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(lumbering icon)1925




Chippewa Lumber & Boom Co from Big Eddy

Along in May we started down with our first raft of hewed timber, with its top load of shingles. There were about eight of us, Bob Hendricks sitting on the shingles in the middle of the raft. Just as we were passing the "Burned Rock" a big wave swept over the raft, throwing a lot of the shingles and Bob Hendricks into the water. Hendricks was a good swimmer and started to swim away from the raft, to keep clear of the shingles, but in doing this he struck his breast against a rock. We saw his feet once and that was all. His body was found in the Blue Mills boom a week later. We lost a good man when he was drowned. I ran many cribs of lumber over the falls in those early days. I remember once when the water was very high, Gilbert and Company, on the Yellow River, needed just one crib to complete a raft and offered me twenty-five dollars to bring it down. I rigged up a couple of oars and started down alone. A lot of people stood on the bank watching to see what would happen. Instead of giving me any trouble, the crib floated like a cork. I did not have to touch the oars, and in a few minutes was safe below the falls.


Chippewa River

"Dancing Annie" wanigan

Vinette, Bruno. "Early Lumbering on the Chippewa." Wisconsin Magazine of History 9 (1925-26) 442-447.
From the collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin: F 576 W7