trees were cut down in a given region without regard to a trees profit value or type. Then, they would inspect the felled trees and only select those of the highest quality for transport and sale, leaving the rest to rot. Obviously, this practice is a source of severe waste of one of Wisconsin’s primary revenues. Prior to the Civil War era, the Wisconsin lumber industry remained relatively small. The first major event in Wisconsin’s lumbering industry, according to Quaife, was the establishment of its first private saw mill by Daniel Whitney in 1831. The mill was built on the Wisconsin River near the city of Portage. From this time on, the lumber industry continued to expand but, as noted above, it was not until the massive influx of people in a westward migration after the Civil War that the lumber industry truly exploded. Quaife claims that it was during these years that a “great chapter was written in the history of Wisconsin.” To qualify this statement, he follows up by saying that the introduction of new technologies increased the production level of the sawmills and, in turn, the need for more concentrated lumbering. These demands brought about the formation of new towns such as Ashland, Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, and Wausau that are still in existence today. As consumer demand grew, so did the size and scope of the lumber industry. This demand led the industry into a self-destructive motivation to cut as much timber as it could in a rapid manner. Heedless of the future, and intent on earning as much as possible, virtually in one lifetime the lumber industry of Wisconsin saw its golden age as well as its near complete undoing. William Gerald Rector, though discussing the Lake States in general (Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin), provides information which further elaborates upon this in his book, Log Transportation in the Lake States Lumber Industry, 1840-1918. He claims that: The ...
