On Saturday evening, October 12, Friends of the Old School hosted a presentation on “Logging in the Northwoods.” The presenter was Kerry Bloedorn. He is the curator at the Rhinelander Pioneer Park Complex. The museum is the oldest logging museum in the state. Bloedorn said he also does a history program on Channel 12 out of Rhinelander.

He said Owen is on the southern reaches of the Northwoods. The logging boom in Wisconsin went from about 1850-1900, although it lasted slightly longer in the Owen area, going into the early 1930s. Bloedorn spoke about the glaciers that were in Wisconsin 35,000-45,000 years ago. He said they left a lot of sand and rocks behind. After logging the land was turned into farmland. That is unique to the central Wisconsin area.

Hemlock and white and red pine grew up after the glaciers receded. He also pointed out that the Northwoods doesn’t run in a straight line, it follows the glacial moraine. There were four main logging districts in Wisconsin that followed the main river valleys, including the Chippewa River, Wisconsin River, Black River, and Wolf River. Waterways were how logs were transported before railroads. The Black River alone carried enough lumber to build a boardwalk 9 feet wide and 4 inches thick around the entire earth.

Many cities and towns grew up around the logging camps. In the Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Black River Falls areas that development was led by lumber baron Fredrick Weyerhauser. The Menominee Reservation, along the Wolf River, is known as the “Emerald Rectangle” as they have the largest stand of virgin white pine in the state, including a tree 56 inches in diameter.

Land in the 1850s and 1860s sold for $1.25 an acre. Improvement companies were formed to improve the rivers for logging. This mostly involved using dynamite to remove large rocks. It would start with a survey, looking at the land, and timber cruising (looking at the timber resource). Then a tote road would be built along with a camp in preparation for winter logging. All logging camps were set up in a similar way. They had a bunkhouse, cook shack, stable, blacksmith shop, and an office/store. Logging was only done in the winter. Logs were moved by sleigh along ice roads that were built for that purpose.

Bloedorn said each logger had a specific job, such as cutter or axeman, swamper or bucker, and skidder or teamster. In the early days oxen were used to move logs. Later they sometimes used horses. Ice roads were built by road monkeys, who mostly worked at night.

Bunkhouses were dark, wet, cold and smelly. Bloedorn said Rhinelander actually had two main streets as the lumberjacks weren’t allowed downtown. Men often slept two to a bunk. The average logger ate 7,000-10,000 calories a day. The bull cook ran the camp and loggers were not allowed in the dining hall between meals. Talking was not allowed at the table largely due to language barriers. Alcohol wasn’t allowed in camp, but patent medicines were, including those that contained things like cocaine and morphine. Bloedorn also said that lumberjacks didn’t normally have beards because of lice. The beards we see in photos were later added by the photographer. Clothing was boiled to help prevent lice.

Logs were marked with a stamp hammer for identification as many were floated down the rivers together. A lumberjack got paid about $24 per month, $40 for those who moved the logs down the river. A bull cook or wood boss might make $80 per month. Taking the logs down the river was so dangerous, it was referred to as a “cold water meat grinder.”

In Owen, logging started with John S. Owen purchasing 30,000 acres. The Owen Lumber Co. built their own railroad, known as the Owen and Northern Railroad. The company operated for around 50 years. By 1890, more than 23,000 men worked in logging and 32,000 in sawmills. There were more than 450 logging camps across the state. Lumber from the Northwoods of Wisconsin was sent across the nation. After the boom ended, the logging companies advertised the cutover land to homesteaders.

American folklore was invented and developed in the logging camps. Rhinelander’s hodag comes from logging camp lore.