Cornell had foresight

Ezra Cornell

     Ezra Cornell's name came up frequently during the logging era in the Chippewa Valley.
     It was by his own foresight that he managed to obtain much valuable timber land in Wisconsin during the period when Abraham Lincoln was President.
     Lincoln had signed a "Land Grant" bill designed for support of education.
     Cornell, who founded Cornell University at Ithaca, N.Y., was granted through federal scrip more than 100,000 acres of land in Wisconsin.
     It so happened the lands he selected contained some of the best stands of white pine in the world.
     He paid 30 cents per acre and was authorized to select specific lands in the federal domain to claim with the scrip, and to dispose of these lands, with benefits from sales or leases being deposited in "The Cornell Endowment Fund."

Extracted from the Eau Claire Leader Telegram
Special Publication, Our Story 'The Chippewa Valley and Beyond', published 1976
Used with permission.