HISTORY OF THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY - CHAPTER 42


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Faithful Record of all Important Events, Incidents, and
Circumstances that have Transpired in the Valley of the
Chippewa from its Earliest Settlement by White People,
Indian Treaties, Organization of the Territory and State;
Also of the Counties Embracing the Valley, Senatorial,
Assembly and Congressional Districts, and a Brief
Biographical Sketch of the Most Prominent Persons in the
Settlement of the Valley. BY Thomas E. Randall 1875.  Free
Press Print.  Eau Claire, Wisconsin

CHAPTER 42

So important a public measure as the passage of the 'Dalles
Bill,' in the shape of an amendment to the charter of the
city of Eau Claire, and becoming a law just at this time,
has induced the author to extend this work so as to give a
brief account of the contest in the legislature to secure
the enactment, provisions of the law, and its relations to
the business interest of the valley.

The law simply authorizes the city of Eau Claire in its
corporate capacity, to erect a dam sixteen feet high across
the Chippewa River, to place piers, booming and sorting
works in the river at suitable points, and lease the water
power and works to responsible parties, and binds the city
to make and operate free of charge a lock for passage of
steamboats, a safe and suitable raft slide for two strings
in width rafts over the dam, and unobstructed raft channel
past the booming works at all times, and to pay all damages
incurred by any and all parties from the erection of these
works.

As the City of Eau Claire is a responsible party, and
abundantly able to indemnify all parties for such loss if
any were sustained, it seems as though no objection could be
urged against the measure on that account; and so it must
have appeared to the members of the Legislature, and the
executive of the State as the bill passed both houses, and
became law within two weeks after its introduction.

The personal popularity of our Senator and Assemblymen, Mr.
Graham and Mr. Callahan, undoubtedly did much to insure the
passage of the bill, an efficient lobby was also on the
ground, and the audacity of the Eagle Rapids bill, which
provided, had it become law for the institution to collect
ten cents per thousand feet for all logs passing that point,
may have roused the spirit of retaliation favored the claims
of Eau Claire in this contest; but more potent and above all
the claims of Eau Claire in this contest; but more potent
and above all was the conviction throughout the State, that
the interest and welfare of the people demanded the law.
This conviction has been gaining ground ever since the first
agitation of the subject, and it has now found public
expression in this enactment. The people of Eau Claire seem
very much in earnest in this matter, and will probably vote
any amount of bonds necessary to carry out the objects
authorized by the law, and it is hoped that all opposition
to so beneficent a work will cease.

Whatever cause for alarm or uneasiness, any party may
entertain in regard to losses likely to be inflicted upon
their interests by these operations, one very favorable
aspect of the case is observed in the fact that all the
mills between the Dalles and Chippewa Falls, manifest no
opposition, but are rather favorable to the projected
improvement.

The aggregate amount of lumber annually manufactured at
these mills, is greater that the quantity made at the Falls,
and if any real danger were apprehended to their interests
by the construction of these works, it would seem as though
all would make common cause against it. These mills have
been erected at great expense, and their success, and even
their existence is just as much imperiled as the mills at
the Falls, and yet their owners appear very well pleased at
the prospect of these improvements.

As some of these establishments have received no attention
in these pages a brief reference to each may not be out of
place here.

In the summer of 1867, Ed. Coleman and James Mitchell, two
enterprising young men at the Falls, erected a steam saw
mill, and the necessary booming works at French Town, which
after several assignments is now run in the interest of A.K.
Shaw and Company; it is a good little mill. Then comes the
Gravel Island Mill, commenced in 1857, by Martin Daniels and
Ephraim E. Shaw, and completed the year following by Bussy
and Taylor, who established booming works above the Island;
it was burnt in the fall of 1863, and was rebuilt the
following year by James A. Taylor. It is favorably located
three miles below the Falls, and is a very good mill, now
run by a company of enterprising Frenchmen, under the firm
name of the French Lumber Company. It lacks some of the
latest improvements in mill machinery. The mill frequently
referred to as the 'Blue Mill,' first erected in 1842-3, was
after many vicissitudes taken down in 1864, and a large
establishment driven partly by steam, (the first was
propelled by a spring creek), erected in its place by H.
Clay Williams and John Barron. A nice arrangement for
elevating the logs by waterpower from the river into the
millpond, where they are safe from freshets and danger, has
since been added.

The capacity of this mill is from twelve to fifteen million
board feet for the season, has most of the late improvements
in machinery, and is now owned by a corporation with the
title of 'Badger State Lumber Company.' A lathe, shingle
mill and pail factory are connected with this mill.

Three miles below is the LaFayette mill, erected in 1863-4,
by Charles Coleman, of Chippewa Falls, its capacity is about
the same as the Badger State Mill, has ample storage booms,
and convenient sorting works, and is now owned and operated
by John and George Robson, of Winona. A terrible boiler
explosion occurred at this mill in the summer of 1869, by
which one man was a fatally injured and another man badly
injured. Two miles lower down is the Wheaton Mill, built in
1869-70, by Ira Mead, Frank McGuire, Saul and Lally, capable
of cutting six million feet per season. It is now run by the
two latter gentlemen. These are all in Chippewa County.

Two miles below are the mills of Prescott, Burditt and
Company, first erected in 1867-8, rebuilt and greatly
enlarged in 1873-4, by the same company. The company of
Graham, White and Company, own a controlling interest in
this mill, and it is complete with all its appointments. Its
annual cut is from ten to fifteen million feet. The Wilkins
Island Booming Works is the mill built by Mr. Farwell, and
now owned by W.T. Weber. And one mile below on the same side
is the famous, but now idle mill, erected in 1863-4, by
Horton and Van Buren, Barron and H. Clay Williams,
subsequently sold to Nelson, Hunter and Company. It is near
this mill that the raft channel cut-off is to be excavated,
which will shorten the running distance for rafts more than
two miles, and leave the river for more than that distance
as a safe reservoir for logs. The mill and peninsular tract
of land belonging to it are now owned by various parties
amongst whom is the Union Lumber Company of Chippewa Falls.

Then right at the head or upper entrance of the Dalles, is
the Eddy Mill, of Ingram and Kennedy, commenced in 1860, by
A.M. and S. Sherman, the former of whom entered the army,
and the work lingered, and after a sickly existence was sold
in 1869, to the present enterprising firm who moved and
rebuilt the mill on its present site the year following, and
made it one of the best mills on the river. All the last
name mill are within the limits of the City of Eau Claire,
but with the exception of the last will continue to use and
depend on the Eagle Rapids Boom to store a considerable
share of their logs, even after the works are completed at
the Dalles.

The report of Colonel Farquhar, of the United States
Engineers, lately submitted to the War Department, of a
survey made last summer by his assistant, Captain Turner,
recommends the erection of dams and locks at the foot of
both the lower and upper Dalles, as the only way to improve
navigation of the river at those points, and if the
provisions of the law are effectually carried out by the
city in the erection of these works, navigation of the river
will be greatly improved, as now, in low water it is with
much difficulty that a single string of lumber can be
navigated over the tortuous, shallow channel, and too
frequently, for the owner's profit or the pleasure of the
crew, sticks fast on the rocks and must be taken off in
separate cribs, with hand spikes. Raftsmen will have
occasion to rejoice when relieved from this hardship.

Substantial manufacturing establishments will undoubtedly
follow the completion of these works, and a reservoir for
logs absolutely safe from the highest flood, will mark the
improvement as the best investment and grandest enterprise
of the kind in the valley - because Nature has planned the
situation for just such an undertaking, and during all these
years has invited man's handiwork to make it available.

The mills below he Dalles to be benefited by this work are
two owned by Ingram and Kennedy, one by the Valley Lumber
Company, a corporation, one run by Tarrant Brothers &
Bletcher, one by J.P. Pinkum and Company, one by the Daniel
Shaw Lumber Company, a corporation, one by W.B. Esterbrooks,
one by Boyd and Randall, one by Gorton Brothers, one by the
Northern Lumber Company and several others lower down on the
river. One of the first two named was built by Adin Randall
in 1858, came into to possession of Stephen Marston, some
time afterward, who finally sold it to the present owners.
It was the third mill started by Mr. Randall, all near the
connection of the chute to Half Moon Lake. The other was
erected by its present owner and Mr. Dole, in 1857-8, was
the second steam mill erected in this valley, was destroyed
by fire in 1861, was rebuilt and enlarged immediately, and
has been one of the most successful establishment on the
river. It was the first to introduce the improved patent
sawdust carrier and distributor; and invention that
substitutes the sawdust made by a steam mill almost
exclusively for other fuel.

The third one named was commenced by Adin Randall in 1857,
sold to and completed by Ball and Smith, the former sold his
interest to G.A. Buffington, since which time it has been
operated by the firm of Smith and Buffington until the
winter of 1874, when the new company, composed of the last
named firm and Carson and Rand, of Eau Galle, an organized
corporation, removed the old mill and are erecting on it
site one of the largest steam mills in the valley. Their
millwright is the well-known George Barton, who has
superintended the laying of the foundations and every part
of it, and intends to make it one of the most complete mills
in all its appointments in the northwest. The company has a
paid up capital of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars
already invested in the undertaking. Mr. Pond's improved
setting and dogging apparatus, and a newly invented log
turner, are amongst the improved machinery of the mill.
Martin Daniels, Bangs & Fish, and R.F. Wilson built the mill
now operated by the Tarrant Brothers, in 1866-7, which, by
some means, has been involved in more legal difficulties
than any other on the river, but is a good mill and the
present proprietors will probably extricate it from all its
troubles.

At the outlet of Half Moon Lake stands the mill of the
Daniel Shaw Lumber Company, the site of which was selected
in 1856, before the introduction of steam mills on the
Chippewa. Unable to overcome the difficulties of building at
the Dalles, Mr. Shaw located here as the next best point,
resolved to await future developments.

Half Moon Lake is a safe reservoir for logs, but the
uncertainty of getting them in there makes it an important
matter to secure other means of storing their logs. The mill
was burnt in 1867 and rebuilt the year following by the
present able company, composed of Daniel Shaw, Mr. Bullen,
Mr. Newell, and Mr. Furgerson, who became incorporated in
1874. Their mill is one of the most extensive and
substantial in the valley, with all the new improvements in
machinery, and its capacity is over twenty million feet per
season. A steam flouring mill has lately been erected by the
company. The two next named mills have scarcely any booming
privileges, and will find their property much enhanced in
value by the completion of the new works at the Dalles.

The Northwestern Lumber Company's mill occupies the site of
the mill commenced by Charles Warner and completed by Porter
and Brown in 1864, consumed by fire in 1867, rebuilt and
enlarged by Mr. Porter, subsequently associated with D.R.
Moon with him in the business. The establishment is hardly
excelled by any in the country, combining farming,
merchandizing, and various smaller manufactories with that
of lumber. The company's business office is in this city,
and connected with the mill six miles below by telegraph
wire. All these mills have suffered for want of storage for
logs, and have sometimes seen almost the season's supply
float past them to the Mississippi, because no safe
reservoir could be provided.

In April 1868, occurred one of these destructive freshets,
bringing down a jam of ice, logs, and driftwood in such
force as to carry away booms, piers, and all other
obstructions that interfered with the swollen uncontrollable
flood. The entire Chippewa Bottoms was overflowed and
covered with logs and driftwood. There was no Beef Slough
boom, then, and the delta of the river, and many of the
islands in the Mississippi, were piled with logs and at such
quantities deposited on the intervening Chippewa Bottoms,
that several of our mill men established portable steam
mills to manufacture them into lumber. I need hardly add
that conflicting claims to those logs involved several of
their owners in legal difficulties so complicated and
tedious that they seemed like permanent fixtures on the
Circuit Court calendar. From the effects of this, and almost
every other destructive freshet, Knapp, Stout and Company,
of Menomonie, and Chapman & Thorpe, of Eau Claire, escaped,
simply because safe, secure reservoirs for logs had been
created near their mills, by overflowing low, flat basins
and taking the logs entirely out of the current, but no such
place of safety has been provided for the Chippewa, and
today we should find it little better, for I venture the
prediction that the works at Eagle Rapid would not stand one
hour against such a flood. My reasons are that their river
directly above the 'jam boom' is hemmed in between
perpendicular walls of rock, and the Chippewa is one of the
maddest, most ungovernable streams in the world.

Reposing in such continual security, it is not surprising
that the last named companies have gone on the even tenor of
their way and accumulated great wealth, while others have
been involved in heavy liabilities. It is true the latter
came with considerable capital, but it is because they
availed themselves of natural advantages of their position
that they achieved success. Their first steam mill, erected
during the hard times of 1857-8 was consumed by fire in
1867, but replaced the next year by one of the most complete
mills in the State; their waterpower mill on the site of
McCann and Randall's mill, and carried away by the flood of
1847, was rebuilt in 1871, its capacity quadrupled by the
introduction of the Leffel turbine wheel, and all the modern
improvements, among the most valuable of which are several
inventions of L.W. Pond, and improved method of hanging and
fastening gang saws, a machine for setting and dogging on
circular saw carriage, and many other improvements in mill
machinery by this inventor have been adopted.

A shingle mill and merchant-flouring mill of large capacity,
also a new and costly store to replace the one destroyed by
fire in 1874, have been added to this company's city
property, while title to a large amount of pineland had been
secured.

The business operations at Menomonie and Eau Galle companies
have been heretofore set forth in these pages. Mr. Carson,
of the latter, has already invested considerable capital at
the Falls and in this city, and Knapp, Stout and Company, it
is confidently expected, will invest largely in the new
works at the Dalles. In addition to the manufacturing
establishments already mentioned, there are several in the
country around about. Hazen and Son have an excellent
flouring mill on Otter Creek; Peter Daniels and John Kelly
are running each a good grist mill on Lowe's Creek; Bump
Brothers run the mill at Rock Falls, erected by Weston &
Chamberlain; Mud Creek, Elk Creek, and Sand Creek each have
a grist mill, and many small steam mills are scattered up
the Eau Claire and Chippewa Rivers.

Three good bridges for travel, on in Eau Claire and two at
Chippewa Falls, also a railroad bridge at the former place,
span the Chippewa; public highways have been opened in ever
direction; elegant churches and school buildings are seen in
every neighborhood, and all the elements of progress,
comfort, conveniences, and the refinements of Christian
civilization have been developed in this country. Our
inventions are really one and inseparable; here is room for
all free scope for all our energies, and no occasion for
envy ore sectional bitterness; the few cannot expect to
monopolize the advantages that belonging of right to the
many. The conflict between different localities is more
imaginary than real, and the sooner kind and fraternal
relations are established, the better it will be for our
varied interests.

On the eleventh day of March 1875, the qualified voters of
the city of Eau Claire, in accordance with the provisions of
an ordinance passed by the City Council, submitting the
question of bonding the city to carry the amendment into
effect, voted almost unanimously to issue bonds to the
amount of one hundred thousand dollars for that purpose. But
parties at Chippewa Falls having obtained a writ of
injunction, in the name of the Attorney General from the
Supreme Court, restraining the government of said city from
issuing such bonds and from constructing any of the works
contemplated by said amendment, the case came up for
argument before said Court on the 18th and 19th days of May
1875, and the injunction was sustained on the grounds that
the Chippewa River is a navigable steam and a public
highway, secured by treaty of cession and constitutional
provisions; and that the city of Eau Claire, as a
municipality, could not legally and constitutionally become
a booming and manufacturing organization, such as the law
contemplated.

It may be that the legal impediments that stand in the way
of this great improvement will effectually prevent its
construction, but its necessity was never more apparent than
at this moment, as the breaking up of the ice in the
Chippewa this spring completely demolished the booming and
assorting works at Eagle Rapids, and more or less injured
all the establishments of the kind on the river, and such
will probably be the fate of those and all others until some
place is adopted where logs can be taken out of the current
and made secure in some overflow marsh or bayou, and no
locality on the river can ever vie with the great basin just
above the lower Dalles, in natural facilities for such a
work.