About 1895 or 6 he built a good log house south
of the Soo Crossing, known as Beebe's Crossing. In
1900 Mr. Beebe built a big frame house and my
father bought the logs of the old log house for
$1 2.00 and rebuilt them on the 40 acres we owned
north of the crossing.
Another set of logging buildings is the Sever
Serley place northwest of Bruce. A few of these old
buildings are still standing; this was one of the
earliest privately owned camps.
There was also a set of buildings called Camp 9.
This was on the C.V. & N., west of the Serley
place on the Weirgor River. Some call it Weirgor
Creek and others the Big Weirgor. Another camp
was at Meadow Dam about 16 miles northwest of
Bruce, also on the Big Weirgor.
There was a beautiful spring there and the
C.C.C. boys lived in one of the old buildings in
1938 or 39 and put in wing dams on Big Weirgor
to make for better trout fishing. There also was a
sawmill on the north side of the road and on the
west side of the creek. Nothing remains there now
but a few foundations. Allen Joyner remembers as
a small boy his father and grandfather tearing
down this old mill.
Then there were the Knapp Stout buildings on
the head of the Little Hemlock Creek. This was
known as the Dave Tainter place; from November,
1923 until May 1930 my husband and I, with our
family, lived there. We were caretakers for Bucks
Hunting Club that owned the place at that time.
All there was left of the logging buildings were the
cook shanty that the club members used for their
outings, the bunk house where we lived and part of
the old barn. Mr. Tainter had a nice frame house
on a knoll south of the old building. After his death
in 1917 the building was ransacked and burned.
About 1967 the Conservation took over the land
and bulldozed down the buildings that were rotting
into the ground. All that is left is the dam across
the creek, making Tainter's Bond or as some call
it, Bucks Lake, from the hunting club that owned
it when we were there. This dam held back a head
of water that could be let out to float the logs down
to a mill farther down. Much of the creek was
ripraped with logs and rocks.
There are several dams on Little Hemlock. The
first is Tainter Dam, then Murphy; this dam was
rebuilt by the Conservation in the late 1930s, mak-
ing a large flowage and recreational campsite. In
1969 or 1970 a heavy rain took this dam out. To
date, 1975, it hasn't been rebuilt. The next dam
was Bolger dam, then Bolder dam, then Hemlock
Lake, Big Hemlock and Red Cedar Lake; the
outlet of this lake is Red Cedar River. The Red
Cedar River flows southwest to join the Chippewa
River at Menomonie.
There was another camp that I remember. It
was west on County Trunk 0, across Devil's Creek
from the big curve in the road. When I last saw
this camp all that was left was a few rotten timbers
and a battered up old coffee pot.
Poverty settlers mentioned in the first part were
new settlers that had a team of horses and could
gather old stumps and other burnable wood and
haul it to Ladysmith to the paper mill to be used as
fuel. They got a few dollars to buy a few needed
groceries. The wood was called, "poverty wood".
For most it was an all day trip and a hard one on
both man and horses. My dad never hauled poverty
wood; he was a carpenter and had plenty of work.
We rented our farm land on shares.
The last log drive on the Thornapple River were
the logs that caused the feud between John Deitz
and a logging Company. Mr. Deitz wanted 100 a
thousand board feet to let the logs through the dam
on his property and to hold a head of water to flood
the river below, when the gates were opened. The
logging Company refused to do this; they had used
the dam before Mr. Deitz bought the property.
Guess they thought they could bluff him out; he
held steadfast and a gun battle resulted with
several wounded and I killed. The Feud of
Cameron Dam is a story by itself. Cameron Dam is
just over the county line in Sawyer County. There
were 3 or 4 dams on the Thornapple, Cameron,
Hoyt and Shaw that I know.
Where the 4-H and youth camp is at the mouth
of Devil's Creek at the Chippewa River was

another old logging camp and stopping place on
the old stage route. A man by the name of Johnson
ran the camp. There are a few Indian graves on a
knoll there. By Blanche Moon Sorenson

Old Bruce High School
1915
A BIT OF CEDAR
RAPIDS HISTORY
The Pioneer School in Cedar Rapids township
was built in 1916. The first teacher was William
Simons. He stayed at the school during the week
and walked to Glen Flora where he caught the
train on weekends and walked back again for the
next week. All eight grades were taught.
A few years later another school was built, the
Maple Crest School, on the western part of the
township to accommodate the children from that
area. There were five different teachers who
taught there. In 1930 the school was discontinued
as many of the people had moved out to find other
employment. Then it was torn down and sold.
Shortly after the Pioneer School was built, a
town hall was constructed about a mile and a half
west of there where the people had their town
meetings. It also served as a gathering place for
dances and parties every month or so. A Guernsey
Club was formed and several Rusk County Guern-
sey picnics were held there. One of the first
Homemaker Clubs was organized there, the Busy
Bees. Meetings were held every month, but the
club was discontinued as the population dwindled.
Many dances were held in the town hall. There
were many young people who attended; everyone
had a good time. They brought their little children
along and when they fell asleep, they placed them
on the bunks that were built in the back part of the
building, and enjoyed the rest of the evening.
Many came from the adjoining towns to visit and
dance to the orchestra which was hired from Glen
Flora or Ladysmith. This went on for several years.
Those were the good old days for many.
The Pioneer School was discontinued in 1947-48
when there were only five students left. From then
on they were transported by bus to Glen Flora to
the consolidated school there. The Pioneer School
is now known as the Cedar Rapids Town Hall.
Now there are only eleven families living in Cedar
Rapids with four or five seasonal ones. By Agnes
Johnson

I.M. Bergstrom and boys shooting the first pitch of
Cedar Rapids - 1932

CHERRY PARK
JUNE 24, 1948 EDITION
As far as is known in 1891 Mr. and Mrs. Henry
Nelson Sr. answered an ad in a Minneapolis paper
and came to work for the A.J. Beebes. Mrs. Nelson
as a helper in the house and Mr. Nelson worked in
the Beebe logging camps. The following year in
1892 they homesteaded the 80 acres where Louis
Leitz now resides in the Cherry Park district. Mr.
Nelson walked to Chippewa to file his claim.
The first winter they lived on this place they
didn't even have a door on their cabin, just a
blanket hung over the door.
The pines were 150 feet high on the farm and so
thick they lived here 2 weeks before they
discovered a creek 150 feet from the buildings.
There was no road by the place. They blazed a trail
to the railroad tracks and Mr. and Mrs. Nelson
used to walk to Bruce and carry home their
groceries in a wash boiler between them.
Carl Osse is another old settler in the Cherry
Park district. He came here in October, 1898, and
at that time the closest road was 101 trail. From
the Beebe corner east there was just a winding trail
toward Ladysmith.
Between the Frank Larsen place and the Beebe
corner there were five families by the name of
Anderson, one on the south west forty of the
Steinhilber place and the other across the road,
and Albert Aspense on the Archie White or
Steubes place.
In 1901 the people along this road appeared
before the county treasurer and asked to have a
road built but it was 1904 before it was completed.
All the men worked out their poll tax here.
The first school was held in Reinard Ducomons
upstairs. The district was really large, as it extend-
ed from the Nelson place to the River Heights
School.
The first schoolhouse was built in 1900 on the
place where Roy Larsen now resides and the first
teacher's name was Miss Koska. Later the school
was moved to its original setting.
A Lutheran minister from Barron, a Rev. Hale
came here in 1902 and started a church in the
schoolhouse.
The first couple to be married in Cherry Park
district was Ludwig Aspense in 1902 and the first
baptism was their child.
As we all know, lumbering was the main occupa-
tion and lots of lumber was taken from these
farms. The lumber for the Port Arthur mill was
cut from hemlock across from the schoolhouse on
the Richter place.
The 40 acres just south of the Leitz place was so
heavy that they hauled from this 40 days and
nights to get out before the spring thaws. Carl Osse
and Dick Olson had this timber and sold it for $8
per thousand.
The ties that were used in building the spurs out
to Beldenville were cut off what is now the Charlie
Meisegier farm.
There are probably lots of old settlers we have
forgotten but I might say no matter who they were
or where they might be today we thank them all
for their part in the making of Wisconsin a great
state. By Mrs. Louis Leitz

Cherry Park Sunday School - 1920's