Early river navigation
Trade route and portage
Although there are no precise records of when and to what degree trade started on the upper Wisconsin, it was known to be a significant route by around the turn of the nineteenth century. Lac du Flambeau was a large Ojibwe town within which Montreal fur traders built semi-permanent trading posts, including by more than one company simultaneously. These traders sent employees on excursions down river to trade with Ojibwe towns and camps which existed as far south as the Yellow River. [11] When traveling to the satellite Ojibwe villages downstream, it was necessary to portage the Falls. By the time US federal surveyors arrived to take their data in 1851, the portage road was well-established. [12]
A story extant from the period describes what was probably the first and only canoe trip down the falls:
In 1849, these falls were navigated, in a bark canoe, for the first and last time by two Indians — the Black Nail and the Crow. At the head of the falls before starting, Crow held the canoe by a rock projecting from the shore, while Black Nail made a prayer and an offering to the spirit of the falls. The offering consisted of two yards of scarlet broad cloth, and a brass kettle ... [After saying the] prayer, he threw the offering overboard, and grappled his paddle, and the canoe went bounding over the billows, and ran the falls in safety. [13]
As Jenny (Merrill) developed in the 1870s, it became a point of departure for suppliers to the logging camps:
[I]n the summer months canoes were the common means of conveyance. From 1,000 to 1,200 pounds could be loaded on a canoe and the trip from Jenny to Grandfather made in a day, and as many as 25 or 30 canoes were often seen on the water, each with three men bound for Grandfather. It required four days to make the trip to Eagle River by this means and two to return downstream. [14]
Barrier to lumber rafts, problem for log drives
The principal means by which the lumber mills along the Wisconsin River sent their product to market was lumber rafts. Lumber rafts were used before railroads were built in the region, but to some extent even afterwards. The product was the raft itself, constructed of the boards which were to be sold at Saint Louis and other cities along the Mississippi. Special techniques and training were developed in order to optimize the amount of product that successfully made it, although due to accidents on several dangerous stretches of the river some times these lumber rafts were smashed into splinters — and many times the workers running the rafts were killed. [15] [16]
It was virtually impossible to run these lumber rafts down Grandfather Falls. As a consequence, Jenny (Merrill) became the northernmost sawmill town. [17] The Falls acted as a hazard to log drives as well. Prior to railroads penetrating the pineries [18] in the 1880s, logs for the mills were cut and "banked" along the river and its tributaries, and in the spring of the year the logs were "driven" downstream to the mills. This work was always dangerous and difficult, but nothing was more dangerous than a log jam. [19] Once a set of logs started to clog up a river, the rest would back up behind. The largest log jam in Wisconsin history was at Grandfather Falls — 80,000,000 board feet backed up for miles. [20]
A prime goal of river development up stream, either by the Wisconsin River Improvement Company or by any of the other dams such as the Tomahawk Dam (built in 1887), was to provide flushing water to float logs down the river in general, but specifically over the problematic Grandfather Falls. The Falls itself had three stone dams to aid in the flushing of logs as well. [21] In the Wisconsin lumbering era, this issue was of such a concern that it made front-page news as a business-related item in newspapers around the state, in the same way that modern business pages report shipping traffic or the price of oil. [22]
Development at the Falls
The upper flushing dam was eventually developed for sawing lumber by Peter B. Champagne in 1880. He enhanced the dam, and on the east side constructed a mill race. With the sawmill came mill workers, and the need to house the workers, so eventually a modest sized town built up that included a livery stable, boarding house, store, saloon and post office. The post office acquired the official name of Champagne and the village, never incorporated, was known variously as Champagne or Grandfather Falls. With the boarding house and other facilities, as wagon traffic increased on the road north into the woods — traffic that included loggers and other workers like surveyors, as well as commercial traffic all the way to Ontonagon — the village became a stopping point for travelers to refresh themselves and feed and water their horses.
Once the railroads penetrated the north woods — the Milwaukee Road, a few miles east; the Soo Line, going east–west a few miles north; and rival north–south railroads just 25 miles or so to the east and west — the general situation change drastically as the towns upstream could now ship finished lumber directly to market by rail. Thus Tomahawk and Rhinelander began to boom, and the sawmills from Merrill south began a steady decline. Even to the extent that the downstream mills stayed economically viable, log drives disappeared. Instead logs themselves could now be brought by rail to the mills. The decline in sawmills did not mean a decline in the forest products economy, as the paper industry steadily emerged as a major economic force in the north woods. However, as a barrier to commerce Grandfather Falls ceased to become an issue. [23]
Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony located at the northeastern edge of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the only natural major waterfall on the Mississippi River. Throughout the mid-to-late 1800’s, various dams were built atop the east and west faces of the falls to support the milling industry that spurred the growth of the city of Minneapolis. In 1880, the central face of the falls was reinforced with a sloping timber apron to stop the upstream erosion of the falls. In the 1950s, the apron was rebuilt with concrete, which makes up the most visible portion of the falls today. A series of locks were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s to extend navigation to points upstream.
The St. Croix River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 169 miles (272 km) long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Minnesota. The lower 125 miles (201 km) of the river form the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota. The river is a National Scenic Riverway under the protection of the National Park Service. A hydroelectric plant at St. Croix Falls supplies power to the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area.
The Wisconsin River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At approximately 430 miles (692 km) long, it is the state's longest river. The river's name, first recorded in 1673 by Jacques Marquette as "Meskousing", is rooted in the Algonquian languages used by the area's American Indian tribes, but its original meaning is obscure. French explorers who followed in the wake of Marquette later modified the name to "Ouisconsin", and so it appears on Guillaume de L'Isle's map. This was simplified to "Wisconsin" in the early 19th century before being applied to Wisconsin Territory and finally the state of Wisconsin.
The Grand River is a river in the southwestern portion of the southern peninsula of Michigan, United States, that flows into Lake Michigan's southeastern shore. It is the longest river in Michigan, running 252 miles (406 km) from its headwaters in Hillsdale County on the southern border north to Lansing and west to its mouth on the Lake at Grand Haven.
The Spanish River is a river in Algoma District, Sudbury District and Greater Sudbury in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It flows 338 kilometres (210 mi) in a southerly direction from its headwaters at Spanish Lake and Duke Lake to its mouth at the North Channel of Lake Huron just outside the community of Spanish.
The Jump River is a small rocky river in north-central Wisconsin. In the late 19th century it was used to drive logs down to the Chippewa River. Today it is recreational, rambling through woods and farmlands, used mostly by fishermen and paddlers.
The Pic River is a river in the east part of Thunder Bay District in northwestern Ontario, Canada. It flows from McKay Lake southeast of the community of Longlac and empties into Lake Superior southeast of the town of Marathon.
Tainter Lake is a small reservoir in north central Dunn County, Wisconsin, on the Red Cedar River at its confluence with the Hay River. The lake was created by a hydroelectric dam (about 3 miles downstream on the Red Cedar at Cedar Falls. The lake, a popular resort and fishing spot, has a surface area of approximately 2 square miles.
The Chippewa River in Wisconsin flows approximately 183 miles (294 km) through west-central and northwestern Wisconsin. It was once navigable for approximately 50 miles (80 km) of its length, from the Mississippi River, by Durand, northeast to Eau Claire. Its catchment defines a portion of the northern boundary of the Driftless Area. The river is easily accessible for bikers and pleasure seekers via the Chippewa River State Trail which follows the river from Eau Claire to Durand.
The Namekagon River is a tributary of the St. Croix River. It is 101 miles (163 km) long and is located in northwestern Wisconsin in the United States. Its course is protected as part of the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.
The Black River is a river in west-central Wisconsin and tributary of the Mississippi River. The river is approximately 190 miles (310 km) long. During the 19th century, pine logs were rafted down the Black, heading for sawmills at La Crosse and points beyond.
The Manistee River, seldom referred to as the Big Manistee River, runs 190 miles (310 km) through the northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan; it now passes through the contemporary villages of Sharon, Smithville, and Mesick, entering Lake Michigan at Manistee. It is considered, like the nearby Au Sable River, to be one of the best trout fisheries east of the Rockies. The Manistee River is also being considered for restoration of Arctic grayling, which have been extirpated from the State of Michigan since 1936.
The Dead River, sometimes called the West Branch, is a 42.6-mile-long (68.6 km) river in central Maine in the United States. Its source is Flagstaff Lake, where its two main tributaries, South Branch Dead River and North Branch Dead River, join. It flows generally east to join the Kennebec River at The Forks, Maine.
The Eastman tunnel, also called the Hennepin Island tunnel, was a 2,000-foot-long (610 m) underground passage in Saint Anthony, Minnesota, dug beneath the Mississippi River riverbed between 1868 and 1869 to create a tailrace so water-powered business could be located upstream of Saint Anthony Falls on Nicollet Island. The tunnel ran downstream from Nicollet Island, beneath Hennepin Island, and exited below Saint Anthony Falls.
The Flambeau River is a tributary of the Chippewa River in northern Wisconsin, United States. The Chippewa is in turn a tributary of the upper Mississippi River. The Flambeau drains an area of 1,860 square miles (4,800 km2) and descends from an elevation of approximately 1,570 feet (480 m) to 1,060 feet (320 m) above sea level. The Flambeau is an important recreational destination in the region. It is notable among canoeists in the Midwest for outstanding canoe camping, including excellent scenery, fishing and whitewater. The river and its forks have a variety of possible trip lengths from short day outings, to overnight camping, to voyages of a week or more.
The West Branch Penobscot River is a 117-mile-long (188 km) tributary of the Penobscot River through the North Maine Woods in Maine. The river is also known as Abocadneticook, Kahgognamock, and Kettegwewick.
Point Basse refers to both a sharp bend in the Wisconsin River near present day Nekoosa, Wisconsin, as well as to a nearby historic village downstream from the point itself, the village no longer being in existence. Other historic spellings included Pointe Basse, Point Bas, and Point Boss. The Ojibwe name for the village on the west side of the river at the same location was Bangahjewung. There is no currently existing geographic feature which retains the name. It was the location of the first rapids for travelers heading up stream, and the first place where these rapids were exploited for mill power.
Ripogenus Gorge is a rock-walled canyon formed where the West Branch Penobscot River crosses the Caribou Lake anticline. Ripogenus Falls controlled discharge from Ripogenus Lake until Ripogenus Dam was completed at the upstream end of the gorge in 1916. The dam forms a hydroelectric reservoir raising the level of Ripogenus Lake to include the upstream Chesuncook Lake, Caribou Lake, and Moose Pond. The resulting reservoir is often identified by the name of the largest included lake: Chesuncook. The gorge provides an unusual exposure of Maine North Woods bedrock typically covered by saturated glacial till. The Silurian Ripogenus Formation of weakly metamorphosed shallow marine siliciclastics and fossiliferous limestone has been described from investigation of the gorge.
On June 13, 1886, a log jam developed in the St. Croix River, close to Taylors Falls, Minnesota, and St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin. The river was used to transport large quantities of logs from the forests upstream to the sawmills, and log jams disrupted this business. The 1886 jam was described at the time by a local journalist as "the jammedest jam" he had encountered, and was very difficult to clear, with hundreds of men working for six weeks to clear it, eventually using steamboats and dynamite. The jam was also a major tourist attraction, with thousands of spectators every day. After the jam was broken up in July, cleanup work to remove the logs on the river banks continued until September.
Seattle Municipal Light and Power Plant, also known as Cedar Falls Historic District, is a public hydroelectric plant near North Bend, Washington operated by Seattle City Light. The plant was the first publicly-owned electrical generating plant for Seattle and one of the earliest in the country for a municipality of its size. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
