HISTORIES:  "County Highways" of Barron, Barron County, WI

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                            County Highways

The first travel routes in Barron County were its lakes and rivers and a 
few Indian trails, used by Indians and traders. The so called tote roads 
were laid out by lumber companies to provide routes for bringing in 
supplies for their lumber camps.

State roads were mapped out in Barron County long before any roads were 
actually built. In other words, they existed only on paper for a long time. 
On May 24, 1869, the town board voted to build a public road along a route 
already traveled which ran northeast from Prairie Farm village and through 
a point one and one half miles west of the present village of Hillsdale 
and then continued on to Quaderer's camp in Barron. There was much travel 
on this route. On October 6, 1873, the county board took over one state 
highway and two town roads. Two roads were established from Barron to Rice 
Lake and another from Barron to Chetek. The latter skirted the cranberry 
marsh at Cameron.

By 1900, the road system of the county was well established but many of our 
main roads of today were little more than trails at that time. From 1900 
to 1910 there was considerable town road improvement. Most of the towns 
were divided into six road districts under the supervision of a pathmaster. 
By 1910, many of the roads were fairly good in dry weather, but were almost 
impassable after periods of much rain and were blocked in the winter after 
heavy falls of snow.

In 1911, the State Aid Highway Law was passed. It provided an annual 
appropriation of $350,000 for the benefit of state highways. The Barron 
County board laid out the county system of trunk highways on November 18, 
1911. By 1912, all towns in the county had applied for state aid for town 
roads. In 1912, the county board elected Simen S. Berg to the office of 
highway commissioner. Edward Gleason succeeded him in 1917.

Before 1917, an appropriation of $3000 by the county board for maintenance 
and road machinery was considered a generous amount. In 1917, Mr. Gleason 
requested $30,000 for these purposes and was granted $15,000. In 1919, he
requested $50,000 for gravel and $50,000 for machinery and maintenance and 
was granted the full amount. The coming of the automobile made people aware 
of the value of good roads. They were willing to pay taxes to build and 
maintain good roads. In 1920, the county board appropriated $90,000 for 
gravel, machinery and maintenance, and in 1921, a sum of $85,000 was voted 
for the same purpose.

In 1921-1922, a county machine repair shop was built in Barron. There was 
an equipped blacksmith shop and also sheds for housing county road 
machinery. At that time, the equipment consisted of seven gravel trucks, 
three large grading tractors, two tractor patrols, and two big screening 
plants, some camp equipment, graders and tools and some other machinery.

The gravel roads of the twenties were a big improvement over the dirt roads 
which were built after 1900. However, they seem very inadequate when 
compared with our modern roads of black-top and concrete. After 1930, huge 
sums of money had to be appropriated each year before our fine highway 
system of today could be built and maintained.

In 1947, a new, spacious, modern highway shop was built. Building and 
equipment required an outlay of some over $200,000. This building is 
located east of highway 25 and north of the Soo line tracks. The grounds 
have been beautifully landscaped. Today the Barron County Highway Department 
employs about 80 men during the winter and about 130 during the remainder 
of the year. There are, at present, approximately 63 miles of paved roads 
in Barron County. These are federal and state highways. The county highways 
total 265 miles and are black-topped with the exception of 20 miles. Town 
roads total 1450 miles.

Joe Stearns succeeded Mr. Gleason and served for a period of about four 
years. Elmer Rogers served as superintendent of patrols for a period of 
fifteen years. At present, Orval Larson is county highway commissioner.

In a recent year (1958), the chief expenditures for county highways were 
as follows:

Highway Administration........................................$ 22,701.98

Maint. C.T.H.S................................................$283,154.87

Operation of Pits.............................................$ 89,025.10

Incidental Labor..............................................$ 82,645.80

Highway Shop..................................................$263,724.02

Highway Equipment, New........................................$ 81,114.80

F.A.S. Oiling.................................................$131,580.42

County Aid, Bridge............................................$ 52,764.73

--From the Souvenir Historical Album of the Barron Centennial-1960
(used by permission)