From the beginning of Wisconsin’s development until the close of the
nineteenth century, lumbering constituted one of the chief sources of
the state’s wealth and business activity. In 1860 the lumber industry,
still in its infancy in Wisconsin, ranked second only to agriculture
in importance. The story of its rise and decline constitutes one of
the most important and thrilling chapters in our history as a state.
In this respect our history conforms to the general rule that in every
new country the natural resources closest at hand are the first to be
exploited. Well had it been for state and nation had our lumbermen, in
their mad rush to transmute our magnificent forests into gold, paid
more regard to the welfare of future generations and squandered less
recklessly this splendid “gift of the ages.”
This statement of these reflections brings us to the point of
suggesting the broader historical significance of Mr. Bracklin’s
article in the present number of the WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY.
One of the prolific factors making for the waste of our lumbering
resources was fire. In the words of a recent writer this was “the
dread scourge of the lumber industry.” The sawmills and sawmill towns,
flimsily constructed of inflammable pine, were periodically swept by
the flames. Although the mills and mill towns were commonly rebuilt
with characteristic American vigor, the forest fires were the source
of appalling loss to the state. Yet the public mind was for many years
indifferent to these losses, and the fires were commonly left to burn
themselves out, with no human effort to impede or check the course of
the flames. In 1864 one of the greatest conflagrations which had ever
visited the state swept for weeks through the northern pinery regions,
yet so indifferent were the people of southern Wisconsin to the matter
that it received scarcely any notice in the newspapers of this
section.
Our numerous forest fires, then, have possessed not only thrilling
human interest but vast economic significance. Mr. Bracklin’s
narrative describes a single personal experience with one small forest
fire. What he experienced and here describes, however, applies with
suitable variation of details to hundreds of similar events in
Wisconsin. In this fact consists its broader significance.