Interview with Michael Beaudoin, November 29, 1950, Park Falls, Wisconsin

GLOVER: This recording is made in Park Falls, November 29, 1950, by W.H. Glover, with the assistance of Arlan Helgeson. The subject is Mr. M. F. Beaudoin of Park Falls, who has had extensive experience in the immigration-colonization work in this part of Wisconsin.

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GLOVER: It's on you now.

BEAUDOIN: About the year of 1916, '15 or '16, the Edward Hines Farm Land Company, a subsidiary of the Edward Hines Lumber Company, decided to colonize some of the lands from which they had cut the timber. We started this work--at 00:01:00that time, there were very few roads, one passenger train, and we established our headquarters at Winter, Wisconsin, midway between Rice Lake and Park Falls. We were quite successful in bringing in settlers, farmers who were on rented lands in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, in fact before long, say four or five years, we had settlers from mostly every state in the union. We encouraged these people and helped them develop their lands, and in many ways watched their progress. 00:02:00The land-clearing problem was a large one, and we employed an agricultural advisor who understood the clearing of land. We spent considerable money in experimenting and land-clearing machinery, and brought in carloads of dynamite and other large machinery: stump pullers, tractors, and so forth. These lands 00:03:00were sold to these people on very easy terms, generally ten years' time, with a small down payment. No one was unduly crowded. If they failed to make payments, we investigated individual cases, each individual case, and helped them, if they could not make their payments. We built a creamery at Winter, and operated this creamery ourselves, until such time as the settlers could take it over, which 00:04:00they did in a few years at cost. The butter we made in Winter was shipped to New York and Chicago.

The soil in this particular district where we colonized these lands lies between the Flambeau and Chippewa Rivers. This soil is similar to the soil in and around Barron, Wisconsin, which is some of our best soil; it is called kennan silt loam. The problem of clearing land was a complex one, of course. The stumps were green, and stubborn to get out of the land. The roots spread out laterally over 00:05:00the ground, and if a stump was pulled in its entirety, it would take up much soil. So we concluded that the best method was to split the stump with dynamite, which would enable the settler to get it out of the ground easier and burn it afterward. Rainfall was ample, and that was one reason why the roots spread out. The stumps were not of the taproot variety, which had to go deep in the ground in order to get moisture to sustain the life of the tree.

We carried on an extensive advertising campaign from Chicago during the winter months, and as soon as the snow left the ground, settlers--or, people came, the prospective settlers came, to look at the land. We had no automobiles at the time. And if we did have, we could not use them because there were, there was--there were no roads. We used the lumber wagon and a team of horses, and showed land by this method. As quickly as we could, we began to improve the 00:07:00roads, build side roads, and establish the settler. This work continued up until 1935, and during the time between 1915 and 1935, we brought into the district about 500 settlers. Some of them did not remain on the land, but the majority of 00:08:00them did. The district now is nicely developed, and those settlers who remained are doing nicely. Modern schools were built. The recreational facilities were exploited, for the district excels in good fishing, lakes and rivers, and is exceptionally good deer-hunting country. It did not take long for this kind of development to prosper, because resources were here for those who wished to 00:09:00enjoy them. Now, any questions that you would like to ask, that, uh--

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BEAUDOIN: Naturally, a program of this magnitude called for considerable capital, and the price of this raw cut-over land averaged about $27 per acre. Some of the land sold for $10 or $12, while others sold for as much as $40 an 00:10:00acre when the land was located on a good road. As the matter stands today, this $40 land is now lying on Wisconsin State Highway number 70. The Edward Hines Lumber Company operated a mill at Park Falls, Wisconsin, and Rice Lake, Wisconsin. And to these points, the timber cut in the vicinity of Winter was hauled by railroad. There were no trucks hauling logs in those days, and the logs were hauled from the woods to the railroad by teams, over sleigh roads. 00:11:00When the timber was finally all cut, a different situation came up as regards the settlers who were brought in on the land. During the timber operations, these settlers worked in the lumber camps and stayed in the camps or at their nearby homes. This brought them inconsiderable revenue during the winter months, when they were new to the country and just recently moved onto their lands. 00:12:00After the timber was cut, and the mills shut down, some of the later settlers were left in pretty bad circumstances. Those that had been on the land only a year or two were unable to meet the payments. The matter was taken up with the company, and it was decided to--

[telephone rings]

BEAUDOIN:--those settlers remaining a break. We did this, and those that wished 00:13:00to remain were given every consideration as to payments. Many of these settlers obtained loans through the Federal Land Bank, and this settler was also given consideration. The Edward Hines Company finally decided to cut the balance due 00:14:00them to a great extent. Some of the settlers who showed promise and who were good workers, but who recently moved onto the land, were given much consideration in this matter of purchase price and payments. There were many cases where the settler was given his 40 or 80 acres of land, upon payment of only $200 or $300. Those settlers who were indebted to the Federal Land Bank 00:15:00were also given consideration, and the balances sometimes cut as much as 70 percent, enabling the settler to pay off the Bank in full, and get an outright deed to his property.

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BEAUDOIN: Our method of obtaining or getting into contact with prospective settlers was through advertising, of course. We used the farm journals, some of the daily papers in the farming communities. We got out an elaborate folder, on 00:16:00the order of the railroad timetable folder. This folder was quite large and very complete. It showed pictures, explained the soil, climate; in fact, was a very comprehensive description of the country. It was written so that anyone could understand it, and we had requests from many schools and colleges for this folder, which they told us was to be used in class work of some kind. The soil 00:17:00analysis was there, pictures of settlers' homes, their names; in fact, I believe that the folder contained about 50 pages and was mailed out to every inquiry, every letter that we received at the Chicago office, and the reason why we had a Chicago office was because of the printing and letter writing and mailing that was necessary. We did a large volume of this, and the little town of Winter was not equipped to handle or give us the service that we wanted. Every letter that we received from the outside was answered individually. Generally, inquirers ask 00:18:00specific questions, and no form letter could answer those questions. And there were many. We got out these letters on an electric typewriter--typewriting machine. We had several such machines, and the stenographers were able to get out a large number of letters in a day. Each letter was individually dictated, of course, and we had several stenographers transcribing. I personally have dictated 200 to 250 letters a day.

When the settler came to Winter, he was given attention by a man who understood the country. He would give them his time to look at the land, no high pressure methods were used, and we did turn away several whom we thought were not suitable, or would not make a success. Later on, of course, with the agricultural advisor and dynamite man and road building equipment man, we were able to help the settler in many ways. We held land hearing schools on the 00:20:00ground. When the radio first came out, we purchased a large Grebe set, mounted it on panels and, with batteries and so forth, went around the various nearby communities and held meetings. Some of these settlers had never heard a radio before. Most of the settlers were Scandinavians, the majority of them were Scandinavians, and we had two Scandinavian men in the Chicago office who 00:21:00answered their letters in their own language by longhand. We always wrote a letter on the typewriter in the English language to everyone, but we could tell by the letters we received from these inquiries that probably a few words from our Scandinavian agent would give them a better idea of what we were trying to tell them.

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BEAUDOIN: In Park Falls, at the saw mill, the Hines people had a very extensive 00:22:00machine shop. They made different machinery for use in the woods, and repaired all kinds of machinery that was used in the woods at that time. They could tear down and put together a locomotive. In this machine shop, was developed the stump puller. This stump puller was electrically operated, geared up to pull mostly any kind of stump. Some of our pine stumps were three and four feet on the--in diameter, and this machine could pull them out of the ground, but the 00:23:00problem was, after they were out of the ground, what to do with them. The roots, being lateral roots, took up about half of an acre of ground with them. The problem wasn't in clearing the land or pulling the stump, the real problem was to get rid of the stump after it was out of the ground. You can't burn a stump in its entirety, especially if it's green. It would take all summer to do the job. This stump puller was operated at Loretta, Wisconsin, Loretta being the logging headquarters of the Hines Company, and it cleared considerable land around Loretta, but it was not practical in the settler operation for the simple 00:24:00reason that, when the stump was out of the ground, the settler could not handle it with his inadequate machinery.

Considerable experimenting was done in connection with the stump puller, but it developed that the job was too costly, and would run upwards of $100 per acre to clear land with this kind of equipment at that time. The large stump puller described was abandoned, and we went back to the old method of blasting the stumps with dynamite, pulling them with windlass stump pullers in use at that time, teams of horses, and some had oxen. The stump then would dry out, there 00:25:00would be no earth attached to the roots, and they were easily burned. This we found up until the time we quit colonizing the lands, that this particular method was about the cheapest way to clear land. Today, of course, with the bulldozer and other equipment that have been developed since that time, or in the last fifteen years, will probably bring the cost of clearing an acre of land within reason.

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BEAUDOIN: The large stump puller I've been telling you about is about one half the size of an ordinary boxcar. It was mounted on steel runners and had a large drum with heavy cable. Naturally, there were quite a number of gears to get the power to pull a pine stump three and four feet in diameter. The operator sat in a little cab, and the controls resembled the controls of our modern street car. Electricity was manufactured right on the ground, and the stump puller was 00:27:00anchored to other stumps to withstand the pull or strain when it was pulling the stump. If it was to be moved from place to place, they simply anchored deadmen, or tied this stump puller to trees and other stumps, and it pulled itself about. The apparatus was successful in pulling stumps; in fact, it would pull anything. It had the power, but the problem was to take care of the stump after it was out of the ground.

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BEAUDOIN: The Edward Hines people, being in the lumber business, we were able to 00:28:00obtain lumber at cost, and we built houses for the new settlers. We called these houses simplex houses, and the design of several of them was given to us by the Wisconsin Agricultural Department. At that time, Mr. B. G. Packer was an agricultural agent for the state of Wisconsin, and it was his job to investigate activities such as ours. A settler could go to him with complaints if he felt he was being mistreated. We worked in close cooperation with Mr. Packer, and as a 00:29:00result, he and others suggested that we build various types and sizes of houses for the settler, which we did. These houses were complete in themselves with Whalen pump, and in the latter period of our colonization work, we were able to put a newcomer from some other state on a piece of land with a house, and probably five or six acres of cleared land. These locations were generally along 00:30:00roads, and about that time the Model T came into use, and we were able to get around and see these people quite often.

We also purchased cattle, and one thing we did insist, and that was the settler had feed enough to take care of his cattle before we would finance him to any great extent in the purchase of his cattle. We purchased purebred bulls. Some areas of the settlement were partial to Holsteins, while others were partial to 00:31:00Guernseys. There were a few Ayrshires. But in every case, we purchased purebred bulls, registered, and stressed the point that the settlers would develop paying herds from--

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BEAUDOIN: A few years after we started colonizing these lands, the Hines people purchased the entire holdings of the Rice Lake Lumber Company. Part of these holdings was a farm at Loretta, Wisconsin, consisting of around 160 acres of 00:32:00land. The company, that is the Hines Company, built modern buildings on this piece of land, and it was turned into a demonstration farm. Our agricultural agent took charge of this farm, and took settlers, or prospective settlers to this farm, and showed them the crops that were suitable to be grown in the area. 00:33:00Naturally, dairying being the principal industry, much stress was put forth in the care and feeding of dairy cattle. Root crops and small grains were grown on the demonstration farm, and the seed from the crops was given to the settlers. The agricultural agent, or adviser, was a graduate of the Wisconsin Agricultural School, and his entire time was spent in advising and helping the settlers in 00:34:00all their problems. The methods of colonization were studied by us, and considerable time was spent in the South, particularly Mississippi and Louisiana, studying the methods of the Long Bell Lumber Company, who had been very successful in the South in developing those lands. We learned much from this study of their methods, and applied some of them in Wisconsin.

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GLOVER: All right.

BEAUDOIN: We took an interest in the settlers and their families, and a large number of the growing children were placed by us in different spots, for instance, in Park Falls in the offices of the city school, some of them we took to Chicago, helped them get jobs, and many prominent people in all walks of life 00:36:00were sons and daughters of the settlers we brought in at Winter to Wisconsin.

We were--the Hines Company were instrumental in building modern schools as we developed the country. At Winter and at Loretta today stands two modern schools that came as the result of the development by the Hines people of that particular district, of those districts. While it may be farfetched to state 00:37:00that Hines developed the lands from a selfish standpoint, the cost of developing far exceeded the amounts received through the sale of lands. As I stated before, the average price of these lands were $27 an acre, and the investment in the houses and development, and subsequent cut in prices of the lands when lumbering 00:38:00operations were through, left no profit, and no large amount, no great amount of money was made by Hines in their colonization development. It was a fact that the timber was fast being cut, and Mr. Hines reasoned that the country needed some sort of development, and he inaugurated this colonization plan.