My personal knowledge goes back to 1882-1883, and what I will record here previous to that date is what was told me by Augustus Cole and others who were personally in contact with it, and what I have learned from records in our office and that of Holt & Balcom. 

Previous to 1860 most of the logging was done on the Main River and on the North Branch below the mouth of the Waupee, and on the South Branch and on Little River and Peshtigo Brook. However, Eldreds and Balcom, under Mr. Uri Balcom's management, did log on the North Branch above the mouth of the Waupee, between 1855 and 1860. The Chute Dam was built in 1857 and the following winter logs were put in as far up as Township 32, Range 16, about five miles above where Mountain is now. However, this upper drive was hung up, so in 1858 the "Eldred Farm Dam" and what was, later called the "Tar Dam" were built. With these two dams and the Chute Dam there never was a drive hung up, so far as I know. 

There was a large tract of very choice White Pine in Township 81, Range 15; Township 31, Range 16; Township 32, Range 15; and Township 32, Range 16, in the general location of Eldred's farm, and the largest part of it. and what was nearest the river, was bought by Eldreds and Balcom. There was a job let to Dan Crawford and Charles Bagley, and they cut most of the Eldred timber which was close to the river, between 1856 and 1860. Later on Holt & Balcom and the Oconto Company bought timber further back from the river and logged it during the years from 1877 to 1883. Some time in the 1870s Rodney Gillett, who lived at what is now Gillett, built a tram road on the Main River below Pulcifer; and in 1878 and 1879, when there were two mild winters, he built a tram road from Section 1, Township 31, Range 15, to the Farm Dam Pond, over which he hauled several million feet of logs for Holt & Balcom. This was built of round poles for "rails," and the cars had flanged wheels to fit the round logs or "rails." The cars were drawn by horses. 

Holt & Balcom also built a tram road to the North Branch near the mouth of the Waupee. There was some summer logging also on this road, but it was abandoned when the winter seasons were more favorable. The logging on Little River was very extensive up until 1871-1872, and  in  the  fall  of 1871 the great Peshtigo  Fire  swept  through  that country  and  burned  all  of  the remaining timber, so there was a great deal of timber put into Little River and its branches during the winter of 1871-1872. I remember hearing that 
 

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Joseph Leigh had a mill at Leightown, and Comstock & Simpson had one where the "Cook Farm" afterward was. It was known as the Comstock Farm when the mill was there. Comstock afterward became manager of the Diamond Match Company mills at Ontonagon and at Green Bay. As above mentioned, the winters of 1877-1878 and 1878-1879 were very mild and all of the loggers devoted themselves to cutting timber that was close to the river, where it could be drayed in. There was a lot of logging on the South Branch in Township 30, Range 17, and Township 29, Range 17. Major Scofield afterward Governor Scofield) had a logging contract there from Holt & Balcom, and Mrs. Scofield once told me that she spent more than one winter in the camps. 

So far as I know, Holt & Balcom did not log any farther up the North Branch than the Chute Dam, before 1875 or 1876. They, in conjunction with the Oconto Company, improved McCauslin Brook about 1877; building five dams and blasting out rocks and clearing out timber and drift wood.

In 1876-1877 Holt.& Balcom had a camp in the NE NW Section 11, Township 32, Range 16, on McCauslin Brook. The foreman was Thomas B. Whitney. I think they cut Section 11, Township 32, Range 16, and perhaps Section 3, Township 32, Range 16. They also logged into the Brook near the Archibald Dam from a camp on or near Binder Lake in Section 19, Township 33, Range 16. They also had a camp on Archibald Lake built, I think, in 1879-1880, and the first foreman was James Archibald, for whom the lake was named. The next winter Paul W. McDonald was foreman, and the following winter Luke Walsh. 

The Camp an Bass Lake (Section lO, Township 33, Range 16) must have been built about 1880. When I went there first in the winter of 1882-1883, Frank Wheeler was foreman. Wheeler Lake and the Town of Wheeler were named for him. 

In 1883-1884 Camp One was moved from Archibald Lake to Section 33, Township 33, Range 15, and Joe Ryan was foreman. In the fall of 1884 all of the dams on McCauslin Brook went out. At that time Graham was foreman in Camp One, and Wheeler in Camp Two. These camps had to be moved in December, to new locations; Camp One, to Section 35, Township. 30, Range 17, on the South Branch; and Camp Two to Section 15, Township 32, Range 17, on the Waupee.

In 1887, after the dams had been rebuilt, Camp One was started again with Joe Ryan foreman. The following year we built a new camp at Poison Lake, with Ed Herrington foreman. Camp Two was started up again with Clarence Brooks as foreman. In 1889-1890 James Urquhart was foreman, his first camp. In 1890-1891 he built a new camp on Horn Lake and ran that camp, I think, two years. One year he had a camp in Section 24, Township 30, Range 18, Peshtigo Brook; two years at Hemlock Dam on the North Branch; one year at the mouth of Battle Creek on North Branch; one fall he ran camp at Kenton, on the DSS&A RR, and finished in December. Then moved to camp on Sullivan Pond and finished the winter. In 1902 he went to Bruce's Crossing, built Camp Two there, built railroad and worked one winter. Then he insisted on retiring so he could be at home more.

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