Paths change to roads, but follow same course

An early paving machine operates on the main street of Thorp when most of the work was still done by man and wheelbarrow. Paved roads were considered a luxury in the early days. (Courtesy Dave Jankowski.)	Miles of concrete highways can be poured in a single day with modern road-building equipment. Earlier this centruy roads were filled with ruts in the spring and buried with snow in the winter. This scene is between Chippewa Falls and Tilden on U.S. Hy. 53.

     The first road planners in this area were Indians. Most of the major roads follow closely the same routes as the first Indian paths.
     This is not mere coincidence because many of the communities in this part of the state were built where Indian villages had been situated and trails led from one village to another.
     US 12, or Interstate 94 for instance, cover the same land, archeologists have determined, first trod by Indians.

Had to develop trails

     Most Indian traveling was done along the rivers and streams, but there were areas where they had to cross woods and prairies and they naturally developed trails covering the shortest distance over the most passable terrain, usually following ridges and crossing streams where the best fords were located.
     Henry E. Knapp wrote in the early 1920s:
      "Indian trails, which were the only roads when the first white settler came to Wisconsin, were in some instances worn into the ground for a depth of a half a foot to 10 inches, and were as hard as macadam, from the ramming they had undergone during long periods of use. Their width was generally about two feet, which was sufficient on account of the Indian custom of walking in single file.
     "So much depressed were these trails that after a rainfall they might have become ditches instead of roads had they not as a rule run along high ground. The force of gravity kept them well drained."
     One of the most used Indian trails ran from a point near Nelson along the Chippewa River, branching off north toward Menomonie, and following the river to Chippewa Falls.
     This was a regular route for early Indians. Early lumbermen later used much of the same path.
     A number of early pioneers wrote of seeing Indian war parties heading north or going south when the Chippewa and Sioux were battling for supremacy in northern Wisconsin.
     The trail led from Nelson's landing directly to the Chippewa River where a crossing was made to the west side, either by canoe or by fording the stream at times of low water. Following the river bank the trail crossed Plum Creek where it flows into the Chippewa River and proceeded north to where the Eau Galle empties into the Chippewa south and east of Arkansaw.
     The Eau Galle River was crossed a mile below the Carson-Eaton mill at Eau Galle and the trail went around the west and north side of Waubeek Mound.
     One branch went north to Menomonie and the other swung east toward the Chippewa River. The latter trail crossed near Dunnville and stayed on high ground above the river bottoms, coming back to the river at Rumsey's Landing before extending along the river to Eau Claire and up to Chippewa Falls through the present Town of Wheaton.

Had two choices of paths

     Some Indians preferred a path along the bottoms on the opposite side of the river until reaching high ground and following it to Eau Claire.
     From Chippewa, another trail led north to Chippewa City and on to Cornell where it curved away from the river and crossed the Flambeau north of Ladysmith. Further north, one branch went to Lac Corte Oreilles, the other headed eastward toward Phillips.
     Other northern Indian trails led from Menomonie north to Rice Lake where there was an early Indian trading post. The trail, Knapp wrote, followed the shore of the Red Cedar River to Cedar Falls, then "toward the sunrise" and, at a distance of about one rest and smoke, the trails branched off.

Trails along the red cedar

     One of them led u the west bank of the Red Cedar to Chetek, Rice Lake and on to Lac Corte Oreilles.
     The other branch led up the west side of the Red Cedar and followed Hay River to about Prairie Farm and eventually made its way north to Spooner.
     Most northern Indian Trails originated at the La Pointe trading area on Madeline Island.
     To the west an Indian trail extended from Menomonie to Hudson very much in line with current highways. Another led from Hudson north to St. Croix Falls and still another southeast to River Falls near Ellsworth and down the Mississippi River.

Followed Black River

     In the Black River area key Indian trails led from Sparta to Black River Falls where one path went southwest along the Black River, another led north and east along the river to Neillsville, Greenwood and Owen.
     Another trail led north and west to Eau Claire. Others linked Whitehall and Mondovi to the main trails.
     The first whites, when traveling without heavy loads, preferred Indian routes because they covered the best ground and were the shortest.
     However, as settlers brought more comforts with them and required more living apparatus and farming equipment, they sought better routes for wagons. This meant a shift from the narrow Indian trails which tended to cross bogs and lowlands.
     These first roads were little more than wagon tracks flanked by trees felled to provide a roadway.

Made way back on foot

     When lumbering first started in the lower regions of the Chippewa, Black and St. Croix Rivers, lumber was taken downstream by rafts. Raftsmen made their way back up on foot if they didn't help pole keelboats upstream.
     Judge Benjamin Heuston, a Trempealeau County historian, one wrote:
     "The period of the early 1850s was marked by determination efforts on the part of H. S. Allen & Co. to procure cheaper transportation and to relieve the rivermen from the necessity of walking back from Lake Pepin after taking rafts down.
     "There was in those days only a trail or foot path along hillsides and across sandy plains over which, footsore and weary, the returning raftsmen made their way to the mills. Two projects were then undertaken, the building of steamboats and the construction of a wagon road from North Pepin to the Falls.

Need vessel with light draft

     "To navigate the river required a vessel of light draft, as there were places where the depth of the channel at low water was not more than half a foot. The weight of an engine of sufficient power to propel the craft against the current was a serious element in the problem calling for solution. When the first steamer built for the run was put into commission it proved to be unsuited and was transferred to deeper waters.
     "The following year a second craft arrived and was operated with a nearer approach to success, even though if was not fully adapted to the needs of the trade and was obligated to intermit her trips at times of extreme low water.
     "The wagon road was a distinct boon. Before long it was traversed by a state coach making trips between North Pepin and Chippewa Falls - up one day and down the next for the reasonable fare of $3."

Cities very early road

     The Rev. Alfred Brunson, who traveled the area as a representative of the U. S. government and Indian agent, claimed that a road had been blazed from Prairie du Chien to Superior via Black River Falls, but more historians doubt that it was much of a road because it was too far away from the river and loggers of the 1850s and 60s had no reason to use it.
     A road was used in the 1850s east from Eau Claire to the pineries on the Eau Claire River, and roads were cut along the Black River about the same time.
     A major factor in development of roads into the north country from Eau Claire and Chippewa, and other lumbering points, was the need to get material to logging camps.
     The lumbering camps expanded to as many as 75 men and the cost of shipping supplies to Eau Claire and Chippewa climbed at a rapid pace. Therefore, the lumbermen needed roads to haul men and equipment north as the pineries along the river were being cut and lumbermen were forced further away from the river.
     In 1859 a road was built from Chippewa Falls through the Bloomer Prairie and on to Lac Courte Oreilles. This road in general followed an old Indian trial but was too far west of the Chippewa and Flambeau rivers to service the lumbermen except at its northern end.

One-day trip to Cornell

Transportation by stage was not only found in the "wild west" as stage coaches rumbled in this region for a number of years. Lines followed many of the same courses of modern roads. This was one of the rigs of the old Price Line which operated out of Black River Falls.

     Sometime in the early or mid-60s, a road suitable for teams was cut from Jim Falls to Burnett Falls which allowed material to be hauled from Chippewa to Cornell in one day.
     As lumbermen reached further north, the Flambeau Road in 1869 was hacked out from Cornell to the mouth of the Flambeau River. The following year the road was extended to the Big Bend on the Flambeau and a number of stopping places developed along the way.
     Also, the Shaw Lumber Co. of Eau Claire had established a farm near Big Bend for the purpose of raising hay and grain closer to campsites. Getting feed for the oxen and teams in the woods always had been a costly venture for the lumbermen.
     These roads were not in the best of condition and stages did not travel the entire length.
     In 1874 a road was completed through the pine from Chippewa Falls to Long Lake and extended eventually to the headwaters of the Chippewa, a journey of three days.

Stage roads developed

     As more settlers streamed into the valleys, roads for stages developed. Among these was a line from Sparta, where the railroad passed, up to Black River Falls, through Osseo and on to Eau Claire. The line extended into Chippewa Falls and also continued westward through Menomonie, and St. Croix County to Hudson.
     Stage routes in this area followed very closely the Indian trails and the major highways of today.
     Stage lines were built from North Pepin along the Chippewa near Dunnville and northward to Menomonie.
     Later, as roads improved, stage lines to from most communities. For example, a stage ran to Menomonie and back from Downsville every three days and the trip cost 40 cents one way.
     Arrival of a stagecoach, particularly those carrying mail, was welcome in the communities.

Many stopping places

     Stage stops were frequent along the routes, but few traces of them remain today. For instance, Lochiel in northern Dunn County was a key stop for travels between Menomonie and Rice Lake. Dan McPherson ran a general store, a hotel or halfway house and post office.
     Travelers in the stages were often choked by dust in the very hot dry weather and in winter were often very cold. Most of these stages were quite small and carried few passengers.
     A letter in the he 1917 "Humbird Enterprise" written by E. P. Houghton of Puyallup, Wash., recalled the roads and stage line rides.
     "In the spring roads around Black River Falls were about the worst in the world.
     "After being jolted over the Milwaukee Road Railway and arriving at Sparta sore and lame, a traveler would pay his fare to Black River Falls. Soon, he's handed a rail and told to help pry the stage out of the mud. Those mudholes were so frequent that he soon found it easier to shoulder the rail and walk behind than to take short rides between times."

Recommended as punishment

     Once in discussing a punishment for a man in the 1860s, Houghton said, "I'd bring him to Sparta on the Milwaukee Road and then make him take Price's stage to Black River Falls...that would be punishment enough."
     Bridges, or lack of them, was another factor in early travel.
     Some settlers attempted to build their own - like Jacob Spaulding and Thomas Douglas on Beaver Creek in Trempealeau County. They felled long trees of manageable size across the stream and covered the logs with poles. However, a flood washed them away four years later.
     Ferries were used in many places in lieu of bridges. One of the last to operate was at Caryville in Dunn County before the new bridge on CTH H.

Ferry at Chippewa Falls

     In Chippewa County, ferries were in operation quite early and one was reported at the Yellow River as early as 1855. It operated until 1873 when the Towns of Sigel and Anson combined to build a bridge.
     In 1865 there was a ferry across the Chippewa operated by James Martin who had a legislative grant. Four years later the city built a bridge and the crossing was made free.
     After Wisconsin became a state in 1848 the legislature started to authorize funds for roads and organized its system based on the New York highway department.
     State road development in this area came slowly, probably because of the greater need expressed by more settlers in the southern and eastern parts.

Very few territorial roads

     The territorial government approved few roads in this area. In 1840-41, it authorized a road from St. Croix Falls to Marine Falls on the St. Croix River and also a road from Prescott Ferry to Grey Cloud Island.
     In 1842-43, it approved a road from Prairie du Chien via Spaulding's Mill, Black River Falls, and Bennett's Mill, Chippewa River to LaPointe on Lake Superior.
     In 1849 the legislature okayed a road from the mouth of St. Croix Lake to Carson and Eaton's Mill on the Eau Galle River, to Gilbert's Mill on the Red Cedar to Eau Claire to Black River Falls to intersect the Prairie du Chien-Prairie La Crosse Road in Crawford County.
     The state legislature in 1854 authorized construction of a plank road called "St. Croix Valley Plank Road, Prescott, via Hudson, to St. Croix Falls."

More built after statehood

     Seven years after statehood state trunk highways were approved for many of the communities in the area. Among the earliest were a 52-mile stretch from Galesville to Eaton's Mills in Clark County in 1855; 58 miles from Stevens Point to Weston's Mills in Clark County in 1856; 55 miles from Trempealeau to Eau Claire in 1857; 57 miles from Hudson to the foot of Lake Pepin in 1857; 32 miles from Black River Falls to Pepin in 1857; 25 miles from Eau Claire to Menomonie in 1860; 45 miles from Eau Claire to the mouth of Flambeau River in 1862; 25 miles from Whitehall to Mondovi in 1865, and 22.4 miles from Chippewa to August in the same year.
     Not until the late 1860s and early 70s did the state authorize many roads north of Eau Claire, Menomonie and Chippewa Falls.

Most cut into earth

     Roads were often muddy because they were cut into the earth and covered with hard material. Now the practice is to build them up so water drains off and the snow blows across rather than drifting on the roads.
     Materials for roads were hauled by horse and wagon, and grading was done by the same means before the advent of gasoline-powered engines.
     Many state roads were authorized long before they were built. Some were mapped but never built.

Old Timers can recall these days when their touring cars became mired in mud following heavy rains. The driver has left to seek out a farmer with a team, a common happening during the period when automobiles were developed far in advance of highways.

Bogged down in mud holes

     Many present oldtimers remember the first roads and automobiles, when they'd become bogged down in mud holes and the driver with his fancy costume had to wade through mud to reach a farmer for help.
     Some suspected farmers watered mud holes at night and then waited for an unsuspecting motorist to bury his car. Then the farmer could make a few dollars pulling the autos out.
     But it was all part of the development of today's modern interstate highway system where a driver can travel non-stop over great distance.
     A great change from the Indian trails used as recently as 125 years ago by lumbermen in their treks to the woods and by settlers in reaching the prairies.

-- Arnie Hoffman

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