Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1908-06-19
NORTHERN WISCONSIN OFFERS OP.
PoRTUNITIES BETTER THAN
MOST STATES.
FINE CHANCES FOR HUSTLERS.
Forests Can Provide for First Payments.
Then Crops VIII Set Prosperity
Ball Rolling.
SOME STORIES OF HUSTLERs.
BY EDGAR T. WHEELoCK.


yelopment Association.
Frequently 1 have been asked how
poor man, one who has barely enough
money to make first payment on lana
that he buys, can earn living in north
ern Wisconsin while he is clearing his
land and preparing it to support his tam
lily. AS a result of these questions l
have made a careful investigation OF the
conditions that surround the new WIS
consin homebuilders and believe that the
answer is an easy one.
In the first place. it must be understood
that the settler must be willing and aDIe
to work. If man is willing to work
he can find work to do at fair rates or
wages or he can employ himself in the pro-
duction of something that will sell for
enough to pay him for his time and bring
him profit in addition. If he is not will
ing to work, but expects to have his living
brought to him without effort on his part,
he should stay where he is now-one
place is as good as another for that.
Some Actual Examples.
Northern Wisconsin offers opportuni-
ties to the homebuilder who wants to
earn a living. | have in mind two cases
that will illustrate what may be done in
that section of the state by men who
own wild land:
John Bonk. a German-American citi-
section 16, township % north, range 2
west, and whose postofice address is
Withee, Wis, kept an account of his re-
ceipts from the sale of forest products
from two and one-half acres of land
which he cleared last year. This land
hot SC HRIIt
the saw log timber having already been
removed. The products cut by Bonk
were bolts. from which box shocks, bar
rel headings and slaves are made-sh0rt
wood and cord wood, together with
few logs left by the lumbermen under
the belief that they were not worth tax
ing The proceeds of the sale OF these
products amounted to $4O5, $162 an
acre.
The second case is that of j. w.
Hicks, a lawyer who lives at Prentice,
in PRICE county, who owned one can, and
limits. Mr.. Hicks had owned this land
for some time and for three years in
succession he had cut enough wood
from it each year to supply his own
needs. Last year he decided to clear ana
plant the tract and he hired men to do
the work, keeping an account OF the re-
ceipts from the sale of the products.
Here is the result:
IS cords 1S-iDch wood ".....''''S A9'V0tVSV,
Eastwood bolts to value Of ......... 30OO
Lumber to value Of ................. oooO
$4,000
After the land had been cleared he
caused it to be planted to vegetables and
he harvested 115 bushels Of potatoes,
100 bushels rutabagas, and 100 bushels
turnips. There was also small patch
of ground planted to radishes, string
beans, and sweet corn, Of which no &C.
count was taken. The 315 bushels of
root crops were worth $3.50. Thus in
one year this tract of cutoVer land
yielded forest products to the value of
$40 an acre and root crops to the value
of 500 an acre, and that, too, after
three years Of cutting for frewood.
Winter Work Yielded $1,000.
It will be understood, Of course, that
there are few settlers who keep an ac-
curate account of the proceeds of the
instances like those given above can be
furnished. All wild land does not return
such large profits, it is true; but where
1he forest products are Of little value the
land is easy to clear. | have the record
OF one man who, with but $500 to make
first payment, earned $1,000 in one win
ter by cutting cord wood, with which
make pdyLuouI Oh HIS
and this, too, in addition to supporting
himself and family during the winter.
The cases I have given here illustrate
the advantage the settler in northern
Wisconsin has over the man who goes
to the prairie states of the west or to
Canada or Texas. The prairie farmer
must have enough money to build a
house; the Wisconsin settler can build
q log house at small expense. The
prairie farmer must put in a crop and
wait until it is ready to harvest before
he can sell it and get his money; the
Wisconsin settler can earn money from
the first day he begins to work. The
prairie farmer must buy fuel; the Wis
consin farmers fuel lies all about him,
almost in his door yard. All these
things count to the advantage of the
Wisconsin settler.