P. 1 P1236 North Wisconsin Lumber Company (Hayward, Wis.), creator. North Wisconsin Lumber Company records, 1874-1933. 2.0 cubic feet (4 boxes, 2 volumes, unboxed, and 1 oversize folder). HISTORICAL SKETCH The North Wisconsin Lumber Company was organized in 1882 as a Wisconsin corporation. Frederick Weyerhaeuser (Rock Island, Ill.) was president, Matthew George Norton (Winona, Minn.) was vice-president, and Robert L. McCormick (Hayward, Wis.) served as secretary-treasurer and managed the daily activities of the corporation. Following its organization the company purchased large expanses of timber land in northwestern Wisconsin from the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway Company, and from other vendors, which it subsequently logged. The logs were floated down the Namakagon River to Hayward, Wisconsin, where the company's sawmills and other plant facilities were located. In the fall of 1902, the company's logging and lumbering interests were sold to the Edward Hines Lumber Company, Chicago, which received the company's Hayward sawmill and its dam charter for the Namakagon River, and to the North Wisconsin Lumber and Manufacturing Company, Hayward, which acquired the company's standing timber and rights to certain river improvements above Hayward. Following these sales, the business of the North Wisconsin Lumber Company was largely the sale of its cutover land to settlers and to real estate agents. 6247a 7188 Dennis Meissner 16,945 April 1978 David B. Peterson December 2014
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE North Wisconsin Lumber Company Records P. 2 A small group of records focusing on the 1902-1908 period during which the company was divesting itself of its cutover Wisconsin timber lands. The series of correspondence, legal instruments, land records, and financial miscellany all center on the process of liquidation. Ancillary topics include the relocation of the company's interests to the Pacific Northwest, the Mississippi Valley Lumbermen's Association, and flour milling in Duluth. CONTAINER LIST P1236 1 Correspondence, undated and 1886-March 1905. P1236 2 Correspondence, April 1905-April 1906. P1236 3 Correspondence, May 1906-Aug. 1911. P1236 4 Legal Instruments and Miscellaneous Land Records, undated and 1874-1928. 5 folders. Statement of assets, October 1, 1895. Miscellaneous Financial Records, undated and 1902-1909, 1917. 2 folders. Location P1236 Vol. 1. Land Purchase Record, 1881-1888. 1 volume, unboxed. Vol. 2. Land Sales Record, 1891-1905; Timber Contracts and Permits Sold to Other Companies, 1883-1904. 1 volume, unboxed. Location Folder C68 1 North Wisconsin Lumber Co. map of company-owned properties located at Hayward, Wisconsin, undated. 1 item in 1 oversize folder.
P. 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE RECORDS Correspondence, undated and 1886-1911 The correspondence, arranged chronologically, is largely concentrated in 1903-1908. Pre- 1903 correspondence (one folder) includes letters from settlers and realtors regarding cutover land sale (undated, 1900-1902), a few letters and statistics on the 1885-1886 timber cut (1886), a legal opinion on the company's tax liability on its dams (1893) and a letter from the Edward Hines Lumber Company (1902) regarding the sale of the North Wisconsin Lumber Company properties. The 1903 correspondence is to and from Robert L. McCormick, secretary, and is primarily concerned with the sale of the company's logged-over lands in northwestern Wisconsin. There are many letters from individuals looking for land and making land or tax payments, as well as from Midwestern real estate agents and other speculators seeking to invest in land suitable for settlement. There is also a good deal of correspondence regarding McCormick's acquisition of timberland and mill property in the Pacific Northwest, since he was in the process of relocating his interests to the west coast. Most communication is with Weyerhaeuser Timber Company officers and discusses west coast prices, markets, logging methods, and railroad relations. There are also offers of land for sale by individual owners and western companies, as well as several requests for logging jobs on the west coast. Correspondence regarding investments in southern timber (cypress) also appears. In addition to McCormick's corporate functions, there is a good deal of communication in 1903 pertaining to his positions as vice-president and president of the Mississippi Valley Lumbermen's Association. Letters from the organizational secretary discuss weather and crop conditions; national market statistics and standardization of business practices; activities of lumbermen in other parts of the country; and political developments affecting lumbermen. There are also several letters from the secretary-treasurer of the Duluth Universal Mill Company (McCormick was vice-president) reporting on such business matters as quantity and quality of flour produced, prices, and other data concerning the Duluth and Midwestern flour industry. Other letters pertain to McCormick's personal and family life, especially to his son Robert who was attending Shattuck School in Faribault, Minnesota.
P. 4 Correspondence for the first half of 1905 (there is none for 1904) is mostly addressed to William L. McCormick, who became the company's assistant secretary following his father's move to Washington state. The correspondence is almost exclusively concerned with the sale of the company's northwestern Wisconsin lands, there being no other ongoing corporate business. Letters come from Midwesterners and recent immigrants seeking to settle in Wisconsin, and from real estate agents obtaining land for clients or for themselves. Real estate agents and companies who corresponded frequently include James Corr, Fuley and Quail Land Agency, F. L. McNamara (Sawyer County District Attorney), 0. H. Osmundson Land Agency, and H. B. Shue, all of Hayward, as well as the Uecke Land Agency, Cumberland, and John H. Savage, St. Paul. They provide information on land prices, purchase and payment methods, and immigration into northwestern Wisconsin. There is also data on legal actions undertaken to exact land and tax payments in arrears. Following May, 1905, correspondence is directed to Charles O. Law who, from that point, acted as agent for the company's affairs. The correspondence continues in the same vein through 1911. Legal Instruments and Miscellaneous Land Records Undated and 1874-1928 The greatest concentration of these chronologically arranged materials is in 1902-1905. They consist largely of legal instruments executing land transfers (contracts, deeds, quitclaims) or awarding timber rights. Other records include court judgments, tax deeds, lien claims, and lists of lands purchased or sold. An 1874 land contract covering the sale of tracts of northwestern Wisconsin timber land owned by Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, is also included. Miscellaneous Financial Records Undated and 1902-1917 These records are very scanty and consist of assorted receipts and statements of petty accounts; a few tax statements (undated and 1904-1906); year-end trial balances (1903, 1905, 1906); supply and chattel inventories (1903); and some journal entries (1917) charged to the land account.
Volumes North Wisconsin Lumber Company Records P. 5 Volume 1, a land purchase record (1881-1889), provides descriptions of northwestern Wisconsin lands owned by the company; date and from whom purchased; and amount and types of timber on each land unit. A special section at the end gives sale information on lots in the city of Hayward, Wisconsin (1884-1889). Volume 2 consists of a land sales record (1891-1905) and a record of timber contracts and permits sold to other companies (1883-1904). Plats at the front of the volume show the location of company lands. Map North Wisconsin Lumber Co., Hayward, Wis. Map, undated. 1 item in oversize folder. An undated map (18 x 24 in.) of Hayward, Wisconsin, showing the location and layout of the North Wisconsin Lumber Company s properties and major equipment situated within the town. It also contains very brief descriptions of the boiler house and shingle mill construction and equipment. ADDITIONAL NORTH WISCONSIN LUMBER COMPANY RECORDS A small group of miscellaneous records of the North Wisconsin Lumber Company (ca. 2 in.) is in private hands in Winona, Minnesota. A microfilm copy of those records is held by the Division of Archives and Manuscripts of the Wisconsin Historical Society, 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706. The researcher should consult that institution for a description of the microfilm.
P. 6 Hayward, Wis. - Maps. Sawmills - Hayward, Wis. SUBJECT HEADINGS