Chapter Seven
Mining, Farming, Lumber, and Fame
Objectives:
A.4.4 Describe and give examples of ways in which people interact with the physical environment, including use of land, location of communities, methods of construction, and design of shelters.
D.4.2 Identify situations requiring an allocation of limited economic resources and appraise the opportunity cost(for example, spending ones allowance on a movie will mean less money saved for a new video game).
D.4.3 Identify local goods and services that are part of the global economy and explain their use in Wisconsin.
D.4.4 Give examples to explain how businesses and industry depend upon workers with specialized skills to make production more efficient.
D.4.5 Distinguish between private goods and services (for example, the family car or a local restaurant) and public goods and services (for example, the interstate highway system or the United States Postal Service).
D.4.5 Identify the economic roles of various institutions, including households, businesses, and government.
D.4.7 Describe how personal economic decisions, such as deciding what to buy, what to recycle, or how much to contribute to people in need, can affect the lives of people in Wisconsin, the United States, and the world.
Vocabulary: 7
peck a unit of measure; one-fourth of a bushel
extract to draw out by effort, to remove
mineral an inorganic substance found naturally in the earth
teamsters workers who haul loads with a team or truck
decline a downward slope
market value the price of something determined by current availability
lease a contract to rent land or buildings to a tenant
self-sufficient able to get along without help
cash crop a crop raised for money
scythe a tool with a long single-edged blade
reaper a machine used to harvest grain
supply and demand a law of economic trade
separator a machine used to withdraw cream from milk
pasteurize to destroy bacteria in milk
homogenize to process milk so that fat particles are unable to separate
home industry when a product is made and sold from one’s home
rennet a preparation used to curdle milk
curdle to form into a coagulated curd from which cheese is made
staple a chief commodity made or grown in a particular place
mechanical having to do with machinery or tools
economy the management of income
logjam an obstacle of logs jamming together in a stream
pinery forest in the northern part of Wisconsin
lumberjack a worker who cuts down trees or works in a sawmill
shanties shacks, shabby little houses
choppers a nickname for men who cut down trees
barkers men who remove branches from trees that have been cut down
sawmills factories where trees are sawed into boards
mortgage pledging property for the payment of a debt
shares any of the equal parts of capital stock of a corporation
Introduction:
Activity 1-Consult with local contacts, parents, grandparents, or businesses, to find an introductory speaker for this chapter. Ask the person to tell about their experience in farming, mining or the lumber business.
Activity 2-Invite the children to read to discover the history of these professions in the state of Wisconsin. Use a library search or appropriate internet sites such as: http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/explore/states/wisconsin
Activity 3-Develop a questionnaire that students may use to interview a friend or relative who has been active in one of these professions. Students may share their findings with the class.
Reading Guide:
Teachers may direct the class to read the assignment using the following questions to guide thinking and understanding of the information.
First, read the questions.
Second, read the passage from the book.
Third, read the questions and determine if you have retained the information and/or can draw a conclusion or answer.
Lead-Mining Days
Who were the first lead miners?
The first lead miners were Native Americans.
How did Native Americans “mine” and use lead?
Native Americans did not mine, but they picked the lead up off the ground. They used it in trade with others. They could trade a peck of lead for a peck of corn.
Who owned most of the land where lead mines were located?
Native Americans owned the land that contained lead. Most of the land belonged to the Sauk and Fox Indians and the Ho-Chunk Indians.
Who was the first non-Indian to mine lead on a large scare?
Julien Dubuque, a French Canadian trader, was the first to mine lead on a large scale. He made a bargain with the Fox people to allow him free use of the lead on their lands.
How did Native Americans lose the mineral rights to their land?
Congress passed a law giving all mineral rights on Indian lands to the U.S. government.
What are minerals? List some minerals.
Minerals include oil, natural gas, coal, metals such as copper, gold, mica, iron and lead, limestone, building stones, and salt.
When and where was the first lead mining settlement established?
The first lead mines were made in 1824 at New Diggings.
Why did so many settlers move to Wisconsin after 1825?
People could make a fortune in lead mining. About 10,000 people moved into Wisconsin because of lead mining. Mining Lead/The Decline of Lead Mining
Describe where miners lived in the summer? In the winter?
In the summer miners who were non-Indian lived in tents.
In the winter the non-Indian miners lived in holes in the sides of the hills.
Why were the miners called “badgers?”
Badgers dig holes in the ground and make a burrow. The miners were called badgers because they burrowed in the ground in the winter.
How was lead moved or shipped?
The lead was moved by river routes and also through the Great Lakes.
Who moved the lead to the water transportation?
Men called teamsters moved the lead by using horses to pull the load.
Teamsters later became drivers of trucks.
What happened to the price of lead by 1829?
The price of lead was very low. Five thousand pounds of lead would buy a barrel of flour.
What occurred that caused the decline of lead mining?
Gold was discovered in California and the price of lead declined.
Farming
Why was the federal leasing of land ended in Wisconsin?
Some of the people who had been lead miners decided to become farmers. They wanted to buy the land not lease it. The government decided to sell the land at auctions.
Life on the Farm
Describe life on an early Wisconsin farm.
What was life like for the children on a farm?
(Encourage the students to discuss life on the farm.
Compile a list that tells what farm life would have been like.)
Growing Wheat
What was the main cash crop in Wisconsin until the 1840s?
The main cash crop was wheat.
What was the tool used in harvesting wheat?
A scythe was used in harvesting wheat. It was a hand tool.
What invention increased the production of wheat?
The horse drawn McCormick reaper could cut as much wheat as ten workers with scythes.
Why did demand for Wisconsin wheat drop?
Southern farmers grew a new kind of wheat that was easier to grind and easier to bake. Wheat production also decreased because the farmers used the land over and over. The soil ceased to grow good wheat.
What type of farming replaced wheat?
The farmers who had lived in New England became dairy farmers.
The School of Agriculture
How did the University of Wisconsin help farmers solve their problems?
They founded the School of Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin. During the winter, the school helped farmers find answers for farming problems.
William Hoard/Stephen Babcock
Who was the “father of modern dairying?” What did he do?
William Hoard taught how to improve dairying, published a dairyman’s magazine, and served as Wisconsin’s governor in 1889-91.
What problems did Stephen Babcock solve as a scientific researcher?
Babcock invented the milk separator and the butterfat test. He studied feeding practices for cows. His work contributed to the discovery of vitamins.
Farming and Dairying
Make a list of farming practices labeled Then and Now.
Then Now
Mules and horses were used to farm. Tractors and modern machines are used to farm.
Grew food to feed the family Grows food to feed the world
Family owned farms Family and corporation owned farms
List the steps for milk from the cow and farm to your table:
Automatic milking machines milk the cow.
Milk is piped to a big tank.
A tank truck pumps the milk into the truck’s tank.
The milk is hauled to the dairy plant.
The milk company pasteurizes and homogenizes the milk, then makes milk products.
The dairy company ships the products to grocery stores and other sales locations.
Consumers buy the products and take them home.
Products That Made Wisconsin Famous
Cheese/The First Cheese Factory/Rennet/Wisconsin, Cheese King
Who ran Wisconsin’s first cheese factory in her kitchen?
Mrs. Anna Pickett of Lake Mills ran the first cheese factory.
Chester Hazen built the first for-profit cheese factory.
What product from Wisconsin won the highest-ranking prize at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia?
M. N. Seward of Aztalan made two cheeses for the Exposition. Each one weighed nearly 2,500 pounds.
What makes curds in soft cheese such as cottage cheese?
Rennet is used to make curds in cheese.
What food makes Wisconsin famous?
Wisconsin produces more cheese than any other state. Colby cheese is the most famous Wisconsin cheese. Joseph Steinwant made the first Colby in 1885.
Beer
Why was beer a “staple” in European homes?
They drank beer with meals and to quench thirst on a hot day when they were working. They also drank beer because the water was not fit to drink.
What crop did farmers produce for the beer industry?
Farmers, especially German farmers, produced barley for the beer industry.
Ice
Why was the ice on Green Bay, in lakes and in rivers important to Wisconsin’s economy?
In the late 1800s ice was taken from Green Bay, natural lakes and rivers. The ice was used to keep beer, meat and other foods cold enough to be shipped and sold nationwide.
How is ice made today?
Ice is made commercially by machine.
Lumber and Paper
Where was the pinery located. Who owned most of the pinery?
The pinery was located in the northern half of Wisconsin. The U.S. government owned most of the thick pine forest.
Why were Wisconsin’s rivers important to the development of the forest industry?
When the U.S. leased the pine forest to lumber companies, they cut logs close to the rivers. They then used the streams to float the logs to sawmills.
How did this influence the development of Wisconsin?
Towns grew around the logging areas when workers came to work for the lumber and paper industry.
What was the job of choppers and barkers?
Choppers used axes and saws to cut down trees. Barkers cut off the branches to make the logs easier to move.
Where were logs stacked during the winter logging season?
Logs were pulled on large sleds and stacked near rivers and streams.
Why did some lumberjacks work only in the winter?
Some lumberjacks worked only in the winter and then went home to be farmers.
What caused the lumber industry to expand in the late 1800s?
The railroads were able to move wood by rail the entire year. Forest products became the backbone of Wisconsin economy.
The Peshtigo Fire
What was the Peshtigo Fire?
A large forest fire started near the village of Peshtigo. More than a thousand people died in the fire. The people could not escape the flames.
What other fire happened on the same day and is better remembered?
The Chicago fire was started by Mrs. O’Leary’s cow. The fire spread and much of the city was burned. Between 200 and 300 died in that fire. The telegraph quickly spread the news about the Chicago fire.
How were the people who perished in the Peshtigo fire honored?
Wisconsin’s first historical marked was placed in the cemetery where many of the fire victims were buried.
The Paper Industry
How were flour mills used after farmers stopped planting wheat?
The flour mills were converted into paper mills.
What was used to make paper?
At first the mills used rags to make paper. Then the millers learned to use wood pulp to make paper. Some of the largest paper mills still operate in Wisconsin.
Today’s Paper Mills
How do paper mills operate today?
The wood used in paper mills today is not from Wisconsin. The forests in Wisconsin became too small. The pulp is imported, but Wisconsin is still the number one producer of paper in the United States.
Stars of Wisconsin’s Inventions and Industry
As the children read this passage, give them worksheet to match the industrialist with the invention or industry that that person developed.
The Horseless Carriage Race
Where was the first horseless carriage race held? How many carriages entered?
The Wisconsin legislature held a race run between Green Bay and Madison for a $10,000 prize. There were two entries. The Oshkosh car run but received only half the money because it would not run backward.
Railroads
How were products brought to market or moved before the railroad was built?
Goods were moved by river, canals steamboats and wagons.
Why were railroads important to Wisconsin?
Trains moved goods faster. They also carried people. Towns wanted railroads and gave them money and land to get them to come to their town.
Farming and Railroads
Why did farmers mortgage their land to help build railroads?
The railroads did not have enough money to lay tracks to all the people who needed to use the railroad to move their crops to market.
How were the mortgages used by the railroad?
The railroad used the value of the farmer’s land to borrow money from banks and investors so that the railroads could expand their tracks and stations.
How were the farmers to be benefited?
They would pay to ship their crops to reach many more customers. Other people would also use the railroad. The profits made by the railroad would pay back the farmers for their support.