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Selling Cut-Over Lands in Wisconsin1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 July 2012
Abstract
In 1906, nine important lumber firms set up a jointly owned company to sell their cut-over lands in northwestern Wisconsin to potential farmers. The land company learned, from its experience with various classes of buyers, that the most reliable was the owner-occupant who had made a substantial down payment. Even when a settler fell behind in his payments, the company did not foreclose unless the debtor left his land or was obviously making no effort to pay. Competition from other land companies tended to lower the price of land and also to inflate sales costs, but at its dissolution in 1940 the company showed a moderate profit. Thus the policy adopted by the nine lumber firms, of holding the cut-overs for sale to settlers rather than letting the land revert to the state for taxes, found a commercial justification.
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- Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1954
References
2 See, for example, W. D. Washburn, Surveyor General, St. Paul, to J. M. Edmunds, Commissioner of the General Land Office, 25 Sept. 1862, Surveyor General's Records, Minnesota State Archives, St. Paul; New York Daily Trib une, 30 Sept. 1865; and Harper's New Monthly Magazine, XXXVI, 418.
3 Mississippi Valley Lumberman, XIV (31 Aug. 1888), 1.
4 Ibid., XXIX (11 Feb. 1898), 9. For reports on meetings of lumbermen and predictions on agricultural possibilities of the cut-overs, see the same journal: XXVI (22 Nov. 1895), 10; XXVIII (3 Dec. 1897), 9; XXX (10 Nov. 1899), 13; XXX (22 Dec. 1899), 1.
5 Not until the 1920's was the groundwork laid for land classification and later reforestation of areas better suited to that purpose than to agriculture. See Helgeson, Arlan C., “The Promotion of Agricultural Settlement in Northern Wisconsin” (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Wisconsin, 1951), p. 291.Google Scholar
6 The 17 counties in which the company held the land and the acreages in each county have been computed by the author from Journal A, 31 Dec. 1906, American Immigration Company Papers, Minnesota Historical Society. (Hereafter called the A I C Papers.) Here are the acreages by county:
Since the company later acquired more land, the total acreage was brought up to 481,922. The statement on total acreage was found in the final statement of the company, 31 Dec. 1939. The statement is in the possession of Weyerhaeuser and Company.
7 The acreage turned in by each company was computed from entries in Journal A, 31 Dec. 1906, A I C Papers:
8 Minute Book, Meeting of Stockholders, 10 July 1906, 24 July 1906, A I C Papers. The valuation placed on the land in 1906 and the grades estab lished in 1906 were not permanent. There were many changes, but these were the valuations that served as the basis for the issuance of capital stock.
9 Journal A, 31 Dec. 1906, A I C Papers. Stock Ledger, A I C Papers.
10 Final statement of the company( 31 Dec. 1939, in possession of Weyerhaeuser and Company. The largest number of shares issued was 4,024, although the nominal capitalization of the company was $500,000. Stock Ledger and Articles of Incorporation, A I C Papers.
11 Minute Book, Meetings of Directors, 1906–40. For an example of the attitude of officers towards the company, see C. D. Tearse, Winona, to A I C, 2 Feb. 1938, A I C Papers.
12 Minute Book, Meetings of Directors, 10 Aug. 1907; Minute Book, Meet ings of Stockholders, 16 May 1906; A I C Papers. F. Von Pilis, Berlin, to the American Colonization Company, 15 June 1907, Laird, Norton Papers, in possession of the company, Winona, Minnesota.
13 Computation made by the author from the annual statements of advertising costs in Journals A, B, C, and D (1906–40), A I C Papers.
14 List of Newspapers Carrying American Immigration Company Advertising, 1 May 1922; Minneapolis Journal to William Irvine, 14 March 1918; printed advertisement, undated; F. W. Iddings to the (Milwaukee) Sentinel, 12 Feb. 1916, all in A I C Papers.
15 “The Round Lake Country,” Vol. 2, No. 7, of The Upper Wisconsin (published by A I C, Chippewa Falls, n.d.), pp. 2, 13, 17. The pamphlet is in the A I C Papers.
16 A. D. Campbell, Wisconsin Advancement Association, to Members, 29 Jan. 1916, A I C Papers.
17 Standard Investments & Securities Company to A I C, 21 Feb. 1917; pamphlet of the Polish-American Colonization Company (n.d.), A I C Papers.
18 F. W. Iddings to A I C, 15 Jan. 1916, 11 March 1916, 3 Oct. 1916, A I C Papers.
19 F. W. Iddings, Circular Letter to Solicitors, 23 Sept. 1916, “The Round Lake Country,” inside the back cover, A I C Papers.
20 A I C to E. E. Waterman, 25 Oct. 1916; F. W. Iddings to A I C, 25 Jan. 1916, A I C Papers.
21 A I C to L. R. Stafford, undated; Mennes & Story to A I C, 17 Feb. 1916; A I C to William D. Stout, 15 Jan. 1916; A I C to William H. Brown, 11 Jan. 1919; De Witt Van Ostrand to Land Commissioner, Soo Road, 8 March 1917; A I C to the Forward Land Company, 7 Jan. 1916; A I C to George R. Little, 18 March 1939, A I C Papers.
22 Computation made from the annual statements in Journals A, B, C, and D (1906–40), A I C Papers.
23 Application for the purchase of land, 15 Aug. 1916, A I C Papers.
24 C. I. Delaney, A I C, to Alfred Ryckman, 16 May 1922; A I C to Ralph S. Crowl, 23 June 1917, A I C Papers.
25 F. W. Iddings to A I C, 17 June 1916; A I C to Mohland & Kuhlemeier, 30 Jan. 1919, A I C Papers.
26 Computation made by the author from Journals A, B, C, and D ( 1906–40), A I C Papers.
27 The Public Service Land Company to A I C, 8 Nov. 1916, W. C. Van Gilder to A I C, 16 Oct. 1918; A I C to T. J. Humbird, 12 Jan. 1923, A I C Papers.
28 Computation made by the author from the Contract Book, A I C Papers.
29 For samples of farmers' letters, see Thomas Burns to A I C, 25 Feb. 1918; T. E. Majander to A I C, 21 Oct. 1916, A I C Papers.
30 A I C to W. B. Louthan, 28 July 1917; A I C to C. Lamb & Sons, 30 Jan. 1939; A I C to William Irvine, 9 Sept. 1918; Memorandum by Thomas McClaine, 25 Jan. 1916; A I C to William Stockman, 24 Jan. 1916; A I C to W. Amens, 6 Jan. 1917, A I C Papers.
31 Computations made from the annual reports, A I C. The reports are in the possession of Weyerhaeuser and Company.
32 The yearly averages, which follow, were computed by Charles J. McGough, Weyerhaeuser and Company, from the annual reports:
33 A I C to C. A. L. Loomis, 9 April 1920; A I C to C. Lamb & Sons, 28 Jan. 1938; A I C to H. W. Aronson, 19 Nov. 1917; F. S. Bell to Laird, Norton Company, 8 Feb. 1919, A I C Papers.
34 For an estimated average valuation, see Confidential Statement Issued by the Wisconsin Tax Commission, dated 18 Jan. 1921 (in A I C Papers); the statistics were used by the Tax Department of the Chicago and North western Railway to prepare the estimated average valuation. These are the estimates for the counties in which A I C held lands, 1910–20:
35 Computation made by the author from the annual statements of the company. The statements are in the possession of Weyerhaeuser and Company.
36 W. H. Killen, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company to J. R. Farr, 20 Aug. 1917; M. Loree to A I C, 18 Jan. 1916; A I C to R. S. Young, 7 Feb. 1916; Henry Albright to E. L. Ainsworth, 9 Feb. 1917; Hugo Kandutsch to A I C, 26 Feb. 1919; A I C to Roy P. Wilcox, 31 Jan. 1939; J. W. Quinn to A I C, 18 Feb. 1938, A I C Papers.
These are the acres abandoned, by counties, taken from the annual report of the company, 30 Dec. 1939. The annual report is in the possession of Weyerhaeuser and Company:
Ashland 560.00
Barren 200.00
Bayfield 16,017.29
Burnett 674.90
Chippewa 2,715.45
Clark 640.59
Douglas 238.67
Iron 320.00
Oneida 2,330.17
Polk 778.32
Price 27,665.59
Rusk 19,992.20
Sawyer 33,063.91
Taylor 1,258.24
Washburn 2,216.12
37 Frederick E. Weyerhaeuser to E. L. Ainsworth, 24 July 1916; A I C to W. A. Webster, 15 April 1918, A I C Papers.
38 Computation made by the author from the annual reports, with the counsel of Charles J. McGough of Weyerhaeuser and Company. Abandoned lands have not been charged to land expenses.