10 Chippewa County

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=47 style=" border-bottom: 3px solid #FF9900;" BGCOLOR="#FFFF33" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>10 Chippewa County</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=162 style="border-right: 3px solid #FF9900;" BGCOLOR="#FFFF33" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Yellowstone Trail"><B><IMG SRC="30164140.png" border=0 width="100" height="20" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="wisguide0.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wis Guide Home"><B>Wis Guide Home</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis00.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="How to use the guide/ legend."><B>How to and legend</B></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>By county:</B></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis12.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="12 St Croix County "><B>12 St Croix</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="11 Dunn Eau Claire Counties"><B>11 Dunn & Eau Claire</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis10.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="10 Chippewa County"><B>10 Chippewa</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis09.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="09 Clark Marathon Counties"><B>09 Clark & Marathon</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis08.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="08 Wood County"><B>08 Wood</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis07.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="07 Portage County"><B>07 Portage</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis06.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="06 Waupaca County"><B>06 Waupaca </B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis05.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="05 Winnebago Outagamie Counties"><B>05-Winnebago & Outagamie</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis04.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="04 Fond du Lac DodgeCounties"><B>04-Fond du Lac & Dodge</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis03.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="03 Washington Waukesha Counties"><B>03 Washington/</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis03.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="03 Washington Waukesha Counties"><B>Waukesha</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis02.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="02MilwaukeeCounty"><B>02-Milwaukee</B></A></div> <div> <A HREF="guidewis01.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="01 Kenosha Racine Counties"><B>01 Kenosha & Racine</B></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=433 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="06100c00egerdp.jpg"> <div> <B>Please scroll down for draft text. </B></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="364a39c0.jpg" border=0 width="675" height="668" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Chippewa County -  Life in the Pines</div> <div> <B>M76.4 </B>Chippewa/Eau Claire County Line (The City of Eau Claire extends into Chippewa Co.)</div> <div> <B>M78.9</B> The Chippewa Valley Electric RR ran a heated electric trolley to Electric Park in Hallie. Now the site of the Eau Claire Press Company’s Electric Park printing plant.</div> <bR> <div> <B>M~85.0</B> Greenville St. was the Yellowstone Trail in 1915. It has the original width, 18<B>'</B>, and the concrete dates to 1915-1918.</div> <div> <B>M~85.8 Chippewa Falls</B>   <I>Beautiful and picturesque little city. Second largest shoe manufacturing city in the state.</I> <I>Tourist camp in beautiful Irvine Park. Fine kitchen with gas stoves. Tennis courts. Follow trolley north. Hotel Northern, modern throughout.  Chippewa Valley Auto Co., never closed. MH; Once had the largest sawmill under cover in the world.  One of the greatest hydroelectric plants in the northwest.  Chippewa Valley Auto Co., 14-16 W. River St. BB(1920)</I></div> <div> Keep an eye open for modern Yellowstone Trail yellow signs as you go through town. They do not mark the authentic route in as much as they take you across the river, twice, to attract you to the business center, which isn’t a bad idea. The YT did not go through town. You will go past the Chippewa Falls Main Street office, 10 S. Bridge St. where you can pick up a walking map. </div> <bR> <div> <B>M86.3</B> Chippewa Spring House. Since the early 1700s water from this spring has been extremely pure. A great place for a watering trough and a water source for the radiator in YT days. Since 1977 “Pure Water Days” are held to celebrate the springs. It is bottled for wide distribution.  </div> <bR> <div> <B>M89.2</B> <B>Lake Wissota</B>. (<B>Wis</B>consin-Minne<B>sota</B> Light and Power Co.) The YT skirts man-made Lake Wissota. The nearby Lake Wissota State Park with over 7300 acres of forest, prairie and lake, the park offers much in the way of recreation.</div> <div> <B>M91.6 Bateman</B> - The Bateman Bar on the YT, (now County X) was built in 1917 as a cheese factory.</div> <div> <B>M93.6  </B>Cabin Ridge Rides, less than two miles south of the YT (County X) on 220th St., is unique. Rusty and Judy Gilles afford the visitor a feeling of transportation life in earlier days. Horse-drawn vehicles such as a surrey, cutter, stagecoach or sleigh take one through 400 acres of woods to see 40 historical sites along Paint Creek, including saw mills and logging camps. It’s quiet. It’s secluded. It’s 100 years ago.</div> <bR> <div> <B>M95.6  </B>On the corner of county X and MM is the Yellowstone Cheese factory. Jeremy and Heidi Kenealy knew about the YT before they built the factory on highway X and chose the name of the place accordingly. Try the Yellowstone Crunch cheese - made with chocolate bits!</div> <div> <B>M98.0 Cadott</B>  <I>A dairy center.  Free camp along the river. MH</I></div> <bR> <div> <B>M103.4 Boyd</B></div> <div>  St. Joseph Catholic Church. 801 E. Patton St. Built in 1928, its claim to fame is the priceless stained glass windows and three-dimensional glass sculptures. They were created from mouth-blown antique stained glass imported from Munich. Later, during WWII, the Munich studio was destroyed.</div> <bR> <div> <B>M109.2 Stanley</B></div> <div> <I>Intersection of First Av. and  Broadway.</I> <I>The Royal is a good, clean country hotel, serves meals.  Miller-Thornton  Ford. Tel 21.Small free camping space, water, but no conveniences. MH</I>. <I>Camp maintained by City. 3 blks west. AAA </I></div> <bR> <div> <B>M109.3 </B>Yellowstone Garage at 219 E. First Avenue (YT) The building with the square glass blocks was built in 1917 as a garage. M.R. Shock sold Dort, Dodge, Chevy and Durant cars beginning in 1925.  He was a member of the Yellowstone Trail Association. His son, J.A. Shock, now runs it as an implement company. Tragically, shortly before we interviewed Mr. Shock, he had cleared out his father’s Yellowstone Trail Association materials. </div> <bR> <div> Just a few yards to the west and across the street from the Yellowstone Garage is a small Chippewa County Historical Marker featuring the Trail.</div> <bR> <div> <B>M109.4 </B>At the corner of Franklin and First Ave. a Yellowstone Trail sign was posted for several years. In May, 2007 a large rock at that same corner was painted yellow with a black arrow by grade school kids. It was part of the Partnership 29 consortium of seven communities which unveiled their joint marking of 40 miles of Trail.</div> <div> <B>M110.0 </B>Chippewa/Clark County line.</div> <bR> <div> All Code 1 of the following:<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#008000" FACE="Arial" >  Chippewa Falls Wayside</FONT></div> <div> The Trail did not go through downtown Chippewa Falls, but long-distance travelers surely left the Trail to cross the Chippewa River to find housing or camping or gasoline.  They may well have frequented those of the following current places which were standing in 1915 when the Trail came to Chippewa Falls.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Hotel Northern.</B> Corner Grand Ave. & Bridge St. Built in 1919. The Yellowstone Trail Association established 17 major “travel bureaus” along the Trail, performing travel services much as the AAA does today. Smaller towns merited smaller bureaus with part-time attendants. The Hotel Northern lobby contained such a bureau. Today, the building houses private apartments, and is called Northern Apartments.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Leinenkugel’s Brewery. </B>Hwy 124 North to 1 Jefferson Ave.</div> <div> It was there 48 years before the Yellowstone Trail arrived, established 142 years ago.  The fifth generation of Leinenkugels  manages it and, although it is now owned by Miller Brewing, it still makes its own seasonal and specialty beers. Leinie Lodge sells souvenirs, conducts tours and gives out free glasses of beer.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Irvine Park.</B> 300 acres across from Leinenkugel Brewery on N. hwy 124.  The zoo is the main attraction here in the summer but there are picnic grounds, a small water fall, ski trails and playgrounds. And the trolley station is left over from YT days and earlier when trolleys ran from Eau Claire to this park.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Cook-Rutledge Mansion.</B> 505 West Grand Ave.  Built in 1873, its High Victorian-Italianate architecture, red brick exterior with hand-carved ceilings, woodwork, and bric-a-brac draw the afficionado. On the National Register of Historic Places. Open summer weekends.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Chippewa County Historical Museum.</B> 123 Allen St. in the former Notre Dame Convent (1883). Contains genealogical resources and local historical exhibits. The Historical Society recently marked the Yellowstone Trail throughout Chippewa County with official yellow signs.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Chippewa Falls Museum of Industry and Technology</B>.  21 E. Grand Ave. See the history of modern technology, including the original Cray supercomputers made in Chippewa Falls, once the fastest computers in the world.</div> <bR> <div> <B>National Register of Historic Places. </B>There are 48 buildings downtown on the Register.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Marsh Rainbow Bridge</B>. Spring St. and Rushman Dr. Built in 1916 crossing Duncan Creek. The only one of this once common design remaining in Wisconsin. On the National Register of Historic Places.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Code 1 <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" > Chippewa Falls  Historic Note</FONT></div> <div> It was at the end of Canal Street that participants in the great 1915 Yellowstone Trail Association relay race against time passed the baton from one racing car to another.                         </div> <div> In Chippewa Falls it was “a dark and stormy night” at 1:47 AM June 16, 1915 when a Hope-Hartford auto careened along Canal St. and screeched to a halt, throwing the baton at George Murphy who was anxiously awaiting the speeder, gunning the engine of his Maxwell 6. He took the baton and vanished into the lightening-lit night toward Eau Claire. This drama was part of the 1915 Yellowstone Trail Association relay race against time from Chicago to Seattle, and they did it in 97 hours non-stop with 22 drivers passing the baton to the next driver.</div> <div> The next year, the Yellowstone Trail Association sponsored another relay race but this time it was from “Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound,” 3800 miles.</div> <bR> <div> Code 1<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" >  Chippewa Falls  Historic Note</FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> The electric trolley was introduced to Eau Claire in 1889, the fourth city in the US to use electricity for a mass transit system. The turn of the 20th century saw the heyday of electric trolleys in towns across the US. To boost ridership, electric companies frequently established family-oriented parks at town outskirts and ran the trolleys there. Electric Park was such a place.  Electric Park had a canopied waiting station, amusement rides, a dance pavilion, a ball park, a band shell and a campground behind the park.</div> <bR> <div> The route started at its barn on Menomonie Street in Eau Claire, ran to Barstow St., then followed the route that would become the YT to join Starr Ave. and begin its 11-mile trek to Electric Park, then on to the turn-around loop at Irvine Park in Chippewa Falls.  Fifteen trips a day with a 22 minute stop at Leinenkugels brewery. Story has it that the trolley had a “cow catcher” to scoop up drunks during prohibition!</div> <bR> <div> The newer route of the Trail ran through Hallie on the east side of the two sets of railroad tracks (Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul; Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha)  where Hwy J (Joles Ave.) is today. The trolley ran on the west side of the tracks. There is no sign of the trolley tracks today.  </div> <bR> <div> The only structure remaining from the trolley system is a small shelter today at the southeast corner of Irvine Park which marked the end of the line. 20¢ from Eau Claire to Chippewa Falls. The last electric trolley ran on August 7, 1926.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Code 1<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" >  Chippewa Falls  Historic Note</FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> In YT days, the bridge which crossed the Chippewa River was on Main/ Pine and River St. at which corner is the historic 1884 Sheeley House restaurant, originally attached to a blacksmith and carriage shop. After almost 100 years of serving as an austere boarding-house for working men, the sagging, decaying building  was faithfully restored and today hosts a bar on the ground floor and period restaurant upstairs. However, the Trail did not go into the city, it kept going east on<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT>Canal Street to Park Avenue and thence to the present Hwy J. You could, however, drive over the bridge,  pop into town, and come back to the Trail.</div> <bR> <div> Code 3<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" >  Chippewa Falls  Historic Note</FONT></div> <div> Corner of Spring and Island Streets. In the early 1920s Yellowstone Trail travelers who drove around town may have been surprised to see in this place bones being removed from excavations. A cemetery stood near this corner in the 1800s. The city began to grow and the decision was made to move the cemetery. Many of the bodies were moved by family members who used wheel barrows to transport the bodies to the new cite. However, some bodies were missed and as late as the 1920s skeletons were still being unearthed as construction occurred.</div> <bR> <div> Code 2<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" >  Chippewa Falls  Historic Note</FONT></div> <div> Lake Wissota was created when a large dam and power plant was built across the Chippewa River beginning in 1916. It was fully filled by 1918; almost 9,000 acres, creating a new recreation area. In the movie Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Jack Dawson, said that he grew up in Chippewa Falls and swam in Lake Wissota. The town still laughs at that today because the Titanic went down four years before the lake was even begun.</div> <div> <I>Auto tourists between 1915 and May 1917 could watch the building of the dam which formed Lake Wissota.  It was the second largest hydroelectric dam in America. MD</I></div> <bR> <div> Code 2<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" > Bateman  Historic Note</FONT></div> <div> The late Glenn Barquist told the tale of his school, located at the corner of County highways X and K. At recess, in the winter of 1925, a Model T candy sales truck tipped over in the rutted, frozen road in front of the school at recess.  The kids grabbed all they could. His sister squealed on him and he caught heck at home for stealing.</div> <bR> <div> Barquist’s next tale gives us a vivid picture of the transportation problems of the times. In 1929 his parents traveled eight miles to visit relatives for the day. Glenn and his sister were in school. As the kids arrived home, a blizzard came up, trapping the parents at the relatives’ home. Due to 10 foot drifts, snow plows couldn’t get through. They had to remain there for a few days for a crawler tractor with bulldozer blade to come through.  The folks got home by way of a sleigh to the hamlet of Anson, train to Chippewa Falls, and bus to Bateman. All this for eight miles!</div> <bR> <div> Cadott Wayside</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#B07050" FACE="Arial" ><B>Code 2 </B></FONT><B> Cadott Historical Society Museum</B>. Just a few blocks north of County X at 630 N. highway 27. The Museum is filled with local memorabilia. Across the street from the museum is a delightful little park by a creek which features a poster explaining the history of the Yellowstone Trail. </div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#B07050" FACE="Arial" ><B>Code 1</B></FONT><B>  Highway 29 Partnership</B>. Cadott is the westernmost of seven small towns which banded together as the Highway 29 Partnership.  As individual towns, they had sought economic development but as “partners” they are seeing strength in numbers as they join together for activities that profit them all. Led by the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Agency, they have received sustainability grants and have seen industry increase. All seven are located on Wis 29, but also share county highway X through two counties.  Highway X is the old Yellowstone Trail, so their theme for activities is often the YT.  A 40-mile thrift sale dressed up in yellow  markers, restaurant placemats with local ads, and Yellowstone Trail cleanup days, for example, become more than a single town’s business.  They all have marked their section of the Trail with large, metal Yellowstone Trail markers. The other towns along this route are Boyd, Stanley, Thorp, Withee, Owen and Curtiss.</div> <bR> <div> Stanley Wayside</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#B07050" FACE="Arial" ><B>Code 1</B></FONT><B>  Stanley Area Historical Museum</B>, 228 Helgerson Street (one block west of Broadway, the YT) .  Outstanding historical displays including a 1906 Cadillac in pristine condition.  Open Memorial Day to Labor Day 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#B07050" FACE="Arial" ><B>Code 3</B></FONT><B> Chapman Park Campgrounds</B> just west of town on Chapman Lake---campsites with electric hookups, shower house with flush toilets, dump station.  Deer and Elk Parks also located in the park.</div> <div>  </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#B07050" FACE="Arial" ><B>Code 2 </B></FONT><B> City Hall</B> with tall clock tower 116 E Third Ave., just off the YT.</div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#B07050" FACE="Arial" ><B>Code 2</B></FONT><B>  Moon Memorial Library</B>. 154 E. Fourth Ave., 4 blocks from the Yellowstone Trail. On the Register of Historic Places, opened in 1901. Quaint.</div> <bR> <div> Code 3<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >  There is a new prison and an ethanol plant on state Wis 29. One does not visit the prison, but the ethanol plant occasionally gives tours.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Code 1<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" >  Stanley Historic Note</FONT></div> <div> Julius Maland and wife Donna moved to Stanley from Minneapolis in the 1920s. Donna was the daughter of Hal Cooley, general manager of the Yellowstone Trail Association.  Hal was a shrewd businessman, funny, and a tireless Yellowstone Trail cheerleader. He was a font of knowledge about the Trail and a great, entertaining speaker who spoke in every town on the Trail. When Julius was interviewed a few years ago at age 90 he recalled that “Hal was never home. He was always out selling the Yellowstone Trail. ”  He also related the tale that Hal was stuck in mud once on the Trail with several other cars. To keep spirits up until they could be pulled out and to keep bad publicity away from the Trail, he led them all in singing. His favorite song was “There’s a long, long trail awinding ....”</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> Driving notes</div> <div> In Chippewa County three significant changes were made in the YT route during its lifetime.  A) From M83.3 to the south and into Eau Claire the route was changed in 1921 when a good concrete road was built along and east of the railroad and trolley line.  B) Between M85.2 and M87.0 the route was changed in 1922 from what is now Co. J to Summit St.  Interestingly, since then Co. J has become the through route and Summit has been broken up. C) In Stanley <B>M109.2 </B>around1928 the YT route was changed from E. First Av. and Willow to Maple St, one block to the south of the tracks, to avoid two dangerous track crossings.  The elimination of rail crossings was the major motivation for route changes throughout the country as drivers didn’t notice trains or sought to beat them to the crossings, often unsuccessfully. </div> <div> Both routes between Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire (A and B) have been severely cut up by continuing construction and rerouting of the major highways in the area.  To best  experience an older route try this:  <B>If entering Chippewa Falls from the west</B> follow Co. J (Park Ave.),continue under the bridge at Bridge St. (the YT turned toward the river to Canal St. here but the street no longer exists), then turn left on Main St, <B>M85.3</B>, back on the Trail. At <B>M84.2 </B> do not join Wis 124 but finagle your way across Wis 124 and then south on Prairie View Rd which, in a few blocks, will travel along Wis 124. At <B>M83.3 </B>turn on 130th south. This old route will pass under the new Wis 29 and then meet Co. OO/Wis 124. Rather than continuing south on the old route which has been severed by the new US 53, follow OO/124 to the west  to Joles Ave.  Turn left and follow Joles which is the post-1921 YT. The original YT (which is now cut off to the east) meets you at 22nd Ave. <B>M80.6.   </B>To cross the tracks, continue to 110th St. (Michaud)  Turning right will take you to the original route running west along Sundet Rd.</div> <div> <B>If entering Chippewa Falls from Eau Claire</B> follow the reverse route: Sundet, 110th, Joles, Wis 124/OO, 130th, Prairie View, across Wis 124,and, finally, Co. J/Park Ave.   </div> <div> <B>While on Joles Ave,</B> (near <B>M80.1</B>) look on the east side of the road for the remains of a small gas station operated by the Joles brothers. There used to be yellow stones (YT markers) outside of the gas station in the 1920s. One of the Joles boys didn’t want them, so buried them at the railroad tracks across the street.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Between <B>M95.6 </B>and <B>M97.0 </B>(sw of Cadott) use Co. X.  The YT followed Co. MM & 250th St which is now closed at its crossing of Wis 29. </div> <div>      </div> <div> From <B>M100.3</B> to <B>M101.2, </B>between Cadott and Boyd, the original YT followed a section line, as roads did, across the railroad tracks twice.  In about 1928, with the rebuilding and concreting of the route, it was rerouted south of the tracks. If you follow the original remember that it was moved to save lives at the crossings.</div> <bR> <div> At <B>M108.1</B> there is an excellent example of “cutting the corner” to avoid right-angle turns on busy highways.  Often a picnic table could be found in the resulting tiny “park.”  This one was added in about 1927.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>