A Standard History of Waupaca County, Wisconsin. An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial, Industrial, Educational, Civic and Social Development.

              120 HISTORY OF AVAUPACA COUNTY
was 1847 before Foreman & Basliford completed the first sawmill at Oshkosh.
In 1843 CliarU^s AVescott built a daiii and mill at Shawano for Ceorge Farnsworth, an early YankcM? trader, wlio aj)pears to hav(? been, next to Daiilid Whitney, one of tlui most ciderprising of tlu^ CMiviier })i()jieers. This mill w^as the occasion for the first development of water |)o\ver on AVolf River. Wescott ran the mill for eight years for Fai'iisworih, when F. 1>. Aioorc, of Fond dii Lac, bought a two-thirds iidirrest in it.
in 1848 a mill was running jiear the mouth of the Liitle Wolf. It was owned by Robert Grignon, and it is said that; a concession Avas ]")ro- vided for it in the treaty of 1848, but tradition also says it was already running when that treaty was made. Tlie same year saw a mill at Weyau¬ wega, and development in the lumbering industry was hy this time active on the AVolf ami all its tributaries.
It is reported in the early histories that, in LS44, Hai-rison Iveed sold 30,000 feet of logs to Daniel 'WhitiH^y, at Winnebago Ra|)id.s, for .^^2.50 a thousand. Governor Doty and Curtis Reed, a brother of llari-ison Reed, owned the water j)Ower, and by this time four mills wcn'c in o])erati()ii on the Neenah side.
Aleanwhile Oshkosh had been maturing and, by 1850, a half dozen sawmills were busy tliere, and Fond du Lac, at the foot of Ijake Winne¬ bago, was also enterprising.
Fond du Lac's first sawmill was built in 1846, by John J. Driggs and Aiason C. Darling, but it did not do much until 1849, when it was pur- ¦ chased by Herman Bissell, who managed to cut 2,500 feet a day witli it, by making long days.
In 1847 Fond du Lac had its first steam sawmill built by Davis and Ruggles. Fond du Lac got its logs from the Wolf River, as did Oshkosh, ' rafting them dowm the lake, and later using steamboats.
Development in the AVinnebago District went on rapidly in the '50s. for tlie country w^as filling up with settlers, and by 1860 Oshkosh and Fond du Lac were fast expanding as "saw-dust towns."
First Review of Wisconsin Lumbering
Hunt's Gazetteer for 1853 contains the first and only attempt to pub¬ lish the early statistics of the lumbering of the state that is available, and as it gives some names of mill owMiers, as well as output, it is, though incomplete, of permanent interest and worthy of preservation. Hunt's introductory paragraph is more intelligent and comprehensive than was usual among the contemporary writers of the day. It is as follows: "To this^lumberman, tlie pineries of Wisconsin present inducements