Background Information
Wisconsin, now known as “America’s Dairyland,” used to be one of America’s great wheat-producing states. Between 1865 and 1879, Wisconsin wheat production declined sharply due to soil depletion, insect infestation, plant disease, and a changing national market. As wheat crops failed, Wisconsin’s economy had to change, and people of the Fox Valley turned to dairying, lumbering, and papermaking. Today, we see the effects of the failure of wheat crops in our role as a dairy-producing state, our identity as the “Paper Valley,” and in a landscape cleared of many trees.
Between the 1840s and the 1870s, wheat was a very important crop for Wisconsin farmers. Wisconsin farmers chose to grow wheat because it required little care between planting and harvest, was fast-growing, could be harvested twice a year, and produced a high yield. Also, the farmers settling needed flour for making bread, and they could get wheat to market without it spoiling, unlike dairy products. Wheat was such a popular crop in Wisconsin that in the 1840s and 1850s, Wisconsin was called “America’s Breadbasket.” In 1860, Wisconsin produced 1/6th of the total U.S. wheat grown. Neenah and Menasha followed right behind Milwaukee as the largest flour-producing areas, and by 1870, Neenah and Menasha alone were home to 14 flour mills.
Several factors came together to cause the failure of Wisconsin wheat crops. Wheat is hard on the soil, draining it of needed nutrients. Already in the 1850s, Wisconsin soils showed signs of wearing out. Weeds popped up in the wheat fields. The wheat grown produced small heads of grain. The price of wheat dropped to 30¢/bushel. Then came the wheat disease called “grain rust.” Some relief came in the 1860s and early 1870s when wars in Europe and the U.S. Civil War boosted wheat prices as farmers supplied flour to the armies. Rains came, ending a drought and creating high yields. Also during this time, many advances were made in agricultural machinery and the harvesting machine, reaper, wheat bundle tie knotting machine, and threshing machine came into popular use. This resurgence ended in the 1880s when chinch bugs attached Wisconsin wheat crops. By this time, the Great Plains states were already on their way to becoming the new breadbasket of the nation. Wheat was well adapted to the hot, dry summers and cold winters of the Plains States (like Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Kansas).
Though some farmers likely gave up and found a new career, others adapted by changing their product. Dairy farming took the place of wheat farming in Wisconsin’s countryside and economy. This was due in large part to the efforts of William Dempster-Hoard. Hoard had come to Wisconsin from New York in 1857 with dreams of supplanting a dairy industry into Wisconsin. Hoard taught the latest methods of dairying and encouraged framers to provide high quality milk and milk products like cheese. He lobbied for adequate transportation networks, especially railroads, in order to open eastern markets to Wisconsin dairy products. Hoard also educated farmers about the use of silos so that dairying could continue year-round. The Hoard’s Dairyman journal became one of the most widely read and respected agricultural journals in the country.
Another factor that aided the growth of the dairy industry was the influx of immigrants from countries such as Germany and Scandinavia who were already familiar with dairy farming. The dairy industry in turn encouraged the growth of crops such as corn, hay, and oats that are fed to the cows.
The lumbering industry also grew in the wake of the wheat crop failure. Logging had been carried out only on a small scale until the 1836 Treaty of the Cedars opened vast quantities of Wisconsin land for settlement. Loggers moved in to clear the land and develop an industry. Still, the logging industry remained a minor part of Wisconsin’s economy until railroads improved transportation routes from forest to market. Coincidentally, just as wheat crops failed, railroads began to dot Wisconsin landscapes, making lumbering easier and more profitable. Lumber was plentiful in Northeast Wisconsin. The Wolf River, for instance, ran through some of the state’s best white pine forests. There was a need for lumber to build such cities as Chicago and Milwaukee. Northeastern Wisconsin was ready to meet that need. In 1874, the over 80 lumber camps along the Wolf River produced 205 million board feet of lumber. These logs, and others from along the Fox River, were processed in Appleton, Neenah, and Menasha and then moved to Green Bay for export. Lumbering resulted in the establishment of several businesses such as Appleton Toy and Furniture Company, Appleton Wood Products, Knoke Lumber Company, Standard Manufacturing Company, and many more. It also led directly to the growth of the papermaking industry. Soon flour mills along the Fox River were being converted to paper mills and the Fox Valley was gaining a new identity as a center for the papermaking industry.
