Among the Lumber Laddies

Among the Lumber Laddies

Bayfield County Press – Saturday, February 9, 1889

The writer, through the courtesy of Undersheriff Van Horn, had the pleasure of spending last Saturday and Sunday at Boutin and Best’s logging camp, situated 20 miles north of here on Siskowit Bay. [Present day Cornucopia, WI] And to say that we usually enjoyed ourselves would be putting it mild.

During our five years residence in North Wisconsin, we never before had the pleasure of spending a day in a genuine lumber camp.  We arrived in camp about 6 PM Saturday and were greeted by Mr. Frank Boutin Sr., Mr. Frank Boutin Jr., Mr. George B. Best, and the inevitable Dan.  Everybody knows Dan and as the story goes, “none know him but to love him.”

Shortly after our arrival we were ushered into the mammoth dining or “grub” room, as it is styled, and we were surprised to see seated along the long tables filled with eatables of every description, some of the 80 odd hard-working pinery boys. The culinary department is ably presided over by the camp cooks, “big Jim” Burke, with comical Johnny Toutloff as assistant. What those boys don’t know about cooking is not worth knowing. After gormandizing on everything that markets afford to tickle man’s palate, we revisited Dan in his quarters.

This camp is under immediate supervision of Mr. Dan Best, a born woodsman, and employs at present 83 men, 23 spans of horses and two yokes of oxen and has on skids ready for hauling some 8,000,000 feet of logs.  Seventeen teams are employed in hauling which Mr. Best informs us bank about 250,000 feet per day.

In company with the gentleman, we took a dry Sunday forenoon walk among the logs. Logs? Yes, logs, and such piles of them; one would almost imagine there was timber enough on those skid ways to build a house over the universe.  After looking over some 6,000,000 feet we came to the conclusion that the man that says saw logs on Chequamegon waters do not amount to much as far as quality goes, is way off, for a finer quality of logs as is being cut on Siskowit Bay is nowhere to be found.

Returning to camp there again filling ourselves with one of big Jim’s Sunday dinners we headed for home, where we arrived about 5 PM much pleased with our trip to the camp.  

This history brief was written by Robert J. Nelson. Generously sharing our local history through his research and writing.