THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

April 10, 1975

 

SOCIETY REVIEWS EARLY LUMBERING DAYS

 

 

            The Waupaca Historical Society enjoyed a program of “Anecdotes and Memories of the Lumbering Days in Wisconsin and Waupaca” at their meeting March 31.  Carmen Barnes, program chairman, assisted by Marietta Stadler, who puts the parts together, introduced members and friends who related experiences of the past.

            Mrs. James Cross introduced the program.

            Nita Benedict stated:  “The first big business in Waupaca was moving logs through town.  These sleigh loads were drawn by oxen and horses on ice covered roads to nearby rivers, usually Gill’s Landing on the Wolf River.  “The first sawmill was started in 1850 by Rev. Silas Miller on the west side of the river near the site of the present pumping station.”

            Caleb Shearer, E. C. Williams and Elmer Palmer were mentioned as early businessmen. In 1872 the Wisconsin Railroad came through Waupaca. With the advent of agriculture, the potato became “king.”

            The largest white pine discovered was estimated to be 140 feet high and measured 17 feet 2 inches in circumference.  Large loads of logs, some measuring 18 feet wide and 17 feet 2 inches in circumference. Large loads of logs, some measuring 18 feet wide and 17 feet high were shown by Charles “Bearcat” Chady.  Barney Lewis related how as boys the youth of Waupaca jumped across the logs to get to school.

            Mariettta Stadler, who grew up in Durand in western Wisconsin, told tales of logs being floated down the Chippewa River and the problems of getting over “Beef Slough” in Lake Pepin, from where they went down the Mississippi.

            In 1824 Jeff Davis was sent up to this area to get lumber to build Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien.

            Fred Haffner of Weyauwega mentioned that he spent 17 years in the logging camps of northern Wisconsin.

            “Logging days are gone. Cant hooks, peewees, hobnail boots and terrifically hard-working, hard-muscled lumberjacks have passed into history.  A lumberjack always had a kind heart when it counted most,” stated Carmen Barnes.  She concluded the reminiscing by relating some anecdotes from Theodore F. Kouba’s book, Wisconsin’s Amazing Woods – Then and Now.

            Dr. J. H. McGinnis gave a short history of Samuel Huntington of Connecticut, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

            Refreshments were served by Verna Jensen, Myrtle Jensen and Mrs. Clayton Johnson.