Wisconsin Magazine of History
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(ISSN 0043-6534) WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY The State Historical Society oJ Wisconsin • Vol. 79, No. 3 • Spring, 1996 ..}.**. •-.•'••* • c-.<>>i : '>»4i,-..';,-...*fc*i ^%-! fe m^^ \^:- <4'3%>-^ -^^^ •r^ THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN H. NicHOiAS MULLER III, Director Officers GLENN R. C^OATEES, President RICHARD H. HOLSCHER, Treasurer GERALD D. VISTE, First Vice-President H. NiciioiAS MULLER III, Secretary PATRICIA A. B<H;E, Second Vice-Presidenl The State Historical Society of Wisconsin is both a state agency and a private membership organization. Foimded in 1846—two years before statehood—and chartered in 18.53, it is the oldest American historical society to receive continiioirs public funding. By statute, it is charged with collecting, advancing, and disseminating knowledge ofWisconsin and ofthe trans-Allegheny West. The Society serves as the archive ofthe State ofWisconsin; it collects all manner of books, periodicals, maps, manuscripts, relics, newspapers, and aural and graphic materials as they relate to North America; it.maintains a mnseinn, library, and research facility in Madison as well as a statewide system of historic sites, school services, area research centers, and affiliated local societies; it administers a broad program of historic preservation; and publishes a wide variety of historical materials, both scholarly and popular. Membership in the Society is open to the public. Individual membership (one person) is $27..50. Senior Citizen Individualmeinhership is $22.50. FnmiVy membership is $.32.50. .Senior Citizen /•ami/v membership is $27.50. .Supporting-membership is $100. Sustainingmetnherfihip is $250. A Patron contributes $500 or more. /,i/gmembership (one person) is $1,000. Membership in the Friends ofthe SHSW is open to the public. Individualthemhership (one person) is $20. Family membership is $.30. The Society is governed by a Bo'ard of Curators which includes twenty-four elected members, the Governor or designee, three appointees ofthe Governor, a legislator from the majority and minority from each hoirse, and ex officio, the President of the University ofWisconsin System, the President ofthe Friends ofthe State Historical Society, the President ofthe Wisconsin History Foundation, Inc., and the President of the Administrative Committee of the Wisconsin Council for Local History. A complete listing of the Curators appears inside the back cover. The Society is headquartered at 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1488, at the juncture of Langdon and Park streets on the University of Wisconsin campus. The State Historical Museum is located at ,30 North Carroll Street. A partial listing of phone numbers (Area Code 608) follows: General Admhiistration 264-6400 Hours ol operation 264-6588 Affiliated local societies 264-6.583 Institutional advancement 264-6.585 Archives reading room 264-6460 Library Circulation desk 264-65.34 Contribution of manuscript materials 264-6477 Maps 264-64.58 Development 264^589 Membership 264-6.587 Editorial offices 264-6461 Microforms reading room 264-65.36 Fax 264-6404 Mu.seum U)urs 264-6555 Film collections 264-6470 Newspaper reference 264-6531 Genealogical and general reference inquiries 264-65.35 Picture and sound collections 264-6470 (iovernment publications and reference 264-6.525 Public Information office 264-6.586 Historic preservation 264-6.500 School services 264-6579 Historic sites 264-6586 Archives Division http://www.wisc.edu/shs-archives OiV rut: co\r.R: Sand Island shoreline. Apostle Islands National iMkeshore. Photo by William H. Tishler, 1981. Volume 79, Number 3 / Spring, 1996 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY Published quarterly by the State Historical Society ofWisconsin, 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin Farming the Lake Superior Shore: 5.3706-1488. Agriculture and Horticulture Distributed to members as part of on the Apostle Islands, 1840-1940 163 their dues. Individual membership, $27.50; senior citizen individual, $22.50; family, $32.50; Arnold R. Alanen and William H. Tishler senior citizen family, $27.50; supporting, $100; sustaining, $250; patron, $500 or more; life (one person), $1,000. Single numbers 'The Padre at the Front": from Volume 57 forward are $5 plus postage. Microfilmed copies The World War 1 Letters of available through University Chaplain Walter Beaudette 204 Microfilms, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106. Sean Patrick Adams and Michael E. Stevens Communications should be addressed to the editor. The Society does not assume responsibility for statements made by contributors. Second-class postage paid at Book Reviews 229 Madison, Wisconsin. POSTMASTER: Send address Book Review Index 248 changes to Wisconsin Magazine of History, Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1488. Copyright © 1996 by Wisconsin History Checklist 249 the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Accessions 251 The Wisconsin Magazine of History is indexed annually by the editors; Contributors 254 cumulative indexes are assembled decennially. In addition, articles are abstracted and indexed in America: History and Life, Historical Abstracts, Index to Literature on ttie American Indian, and the Combined Editor Retrospective Index to Journals in Histmy, 1838-1974. PAUL H. HASS Associate Editors Photographs identified with WHi negative numbers are from the WILLIAM C. MARTEN Historical Societv's collections. JOHN O. HOLZHUETER Looking out from the Sand Island Lighthouse, 1981. Photo hy William H. Tishler. 162 Farming the Lake Superior Shore: Agriculture and Horticulture on the Apostle Islands, 1840-1940 By Arnold R. Alanen and William H. Tishler F the twenty-two landforms in Lake attempt to farm the islands. Almost for O Superior that comprise the Apostle gotten are the farms and orchards that Islands archipelago, only the history of emerged on several of the Apostles—even Madeline Island—including its imprint though the genesis of these endeavors of Indian, French, British, and American may be traced back several centuries to cultures—is relatively well documented. the native Americans who inhabited the Studies that provide overviews ofthe other area. Some white farming practices were twenty-one islands, all of which now con introduced to the islands following the stitute the Apostle Islands National arrival of Jesuit missionaries and French Lakeshore, are limited in number. fur traders in the 1600's, but it was the Of the wide variety of human activities that took place on the other islands, in cluding fishing, logging, brownstone quar rying, lighthouse tending, and tourism, ' For examples of Apostle Islands' studies that feature Madeline Island and La Pointe, see Hamilton many were seasonal in nature, or else Nelson Ross, La Pointe: Village Outpost (Ann Arbor, occurred over the span of a few years 1960) andjohn O. Holzheuter, Madeline Island and only.' And next to nothing has been writ the Chequamegon Region (Madison, 1974). Publica ten about the sporadic but century-long tions and reports about islands other than Madeline generally have been devoted to fishing, logging, brownstone quarrying, and recreation. See, for ex ample. National Park Service, Family-Managed Com mercial Fishing in the Apostle Islands during the 20th AuTHOR.s' xoiK: For the assistance they provided, we Century, with Background Information on Commercial especially wish to thank David Snyder and Kate Fishing on Lake Superior (Denver, 1985); Jeffrey J. Lidfors, respectively the present and former staff Richner, An Archeological Evaluation ofthe Trout Point historians for the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Logging Camp {hincoln, 1986); Charles Twining, "The George F. Thompson's help in the field and archives Apostle Islands and the Lumbering Frontier," in the was invaluable, as were the contributions of Carol Wisconsin Magazine of History, 66:91-111 (Spring Ahlgren, Linda and Marit Alanen, Barry Gore, Susan 1983); Kathryn B. Eckert, "The Sandstone Architec O. Haswell, and Sheree Peterson. We also are in ture ofthe Lake Superior Region" (doctoral disser debted to a number of people who shared their tation. University of Michigan, 1982); and Martha personal recollections ofthe Apostle Islands with us. Neuman, ""What Are Those Cabins Doing There? Grants from the Eastern Park and Monument A.sso History and Resource Management at Aposdes Is ciation provided funds to undertake a portion ofthe lands National Lakeshore" (master's thesis. Univer background research that underlies this article. sity of Wisconsin-Madison, 1993). 163 Copyright © 1996 by the State Historical Society ofWisconsin W\ rights of reproduction in nnv form reset^'cd. LAKE S U P E R i O R South Twin I. North Twin 1. Iron wood i. Bear 1 (|iA ^ ^ York I, Ki OttdTp S3 v^^ iXo Raspberry I. W^LHtJe Manitou L X_} ^ ^O^ JO-ManHou I, s /Stockton I. 6^ oGulll. Hermit L C^Jv^Basswood I. iiC Michigart L Red Ch BAYFIELD 15^ Washburn Barksdale ASHLAND • FARMSTEAD t * LIGHTHOUSE N MaphyRohcrlaCotiillaul 164 ALANEN/TISHLER: .\po.srLK ISLANDS first century of statehood, from the early called "lake effect." Because of its ma.s- 1840's to the 1940's, that mark the period sive surface (almost 32,000 square miles), of most active agricultural development. Lake Superior retains some summertime Today, all but the ruinous foundations of warmth well into the autumn, thereby a few farm buildings are gone, the fences delaying the onset of the first killing and rock walls have disappeared, the pas frost on adjacent land areas. By the mid- tures and orchards are overgrown with nineteenth century, local observers noted brush,