When the White Pine Was King

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A History of Lumberjacks, Log Drives, and Sawdust Cities in Wisconsin

Jerry Apps

Stories of the heyday of logging and lumberjacks, of river drives and deadly log jams, of sawmills and lumber towns, and the echo of the ax ringing through the Northwoods.

192 pages, 6 x 9, 78 b&w photos
Paperback: $22.95 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-934-5
Ebook: $12.99 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-935-2
Publication Date: 8/21/2020

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Front cover of When the White Pine Was King by Jerry Apps

Description

For more than half a century, logging, lumber production, and affiliated enterprises in Wisconsin’s Northwoods provided jobs for tens of thousands of people and great wealth for many others. The industry cut through the lives of nearly every citizen, from the immigrant lumberjack or camp cook in the Chippewa Valley to the Suamico sawmill operator, the Oshkosh factory worker to a Milwaukee banker. In When the White Pine Was King, historian and author Jerry Apps takes you through the heyday of the logging era and its aftermath, including the futile efforts to farm the cutover, the successful reforestation work, and the legacy of the lumber and wood products industries in Wisconsin and beyond.

Enhanced with dozens of historic photos, When the White Pine Was King transports readers to the lumber boom era and reveals how the lessons learned in the vast northern forestlands continue to shape the region today.

Author Bio

Celebrated storyteller and rural historian Jerry Apps was born and raised on a central Wisconsin farm. He was a former county extension agent and professor at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Apps authored more than fifty fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books, including Every Farm Tells a Story: A Tale of Farm Family Values, The Civilian Conservation Corps in Wisconsin: Nature’s Army at Work, and Barns of Wisconsin, all published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.

From the ring of the ax in the woods, to the scream of the saw blade in the mill, to the founding of many of Wisconsin’s communities, Jerry Apps does an outstanding job bringing Wisconsin’s logging and lumber heritage to life. This volume will make a wonderful addition to the bookshelf of anybody who loves Wisconsin history.

Kerry P. Bloedorn

Director, Pioneer Park Historical Complex, Rhinelander, Wisconsin

“Since the first humans lived here, Wisconsin’s forests have provided for our needs. Jerry Apps takes us from the seemingly endless sea of the pinery to the barren landscape of the cutover and back to today. This book helps us understand the scope of our mistakes and the importance of the forest products industry.”

—Fred Hengst, Central Forestry Consulting

“More than half of the state of Wisconsin is covered by trees, so it is important to document the history of the state’s logging industry for generations to come. And who better to do so than Jerry Apps, Wisconsin’s best storyteller.”

—Jim Massey, longtime editor of The Country Today

“Jerry Apps weaves his family’s stories into historical accounts of the heyday of logging, an industry that touched the lives of all Wisconsinites in the late 1800s to early 1900s. He addresses the downsides of ‘cut and run’ logging and describes a century of recovery efforts. Wisconsin is now a model of sustainable practices, partnerships, and an educated populace to ensure our forests remain for future generations.”

—Nancy C. Bozek, Executive Director, Wisconsin Woodland Owners Association