Title: Brown Brothers Lumber Company Records
Inclusive Dates: 1854-1959

Creator:

• Brown Brothers Lumber Company (Rhinelander, Wis.)

Call Number: Northland Mss Q; Northland Micro 10; Micro 12

Quantity: 3.8 c.f. (7 archives boxes and 4 oversize volumes) and 1 reel of microfilm (35mm)

Repository:

Housed at the Area Research Center, History Center and Archives, Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center / Ashland Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Records of the Brown Brothers Lumber Company and its affiliate, the Pelican Boom Company, concerning operations of a sawmill and planing mill in Rhinelander, Wis.; timber operations around Stevens Point, Wis.; timber investments in Wisconsin and the West, especially the Seattle area; and formation of the Rhinelander Paper Company. Included are invoices, account books, cruising and log mark records, a land inventory, letterbooks, and miscellaneous correspondence and agreements. On microfilm are reminiscences of Stevens Point and Rhinelander, an 1874 timber cruising diary, and additional correspondence.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-nort000q

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The father of the Brown brothers, Edward Dexter Brown (1824-1898), came to Wisconsin in 1857, a native of Smithfield, Oneida County, New York. He settled on a 320 acre farm at Hull, in Portage County, and early acquired timber holdings on the Plover River. He operated a mill on that river, east of Stevens Point, and became a leading citizen of the Stevens Point area.

Brown's two older sons, Anderson W. (1849-1923) and Webster E. (1851-?) for a time operated the family farm, where they were successful in growing hops. After college they formed a partnership and set up a planing mill on the south side of Stevens Point. In 1874 Anderson W. made a cruising trip through the woods near the headwaters of the Wisconsin River, and enthusiastically reported on the future of the Pelican Rapids area as a source of timber and a milling site. Two Brown sons, their father, and an uncle, T. W. Anderson, each purchased from the federal and state governments one fourth interest in large timber acreages at the site of Pelican Rapids, intending to establish a new city there.

In the late 1870's these men deeded one half of their holdings to the Milwaukee, Lake Shore, and Western Railroad (now the Chicago and North Western) provided the railroad would build a line to their prospective settlement. The road was completed in 1882 and the city was platted. The place was named after F. W. Rhinelander, president of the railroad. By 1882 three Brown brothers, Anderson W., Webster E., and Edward O. had located at the site, where they established a mill, built the first boarding house, and donated the lot for the first church. The activities of the Brown brothers soon drew many settlers to Rhinelander from Stevens Point and by 1885 the population of Rhinelander was 1500. In 1887, through the efforts of the brothers and further donations of land rights, the Soo line also completed a railroad to Rhinelander.

In 1890 the business of the Brown brothers was incorporated as Brown Brothers Lumber Company. The company operated a saw mill and planing mill until 1917, when the saw mill was sold due to exhaustion of timber. Anderson W. had charge of camps and timber buying, and Webster E. had charge of mill operations and marketing. West coast representative for the company was Ralph D., son of Webster. The Browns bought and sold timber lands in the West as well as in Wisconsin, especially in the Seattle area. With Anderson W. as president, the Pelican Boom Company was organized to sort and deliver logs to the mill.

The Brown brothers became closely identified with the progress of Rhinelander. Anderson W. served on the county board and operated a model farm in the county. Webster E. became the first mayor of Rhinelander and served three terms as Congressman from the Ninth District. Edward O. was educated at West Point, but resigned his commission to enter the lumber business with his brothers and to serve as president of the Merchants' State Bank, an institution which grew out of the private banking firm of E.D. Brown and Sons. In 1923 he succeeded his brother, Anderson W., as president of the Rhinelander Paper Company. In 1910 Walter D. Brown (1869-?), youngest of the brothers, joined the firm and became general manager of the Brown Brothers Lumber Company. On the death of Edward 0. Brown he served as president of the company until the firm was dissolved in 1944.

By 1903 the Brown brothers recognized the end of the great timber-cutting era, and along with others formed the Rhinelander Paper Company. Anderson Brown became president. As the Brown Brothers Lumber Company became less important the new paper industry expanded. It first produced newsprint, catalog, and manila papers, and later added wrapping papers, specialized papers, and tissue.

This collection consists largely of invoices, account books, cruising and log mark records, a land inventory, and maps. Correspondence will be found in three places in this collection:

1. In Box 1 and 19 are items of correspondence. The two dated in 1905 refer to condemnation of lands due to overflow; and the remaining number, dated in 1941, relate to an “Example of Accounting” and to timber deeds of the Calaveras Land and Timber Corp. and Brown Brothers Co. to Amador Lumber Co.

2. On microfilm are 24 items of correspondence dating from 1854 to 1959. Letters of Feb. 22, 1857 and March 11, 1860 to Everette Brown give good information on the business of cutting and milling timber near Stevens Point at those dates.

3. Letterbooks, Vols. 20-22, contain company correspondence between 1897-1899 and 1904-1908, as well as letters of the Pelican Boom Co. from 1904-1908.

On microfilm are accounts written of “The Early Days of Rhinelander,” a history of the Rhinelander Paper Company, and reminiscences of a visit to Stevens Point in 1926. The microfilm covers the years 1854-1959. In 1874 Anderson W. Brown cruised a large area of timber in the vicinity of Pelican Rapids; on his recommendation the Browns purchased land there and later established Rhinelander. The last part of the diary recorded on microfilm (Sept. 29 - Nov. 4, 1874) is Anderson's account of this cruising trip.

Acquisition Information

Records in paper form presented by Spencer Brown, Rhinelander, Wis., December 8, 1959. Material on microfilm loaned for copying by Allan Brown, Rhinelander, Wis., December 8, 1959.

Processing Information

Processed by Margaret R. Hafstad, November 16, 1966.

Northland Micro 10/Micro 12 Reel   1	“The Early Days of Rhinelander”
Reel   1	History of Rhinelander Paper Company
Reel   1	Reminiscences of a visit to Stevens Point, 1926
Reel   1	Correspondence, 1854-1959
Reel   1	Anderson W. Brown Diary, 1874
Northland Mss Q Box   1	Correspondence, 1905, 1941
Box   1	Agreements, contracts, inventories
Box   1	Copies of tax certificates
Box   1	Head log marks
	Invoices
Box   2 Volume   1	Invoices and receipts, 1894-1904 Scope and Content Note: Records wages of scalers and unloaders, boomage.
Box   4 Volume   2	Invoices and letters, 1904-1909 Scope and Content Note: Re: Lumber prices; includes miscellaneous letters.
	Invoices (bills of lading) Scope and Content Note: Re: prices of lumber.
Box   2 Volume   3	1907-1908
Box   3 Volume   4	1908-1909
Box   3 Volume   5	1909-1910
Box   4 Volume   6	1910-1911
	Day Books
Box   6 Volume   7	1891-1894 Scope and Content Note: A. W. Brown, receipts and deposits.
Box   5 Volume   8	1894-1896 Scope and Content Note: Cost of supplies, lumber drives, equipment.
Box   5 Volume   9	1896-1898 Scope and Content Note: Cost of supplies, lumber drives, equipment.
Box   5 Volume   10	1898-1900 Scope and Content Note: Cost of supplies, lumber drives, equipment.
Volume   11	Land Record Book, 1891-1899 Scope and Content Note: Land, purchases and sales by location.
	Timber Cruiser's Records
Box   1 Volume   12	1893-1897 Scope and Content Note: Estimate of standing timber, remarks on type of land, value, etc.
Box   1 Volume   13	1898-1906 Scope and Content Note: Estimate of standing timber, remarks on type of land, value, etc.
Box   1 Volume   14	Log Mark Records, 1895-1906 Scope and Content Note: Marks of companies whose logs were sorted by Pelican Boom Co.
	Record Books
Box   1 Volume   15	1900-1903 Scope and Content Note: Dead head logs, brands given.
Box   1 Volume   16	1904-1905 Scope and Content Note: Dead head logs.
Box   1 Volume   17	1900-1903 Scope and Content Note: Logs cut, feet, type of tree, brands, miscellaneous dairy farm records.
Volume   18	Account Book, 1889-1890 Scope and Content Note: Payroll?
	E. H. Meiklejohn
Box   2 Volume   19	Accounts, 1904 Scope and Content Note: Miscellaneous accounts, some camp supply accounts.
	Letters, 1905-1907 Scope and Content Note: Some personal letters, some re: National Guard.
	Letterbooks
Box   4 Volume   20	1897-1899
Box   6 Volume   21	1904-1908 Scope and Content Note: West coast letters, chiefly A. W. Brown to Ralph D. Brown.
Box   6 Volume   22	1904-1908 Scope and Content Note: Pelican Boom Co.
Box   1 Volume   23	Gurley's Manuel, 1904 Scope and Content Note: Catalog of engineering and surveying supplies.
Box   1 Volume   24	Gurley's Bulletin 50, May 1938 Scope and Content Note: Catalog of engineering and surveying supplies.
Box   1 Volume   25	Gurley's Manuel, 1941 Scope and Content Note: Catalog of engineering and surveying supplies.
Box   1 Volume   26	Platbook, field work, undated Scope and Content Note: Townships in Oneida Co.?
Volume   27	Platbook, undated Scope and Content Note: Townships in Oneida Co.?
Volume   28	Land inventory, 1890-1943 Scope and Content Note: Brown Brothers Lumber Co. land ownership, prices and taxes paid. Very complete.