourth principal meridian, and townships 41 to 48 west of the same; the northern towns bordering on Montreal river and Lake Superior are fractional. The group of Apostle islands belongs to this county. The surface is generally level except where broken by the iron and copper ranges in the middle and southern part of the county. The Gogebic range, southeast of Ashland, is especially rich in iron. A railroad along this range connects Ashland with the Michigan roads. The soil is somewhat varied, ranging from sandy loam in the interior, to red clay on the lake shore. The county is drained by Bad, White and Montreal rivers and their tributaries, and the headwaters of the Chippewa. The timber is pine, fir, birch, etc.

The Apostle islands, situated in Lake Superior at the mouth of Chequamegon bay, form a fine natural harbor. The group consists of twenty-two islands, the most considerable of which are Madeline, Oatez, Oak, Hemlock, Rice, Basswood, Presque, Bear, Sand, and Michigan. The islands range in area from a very few acres up to 14,804. They are heavily timbered with hardwood, have fertile soil, and are well adapted to farm and garden culture. The largest of these islands is Madeline, situated directly at the entrance to Chequamegon bay, and noted as containing the oldest settlement on the lake. Claude Allouez, a Jesuit missionary, landed at Madeline island Oct. 1, 1665, and erected a bark chapel at the place now known as La Pointe, and commenced instructing the Indians of the Algonquin and Huron tribes. Since that time the island has been held by missionaries and trading companies, with some pretty long intervals of abandonment. In 1800, M. Cadot, a French trader, came to La Pointe, erected fortified dwellings and lived here till his death, in 1837. At the commencement of the present century the American Fur Company made its headquarters on the southern part of the island, and occupied a post there until 1835, when they removed to La Pointe. Rev. Sherman Hall, of the Presbyterian church, established a mission here in 1830. In 1835 Rev. Father Baraga, a Catholic missionary, arrived, and built a church which he occupied until 1841, when he built a better one, which still stands in the inclosure of an ancient burying ground. This church contains a painting said to be over two hundred years old. Some of the graves are quite ancient, and have quaint inscriptions upon their tombstones. One that has often been copied and commented on by tourists is as follows:

"ERECTED

TO THE MEMORY OF ABRAHAM BEAULIEAU

WHO WAS ACCIDENTALLY SHOT

AS A MARK OF AFFECTION

BY HIS BROTHER."

These islands are becoming a fashionable resort for tourists, and many of them have been utilized as pleasant summer residences. Some of them are occupied by lighthouses of which there are five in all. The islands abound in brown stone, which is being quarried extensively for building purposes. The stone for the Milwaukee court house was taken from the quarries on Basswood island.

La Pointe County Election. – In 1848 La Pointe county was set off from St. Croix county, and at an election held Nov. 10, 1848, John H. Wells and Leonard Wheeler were elected justices of the peace, and J. F. Hughes was elected clerk of the board of county commissioners. Returns of their election and that of members of the legislature were made to Hudson, county seat of St. Croix county.

Hon. John W. Bell, born in New York City in 1805, in his eighth year went to Canada with his parents, learned to be a watchmaker, a ship builder and a cooper, and came to La Pointe in 1835, where he has since resided. He carried on the coopering business first, for the American Fur Company, and then for himself established a trading post, became interested in mining stocks, and filled various county offices, having served as county judge and register of deeds a great many years. In later life he was postmaster at La Pointe. He was married in 1837 to Miss Margaret Brahant, in the Catholic chapel, by Bishop Baraga. He died in 1888.