St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-04-01
How the Wards Of Uncle Sam
Play the Great National
Game.
The Pineries of Northern Wis
consin and How They Are
Denuded.
Fish Trap and Twelve-Mile
House--Traveling a Tote
Road.

w HE d Ol4OBE Representative was "o
Chippewa Falls last week he was cor
daily invited by George B. Farley, OF
the large and well-known logging firm
of II. W. Farley & Co., to accompany
him on a trip to the LIE Du Flambeau
Indian reservation, in the northern part
of the state, and note the moduS oper-
andi of devastating the pine forests that
were donated by an over-generous gov
eminent to the poor Indians, whom the
poet Pope characteriZeS as possessing
untutored minds, etc. Pope evidently
never familiarized himself with the lat
ter day aborigines, but confined his
knowledge to wooden image repreSen-
tative occupying prominent position IN
front of a cigar store, for the untutored
mind of an average Indian is unSuScep-
tible of further cultivation by the Willy
crafts of his pale face brother, especially
playing the great national game OF draw
poker and absorbing diluted whisky.
The Flambeau reservation consists of
five townships in the midst of the heavy
pine forests, and is reached by rail from
Chippewa Falls to Fifield, and thence by
team thirty-five miles due east, through
one continuous stretch of woods over a
tote road; that is, road cut and made
by the various logging camps, over
which the supplies are hauled from the
railroad station. Taking the midnight
train from Chippewa Falls over the Wis
cOnSin Central, a ride of three hours
lands you at AbbOtsford, where connec-
ton is made with trains north. An
other dreary, mon0tOnouS ride OF some
sixty miles finds you at Fifield, small
station containing ten saloons to one
store or residence. This is the supply
depot for a great number of logging
camps situated at distances ranging
from twenty to fifty miles in the woods
and near some one of the many small
streams which afford facilities for float
ing the logs when the breakup comes in
the spring. Eating breakfast at Fifield,
a team is engaged, and muffied up i'll
fur coats and buffalo robes, the ride is
begun over the tote highway for the In
dian reservation on the shore of Flam-
beau lake, thirty-five miles away. The
heavy tote teams which are constantly
traversing the road produce deep and
frequent pitch holes, and light team
trOtting along at a SiX-mile gait over
these places makes the passenger feel
like "a big sun flower that mods and
bends in the breezes," only more so, for
the effect is a sort of hal
Inclination, as it were, of his whole in
teriCr anatomy, which cannot be regu-
lated until the tWelve-mile house is
reached, where one can find a cOmforta-
bic fire and substantial refreshments.
From the twelve-mile house to the Fish
Trap,a distance of about nine miles land
these pinery miles are the longest ones
in the world,
A SCENE OF DESOLATIoN
pervadeS upon every side, from the fact
that destructive fires have ravaged the
woods and destroyed millions upon mill
ions OF valuable pine, leaving nothing
but waste of tall, gaunt trunks for the
WoOdpecker to feast upon, and the cor
roding hand of time to fell. Speaking
about Fish Trap, perhaps more intelli-
gent explanation is required to have the
reader comprehend what it is. 1t is
the first real, bona fide logging camp
encountered after leaving Fifield, and
consists of long, low log house, built
in such a manner that future genera
tons will wonder at the architectural
skill of the builder. 1t is divided into
two compartments, one for sleeping and
the other for cooking and eating. The
sleeping apartment contains a huge
wood stove that abSorbS logs of four
feet in length and as large as an ordi-
nary man can handle, while ranged along
one side and end is double row of
berthS made from pine slabs, upon
which the men, wrapped in blankets.
find sweet repose; and while these
touches may not be as soft as downy
pillows are" yet little experience
enables one to snore as loud as in an
old-fashioned feather bed, and when
at midnight, the hour that
ghosts troop forth, fand grave
yards are supposed to yawn, and score
of lumbermen, tired from their hard
days labor,are seeking the slumber that
invigorates, one is royalty entertained
by listening to the concert of snores in
deep basso profundo from the upper
tier, as they harmonic with the dulcet
alto and high-pitch tenor of the lower
tier. The kitchen of the Fish Trap con-
sists of large range for cooking pur-
poses, while long table between as
long benches comprise the furniture.
The presiding genius of this camp is