Chicago St Paul Minneapolis and Omaha in Wisconsin Hannibal Division
CStPM&O & CNW
Cornell Wisconsin
Cornell is located at the intersection of highways 27and 64. This river front town hosted a few businesses serviced by the railroad throughout the years. The paper mill and the local farmers co-op have been near the tracks for most of the last century, and they still provide services for the community. Changes have taken place over the years with other business that have came and gone, but the structures remained to host the new owners on their next endeavor. Along with the paper mill and co-op, there was an enterprise called Fireproof that manufactured fire resistant panels for structures. This as well as the other businesses needed raw materials and a method of transportation that could handle weight in tonnage as the product that the community created was sent
throughout the world.
The original plans of Cornell from the mid 1800's shown on the left reflect the city on the opposite (West) side of the Chippewa river. The smaller dams surrounding Brunet Island would control the logs coming in from the North.
Cornell city map from 1918 is shown on the right. This map shows the siding and rail owned by the Omaha. Additional rail was added by the mill owner to assist in delivery of pulpwood to the log pond. This photo came from a booklet publication that was distributed in the early 1900's which intent was the promotion and advertisement of the area called Cornell for settlers and businesses. It referred to Cornell as a community that was more than a just a "Mill Town".
At the edge of the West side of town a dam was built to create power for the community and the industries. The town was called Brunet after Jean Brunet then was renamed after Isra Cornell, founder of the famous Cornell University when he came west to purchase logging property.
Cornell
as any other town at the turn of the century contained most of the products and
services required to maintain unity and comfort for the residents. General
stores, grocery stores, barber shops, saloons, and other specialty shops existed
as the town approached mid-twentieth century. Much of the replacement supplies
arrived on the railroad from external sources. Deliveries of textiles, canned
goods, coal for heating, oil for those who did not have electrical lamps,
gasoline for autos, farm equipment, and building materials to name a few items
commonly seen arriving on the Omaha.
...a few years ago I came across a postcard with an example of a "Hannibal & Chippewa Falls RPO". It was a fairly poor strike, but it's the only one from this line ever reported to the Mobile Post Office Society, a group that researches and publishes catalogs of RPO markings. It appears to be postmarked on November 1, 1916, on Train 233. The front of the card is a real photo of the Cornell paper mill.
Courtesy of Joe Fishbein
The
Omaha laid track to Cornell in 1902-1903 as shown in the picture on the left. Work was hard
for the crew and for the
most part all manual. Occasionally a crane would be used to lift extremely heavy
objects like girders and pilings,
but laying track was primarily done by hand. Workers would dig out then fill an area with
ballast or stone for drainage to prevent water standing that would rot the
hardwood ties. Then the hardwood ties measuring from 9 to 11 inches wide and high by
8-1/2 feet long would be rolled from a flat car or horse drawn wagon, carried to
position generally by two pair of workers using double tongs, and laid in
order spaced evenly so ballast could be added between them for stability and rail
support. Then the rails would be carried and laid on the ties and gapped at
4'-8-1/2" apart measured from the inside of the rail head. The spikes would
then be driven to hold the rail in this position on the ties prevent them from
spreading when the heavy locomotives and cars traveled over them. If the spacing
was not correct or the rails were not anchored securely, cars could derail causing much damage to the equipment and
cargo causing high expense to the railroad. Extreme care was required for quality
of workmanship during this track laying effort.
The
Omaha had regular runs to Hannibal from Norma in Chippewa Falls each day through the first half of the 20th
century. The train was a combination freight and passenger
service as shown to the right. This picture of a Northbound shows the paper mill
on the right, and feed mill on the left. In the early 40's a passenger car was
no longer used as part of the train and the few passengers that rode the train
spent their trip in the caboose with the conductor as reflected below.
When I rode the train in 1943 and 1944 from Chippewa Falls
to Cornell, I boarded the caboose of the train at the depot in Chippewa (then called Norma). There
were very few passengers then. I don't remember anyone else getting on the train
while I was riding. I did not ride all of the time, only when I went home for
the weekend. I used to wave at my parent's place when we went through Jim Falls
on the way to Cornell. Traveling was expensive then at 25 cents one way. I remember
a small stove in the caboose which kept the car warm in the winter. It could
have been wood, but probably coal because that was what the engine used. There
were two small benches on either side of the caboose that were used for
passengers. The car had small windows on the sides that I could look out while
we were traveling.
Courtesy of Lila Pahl
Exports also existed from Cornell. There were
paper products from the
mill, sugar beets, milk and
milk by-products, lumber, cattle, grain such
as
corn
and oats, and fire resistant panels from Fireproof
industries. Most product was processed through the depot located at the end of
Main Street on the West side of town.
The picture to the right was taken for the
1918 advertisement shows the depot that was built in 1902.
Below pictures show additional pictures of the same depot later in its existence.
The Farmers Union CO-OP grain mill is located at the
north-west side of the town next siding up from the depot on the East side of
the tracks. Grain pick-up and deliveries by rail were everyday
occurrences in this farming community. Early fifties still had horses for field
work on some farms. We had two draft horses on the farm, and used them quite a bit.
Cornell
is the home of the
local area paper mill.
The mill has provided work for many of the residents of the city. There is a
very unique structure located across the highway from the main building called a pulpwood stacker. It looked like
a large crane, housed an elevator, and carried pulp wood log bolts 150 feet
into the air before dropping them into separate piles based on the type of
wood used. Different wood was used for different products, and at the time
a stacker was the most efficient method of inventory control. The logs were moved
from
the piles into an underground conveyor system through a sluice and carried under the
highway and railroad tracks to the mill where they were ground into fibers for pressed
board, cardboard, and many other paper products. There was a small network
of track that allowed cars to be moved into and out of the mill for paper
pickup and pulpwood drop-off.
This would be the Engineer's view of
approaching Cornell WI as heading north on the Hannibal branch line. Notice
how the additional pulp wood for the paper mill that could not be processed was
dumped along the rails for skidding out in mid spring when it
was difficult to get into the woods. The Mill Spur exited
the main line to the left as shown heading toward the river and the mill
pond
This picture shows the Stacker and log
piles for the paper mill as seen from the north-west end of the mill
spur. Notice that there is
only one set of rails for the gondolas and flat cars to use at the
end. This single rail held the cars
that needed to be offloaded. This rail may have also been used to stage outgoing
cars for the next exchange with the railroad.
Logs were off-loaded at the mill pond by a steam crane, corralled
up by workers in the hot pond,
headed through the gate and onto the conveyor of the slasher
where they were transported up into the slasher building and cut into 2 foot bolts for stacking based on wood
type using the Stacker. Photo on the left shows the use of a boom car
to offload the pulpwood into the pond rather than dumping the product
as seen in some other mills.
From the slashing house
the logs were sent up the crane shaped stacker
into piles of wood bolts based on type of wood. The paper mill
produced various products and certain wood cells were
specifically needed. The position of the piles were relative to
the position of the stacker.
The two foot log bolts were
floated in the plant heated sluice way that traveled under hwy
64 from the piles to the mill.
The grinders in the mill received the 2 foot
bolts and literally ground the wood into a pulp for the
use in the presses.
A close-up of the grinders shows the wheels
used grinding pulpwood into a product that could be pressed
into paper. After grinding the wood into a fibrous slurry,
the material would be rolled and pressed into many products that were used by
the nation. The mill was very flexible and could make a variety of products. I
remember some textured framed pictures in our house hallway that were made from
the pictures from a calendar that somehow was glued and rolled into a 8 x 10.
Not sure who made them but remember thinking about the diversity of products
coming from the plant.
Product
was gathered based on destination and
transported out of the mill in boxcars as shown. loads were staged
along the spur for pickup by the Omaha. hundreds of thousands of tons
of rearranged wood fiber left Cornell to travel around the country and
some possibly around the world .
Left is a picture
of the stacker,
out buildings, and pulp wood piles from a time when the air was
bustling with activity. Also is a brief description of what the
stacker's function was in years gone by. The stacker as seen
today is very quiet. There is no more clanking and clattering of a chain
dragging 2 foot bolts of wood high into the air. Where
the buildings and great piles of wood the could be seen for
miles once stood, is now a park and ball diamond for the
residents. A museum is next door to keep the
memories alive
The
stacker and wood supply would have been on the North side
of State highway 64 East of the river. The area where the
stacker stands is currently a park with the road at the stacker leading to
Brunet Island State park. Many camping sites of both rustic and powered are
available. Lots of wildlife to view and lots of fish to catch. There are not
many campsites that allow the boat to be tied up next to the tent. Showers, bath
house and a nice beach with miles of trails and within walking or biking
distance from a very quaint rural town is the ingredients to a nice vacation.
If
you have any information, stories, corrections, or pictures
regarding this or any of the other towns along the Hannibal branch
line, Please let me know, <
E-mail > along with your permission to publish your personal
memories in an attempt to keep the history available for future
generations. Non-digital pictures and documents will be returned upon request.