Logging and Lumbering on the Wisconsin River

Logging and Lumbering on the Wisconsin River. . In the late 19th century, Wisconsin became one of the leading lumber producing states in the country. Before the construction of Wisconsin's railroads, the state's major rivers were used to transport logs and lumber from northern Wisconsin to saw mills and markets throughout the state. The logging and lumber industry along the Wisconsin River began in the 1830s but did not flourish until the following decade after an 1836 treaty with the Menominee Tribe opened up a strip of land along the river, 60 miles north of here., This industry provided jobs for thousands of men, including lumberjacks who felled the trees and raftsmen who piloted lumber rafts down the Wisconsin River. White pine trees in northern Wisconsin were cut down primarily during the winter months when they could be hauled more easily on frozen ground to nearby river banks to await transport., In the spring, the logs were floated to nearby mills where they were sawn into rough lumber planks generally around 16 feet long and one to two inches thick. Raft pieces called cribs were constructed out of the rough lumber and joined together to create large rafts which were floated down the Wisconsin River. Often, the lumberjacks who cut the trees in the winter were the same men who guided lumber rafts down the river in the spring and summer., By the mid-1850s, 5,000 raftsmen piloted 3,000 lumber rafts containing more than 100 million board feet of lumber down the Wisconsin every year. In 1872 over 200 million board feet of lumber was sent down the river, enough to build over 11,000 average-sized homes of the day. Logging and lumbering on the Wisconsin River lasted through the 1880s by which time lumber was being shipped more economically, safely and easily on the railroads., A Raftsman's Life on the Wisconsin River, In 1886 Wisconsin Dells photographer Henry Hamilton Bennett, assisted by his son Ashley, documented life aboard a Wisconsin River lumber raft. Bennett's series of pictures told the story of the raftsmen and were developed as 3D stereoscopic cards which are considered some of the world's first photojournalism., One of the most challenging stretches on the river was at the narrows of the dells, four miles upriver from here. There, the river makes a sharp turn and rock walls constrict the flow to fifty feet wide creating strong currents and eddies. Rafts were taken apart into smaller pieces to be run through the narrows, usually by experienced pilots. Raft pieces were reassembled after making it through the dells, and raftsmen often stopped to rest at places like the village of Newport which was once located near here.