Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1915-07-23
THE OLDEN DAMS
OF THE CHIPPEWA
INTERESTING SKETCH OF PEOPLE
WHO FIRST SUBDUED THE
RIVERS FALLING WATERS.
MANY DAMS IN YEARS PAST
Regarding the Early Powers on
the Chippewa and Its
Tributaries.

Living at Chippewa Falls is civil
| engineer who has seen three score
| years and ten, served in the civil war,
| had hardships innumerable, and who is
| still in active practice of his profess
| sion. To J. A. Duncan, the engineer
| In question, the Chippewa Valley is an
open book. He has been in the terri
| tory since the days when the govern
mGnt surveys of Wisconsin and Mime
under contract with the surveyor gen
| eral of the United States, and is still
| on the job measuring up trespasses,
| re-discOvering old monuments and Sec
| ton lines, and generally tieing up the
! present with the past in relation to the
The Chippewa Valley.
Mr.. Duncan possesses the best local
recollection of the original water power
| developments of the Chippewa River
and it's tributaries, and his recital Of
these locations and the people who
made them, furnishes probably the
best living record of the attempts at
Harvesting the power of the falling
waters of Chippewa and its tributaries.
In Mr. Duncan's recollection the
first power above Eau Claire was at
Blue Mills, five miles above that city
The early history of this power was
that one blue Tom" the rest Of whose
name is lost to history, damned the
OBJ
He took his own logs to a mill below
the falls and it is said, some others
from the river there, used the power
10 run 'Muley" saw, the water fall
ing upon an old fashioned over-shot
wheel.
Twelve miles from Eau Claire, at
Chippewa Falls, the first dam was
built about forty rods above the pres
ant dam, by H. S. Allen. Originally
this developer built brush dam and
then dug race dam on the west side
Of the river This DAM which simply
checked the water and sent it around
over the wheels, ran the mill at Chip
pewa Falls for twenty years. 1t was
rebuilt and the second dam also went
put, but the third still stands.
The next dam up stream was at Dun
cans Creek The earliest dam on that
creek was built a: Glenlock about a
mile up from it's mouth, and operated
Marshalps saw mill, equipped with a
'Muley" saw and an overshot wheel.
This mill was built about forty years
do
built about the same time.
H. S. Allen had a water power on
Duncan Creek about fifty years ago,
which was used for planning and lum-
Der dressing. At about the same time
ne built a flooring mill on what is now
Central Street, Chippewa Falls, on
Duncan creek and operated it with
turbines for twenty-five years, it's oper-
atoms having commenced about 1854
Or IS.
The dam at Bloomer was built about
fifty years ago, primarily for lumber
ing, but was later used for Touring
milling purposes. 1t was constructed
by Smith, Brooks e Macauley. Four
miles from Chippewa Falls, on Duncan
creek is the Tilden Mill, the dam for
which was constructed forty-ive years
ago by John Schueknecht for a grest
used ever since.
About 1870, Pond, Hubert & Co.,
built another dam within the city linn
It's Of Chippewa Falls, clear across the
creek, close to the river, to run ma
chine shop, which they operated for
many years following 1870, when this
dam was constructed.
Next above Chippewa Falls, among
the earlier dams was one built three
miles above the city at Paint Creek
Rapids, about 1870 or II. This dam
was not used for power purposes, but
for reserving water for flooding and
rafting On Paint creek, which emp
ties into the main river about two and
one-half miles above Chippewa Falls,
dam was built in 1868, by Mathew
Bateman for the purpose Of operating
saw mill, the power being taken
from the falls by an overshot wheel,
which operated an old-fashioned
'Muley" saw About two miles above
the mouth of Paint Creek, on the Chip
pewa at Eagle Rapids, dam was
built in the early numbering days by
the combined numbering interests for
flooding purposes and rafting.
On the Yellow River at Cadott a
dam was built in 1885 by Robert Mar
riner. At the outset the power de-
rived from it was used to operate q
saw mill and then small Touring
mill. At the present time a grist mill
of large capacity is operated from this
power There have been many dams
built on the Yellow River, four or five
being used for flooding purposes. Most
OF these have disappeared. One, how.
ever, remains today at Hughitt, near
where the Omaha railroad crosses the
river
Two miles above Eagle Rapids dam.
O'Neil creek empties into the Chippe.
wa River. There was saw mill built
on O'Neill creek in 1850 by the Mr..
O'Neill, from whom the creek was
named. He sold out to Lockhart g.