Series: Unbound Material
Scope and Content Note: This unbound material consists of letters and other business records. The letters deal with a wide range of subject matter relating to routine lumbering affairs. In Box 1 are letters arriving at the Chicago office of Holt and Balcom between 1879 and 1887; and in Box 2 are letters of the Holt Lumber Company arriving at both the Chicago and Oconto offices between 1900 and 1902. Records in Boxes 3 and 4 deal with a variety of topics. There is no continuity, and few topics are treated in detail. Most of these records pertain to the Holt Lumber Company and its subsidiaries, but the Miscellaneous accounts cover both Holt and Balcom and the Holt Lumber Co.

Letters to Holt and Balcom, incoming to the Chicago office

1879-1880

1880, Oct.-1881, June

1881, July-1886

1887, January-1887, March

1887, April-1887, May

1887, June-1887, July

Letters to Holt Lumber Company, incoming to the Oconto and Chicago offices

1900

1901, January-1901, August

1901, September-1901, December

1902, January-1902, May

1902, June-1902, November

Appraisal of sawmill plant and plans, 1913
Note: See also Volume 239.

Average prices of lumber shipped, 1920s

Contracts, 1911, 1924

Lands and land sales by location, acreage, and amount, 1922

Land sales by purchaser, 1911-1928

Michigan land accounts, 1913-1940

Miscellaneous accounts, 1866-1941, n.d.

Printed materials and one photograph re Holt family and company

Production costs, 1917

Records of Log Drives

1889

1890

1891

1892

1893

1894

1895-1896

1897, 1898, 1901

Oconto Electric Company
Note: See also Vols. 246 and 247.

Oconto River Improvement Company
Note: See also Vol. 59.

Union Falls Power Company

Series: Letter Books

Subseries: Oconto Letter Books, 1866-1901
Scope and Content Note

The voluminous Oconto letter books, averaging about nine hundred letters to a volume, describe thirty-five years of lumbering activity in northern Wisconsin. As the following tabulation shows, the letter books deal in greatest detail with the decade of the nineties:

1860's

1 volume

1870's

5 volumes

1880's

15 volumes

1890's

32 volumes

1900's

2 volumes

Despite this concentration on the nineties (which was probably due to expanded operations), the letter books provide an almost complete day-to-day account of activities in the earlier decades as well.

Until 1889, the bulk of the Oconto letters were written by subordinates in the company. Until Holt and Balcom was dissolved T. B. Goodrich, probably the superintendent, wrote most of the letters. T. H. Phelps, probably the bookkeeper, wrote a few letters, as did Augustus Cole, who was field manager. Not until W. A. Holt took over active management of Oconto affairs about 1889 were a sizeable portion of the letters written by a high-ranking official of the company. Even then lesser figures like T. H. Phelps, W. H. Young (superintendent), and W. E. Congdon (manager) wrote a tremendous number of routine letters.

Until 1889, the most extensive single bloc of Oconto correspondence was addressed to the Chicago office; after 1889 letters bound for the parent office were put up in separate volumes. The remaining correspondence was addressed to thousands of individuals, railroads, lumber companies, law firms, supply houses and similar business establishments; no sample listing of names could convey any accurate impression of the extent of the company's contacts. Most of the businesses were located in the mid-West, with the bulk of the letters going to Wisconsin, Illinois, and neighboring states. It appears that eastern contacts in Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts did not loom large until the 1890s.

The subject matter in the Oconto letter books covers a wide range of topics, most of which had to do with the routine affairs of lumbering at Oconto. The following list is suggestive of the subjects covered:

• Descriptions of lumber cut and shipped
• Requisitions for supplies for the Oconto mill, store, camp
• A record of daily orders (particularly after 1889)
• Financial transactions with the parent house in Chicago
• Relations with the railroads-Chicago and Northwestern
• Shipping lumber by lake boat from Oconto to Chicago
• Bills paid, detailed records of expenditures
• Occasional lists of wages paid to labor
• Law suits, damage claims, disputes with other companies
• Taxes and land valuations
• The relation of weather to logging
• Dealings with fire insurance companies
• Activities in Wisconsin Lumber Dealers' Association
• Buying new woodlands, selling cut-over lands
• Forest fires
• Indications of prices and quality of lumber
• Various problems dealing with cutting, driving, finishing
• Relations with Lumberman's Credit Association
• Accident reports

It seems safe to say that the information contained in the Oconto letter books describes in detail what was done; but it rarely indicates why.

Until the 1890s the letters were virtually all written in longhand, and thereafter the majority were still not typed. Probably one-tenth of these letters are illegible due to fading, water-soaking, tearing and similar damage. Many of the volumes are completely unindexed; and those that are indexed are inadequate, marred by many omissions.

Two central facts to be kept in mind in evaluating the Oconto letter books: 1. the Oconto office was essentially a branch office, at least until the 1890s 2. except for William A. Holt the Oconto letters were written by underlings who had no hand in policy-formation. As a result, the letters are most valuable for details on the cutting, driving, and finishing of lumber; on the supplying and operating of the company store and the camps; on the receiving and filling of orders; and on daily financial transactions with the Chicago house.

On other important matters-company objectives, policy, resources, political actions, profits and business feuds-the letters shed little, or indirect light. From the point of view of writing a business history it seems safe to say that not more than twenty per cent of the Oconto letter are useful; and this twenty per cent is buried beneath a mass of material of doubtful value.

1866, May 24-1875, July 9

1875, July 22-1879, December 13

1879, December 13-1883-August 21

1883, Aug. 21-1885, June 20

1885, June 20-1886, December 27

1886, December 29-1888, September 21

1888, September 22-1889, April 30

1889, May 1-1890, January 6

1890, January 6-1890, September 17

1890, September 17-1892, April 6

1892, April 6-1892, September 23 (few selected November)

1892, September22-1893, January 10

1893, January 9-1893, April 19

1893, April 20-1893, August 9

1893, August 9-1893, December 16

1893, December 16-1894, March 16

1894, April 5-1894, July 28

1894, July 28-1894, November 21

1894, November 22-1895, March 21

1895, March 11-1895, June 11

1895, June 11-1895, October 15

1895, October 15-1896, February 6

1896, February 6-1896, April 30

1896, April 30-1900, July 2

1898, September 30-1901, April 4

Subseries: City Office Letter Books, Oconto to Chicago, 1889-1898
Scope and Content Note

A handful of these letters were composed by George H. Holt, but the great majority were penned by W. A Holt, T. H. Phelps and W. H. Young. Since W. A. Holt was then in command at Oconto, and was probably not without influence in company councils, his letters are probably of some consequence. The evidence suggests that the 1890s were transition years during which W. A. Holt became the key figure in the company, and the Oconto office began to whittle away the functions of the Chicago office. If this be true, the City Office Letter Books are crucial to an understanding of the transition. Furthermore, since no letters from the Chicago office are available for this period, the daily letters from Oconto to Chicago are indispensable for piecing together the story of the operations of the Chicago house.

Aside from the aforementioned virtues, the City Office letter books are plagued by the weaknesses inherent in the Oconto letter books. They shed little light on formal decisions and policy, and much light on trivia which the historian would be unable to use.

1889, June 13-1892, July 19

1892, July 22-1895, October 19

1895, October 21-1898, September 22

Subseries: Rhinelander to Oconto Letter Book, 1896, April 17-1896, July 30
Scope and Content Note: This supplementary volume covers only a four-month period, April-July 1896, and contains about one hundred fifty letters written by Henry A. Rumsey (?) from Rhinelander to the Oconto office. Apparently Holt Lumber Co. had a sawmill at Rhinelander, and shipped lumber from a depot there. The subject matter concerns itself with these routine affairs.

Subseries: Oconto River Improvement Company Letter Book, 1893-1901
Scope and Content Note: The Oconto River Improvement Company was organized by persons interested in the Holt Lumber Co. and the Oconto Co., the two chief timber operators on the Oconto River. It was officered by W. A. Holt (president), George H. Holt (vice president), T. H. Phelps (secretary), and P. W. McDonald (foreman). The company maintained all the dams and other improvements on the river, and drove logs for a fixed price from the place of their landing to the driving piers where they were sorted. The company did not own or operate any booms or sorting works. The letters, covering the period 1893-1901, were written by W. A. Holt, T. H. Phelps, and W. H. Young. They deal with the aforementioned operations-problems of the drive, condition of the dams, the collecting of tolls, law suits and disputes with recalcitrant clients. This volume is useful for evidence on a peripheral operation of the Holt Lumber Company. It is filed in Box 4, along with one folder of unbound material concerning the Oconto River Improvement Company.

Subseries: Chicago Letter Books
Scope and Content Note

This eight-volume collection of letters covers the period 1877-1890, and is probably the most important set of letter books in this period. Its importance is derived from the following: 1. the letters were written from the company's main office, 2. the company's policy-makers--Uri Balcom, D. R. Holt, George H. Holt, and W. A. Holt-wrote most of the letters, 3. over-all decisions, plans, motives, and problems of the company are more clearly revealed in this set of letters than in any other.

While compassing many of the routine subjects covered in the Oconto Letter Books, the Chicago volumes deal with more significant matters:

• Instructions to Oconto on land purchases and sales
• Periodic reports of the condition of the lumber market
• Reports on the well-being or financial straits of the company
• Difficulties involved in shipping on the Great Lakes
• Decisions respecting lumber quality and prices.
• Debits and credits charged to the Oconto branch
• Monthly records of lumber sales
• Seasonal records of shipments
• Information relating to dissolution of Holt and Balcom
• Personal data on the health and travels of Balcom and D. R. Holt

It seems certain that the proportion of useful historical data to useless data is greater in the Chicago Letter Books than in any other.

Like the Oconto volumes, those from Chicago are about one-tenth illegible. Indexing is more complete in the Chicago volumes, but it is by no means complete or foolproof. Nevertheless, the index frequently prove useful in tracing relations with a particular company over a period of time.

1877, March 13-1885, November 30

1885, November 30-1888, July 13

1888, July 13-1890, September 30

Series: Journals

Oconto Journals, 1861-1896
Scope and Content Note

The first three volumes of the Oconto Journals belonged to companies which preceded Holt and Balcom. The first volume, running from Nov. 25, 1861 to Dec. 31, 1862, may have belonged to the firm of Eldred and Balcom, though this is by no means certain. The second volume, running from March 1, 1864 to Sept. 30, 1865, belonged to the firm of Holt and Calkins. The third volume, covering the period Oct. 2, 1865 to Aug. 30, 1867, belonged first to Holt and Calkins, then to Holt and Balcom. The remaining seven volumes were the property of Holt and Balcom, then Holt, Balcom and King, and finally the property of the Holt Lumber Company after 1888.

The Oconto Journals are devoted primarily to the daily transactions of the respective firms. These transactions involved the buying and selling of merchandise through a general store, and the rendering and paying for services related to the lumber business. The subject matter deals with daily sums paid out or received for supplies-oats, boots, shoes, flour, sugar, tea, pork, knives, cloth, butter, suspenders, matches, gloves, and similar items. It also concerns payments for services-wages paid to labor, fees for repairs on company property, and sums paid for the driving and scaling of logs. Monthly summary statements-indicating cash received, cash paid, merchandise received and sold, and final balances-are also included. To the historian these Journals are probably most useful in indicating the kind and volume of business done at the general store; in indicating prevailing price and wage levels; and in shedding some light on company resources and liabilities.

Chicago Journals, 1865-1881
Scope and Content Note

The two Chicago Journals, running from Oct. 1, 1865 to May 30, 1891, cover the period during which the Chicago office was the nerve-center for company operations. The subject matter of these Journals deals with the original agreement between D. R. Holt and Jane E. Balcom; with company resources and liabilities; with quantities of lumber sold each day, and sums received; with the Chicago office's accounts, with its Oconto mill; with salaries paid to employees; and with occasional divisions of dividends.

As in the case of the Chicago Letter Books, there seems little doubt that the Chicago Journals provide a more complete over-all picture of the company's operations than do their Oconto counterparts.

Journal Vouchers, 1918-1939

Series: Ledgers

Uri Balcom Ledgers
Scope and Content Note: The Uri Balcom Ledgers deal with Balcom's business activities in New York state before he moved to Wisconsin. The ledgers contain a record of the accounts of individuals with whom Balcom had business dealings. Entries in these accounts suggest that Balcom operated a general store as well as a lumber business in New York, as he was to do later in Wisconsin.

1839, November 5-1853, December 31

1854, January 2-1857, August 21

Oconto Ledgers
Scope and Content Note

The first Oconto Ledger, running from Nov. 25, 1861 to Dec. 31, 1862, covers the exact dates compassed by the first Oconto Journal. Since the latter was tentatively identified as belonging to the firm of Eldred and Balcom, it seems justifiable to so identify the former.

The five remaining Oconto Ledgers clearly belong to Holt and Balcom, and the Holt Lumber Company, for the period Jan. 1, 1881 to Aug. 21, 1893. These Ledgers must be considered as companions to the Journals, inasmuch as individual accounts listed in the Ledgers are made up from data contained in the Journals. The subject matter of the two types of books is the same; only the arrangement differs.

1861-1893

Index to 1893-1895 Ledger

Chicago Ledgers, 1865-1891
Scope and Content Note: The three volumes of Chicago Ledgers, ranging from October 1, 1865 to April 30, 1891, are counterparts of the two Journals covering the same period. These Ledgers are most useful in determining the company's business contacts, discovering the size of individual accounts, and in tracing the company's transactions with any particular company or individual over a period of time.

Local Sales Ledgers, 1911-1942
Scope and Content Note: Bookkeeping of the Company seems to have become more complicated and detailed after 1893. This probably accounts for the separation of local accounts from other accounts in the vicinity of Oconto.

Transfer Ledgers, 1893-1913

Miscellaneous Ledgers, 1901-1941
Scope and Content Note: There are four miscellaneous volumes identified as: Current Ledger (Oconto), 1901-1911; Ledger (Oconto) H-N, 1911-1932; Ledger (Oconto), 1911-1938; and General Ledger (Oconto), 1912-1941.

Series: Oconto Daily Exhibit Records, 1896-1915
Scope and Content Note

Ten volumes of Daily Exhibit Records begin at the point at which the Journals leave off, Aug. 1, 1896, and run to Feb. 26, 1915. Despite a six-year gap between Oct. 1, 1907 and April 1, 1913, these volumes are valuable for the bookkeeping data they contain. Their subject matter deals with cash received and paid out; with banking operations; with persons and companies to whom money was paid; with charges and credits on general accounts, and on accounts payable; with freight charges; with lumber discounts; with wages, and sundry other matters.

Clearly, the data contained in the Daily Exhibit Records represents in many respects a continuation of the data contained in earlier Ledgers and Journals. Like that data, it is useful primarily for details on the financial transactions of the company.

Series: Trial Balances
Scope and Content Note: The Trial Balances represent a logical continuation of the Ledgers, since they summarize the debit-credit status of individual accounts. These Trial Balances, running from 1882 to 1906, and from 1910 to 1911, are extremely useful for revealing the extent and distribution of the company's resources during the period.

1882-1906

1904, April-1911, February 28

Series: Price Lists, Oconto, 1888-1917
Scope and Content Note: The first volume is evidently a master volume, containing the company's own record of prices between April 1888 and October 1907. It contains a detailed description of all stock, with prices, for almost twenty years. The remaining volumes contain pasted-in circulars which were sent to prospective purchasers of lumber. These price lists, together with the Sales Journals, should be extremely helpful in tracing price fluctuations over a long period of time.

Series: Purchase Records, Oconto, 1896-1940
Scope and Content Note: The three volumes of Purchase Records, spanning more than four decades, concern themselves with lumber purchases made by the Holts from other lumber manufacturers. Presumably these purchases were made in order to fill orders when the Holts lacked a few of the items called for. The Purchase Records indicate the date of purchase, the seller, a description of the type and quantity of lumber, a statement of price, and a record of the company or person to whom the items were re-sold.

Series: Cash Books and Cash Journals

Chicago Cash Books, 1866-1891
Scope and Content Note

The Chicago cash books, 1866-1891, record daily cash income and expenditures for almost a quarter of a century. They indicate sums paid and received; to whom paid or from whom received; and the services or goods involved in each transaction. Expenditures for repairs, freight, labor, equipment, supplies, real estate and other items are recorded along with cash income from lumber sales.

These Cash Books are most valuable as an index to the amount of cash handled per month; their indication of itemized expenditures; and the light they throw on the company's business contacts.

Oconto Cash Books, 1885-1896
Scope and Content Note: The Oconto Cash Books are similar in purpose and data to their Chicago counterparts. They cover the period from 1885 to 1896. The Oconto Cash Journals extend from 1915 to 1943, but contain no volumes for the period from 1923 to 1937.

Oconto Cash Journals, 1915-1943

Series: Sales Journals

Chicago Sales Journal, 1866, May 11-1873, April 28
Scope and Content Note: As the name implies, the one available Chicago Sales Journal is devoted to a detailed record of lumber sales. Each entry reveals the name of the purchaser, date of purchase, name of the cargo ship carrying the lumber, quantity of lumber and lath involved in the sale, cost of the lumber and lath, the half-tally cost, and the total sale price. A few nondescript cash book entries are also to be found in this volume.

Oconto Sales Journals, 1889-1923
Scope and Content Note: The eleven volumes of Oconto Sales Journals begin in 1889--when W. A. Holt began to sell from Oconto--and run without a gap to 1923. The volumes contain a mine of useful information on type of lumber sold (pine, hemlock, cedar, etc.); on its form (lath, lumber, shingles, or slabs); on the quantity sold; on purchasers; on purchase prices; and on the freighting of lumber by railroad.

Local Sales Records or Journals, 1910-1919, 1937-1941

Series: Time Books

Uri Balcom Time Books, 1842, April-1853, May
Scope and Content Note: The three volumes of Uri Balcom Time Books were kept by Balcom in New York state before he moved west to Wisconsin. The names of Balcom employees, days worked, services rendered, and sums paid are all indicated. Entries made under the heading “Myself” constitute a virtual diary of Balcom's activities. These volumes are useful for incidental information on Balcom's eastern career.

Holt and Balcom Time Book, 1866-1867, April
Scope and Content Note: This Oconto time book contains similar data on Holt and Balcom employees between 1866 and 1867.

Series: Log Books
Scope and Content Note: The Log Book volumes evidently deal with logs decked for the spring drive. They record log sizes, their quantity, the total number of feet contained in them, their location, and the name of the scaler. It is conceivable that the Log Books can be useful, along with the Railroad Log Books, Mill Scale Books, and the Lumber Tally Books in a quantitative study of the company's operations.

1870, December 12-1889, February 23

1890, January 4-1906, December 22

1912, January 7-1914, April 10

Series: Railroad Log Books, 1900-1914
Scope and Content Note: The Railroad Log Books deal with estimates of logs shipped to the mill by rail from the various camps. These volumes, indexed according to camps and scalers, indicate the date of the logs' arrival, freight charges, the types of logs, total number of logs, total number of feet, plus some monthly and yearly summaries. The Railroad Log Books are most useful in indicating the types and quantities of lumber produced between 1900 and 1914.

Series: Oconto Lumber Tally and Other Records
Scope and Content Note

The six volumes of Lumber Tally and Other Records contain miscellaneous information which supplements the quantitative data of the Mill Scale and Railroad Log Books. Whereas the latter deal primarily with estimates on the quantity of logs on hand, the Lumber Tally deals with the quantity of finished lumber on hand. These inventories describe the type and form of the lumber as well.

Certain other miscellaneous records--such as accounts of sales from the mill yards--are also contained therein.

1889, April 17-1904, December 31

1905-1921

Series: Mill Scale Books
Scope and Content Note

With but few gaps the Lumber Mill Scale Books cover the period form 1886 to 1938. They indicate the various types of lumber cut (ash, spruce, basswood, hemlock, pine, balsam, birch, beech, elm, oak, and butternut); an estimate of the number of logs shipped in each day from the various camps; the number of feet contained therein; and occasional weekly totals covering these categories.

The Lath Mill Scale Books run continuously from 1903 to 1938. The data contained therein is similar to that in the Lumber Mill Scale Books, except that it deals with estimates on logs transformed into lath. These sets of Mill Scale Books can be useful in any attempt to determine the volume of lumber processed by the Holts between 1886 and 1938.

Lumber, 1886-1938

Lath, 1903-1938

Series: Inventories
Scope and Content Note: The Oconto possessions of Holt and Balcom's store, forge and yards are enumerated in this first volume of Inventories for the year 1879-1880. Personal property, hardware, groceries, dry goods, notions, clothing, logs and lumber are itemized. The next two volumes, covering the period 1893-1896, are devoted almost entirely to indicating the grades, kinds, and quantities of lumber on hand. The fourth volume gives records of shipments for 1915 through 1918, and also the inventory for the Holt Lumber Company for 1917-1921, including lands and standing timber, farms, railroads, dams and power plants, products, and securities.

Oconto, Holt & Balcom, 1879-1880

Oconto, 1893-1896

Shipment Record, 1915-1919, and Inventories, , 1917-1921

Series: Auditors' Examination and Financial Reports

1919

1924-1925

1926-1934

1935-1938

Series: Land and Timber Holdings
Scope and Content Note

These three volumes list, by range and township, the holdings of the Company, and contain descriptions of the lands. The kind and amount of standing timber is given, as is the soil condition and ground cover.

The first volume, 1884-1885, was concerned with the holdings of Holt and Balcom. The volume for 1903 through 1939 describes the holdings of the Holt Lumber Company, and the one for 1940 is concerned with the Holt Hardwood Company at Oconto, successor to the Holt Lumber Company.

1884-1885

1903-1939

Holt Hardwood Company, 1940

Land Entries (Anson Eldred?), 1853-1858

Series: Payrolls

Payrolls by camp, 1903-1911

Selected payrolls for the month of January only, in the following periods: 1904-1908, 1913-1922, 1927-1930, 1941-1942

Series: Records of Wood Sold, Accidents, and Miscellaneous Summaries

Records of Wood Sold, 1913-1916

Miscellaneous Summaries, 1906-1916

Records of Accidents, 1908-1913

Series: Appraisal of Buildings and Equipment, 1913 revised, 1915

Series: Record of Lumber Sawed and Sold by Species of Wood, 1916-1918

Series: Day Books

Oconto, Anson Eldred, 1856, July 19-1858, October 5

Chicago, Holt and Balcom, 1879-1884

Series: Insurance Book (Oconto and Chicago), Holt and Balcom, 1884-1888; Holt Lumber Co., , 1883-1893

Series: Daily Record of Lumber Sawed (New York), Uri Balcom, 1844, January 7-1851, May 29

Series: Timber Estimate, Compiled by W. A. Holt, 1886

Series: Subsidiaries' Records
Scope and Content Note

According to Mr. Holt, the American Lumber Company was “a corporation owned by my brother George and myself, which was started to make a wholesale business at our Chicago office and was managed by my brother until it was finally wound up. At one time this Company had a planing mill in Duluth, also had several small operations in the south, and on the whole lost considerable money.”

The Sever Anderson Logging Company was formed by Mr. Holt, W. L. DeWitt, Sever Anderson, and Elmer Bergland “to handle a tract of timber near Tipler, Wisconsin. After some time,” wrote Mr. Holt, “we bought out Anderson and Bergland, and then Holt Lumber Company bought the Company and operated it until all of the timber had been disposed of, so that this Company was a subsidiary of Holt Lumber company.” (W.A. Holt to the Society, July 13, 1949)

About 1902 the Holts established the Oconto Electric Company, using waste from the mill to develop power for their plant, and for the public. The business of selling light to the Oconto community was later sold to the Wisconsin Public Service Company, but the Holts retained control of the power station, and sold electricity to the service company.

American Lumber Co.

Purchase Record, 1902-1904

Sales Record, 1901-1904

Sever Anderson Lumber Company

Cash Book, 1926

Sales Book, 1925-1926

Oconto Electric Company: General Records
Note: See also Box 4, Folder 1.

1911-1922

1923-1924