Tales of our Beginnings Cadott • Cornell • Lake Holcombe areas The Wild Terror of the Night Long before the present concrete and steel dams were laid on the bed of the Chippewa River, a mighty – but futile – attempt was made, to harness what was known in those early days, as the wild terror of the north. As far back as Chippewa Falls’ birthdate of 1836, dams and booms were built on the river, only to be washed away with the spring floods. They were built, destroyed by the powerful Chippewa River, rebuilt and washed out again, time after time, through those early years. Then, in the winter of 1868-69, Pound & Halbert, the proprietors of the big mill, decided to put a jam-boom at the big eddy, that would bridle the river, once and for all. It was a mammoth project and it took the entire winter to complete. Piers 30 and 40 feet square, each holding 2,000 loads of rock, were sunk in up to 60 feet of water. Across these huge piers, a boom, measuring three feet square, was swung, ballooning out in gentle curves, from a chain, which was the largest ever made in those times. The chain holding the boom has been made to anchor the crib of the Chicago Water Works in Lake Michigan, and according to historians, it was thought that no power in the Heavens above or the below, could demolish it. As the boom was completed, everybody breathed a little easier, knowing that it would stand up to any force, even that of the mighty Chippewa. Everyone, that is, except a few real old timers. They merely shook their heads, muttering that they would wait and see. There was a big melt the following spring, and the solid boom did its work only too well. A jam of logs piled up above the boom that extended upward of 15 miles upstream. The mass of logs was piled 20 and 30 feet into the air, and crowded out onto the banks, hundreds of feet in both directions. The sight was so great, that visitors came from surrounding states, just to see the wondrous jam and Harper’s Weekly even sent a man, all the way from New York, just to sketch it. According to one woodsman, there were at least 150 million feet of logs piled up in the jam. Hundreds of men, using at least two steam engines, labored nearly all the following summer, to break the jam and when it went out, it went with a roaring rush, filling the river for miles below, with the multitude of logs. Ultimately, the old timers were proven right, while, although the big boom withstood the spring flood of 1869, August rains sent the Chippewa on a fall rampage, that swept away booms, piers and chains, leaving the river clear and free, once again. (Courtesy of The Making of Jim’s Falls and Area) Tales of our Beginnings Cadott • Cornell • Lake Holcombe areas The Wild Terror of the Night Long before the present concrete and steel dams were laid on the bed of the Chippewa River, a mighty – but futile – attempt was made, to harness what was known in those early days, as the wild terror of the north. As far back as Chippewa Falls’ birthdate of 1836, dams and booms were built on the river, only to be washed away with the spring floods. They were built, destroyed by the powerful Chippewa River, rebuilt and washed out again, time after time, through those early years. Then, in the winter of 1868-69, Pound & Halbert, the proprietors of the big mill, decided to put a jam-boom at the big eddy, that would bridle the river, once and for all. It was a mammoth project and it took the entire winter to complete. Piers 30 and 40 feet square, each holding 2,000 loads of rock, were sunk in up to 60 feet of water. Across these huge piers, a boom, measuring three feet square, was swung, ballooning out in gentle curves, from a chain, which was the largest ever made in those times. The chain holding the boom has been made to anchor the crib of the Chicago Water Works in Lake Michigan, and according to historians, it was thought that no power in the Heavens above or the below, could demolish it. As the boom was completed, everybody breathed a little easier, knowing that it would stand up to any force, even that of the mighty Chippewa. Everyone, that is, except a few real old timers. They merely shook their heads, muttering that they would wait and see. There was a big melt the following spring, and the solid boom did its work only too well. A jam of logs piled up above the boom that extended upward of 15 miles upstream. The mass of logs was piled 20 and 30 feet into the air, and crowded out onto the banks, hundreds of feet in both directions. The sight was so great, that visitors came from surrounding states, just to see the wondrous jam and Harper’s Weekly even sent a man, all the way from New York, just to sketch it. According to one woodsman, there were at least 150 million feet of logs piled up in the jam. Hundreds of men, using at least two steam engines, labored nearly all the following summer, to break the jam and when it went out, it went with a roaring rush, filling the river for miles below, with the multitude of logs. Ultimately, the old timers were proven right, while, although the big boom withstood the spring flood of 1869, August rains sent the Chippewa on a fall rampage, that swept away booms, piers and chains, leaving the river clear and free, once again. (Courtesy of The Making of Jim’s Falls and Area)
