The Lumber Industry in Northern Wisconsin
Prior to the Civil War, most of northern Wisconsin was inhabited by the Menominee and Ojibwe Indians, and transient fur traders of European origin. Demand for wood in Chicago and Milwaukee after the Civil War …
The Wausau Group: The Businessmen Who Revived Wausau’s Economy
Located on the Wisconsin River, Wausau developed as a logging town in the 1830s. George Stevens chose the site because of the waterfall that spanned the river, which provided power for sawmills used to turn …
Tools of the Trade
OBJECT HISTORY: Log-Marking Hammer
Between the 1840s and the 1890s, logs meant money. Wisconsin had a large supply of trees. Lumber mills made money by cutting down trees. Logging was one of the largest industries in Wisconsin. There were more than 450 lumber camps across Wisconsin. If we study this log-marking hammer and think about the people that used…
OBJECT HISTORY: Bark Spud
The bark spud is an iron tool used to remove bark from cut timber. Most bark spuds have a steel head with a hard wooden handle. The head is rounded or dish-shaped and has one cutting edge. The sharp wedge on the end of the bark spud slides between bark and wood on a log…
Teachers, check out this lesson plan on the logging hammer.
The Muley Sawmill at the Wade House
Learn about the historic Wade House or visit it in Greenbush, Wisconsin.
OBJECT HISTORY: The Muley Sawmill
If you grew up in Wisconsin, you may be familiar with some of Wisconsin’s forests like the Black River forest, Menominee forest, or the Chequamegon-Nicolet forest. For hundreds of years these forests have provided Wisconsin …
Loggers and their Traditions
“In logging camps, lumberjacks would come together after long, hard days of logging to eat, to sleep, and to entertain themselves as best they could. One of the most popular ways for lumberjacks to entertain themselves was to play music on a fiddle, a stringed instrument more commonly called a violin.”
OBJECT HISTORY: Fiddle
As the lumber industry flourished in Wisconsin beginning in the 1840s, immigrants from all over Europe and Canada came to live and work in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. All winter, men called lumberjacks would cut down pine trees, preparing the timber to be used as building material, or sometimes to be turned into pulp or…
OBJECT HISTORY: Slovak Catholic Altar
During the 19th and early 20th century, immigrants from all across Europe began coming to Wisconsin. Some had heard of economic opportunity from industries like mining, logging, or farming. Some were being treated unfairly in …
During the 19th and early 20th century, immigrants from all across Europe began coming to Wisconsin seeking economic opportunity from industries like logging. Slovakian immigrant, Paul Bartek of Ino, Wisconsin made this alter for his home around 1910.