National History Day 2012 Theme: Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History
Welcome to the National History Day resource page brought to you by the La Crosse Public Library and UW-La Crosse Murphy Library. We developed this guide to introduce students and teachers to local topics for use in the 2012 National History Day competition. This list is not exhaustive but gives the reader an idea of local topics and basic resources for a subject.
Generally, materials held in the special collections or archives area of either library do NOT check-out; the items must be used at those libraries.
This year’s theme is Innovation in History. For a complete description of the theme, visit: http://nhd.org/images/uploads/2012%20theme%20sheet.pdf
Lumbering Industry 
By the middle of the 1800s the lumber industry in Wisconsin had become the backbone of the state’s economy. Due to the need for transporting the harvested timber, most of the major cities in central and northern Wisconsin were built near rivers. With the advent of railroads the lumber industry changed with loggers able to work year-around and with camps being set further inland. The lumber industry had a permanent effect on Wisconsin’s economy, but its fate was in question by the start of the 1900s due to the heavy harvesting of trees with little regard for the future of the forests or the productivity of the land, when forests were completely cleared of nearly all useable trees. La Crosse followed this pattern.
Secondary Sources
- Newspaper clippings available at the La Crosse Public Library Archives
- Lumbering on the Black River at Onalaska, Wisconsin 1852-1902 by Dorothy Sagen Johnson
- Oral history
interview with William Koch
Koch was an amateur local historian who died in 1972. He was described as having “championed the cause of authenticity in local history and spearheaded drives to preserve salient historical sites.”
Find at:
the UW-L Murphy Library, Special Collections Dept. - The Lumbering Industry of La Crosse, Wisconsin, 1841-1905 by Selma S. Casberg
- La Crosse County Historical Sketches, 1931-1955
- Sketch of Gideon Cooley Hixon: La Crosse Lumberman by Drucilla Kathleen Munson
- Beginnings of a Great Industry in La Crosse by Albert H. Sanford
- An Early Logging Contract by Albert H. Sanford
- Log Marking by Albert H. Sanford
- Log Marking & Scaling by Albert H. Sanford
- Log Scaling by Albert H. Sanford
- Old Man River by Pauline Turner Funkel, daughter of Captain J. M. Turner of Lansing, Iowa; his recollections appeared in the Wisconsin Magazine of History beginning December 1939
- Passing of the Sawmills and the Growth of Manufacturers in La Crosse by Harry J. Hirshheimer
- Rafting in Black River by Emil Heintz
- Rafting on the Black River by Emil Heintz
- Sawmills of Onalaska, North La Crosse and La Crosse
- Some Economic Aspects of the Lumber Industry by Robert Fries
- View of the Sawyer and Austin Sawmill, 1886-1889 by Albert H. Sanford
Primary Sources
- Photographs of the lumber industry and pineries can be found at UW-L Murphy Library Special Collections and La Crosse Public Library Archives.
- Industries of La Crosse, Wis., (1888) chapter about logs and lumber:
- Follow the rise and fall of industries, such as the lumber industry, with statistics from the Annual Report of Board of Trade of the City of La Crosse, Wisconsin available online for 1879-1905; use the “jump to a section” drop down menu to select which year to browse
- Hixon
Lumber Company Records, 1856-1928. Find out what’s
available in this collection by reading the finding aid available
online.
Records of the lumber business and other investments of lumber barons Gideon C. Hixon and his son Frank P. Hixon of La Crosse. Correspondence, letter books, journals, ledgers, and other financial and legal papers document the extensive business enterprises of the Hixon family in Wisconsin and other states as well as Canada. Various lumber company records contain information on many facets of the industry, including transportation and freight rates, lumber grading and pricing, the use of water and water rights, and taxation. Lumber industry labor relations, union activity, and the influence of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) is documented in letters written from 1917 to 1920.
Find at: UW-L
Murphy Library, Special Collections Dept. - Oral history
interview with Fanny Edgar Sill
Fanny Edgar Sill was an unmarried daughter of William R. and Mary (Edgar) Sill, and was a resident of La Crosse all of her 104 years when she died in 1967. From 1856-1880, her father had an interest in owning a sawmill, although he was involved in developing railroads and had other interests as well.
Find at:
the UW-L Murphy Library, Special Collections Dept. - History
of La Crosse County, Wisconsin… by Consul Willshire
Butterfield (1881) This link will get you right to the section
on the lumber industry. This book was written in 1881 which was
the height of the lumber harvest in Wisconsin.
- La Crosse County Historical Sketches, 1931-1955
- Black River Boom: Onalaska Fifty Years Ago by Hannibal Plain
- Life in a Lumber Camp by Frank Hartman who was a clerk for the N. B. Holway Lumber Co. during the winters of 1887-1890
- "Looking Pine" in Wisconsin taken from the 1874 Wisconsin Lumberman about "land lookers" and surveying methods
- Lumber Jack Poems
- Memories of Lumbering on Black River by Charles P. Crosby, a lumber company owner
- Reminiscences of a Lumber Camp Teamster reported by M. Desmond
- "Smell of the Sawdust" (poem) by Douglas Malloch
Also check out other sources at : La Crosse History Unbound
While local sources are noted for each topic, remember to use some other online sources and catalogs such as:
Library of Congress’ American Memory
Wisconsin Historical Society:
- Turning Points
- Archives’ catalog for material belonging to the Wisconsin Historical Society and its affiliated Area Research Centers
- Portal to Various WHS online resources
