Title: Wisconsin Colonization Company Records
Inclusive Dates: 1916-1938

Creator:

• Wisconsin Colonization Company

Call Number: Northland Mss 9; Eau Claire Mss K; AC 585; AC 586

Quantity: 0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes) and 2 films (16 mm)

Repository:

Housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections, the Area Research Center, History Center and Archives, Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, and the Area Research Center, William D. McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections.

Archival Locations:

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

UW-Eau Claire McIntyre Library / Eau Claire Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

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

Abstract:

Papers collected by Benjamin Faast, president of the Wisconsin Colonization Company, relating to the organization's sale of “ready-made” farms in southern Sawyer County and the development of the village of Ojibwa. Included are letters to stockholders and settlers; a small amount of correspondence received by Faast; historical data on the upper Chippewa River area, the local Indian tribes, fur trade, and lumber industry; biographical data on settlers; a general ledger, 1923-1925; and two films relating to Ojibwa and the Chippewa River Valley.

Note:

Originals of the manuscript portion of this collection are at the Northern Great Lakes Center. A photocopy is owned by and available at the Eau Claire Area Research Center.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-nort0009

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The papers cover the period 1916-1938 and consist of letters to stockholders and directors of the Wisconsin Colonization Company, correspondence with settlers, sales letters, notices, and a ledger of operating expenses of the company, 1923-1925. One folder deals with the development of the village of Ojibwa and includes townsite and community center names suggested, estimates and reports on public utilities, restrictions and protections necessary to make the place an ideal community in which to live, work, and play. Maps and photographs illustrate this interesting project.

Mr. Faast gathered historical data on the upper Chippewa River region and at his request articles on the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian reservation and early transportation among the Indians and lumbermen of northern Wisconsin were written by various people; some of these articles are included in the collection. A short history of southern Sawyer County very entertainingly depicts the story of the Sioux and Ojibwa warriors, relates the history of the fur trade and lumbering industry, and contains biographical notes on some of the early settlers of the region. Faast also was interested in the establishment of a children's home at Lake Hallie, Wisconsin, by the Brotherhood of American Yeomen.

Land Appraisers' Reports (Series 1957) contains related records.

Acquisition Information

Original Collection presented by Mrs. Benjamin F. Faast, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 1948; Films presented by Mrs. Margaret L. Becher via Susan O. Haswell, Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Accession Number: M91-208

Northland Mss 9/Eau Claire Mss K Box   1	Correspondence, 1916-1938 June
Box   1	Form letters to settlers, stockholders, and the general public (all mimeographed)
Box   1	Material concerning Ojibwa, Sawyer County; and articles on northern Wisconsin and Sawyer County
Box   1	One folder of maps and printed material
Box   2 Volume   1	Ledger of operating expenses, 1923-1925
Box   1 Volume   2	Album of views of Lake Hallie, Wisconsin
Box   2 Volume   3-6	Albums of Wisconsin Colonization Company projects and unidentified pictures of northern Wisconsin
	Benjamin Faast Films Physical Description: 2 films (16 mm)
AC 585	Promotional film, circa 1928 Scope and Content Note: Promotional film with titles encouraging people to settle in the Chippewa River Valley and in Ojibwa, made circa 1928.
AC 586	Scenes of Ojibwa, et cetera, undated Scope and Content Note: Contains scenes of Ojibwa, a Sawyer County board meeting, a pageant, and the Ojibwa elementary school, date unknown.