530 FOREST EESOURCES OF WISCONSIN. 



formed April 27, 1867, with a capital of $100,000. The amount of logs 

 delivered in 1871 was 12,000,000 feet ; in 1872, 53,000,000, and in 1874, 

 133,000,000. Its rates of toll are 75 cents per 1,000 feet for logs and 

 timber, 2 cents for railroad-ties, and 1 cent tor fence-posts. Its capacity 

 is 200,000,000 feet. 



At Eau Claire, a lake, apparently once the river-bed, is used as a 

 boom, a canal being opened into the river above and below. -It belongs 

 to the Half-Moon Lake and Canal Company, formed December 15, 1856, 

 and sanctioned by an act of March 17, 1859. It was reorganized Decem- 

 ber 25, 1871. 



Various other boom companies have establishments on this river and 

 its tributaries. The recent completion of the Wisconsin Central Eail- 

 road affords facilities for' lumbering operations on the upper waters of 

 this river. The West Wisconsin liailroad also crosses this river. 



The Blach River afforded to mills below on the Mississippi 120,000,000 

 feet in 1871, 114,000,000 in 1872, and 134,000,000 in 1873. This stream 

 is shorter than the other lumber rivers of Wisconsin ; its waters are 

 rapid and quickly affected by rains and freshets, and it flows through a 

 broken country, its banks being bordered by high cliffs. The timber 

 along its course consists of pine, hemlock, cedar, oak, ash, maple, bass, 

 elm, &c. The principal manufacturing points on the river are at La 

 Crosse, at the mouth, where there are ten establishments with a capacity 

 of 92,000,000 feet a year, and at Black River Falls, where three estab- 

 lishments have a capacity of 60,500,000. The valley is crossed by the 

 Chicago, JMilwaukee and Saint Paul Eailroad, the Chicago and North- 

 western Railway, the W^est Wisconsin Railroad, and the Green Bay and 

 Minnesota Railroad. 



The Black River is a very difficult stream to operate, and the driving 

 of logs is attended with much labor, as the floods are of short duration 

 and logs can move but a short distance at a time, and are apt to be piled 

 up in jams with drift-wood, which renders them liable to fires. A patrol 

 is found necessary to guard against this accident. Sometimes several 

 seasons pass before logs started on the up])er waters reach the boom at 

 La Crosse. Very few reach the mills till the second summer after they 

 have been banked. 



The Wolf River flows through an extensive region in the eastern part 

 of Wisconsin which abounded in pine forests, with a considerable 

 amount of hardwood timber. The lands as they are cleared are being 

 occupied as farming lands. The upper waters are rapid, with a compara- 

 tively steady flow. The country along the lower waters is quite level, 

 the bottoms wide and heavily timbered with hard woods where not 

 cleared. The pine region is more elevated and broken. Its booming 

 capacity is fine, and Bay Boom, in a bay of Boygan Lake, has a capacity 

 of 100,000,000 feet. Pine River, a tributary of the Wolf, has much 

 hardwood timber along its course, and fine groves of pine. It is crossed 

 by the Wisconsin Central and Green Bay and Minnesota Railroads. 



The Wisconsin River,^ and its tributaries drain an extensive pine-for- 

 est region, with lumbering points at Port Edwards, Grand Rapids, 

 Stevens Point, Mosinee, Wausau, and Necedah. The river is rapid, with 

 frequent sites for hydraulic ])Ower. The Stevens Point Boom Company, 

 formed October 26,* 1873, has a boom capable of holding 100,000,000 feet, 

 and the Garrison boom at Grand Rapids may be increased to like 

 amount. The Wisconsin Central Railroad crosses the valley diagonally. 



Green Boy district. — The shores of this bay are low, and gradually 



1 A particular description of the valley of this river is given in the Report of the 

 Chief of- Engineers (U. S. A.), 1876, Part II, p. 254. 



