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"Eau Claire County History, 1949"
History of Black School Area
"Eau Claire County History, 1949"
History of Black School Area
Our
township is twelve miles long, and three
miles wide, the area of our township is thirty-six
square miles. The boundaries are as follows: north,
Chippewa County; south, towns of Washington
and Lincoln; east, Ludington; west, the city of Eau Claire.
The Eau Claire River runs the
whole length of the town. Other parts
are intersected by its tributaries.
The
Sosinski family was one of the interesting parties
interviewed. Mr.
Herman Sosinski had lived
here for twenty-eight years or since 1920. Some of the early
families were: Bill Ward's,
Gus Peterson, Bill Dutter, Bill Winget, Harry Otto, Otto Johnson, John
Solme, and Charles Black.
Mr. Sosinski came here from South Dakota. He came here to
farm and because there were other
relatives here. The people here at
this time made their living by farming and lumbering.
The
first road out here came down by the river to the corner and up by
Volcheks
and Winget's
land. It cut into five mile creek.
(This is the location of the first school also.) People
walked mainly at this time and there are still signs of trails and
wagon roads. Another road
came by Otto's and Kennedy's. From
the Seymour Road to the Black School there was only one
house at one time, this being Otto's.
There
was a great land boom in this area back in 1888. The land on
which there
are now some of
us living once sold for one thousand dollars
an acre.
The
nationalities that first came to this area were Swiss, Irish, Scotch,
German,
English,
Norwegian and Polish.
One
of the parties interviewed told about Indian tales told of long
ago. She told of Indians
coming to the door and asking to see the "Smoky man" -- in this way
begging for tobacco.
Many
evidences of Indians have been found -
such as arrow heads, etc.
Mrs.
Volchek was an interesting old settler interviewed. She first
came to
this area from
Bohemia in 1900. At this time she
did not stay but went to Ohio to make her home. From there
she went back to Bohemia and finally back here again. Farming
at one time
was the leading
industry of this area but it soon gave
way to lumbering. She had observed a few Indian graves
on
the west side but otherwise knew of no other traces of
Indians. A large fire swept across
Eau Claire when a large lumber company
burned. An acre of land in those days cost about one or
two dollars. There are stil some people that follow the
customs of the old
country. She,
herself, still does her baking learned there. She also farms
with hand garden tools broughtfrom
the old country.
Our
district was first organized in 1871. The Black School was
first at
five mile creek, from
there it was moved to Green's Corner, then to five mile dam where it
burned down in 1872. Then
it
was rebuilt at Benjamin's place. At one time it was on Otto's
present land too.
In
1900 the population of the township was between one hundred and one
hundred fifty;
in 1910
it was five hundred eighty eight; in 1940
it was one thousand six hundred seventy five. The
last few years it has grown tremendously. Many of the early
farmers have plotted their land in
to
lots and are selling them very fast. Reasons for this is, of
course,
nearness to town and
industry.
We
feel that this experience both in reference and especially in
interviewing has been very
interesting and educational.
By - the 7th and 8th Graders
By - the 7th and 8th Graders