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had be shipped by boat, either by the lumber schooners or by
steamboat. The supplies for the Eldred Company at Stiles, in the early
days, were transported from Oconto to Stiles in a bateau drawn by a horse.
I remember Mr. Goodrich talking about getting in goods that way when he
lived at Stiles, late in the year, and the horse would wade up the river
towing the bateau and by the time he got to Stiles he would be covered
with ice, and they would take him in and blanket him good and give him
a quart of whiskey, and the hrse never caught cold but was ready to go
back for another load the next day.
In order to get supplies up to the camps it was necessary to
either haul on sleighs in the winter, or to load the supplies on bateaus
at Shawano Crossing and the main river, and pole the bateaus up river as
far as they could go, which is at the foot of the Depot Rapids below Chute
Darm. At this place the Lumber Companies had depot camps where the
supplies were delivered and distributed from there to other camps later
on. After the operations were shifted to the McCauslin Brook country
Holt & Balcom had a depot camp where the McCauslin Brook Farm now is,
and supplies were hauled there, and distributed to the camps from there.
Two early photos of the "Cook Camp" at the Holt & Balcom Mc Causlin Brook lumber camp. This was the combination kitchen, dining hall and cooks quarters. Note the roofed open area to the right. It was called the "dog run" or "midway " and was where the barrels of salt beef and pork, lard and various tools were kept.
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At one time Oconto County covered a large territory, including what is now Oconto, Marinette, Florence, and Forest Counties. The County Seat was at Oconto, and the Marinette and Peshtigo people were not satisfied until they got Marinette County set off with the County Seat at Marinette. Except for the settlers along the Bay shore the country was largely unbroken forests and the Indians, and wild game roamed through it at will. When I first became acquainted with this country wild game and fish were very plentiful. There was a game season, which was observed to some extent by hunters and fishermen although the settlers and some of the lumbermen did not hesitate to shoot deer or catch fish out of season. I have known of some lumber camps where one man was employed as a hunter, to go out every day and bring in venison to the camp. There were also some professional hunters and fishermen who shot deer and caught fish in nets and killed many fish by shooting off dynamite, then gathered up the dead fish as they came to the surface. At one time I remember John Crawford telling me that he wanted to ship some venison to some friends in the southern part of the State and he put it in a box and spread a copy of the Milwaukee Free Press over the top, the theory being that as this paper was supporting Governor LaFollette there would be no interference with the shipment of venison; and as matter of fact it got through without being discovered. A great many of the hunters used deer hounds to chase the deer in the WI. The hunters would station themselves along runways and shoot the deer as they went by with the dogs in pursuit. The deer frequently ran for a stream and would wade up through the water for some distance, so the dogs could not follow the scent, and the hunters would station themselves along the stream and shoot the deer as they came along. The hunting of deer with dogs was later prohibited by law and the practice discontinued. Another custom was to hunt the deer at night with headlights. The hunter would fasten a dark lantern on his head and go out through the fields and clearings where the deer came in to eat clover during the night, and whenever they would spot a deer the eyes of the deer shone In the same way that other animals' eyes shine in the dark. There was a laugh on one of the Oconto lumbermen who went out one night on his own farm to shoot deer and soon returned having shot one of his own oxen. At one time I found a net set in the Wheeler Pond, and pulled it up and Twenty-one |
