bridged by placing logs side by side, as close
together as possible, on top of the logs dirt was
placed to make the traveling fairly smooth. The
biggest rocks and largest roots were removed
where they wound among the stumps, along the
bank of the river. The largest streams were bridged
by building elaborate plank trestles. Very little
earth was used to fill with as they did not have the
time nor the tools. Lumber and timber were abun-
dant and skillful woodworkers were at hand, so by
means of "piling" to hold up the structure, bridges
over some of the streams such as Potato, Soft
Maple and Devil's Creeks were built which were of
great length, often twenty to forty rods or more of
trestle and plank work. The blackened ends of the
piling are still there as proof of the statement of
the old settlers.
As soon as this road was constructed along the
Chippewa, it became the highway for all the men
and supplies bound upward in the fall and down
again to Shaw Farm at the mouth of the
Flambeau. Roadside taverns or "stopping places"
as they were called, were built along the road at in-
tervals of three to five miles. These taverns were
built to accommodate the travelers and the teams
and men who ran regular freight lines up the river
during the winter. This freight business was called
"toting" and the roads were called "tote roads."
The size and importance of these stopping places
can be appreciated when we are told that on the
Big Bend of the Chippewa River, a man named
Miles, had log barns that accommodated two hun-
dred horses and log sleeping shanties sufficient for
three hundred men.
At first ferries were used on the rivers, but about
1900 the Chippewa River was bridged at Bruce.
The ferry at Oak Grove, above the Big Bend on the
Chippewa River, was operated as late as 1908.
Many of the stopping places became some of the
largest farms in the country.
There is some dispute among the early settlers
as to just what is meant by "The Old Chippewa
Road" but, their versions and knowledge have
been governed, in some cases perhaps, by the part
of the county in which they settled.
The following information was obtained during
the 1934 "Old Settler's picnic" which was held at
Getchel's Resort, a historic landing place on Island
Lake and a former stopping place on the Old Chip-
pewa Road above the Lake House. This informa-
tion was obtained from Mr. D.E. Getchel, who was
one of the oldest pioneers of that region and of the
county, having settled there fifty years ago.
The "Original Chippewa Road" extended from
Chippewa Falls north on lines twenty-seven and
forty, following a "straightway" (meaning an
almost direct line through the woods by survey),
entering Rusk County at a point in the town of
Rusk, making two stopping places above the Lake
House, one was Nine Mile House, which was one
and one-half miles east of Eagle Point (or
Eagleton) and a Twelve Mile House which was
three miles above Nine Mile House straight north;
then Campbell's Lower House; Campbell's Upper
House on Long Lake, where Sheridan and his staff
were entertained by Colonel Ginty, a noted
character; then Big Bend Miles' Place; Brainerd's
Place or Chippewa Landing, across the river from
Old Murry; Oak Grove; Burpee's Place on Island
Lake (now known as Burpee's Resort); Tom
Kelley's Place at Amacoy; Sam Johnson's Place
(or Johnson's Corner), which was located on
Devil's Creek just north of Bruce; Pinkham's
House; Sam Johnson's Upper Place; Grand Rapids
House; Murry House, on the river, Joe Russell's
Place and Biller Falls on the Chippewa which was
the last place from there on to Radisson, the ter-
minal of our old logging road and which is in the
center of Sawyer County.
Highway Forty takes the general course of the
old road from Island Lake on to Radisson especial-
ly after the old road was straightened and im-
proved. It touches, skips the Johnson Landing near
Bruce, touches again at Murry and from there on
to Radisson it follows the old road exactly. The
first graded road of importance in the county was
built in 1895, when the Old Chippewa Road, as it
was and has since been called, was straightened
and graded. The stumps were pulled and the sur-

face smoothed with a grader from the southern to
the northern border of the county. For the next fif-
teen years this comparatively good road was used
as a main highway for teams coming in for a
winter in the woods as well as the hauling of sup-
plies from the prairies of Chippewa County. As
late as 1908, long trains of five or six teams tied
one behind the other would be seen day after day
in the late fall moving north. During the winter
hundreds of loads of beef, pork, oats, and hay were
moved by teams.
RECLAIMING THE
LAND IN RUSK
COUNTY
LADYSMITH, WIS. - ST. PETER AND ST.
PAUL, SO THE story goes, were enjoying a
heavenly game of golf. St. Peter teed off, and made
a hole in one. Then St. Paul teed off, and he made
a hole in one. As the two saintly golfers got ready
to tee off again they looked at one another and
Paul said, "Okay. Now let's cut out the miracles
and get down to business."
Long ago, the people of Rusk county got down to
business, but they too enjoyed an era of miracles
first.
The early history of almost every region contains
a period of high feather. There is something in the
opening of a new country that fosters optimism.
But if that were not enough, there are always the
promoters who tirelessly dedicate themselves to ac-
quainting the public with the fortunes that are to
be made out of the soil or rocks, or company stock
they have for sale. Of these and the garden-run
variety of optimists, Rusk County had its share.
The big "timber take" was concluded here
before the first decade of the new century had
come to a close. In 1905 a drive of 41 million feet
of logs came down the Flambeau river from Pix-
ley's Rapids. Three years later the volume had
dwindled to 20 million feet.
The disappearance of the tall timber only stirred
men to visions of repeating the era in some new
field of endeavor. For a time it was mining. In
1902 the Ladysmith paper noted that a settler had
discovered natural gas on his place and had taken
samples to Eau Claire, to interest "wealthy
capitalists." In 1905 it was reported that two
Polish settlers had found iron ore on their property

and that one had refused $ iu,uO tor his 4 acre
farm, the other, $21,000 for 160 acres.
Immediately it was noted that a J.W. Robinson
was busy in the abstract office seeking the names
of titleholders in the area, and soon 5,000 acres of
land were under lease. A mining camp was
established between Appolonia and Weyerhauser
and "at 200 feet a vein of iron 100 feet deep was
located." Strangely enough, this announcement
seems to be the last of the news about iron mining
in Rusk County. Reports of finds of copper and
crude oil "in pockets" continued to excite the peo-
ple for a while, but the mining fever diminished
and was superseded by a period of bonanza
ranching.
THIS WAS APPARENTLY carried on by men
of some means who saw in Rusk County's vast
tracts of wild land, a cheap source of virgin
pasturage. As early as 1902 an Edward J.
McGowan bought 3,000 acres to be fenced, and
stocked it with 4,500 ewes and 300 heifers. The
horns of publicity subsequently trumpeted the
news that ewes and lambs from this ranch had
brought a top price on the Chicago market, though
"they never had any grain, but were fattened on
brush."
Another ranch flourished some 10 miles south of
Ladysmith where sheep brought in from Colorado,
Montana and other states and reported to total a
flock of as many as 10,000 were fattened for the
Chicago market. The real success of this and
similar operations is unknown, but it is significant
that by 1910 the bonanza ranches had been
parceled out, and no more is heard of them.
Industry appears to have been sighted as the
next source of quick prosperity. A marble works,
potash plant, a wholesale candy factory, and a
plant to manufacture an egg substitute were
sighted, but evidently nothing came of these
projects.
THE AGE OF MIRACLES IN Rusk County
came to an end shortly after 1910, and citizens and
civic leaders began to get down to business. The
business at hand was to get more farm land under
cultivation. Amid the vast cutover and sometimes
stony tracts of Rusk County, this was difficult
business, but by then it was realized that on the
development of substantial farms rested the even-
tual prosperity of the region. Even the hardy
pioneers who settled here found a decent self-
sufficiency a slow and discouraging attainment.
Agricultural authorities estimated that it took 42
pounds of dynamite to clear an acre of cut over
land.

J.L. Gates Land Co. Cut-over Lands.