History: History of Lumbering and Lumber Mills, Eau Claire Co., WI, 1890 ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, or the legal representative of the contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Nance Sampson 16 March 1999 ==================================================================== Millions of Feet of Lumber Sawed Here Annually During Peak Years Millions of feet of lumber were sawed annually in Eau Claire in the 1890's, when the lumbering industry was the principal business in the city. A review of the lumber industry in 1890 was contained in a booklet published by the Eau Claire Leader in that year. Excerpts from the article follow: As a manufacturing center nature has proved generous indeed to Eau Claire in bestowing on it a location that connot fail to make it a great manufacturing, as well as commercial center. The great secret of Eau Claire's success so far has been its storage capacity for logs, thus building up an extensive saw mill industry. The Dells reservoir, formed by damming the Chippewa river, is capable of holding 300,000,000 feet of logs. Then there is, near the center of the city, Half Moon lake, with a capacity of 100,000,000. Reservoir number three is also within the city limits and is formed by damming the Eau Claire river. It has a capacity of 50,000,000. From these log reservoirs the numberous saw mills at Eau Claire are supplied. The pioneers in the saw mill ine are Wm. Carson, Danl. Shaw, O. H. Ingram, H. C. Putnam, N. C. Chapman and J. G. Thorpe, and others, who early in the history of the place concluded Eau Claire was possessed of rare natural resources which placed it at once in the front rank as a manufacturing center. Mr. Wm. Carson, one of the wealthiest loggers in the Chippewa Valley, may be said to be the pioneer saw mill of this section. In 1856 Mr. Carson owned a small saw mill at Eau Claire, a village that time of about two hundred souls. The only way of getting in or out of the place was by small steamboats, to and from the Mississippi in summer time, and in winter by sleighs, over a hundred miles of rough road to Portage City. More Mills Built As years went by, other and greater saw mills were built. The neighborning pineries attracted lumbermen from the towns on the Mississippi, and the Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers ranked among the greatest logging rivers in the world. From Carson's old saw mill, cutting a quarter of a million annually, there are now to be found, nine immense saw mills provided with all the very latest improvements turning out 300,000,000 feet of lumber annually, besides large quantities of shingles and lath. There are as many more mills along the Chippewa river at no distance from the city. These mills are among the largest and finest in the Northwest. Many of them have the extraordinary capacity of 65,000,000 feet per annum, and there are a few that do not cut 25,000,000. The two rivers are the great highways for logs in the Chippewa Valley. The annual output of this valley is said to be greater than any other timber stretch in the Northwest. Some anxiety is at times expressed that the immense demand for logs will soon strip our forests of their pine, but such is not the case. The supply will hold out twenty-five or thirty years, and when the pine is all gone then the question of hard wood will com up for discussion. Northern Wisconsin is noted the world over for the excellency and great supply of hardwood. With this in view already some factories have been started in our midst to utilize the hardwood forests of the west and north, and the city government has with wise forethought made provision for the encouragement of manufactories in our midst. Industry Varied The varied character and skill of our industrial and productive arts cannot be excelled. There may be found in Eau Claire and immedicate vicinity, in addition to the large number of saw mills, a mammoth furniture factory, four machine founderies, besides machine shops, a linen mill, three sash, door and blind factories, an electrical manufacturing company, the largest in the Northwest, a pulp and paper mill, creamery, breweries, brickyards, sewer pipe factory, four carriage shops, cabinet shops, etc. The amount of lumber cut in the sawmills in Eau Claire in seven months from April to November, 1890, is as follows: Company: Daniel Shaw, 21,830,231; West Eau Claire, 16,376,730; Valley, 25,146,480; Empire, 29,650,000; Badger State, 15,000,000; Northwestern, 42,000,000; M.R.L. Co., 3,000,000; and Dells, 23,043,350. It is thus seen that the total cut of lumber in our mills amounts to over 200,000,000 feet, a little over half of the cut of the entire Chippewa Valley. It is very likely after the readjustment and equalization of lumber rates the piling of lumber will be resumed in this city. This means a great deal for Eau Claire. Hitherto only about one-fifth of the lumber cut in this city is piled here, nearly all being rafted down the river. As soon as the rates are equalized piling will be resumed and this means employment to one thousand hands in this city. In connection with the cut of the lumber mills, of Eau Claire, it is interesting to note that of the other cities of the valley, distant only a few miles. In Menomonie, Chippewa Falls and Fairchild the lumber cut was as follows: Company: Knapp, Stout & Co.(Menomonie), 84,900,000; N. C. Foster (Fairchild), 20,000,000; and C. L. & B., (Chippewa Falls) 51,517,501. This makes the grand total for the valley of over 350,000,000 feet of lumber. For the year 1889 the cut by the same mills was 324,000,000. These figures do not include the cut of pickets, the total of which for all the mills was 1,867,790. The season was a very prosperous one, and very litte of 1890's cut remains over. The demand for shingles out of proportion to the lumber cut. The mills of Eau Claire, Badger Mills and Porterville show an increase for 1890 over 1889 of about 30,000,000. The lumber cut of these mills in 1888 was 182,891,300, and in 1887 it was 226,760,460 feet. The outlook for the present year is very bright. The winter just closing has been an excellent one for logging purposes, though the snow, which is very necessary did not come until late. Extensive improvements are now being made to many of the city's lumber mills. Growing Hardwood Industry The vast water privileges which center in Eau Claire, together with its accumulation of power, electric, and otherwise, naturally point to this city being the market for the hard woods of Northern Wisconsin. Few people are aware of the wonderful increase of the uses to which the hard woods of this country are being put. In talkig the matter over with Mr. H. C. Putnam, of this city, who is an acknowledged authority on forestry in the United States, that gentleman says: "Look at one itme along, the finishing of residences and business places in hard woods, in place of the white pine, in the past five years since only the best residences were finished in hard woods; now we find that the smaller houses, worth $10,000 or even less are being finished throughout in oak, birch, maple and other hard woods. While it is a little more expensive to work and finsih, the present low prices at which ordinary hard wood lumber is sold, being less than good white pine, compensate for the extra work, and the house when so finished is made attractive to the buyer. There is a profit to the builder in the word, and the house sells for quite an amount over the pine-finished one. The higher priced houses select their woods from the "firsts" and require the fine mahogany birches, the quartered oaks, etc. The second quality of "bastard sawed" is mostly used in cheaper houses and is quite as good and attractive to the masses. The poorer grades are in demand for the large furniture factories making the common grades of furniture. Thus the hard wood sawmills of Wisconsin find a ready market for all grades of lumber." As a manufacturing center, with this backing and with unlimited water power, to wit, the Dells dam on the Chippewa, 7,000 horse power, the three dams on the Eau Claire, 4,000 more, making a total of 11,000 horse power now available -- and both can be largely increased -- Eau Claire must reap a great benefit. It can, therefore, be seen at a glance that there is no place in the entire Northwest that can compete with Eau Claire in offering manufacturers inducements to locate and to go into the manufacture of hardwood lumber, wooden ware of all kinds, furniture factories and all such like industries. --Taken from the Eau Claire Leader / The Daily Telegram, Progess Edition, 1968