Wisconsin 101

Read more about the article What is a Point Blanket Coat?

In 1818 Anna Maria von Phul painted this picture of a Native American woman wearing a white wool trade blanket. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

What is a Point Blanket Coat?

The practice of converting Hudson’s Bay Company blankets into coats began years before the company began mass-manufacturing point blanket coats in the twentieth century. During the fur trade, Native Americans hunters traded beaver pelts for wool point blankets. Point blankets were waterproof…

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June 7, 2018

Art, Sport & Entertainment / Langlade County / Wolf River / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Region 2 - North East / 1960-1980 / Transportation & Tourism / Mepps Fishing Lure

Squirrel Tails Wanted? The Improved Mepps Lure

Driving through Antigo, visitors are often puzzled by a sign proclaiming “Squirrel Tails Wanted” advertised by Sheldons’ Inc., manufacturer of Mepps lures. Squirrel tail hair has unique properties ideal for lures. [1] Its addition to the Anglia has proven to be the…

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May 24, 2018

Art, Sport & Entertainment / Antigo / Langlade County / Related Stories / Global Connections / Manufacturing & Trade / Nature & Environment / Region 2 - North East / 1940-1960 / Mepps Fishing Lure

Mepps Lures: The Antigo Connection

A chance encounter of an American G.I. in France after World War II with a local fisherman led to the development of a major industry in Antigo, Wisconsin and put Antigo on the sports fishing map. Frank Velek discovered a fishing lure…

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May 24, 2018

Pre-1600 / 1600-1800 / Wolf River / Related Stories / Langlade County / 1800-1820 / 1820-1840 / 1840-1860 / 1860-1880 / Manufacturing & Trade / 1880-1900 / Nature & Environment / Region 2 - North East / 1900-1920 / Politics, Society & Government / 1920-1940 / 1940-1960 / 1960-1980 / Transportation & Tourism / 1980-2000 / 2000-2020 / 2020-2040 / Mepps Fishing Lure

The Wolf River

Todd Sheldon first discovered the virtues of the Mepps Aglia spinner and later realized improvements afforded by a tuft of squirrel tail while fishing at one of his favorite spots: the Wolf River. Today the Wolf continues to be a destination for sports…

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May 24, 2018

Langlade County / Related Stories / Manufacturing & Trade / Region 2 - North East / 1920-1940 / Transportation & Tourism / Mepps Fishing Lure

Building a Tourism Industry in Northern Wisconsin

Equipment manufacturers played a major role in developing fishing as a part of the tourism industry in northern Wisconsin. Each year nearly two million people fish in Wisconsin’s waterways. They catch about 72 million fish of various species. Fishing lures expanded in…

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May 24, 2018

The 1911 Workman’s Compensation Act and the Birth of an Industry

Wisconsin passed the nation’s first constitutionally upheld worker’s compensation law in 1911. It is one of the great successes of Progressive-era social legislation and a triumph of the Wisconsin Idea.[1]Previously, American workers toiling in industrialized workplaces had often faced the threat of injury at…

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May 24, 2018