Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1920-01-15
Lumber Camp
In Greenfield

In Gf06uu0IQ that 1OI uIduy yOd15
In the old days there was muley
saw on the Ann Garrison village site
near the Lower Narrows of the
Baraboo river and in pioneer times
there was a large mill far up the
icreek which flows through Glenville.
near Baraboo. One day long ago the
dam built by Mrs. Garrison washed
away and the settlers would not per
nit her to rebuild the structure. Will
lam Eikey and others also owned
mills in the town.
q = =
During the war in Europe Russell
L. Williams of Baraboo was soldier
superintendent when some of the big
trees in the forests of France were
cut. After his return he cast about for
a lumber camp in the Baraboo hills
and found there was considerable
timber on the land owned by Attorney
John M Kelley in Greenfield. There
are over seven forties in the tract,
the land extending from the house
erected by the late ALI. r. Ringing
near the babbling stream to the Bara-
boo river short distance east Of
where Jacob Kramer of Baraboo
formerly resided The residence is
at the eastern end of row Of five
forties, the other two lying north of
the five.
When winter came on Mr. Williams
u
lumber from the land. This meant he
must have camp and this was open |
ed In the house built by Mr.. Ringing |
by the brook. William Nolan, a cook |
of long experience with circuses and |
elsewhere, was placed in charge. !
Woodsmen were secured to cut the
trees, still others to get the logs to |
the mill and convert them into lun-
ber
s. - x
The mill is located on the low land |
near the Baraboo river within few
rods of the river road The logs are
skidden down the hills to the saw and |
the hauling to Baraboo has been easy
over the fine highway which Old
Boreas had maintained. Part of the
logs are cut into ties, part into box |
lumber, part into building material,
match factory. This means there are
several kinds of oak, then Eastwood,
cherry, popple and other varieties of !.
timber
* * 4
AS soon as a tree is cut it is for
marks on the ends Of the logs i,
whether for ties, boards, heavy limb
ers, matches, veneer, or other pur-
poses. The match and veneer logs /
are shipped to other cities where the |
saving is done. The ties are hauled
to the railroad company and the lum-
Der elsewhere. The slabs go for
wood and the sawdust is hauled to
some neighboring ice-house where it
will do service in preventing blocks
from melting. Everything from the
mill is converted into money.
- - *
1t requires one skilled in woodcraft
to know how to get the most money
out of log when it lays before him,
just after being failed. An education
counts for much and without it there
would be serious losses. The ex-
perience received by Mr.. Williams
while in the army is invaluable now.
Mr.. Nolan, the pancake expert, Is
the first to arise in the morning.
About 80 he begins to get up steam
in the kitchen and his job OF prepar-
ing breakfast is no easy one. The
choice OF good things is in the pan
cake line. How many pancakes as
big as sucer do you suppose a
hungry woodsman will eat on q
frosty morning? T-h-i-r-t-y-f-i-v-e is
the record in the Williams-Kelley
camp. About twenty is the average.
There are twenty for breakfast every
morning and twenty times twenty is
four hundred; so you see Mr. Nolan
had no time for few extra winks in
the morning. No Stree! The cakes
must be baked and kept hot until the
fellows roll down the stairs for break
fast. He sounds the gong, a big bell
from a clown wagon of the Ringing
show, at $50 and then the merriment
begins.
4 4 4
One must hurry over to the mill as
soon as he arises to hurry the steam
in the engine. His breakfast is
brought to him and he has the pleas
ure of eating when the thermometer
is playing hide-and-seek around the
twenty-below mark. At noon another
remains at the machine to file the
saw and his dinner is brought to
him, to be eaten beneath the azure
canopy.
*
About one million feet of lumber
will be removed from 10 acres. The
mill must be set again before the last