The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1867-05-09

For Tho Tribune.
A Description Of Central Wisoon-
sin, and Of a trip down the
Wisconsin. and part Of the Mis-
sissippi on q feet Of Lumber.

cially in the central part cf the State,
in Marathon, Portage, aud somo ad
joining counties, is one complete bed
Of sand hills, covered mostly with
black pine, jeek pine aud small grub
oak.
In Marathon county is what is call.
cd the big woods, whore the timber
is principally white piue, iutcrsporscd
some with Norway pine, hemlock, fir,
birch; oak; elm aud white cedar.
The great iamJeriag region Of Wis
consin is on the " Upper Wisconsin,"
and its tributaries, where there arc
many saw mills which work the logs
into lumber at the rate Of from ten
TO two hundred thousand feet per
day for each mill; it is almost impos
sible to realize the amount Of lumber
sawed iu this region annually.
Before going any farther with
the lumbcriug, will describe the
country, climate, inhabitants Sc.
The surface OF tho country IS coz
cred with many small but beautiful
lakes. Along the railroad from Mil
waukoo to Berlin, they are very mum
erous much OF the way the traveller
is not out of sight Of one before he
comos to another, aud on the stage
route from Berlin to Stevens Point
some sixty miles, there are quito a
number; in Que or two places lhcro is
just enough room between two of
them for u wagon road.
Take the stage at Berlin aud go to
Stevens Point late in the summer, or
fall aud the traveller will bo sick of
Wisconsin. for all of the way the
stage has to wallow through the sand,
and up aud down ma5 high hills
These hills are the dividing ridge be-
tween the Mississippi valley aud the
great lakes.
The timber is scarce, and most OF
the way consists of small grub oak, MS
il is called, moro properly small burr
aud black oak, but get some fifty
miles from Berlin aud the pine trees
arc seou, but what. are called jack
pine, and black pine. This part ol
the country has been burned over
many times, aud now the small pine
trees are coming up very dense aud
are now from four TO twenty feet high
aud in many places are so thick IL is
impossible to pass through them, and
they look very beautifulin winter, be.
inga dark green.
How many there are in, Ohio would
be glad for few of them to place as
ornaments in their yards.
There is large tamarack swamp
in the western part of Portage coun-
ty, which supplies many farmers, es-
pecially on the Prairies with rails -
They go in the swamp in the winter
aud cut and haul them out. Also in
Marathon county there is a cedar
swamp, that furnishes many good
rails aud fence posts to the inhabi-
tants.
The soil is sand, and is not very
Fertile, though in some places the
farmers raise good crops. In proof
OF the poorness of the soil, in the vi
cinity Of Plover aud Stevens Point
there is not h II Of the land taken ~
or being improved. A great manj
will take up piece Of land, and Gu
off the wood, aud then will let th,
taxes remain unpaid for two or tire,
years, when il is sold for taxes, o
becomes the property of the county
There is no hard pan to the soil bu
it is nothing but sand, down as far Al
has ever been explored
The water is on level, unless il is
near some of the streams 1t Is on q
level with those small lakes before
mentioned, consequently sumo of the
wolls on high grouoi ars very doep.
| have drawn water out of some, one
hundred feet deep. In digging these
wells they have TO wall it up as fast
as they zig to keep the sand from cav
ing down on the diggers Plank is
used for walling up the well, or curb
ing as il is termed. There have sov,
eral accidents happened by the welli
caving in aud burying the digeers.
There is one thing that seems odd
for an Ohioian, and that is the fact
that as soon as the frost is out Of the
ground the roads are good, and the
farmers can 60 to plowing, and in the
summer the best roads are after a
shower, aud the dryer they get the
worse they become. In ten minutes
after hard rain storm the ground is
dry enough to plow.
The country here is proverbially
healthy, but the winters are cold
very cold, and there is generally tive
to four feet Of snow on the levol the
snow generally commences to fall
about the irst Of January aud does
not disappear until the first of April,
In the spring Of '66 it commenced
showing the 10th Of January, aud did
not stop until the fifteenth. when the
snow was over two feet deep on lev
el, and in places drifted six or eight
feet deep, aud continued about the
same depth until the first of April
when il went of as suddenly rs Il
came. There was splendid sleighing
from the time the roads were first
broke, until tho frst of April. II
there was not "six weeks of sleighine
10 March," there was thirty-onC
days.
Any person in quest Of a good ap
petite will fnd al that helrt car
wish, by coming here from any 9th
er part of the country. For the frs
few weeks, after coming TO this yig
orous climate, any person has wha
is termed a wisconsin appetite" fol
ia nine cases out Of ten he will no
know By his feelings when he Is done
eating, but will quit hungry after eat
ing enough for two mcu. b
The inhabitants are mostly those
that could not live any where else
such as would be termed youghs, bu