In February 1892 an obituary was published in the Oconto County Reporter newspaper. It essentially tells the story of his life...coming from New York State to Oconto Wisconsin and working as a lumberman for most of his life.
He became very wealthy.
Green Bay Gazette
June, 1868
OCONTO, WISCONSIN A Flourishing Village — Large Lumbering Interests -- Early Settlement -- LUMBER BUSINESS
The next mill in extent is that of Holt & Balcom—Chicago men—which is one of the most complete in all of its appointments of any we have ever seen. Its capacity is about 13,000,000 of lumber annually—100,000 feet per day... Employ about 200 men in mill and on the river. Superintendent. N. Emery, one of the oldest and most successful lumbermen on the Bay. Outside superintendent, A. Cole ; financial manager, T, Goodrich; book-keeper, O. A. Ellis.
County Officers.—This is the seat of government of the county, and the Court-House and county records are here, of course. The following are the officers: Judges R, W. Hubbell ; Shcriff, P. W. Gilkle; Clerk of Court, Joseph Hall; Register of Deeds and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, B. G. Gunnert; Treasurer, B. L. Hall; Supervisors. I. Stevenson, Augustus Cole, and Geo. W. DeLano ; Attorney, John, B. Fairchild. This county contains about 6,500 square miles—166 townships.
OCONTO COUNTY REPORTER
August 9, 1879
**A Crack Shot
A hunting party consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Scripture of Oconto Falls, and August Cole of this city, while out hunting on Saturday last, a deer started up some 20 yards in front of them. Mrs. Scripture, who is a lady somewhere over 60 years of age, jumped from the wagon, in which the party were, and took deliberate aim at the deer and brought it down at the first fire. She always had a desire to shoot a deer, and this was the first opportunity she had to gratify it. Right well did she improve it.
OCONTO COUNTY REPORTER
September 3, 1881
L. H. Brown, of Bath, N. Y. one of the earliest settlers on this county, was in the city Tuesday, and in company with Mr. A. Cole went out to Stiles, where both worked when they were young men, in the "good old times", when fashions were unknown and styles as varied as the tastes of the individuals.
Oconto County Reporter
12 February 1892
DEATH OF AUGUSTUS COLE
Died in this city, on Monday, Feb. 8, 1892, at 2:10 p.m., Mr. Augustus Cole, in the 62nd year of his age.
The deceased had been a resident of Oconto for nearly thirty years, and was one of the most widely known men in both city and county, and was held in the highest respect by all classes. A man of sterling worth and unblemished character, strong in friendship and genial in disposition, high-minded and industrious, he was an example of business integrity, to be emulated by young men. As a citizen, from both a social and business standpoint, he occupied a foremost position, and by his death Oconto loses one whose place it will be hard to supply.
Mr. Cole was a native of Oxford, N.Y. where he spent the earlier years of his life, receiving his education at the academy in that town. In 1851 he obtained his first experience in the lumbering business when he went to Cooper's Plains, N.Y. and entered the employment of his uncle, Colonel Uri Balcom, now of Chicago, with who he remained five years as superintendent. In 1856 he came west and settled at Stiles, and for a year looked after the lumbering interests of Eldred & Balcom. He left Stiles the next year and went to Eau Claire, where he remained for a short time. From there he went to Illinois, returning to Stiles in 1858, and once more entered the employment of Eldred & Balcom. In 1863 he came to Oconto and cast his fortunes with the firm of Holt & Calkins, which afterwards became the firm of Holt & Balcom, and was general superintendent of the milling and logging operations of this firm, in which he owned an interest, up to 1887 when Col. Balcom retired from the business and the property passed into the hands of the Holt Lumber Co. Shortly after the time Mr. Cole fitted up and stocked an extensive coal yard, which business he successfully conducted up to the time of his death.
When a young man, in 1853, Mr. Cole slipped and fell while helping a lady from a carriage and received a slight injury to his right knee. The wound appeared so trifling that little attention was paid to it until inflammation had set in which resulted in a serious case of hip disease, from which he subsequently recovered, not however, until a slight deformity had resulted to the affected limb. At various times since his accident occurred Mr. Cole has suffered more or less, but nothing beyond than temporary inconvenience was experienced until about two years ago, when he was afflicted with an attack of erysipelas. Before thoroughly recovering from this malady he caught a cold which wound up in a case of typhoid fever. As usual with this fever, it made its most virulent attack on the weakest part of the system, and as it passed away left the injured limb in a weakened condition that caused Mr. Cole much pain and anxiety. He continued under medical treatment, but not recovering as fast as he desired, he visited Hot Springs, Ark., but received little or no benefit from the celebrated waters at that place. Shortly after coming home he placed himself under the care of Dr. O'Keef, who found an abscess had formed in the limb of Mr. Cole which it was necessary to relieve by making an incision through the flesh. Temporary relief only was obtained by this means, and as his case continued to assume a more serious phase, several surgical operations were made necessary but all to no purpose, and on Monday evening, last, at 6:10 o'clock, after making a heroic and manly struggle against the destroyer, his weary body gave up the fight and he peacefully and quietly breathed his last surrounded by sorrowing and loving friends.
In 1856 Mr. Cole was married, at Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to Miss Frances F. Davis, who has been his wise counselor and loving helpmeet up to his dissolution, and who remains, in sorrow and grief, to mourn her loss of a loving and considerate husband. Only one child blessed this union, Mr. H. U. Cole, our respected townsman, who with his mother and uncle, Mr. Henry C. Cole, of Omaha, Neb. are the only surviving near relatives of the deceased.
The funeral took place yesterday (Thursday) afternoon from his late residence on Main Street, service being conducted by the Rev. G. Bossard, pastor of the Presbyterian church, and an immense throng of friends and sympathizers of the deceased testified to their friendship by following his remains on his last earthly journey to their place of rest in the public cemetery.
Thus closes a busy and useful life, and an eternal rest has come to one whose active and honest industry in this life has entitled him to the crown of peace.
Out of respect for the memory of the departed flags were carried at half mast on the Holt Lumber Co's. mill and on Goodrich & Martineau's business block during the funeral yesterday afternoon.
Oconto County Reporter
12 February 1892
Mrs. Frank Hoeffel has returned from as extended visit with her parents at Whitewater.
Elisha Morrow and Joseph Hoeffel, Sr., were up yesterday to attend the funeral of the late Mr. A. Cole
__________
EARLY DAYS IN THE LUMBER BUSINESS
Page 18 & 19
"While Mr. Cole was in charge of Holt & Balcom he used to let the young people take the tug Balcom occasionally for a dance out in the Bay, and on one occasion he took a party of young people to Idlewild, near Sturgeon Bay. Nothing ever happed but when I got control I told them they could not do that unless they towed a scow along side, as there were no life-boats or life-preservers and if any accident occurred, or a fire broken out, they might all have lost their lives. However, after that they only used the tug a few times. .. Mr. Cole heard some of the men say that when the camp broke up they were going to take some of these deer home with them, and he told them that if anybody touched one of the deer, or took him away, he would report him and have him prosecuted - and soon as the weather moderated the deer left the camp of their own accord...Another way of shooting deer was with setguns. A gun would be placed along a logging road, with strings stretched across the road, about a foot above ground, so that if anything struck the string it would pull the trigger of the gun and probably kill the object that tripped the trigger. I know of two men were killed by setguns; when they went out in the morning before light to remove the guns from the road they accidentally tripped against string and were shot. Mr. Cole used to object vigorously to this practice because he said that he very often had to go to a camp after dark, along the logging road, and if a gun were set he probably would have gotten killed...In the spring of 1887 we made an agreement with the Oconto Company to improve the North Branch for driv ing purposes, from Snow Falls to the outlet of Lake John. Mr. Brooks, President of the Oconto Company, thought we should go up there and look it over and he said he would take his logging superintendent, Mose Thompson; and I should take our superintendent, Gus Cole, and he had Thompson make arrangements for us to camp out at Snow Falls, providing tents and a cook. We went up there one day in May, Mr.Cole going as far as the McCauslin Brook Farm and waiting there until we came back, as he was lame and could not travel through the woods on foot...We stayed one night there and Hale took us up to a point on the North Branch in Section Five, Township Thirty-three, Range Sixteen, which, he said was the best location for a dam and after looking it over we came back and looked at a possible site for a dam in Section Twenty-four, Township Thirty-three, Range Sixteen, and then we returned to Brooks's camp, where Mr. Cole met us and took us to the Farm. The next day Mr. Cole went with us, taking the Indian trail to Waubee Lake, riding on horseback while Thompson and I walked, and visited the three dam sites that we had looked at, and we agreed that one dam should be built at the Lower Rapids where we had left our boat, which was later named the Sullivan Dam; and another dam at the site which Hale had shown us, which was called the Knowles Dam. We decided that it was not necessary to build a dam at the third site that we looked at...The Oconto River was too small a stream to drive logs without flooding dams, so there were a good many dams operated on that river. Mr. Cole told me once that the Chute Dam was built by Eldreds and Balcom about the time that Mr. Balcom came out here from New York state and joined with Messrs. Anson and Elisha Eldred in the Stiles operation, and Mr. Cole was logging superintendent under Mr. Balcom's direction. I think he said it was the winter of 1856 and 1857 that they landed some logs in the North Branch near the mouth of McCauslin Brook and the drive was being hung up, and they had to build a dam in the summer of 1858, which was known for many years as the Old Dam but when it was rebuilt in 1887 it was called the Tar Dam, The reason it was called that was that the timber work was all tarred, with an idea that it would preserve it, but I do not think that idea amounted to much. After that time I do not think there ever was a drive hung up on the Oconto River or any of its tributaries, except perhaps some on Peshitigo Brook...I understand that in the early days each Company drove its own logs, which was a very difficult thing to do because the logs became mixed and it was impossible for the river drivers to drive only their own logs; so there was a meeting called of all parties having logs on the river, at the Funke Hotel in Oconto (later known as the Schodier House), to discuss making a joint drive. All parties agreed that this was a good idea but the question arose as to who should be the head manager of the drive. Mr. Paul McDonald of the firm of McDonald & Billings, who at that time owned and operated the Water Mill at Oconto, said that he thought Gus Cole was the best man to take charge as he was a very competent man and they all had confidence in him. Mr. Balcom said that he was a good man and that he "had learned him all he knew about logging and driving," to which Mr. McDonald replied, "It is funny that you learned him more than you ever knew yourself," after which the meeting came near breaking up in a row, but it was finally agreed to turn the job over to Mr. Cole and he continued to have charge of it until he retired in 1887...At an early date Joseph Leigh built a saw mill and grist mill on Little River at a place which has since been known as Leightown. He sawed and rafted lumber and floated it down the river and loaded it on vessels at the mouth of the river. One summer when the log booms had all been filled with logs and they were coming faster than the mills could saw them, his rafts of lumber were delayed at the upper dividing piers near Couillardtown. He brought a suit against Holt & Balcom for damages, claiming that they had no right to prevent the free passage of his lumber down river; while Holt & Balcom contended that they did all they could possibly do and could not divide logs when the booms below were full and the mills were unable to saw the logs as fast as they came. Leigh won the suit and I was told that what won the case for him was that Mr. Cole, disliking to have to pay the men at the dividing piers for doing nothing, took the crew and cleared up a forty of land a short distance from the dividing piers, thinking that he was saving some money, but as it turned out it was an expensive farm...One winter I went up to the camps with Bill Starkey, who was driving a four mule team and hauling supplies to the camp, and we stayed over night at Depot Camp. We had a man with us who was going up to cook at a small camp which Mr. Cole was starting and which he called Camp Nothing. This cook asked Starkey where the depot was, as he had been all around there and had seen no railroad. Starkey told him the depot was back in the woods about half a mile, and the cook was much surprised when he found out there was no rail-road within sixty miles. That same time Starkey told Mr. Clapp, who was in charge of the Depot Camp, that I was going up to cookee at Camp Nothing; and in the morning when Clapp asked me to sign my name in the book, as he had to keep track of all of the men who stayed at the camp, he was surprised to learn who I was and he gave Starkey quite a calling down for telling him I was the cookee...Wheeler then sent a man on horseback all the way down the river to notify different people that there was a flood coming and to raise the gates of the dams. He was too late, however, to save the dams on McCauslin Brook, all of which were washed out and also the dam which was then known as the Old Dam, later known as Tar Dam, on North Branch; and one wing of the Eldred Farm dam went out. The Chute Dam and the Flatrock Dam were saved by raising the gates before the flood reached them. As soon as the word reached Mr. Cole, in Oconto, he arranged to move our camps to other locations. Camp I he moved to Section 35, Town 30, Range 17, and that camp, with Graham as foreman, logged the timber Into the South Branch of the Oconto. Camp 2, with Frank Wheeler as foreman, was moved to Section 16, Town 32, Range 17, at the head...Our Logging Superintendents were a superior class of men. Mr. Augustus Cole was the general superintendent of Holt Balcom and he looked after the woods work himself. He was a lumberman at Painted Post, New York, before coming to Oconto. He was lame, one leg being several inches shorter than the other, but he managed to get around wherever a team of horses and a buck- board or sleigh could go...The logs were sold by the sheriff, to satisfy the liens, and Holt & Balcom bought them in at something less than the amount of the claims which, however, added to the amount which the company had already paid for supplies and labor. In the spring Mr. Cole sent a crew up on the South Branch to drive these logs, and they found that some one had set fire to them and burned them. We suspected who it was who had set the fire but we had had enough of lawsuits by that time and nothing was done about it...
APPENDIX
LOGGING CAMPS ON THE OCONTO RIVER
My personal knowledge goes back to 1882-1883, and what I will record here previous to that date is what was told me by Augustus Cole and others who were personally in contact with it, and what I have learned from records in our office and that of Holt & Balcom.
Previous to 1860 most of the logging was done on the Main River and on the North Branch below the mouth of the Waupee, and on the South Branch and on Little River and Peshtigo Brook. However, Eldreds and Balcom, under Mr. Uri Balcom's management, did log on the North Branch above the mouth of the Waupee, between 1855 and 1860. The Chute Dam was built in 1857 and the following winter logs were put in as far up as Township 32, Range 16, about five miles above where Mountain is now. However, this upper drive was hung up, so in 1858 the "Eldred Farm Dam" and what was, later called the "Tar Dam" were built. With these two dams and the Chute Dam there never was a drive hung up, so far as I know."
Name: Augustus Cole
Residence: Oconto, Oconto, Wisconsin
Birth date: 1831
Birth place: New York, United States
Relationship to head-of-household: Self
Spouse name: Franciska Cole
Spouse birth place: New York, United States
Father name:
Father birth place: Canada
Mother name:
Mother birth place: New York, United States
Race or color (expanded): White
Ethnicity: American
Gender: Male
Marital status: Married
Age: 49 years
Occupation: Lumberman
Children:
Henry Cole
NARA film number: T9-1440
Page: 307
Page letter: A
Entry number: 1774
Film number: 1255440
Collection: 1880 United States Census
He became very wealthy.
Green Bay Gazette
June, 1868
OCONTO, WISCONSIN A Flourishing Village — Large Lumbering Interests -- Early Settlement -- LUMBER BUSINESS
The next mill in extent is that of Holt & Balcom—Chicago men—which is one of the most complete in all of its appointments of any we have ever seen. Its capacity is about 13,000,000 of lumber annually—100,000 feet per day... Employ about 200 men in mill and on the river. Superintendent. N. Emery, one of the oldest and most successful lumbermen on the Bay. Outside superintendent, A. Cole ; financial manager, T, Goodrich; book-keeper, O. A. Ellis.
County Officers.—This is the seat of government of the county, and the Court-House and county records are here, of course. The following are the officers: Judges R, W. Hubbell ; Shcriff, P. W. Gilkle; Clerk of Court, Joseph Hall; Register of Deeds and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, B. G. Gunnert; Treasurer, B. L. Hall; Supervisors. I. Stevenson, Augustus Cole, and Geo. W. DeLano ; Attorney, John, B. Fairchild. This county contains about 6,500 square miles—166 townships.
OCONTO COUNTY REPORTER
August 9, 1879
**A Crack Shot
A hunting party consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Scripture of Oconto Falls, and August Cole of this city, while out hunting on Saturday last, a deer started up some 20 yards in front of them. Mrs. Scripture, who is a lady somewhere over 60 years of age, jumped from the wagon, in which the party were, and took deliberate aim at the deer and brought it down at the first fire. She always had a desire to shoot a deer, and this was the first opportunity she had to gratify it. Right well did she improve it.
OCONTO COUNTY REPORTER
September 3, 1881
L. H. Brown, of Bath, N. Y. one of the earliest settlers on this county, was in the city Tuesday, and in company with Mr. A. Cole went out to Stiles, where both worked when they were young men, in the "good old times", when fashions were unknown and styles as varied as the tastes of the individuals.
Oconto County Reporter
12 February 1892
DEATH OF AUGUSTUS COLE
Died in this city, on Monday, Feb. 8, 1892, at 2:10 p.m., Mr. Augustus Cole, in the 62nd year of his age.
The deceased had been a resident of Oconto for nearly thirty years, and was one of the most widely known men in both city and county, and was held in the highest respect by all classes. A man of sterling worth and unblemished character, strong in friendship and genial in disposition, high-minded and industrious, he was an example of business integrity, to be emulated by young men. As a citizen, from both a social and business standpoint, he occupied a foremost position, and by his death Oconto loses one whose place it will be hard to supply.
Mr. Cole was a native of Oxford, N.Y. where he spent the earlier years of his life, receiving his education at the academy in that town. In 1851 he obtained his first experience in the lumbering business when he went to Cooper's Plains, N.Y. and entered the employment of his uncle, Colonel Uri Balcom, now of Chicago, with who he remained five years as superintendent. In 1856 he came west and settled at Stiles, and for a year looked after the lumbering interests of Eldred & Balcom. He left Stiles the next year and went to Eau Claire, where he remained for a short time. From there he went to Illinois, returning to Stiles in 1858, and once more entered the employment of Eldred & Balcom. In 1863 he came to Oconto and cast his fortunes with the firm of Holt & Calkins, which afterwards became the firm of Holt & Balcom, and was general superintendent of the milling and logging operations of this firm, in which he owned an interest, up to 1887 when Col. Balcom retired from the business and the property passed into the hands of the Holt Lumber Co. Shortly after the time Mr. Cole fitted up and stocked an extensive coal yard, which business he successfully conducted up to the time of his death.
When a young man, in 1853, Mr. Cole slipped and fell while helping a lady from a carriage and received a slight injury to his right knee. The wound appeared so trifling that little attention was paid to it until inflammation had set in which resulted in a serious case of hip disease, from which he subsequently recovered, not however, until a slight deformity had resulted to the affected limb. At various times since his accident occurred Mr. Cole has suffered more or less, but nothing beyond than temporary inconvenience was experienced until about two years ago, when he was afflicted with an attack of erysipelas. Before thoroughly recovering from this malady he caught a cold which wound up in a case of typhoid fever. As usual with this fever, it made its most virulent attack on the weakest part of the system, and as it passed away left the injured limb in a weakened condition that caused Mr. Cole much pain and anxiety. He continued under medical treatment, but not recovering as fast as he desired, he visited Hot Springs, Ark., but received little or no benefit from the celebrated waters at that place. Shortly after coming home he placed himself under the care of Dr. O'Keef, who found an abscess had formed in the limb of Mr. Cole which it was necessary to relieve by making an incision through the flesh. Temporary relief only was obtained by this means, and as his case continued to assume a more serious phase, several surgical operations were made necessary but all to no purpose, and on Monday evening, last, at 6:10 o'clock, after making a heroic and manly struggle against the destroyer, his weary body gave up the fight and he peacefully and quietly breathed his last surrounded by sorrowing and loving friends.
In 1856 Mr. Cole was married, at Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to Miss Frances F. Davis, who has been his wise counselor and loving helpmeet up to his dissolution, and who remains, in sorrow and grief, to mourn her loss of a loving and considerate husband. Only one child blessed this union, Mr. H. U. Cole, our respected townsman, who with his mother and uncle, Mr. Henry C. Cole, of Omaha, Neb. are the only surviving near relatives of the deceased.
The funeral took place yesterday (Thursday) afternoon from his late residence on Main Street, service being conducted by the Rev. G. Bossard, pastor of the Presbyterian church, and an immense throng of friends and sympathizers of the deceased testified to their friendship by following his remains on his last earthly journey to their place of rest in the public cemetery.
Thus closes a busy and useful life, and an eternal rest has come to one whose active and honest industry in this life has entitled him to the crown of peace.
Out of respect for the memory of the departed flags were carried at half mast on the Holt Lumber Co's. mill and on Goodrich & Martineau's business block during the funeral yesterday afternoon.
Oconto County Reporter
12 February 1892
Mrs. Frank Hoeffel has returned from as extended visit with her parents at Whitewater.
Elisha Morrow and Joseph Hoeffel, Sr., were up yesterday to attend the funeral of the late Mr. A. Cole
__________
EARLY DAYS IN THE LUMBER BUSINESS
Page 18 & 19
"While Mr. Cole was in charge of Holt & Balcom he used to let the young people take the tug Balcom occasionally for a dance out in the Bay, and on one occasion he took a party of young people to Idlewild, near Sturgeon Bay. Nothing ever happed but when I got control I told them they could not do that unless they towed a scow along side, as there were no life-boats or life-preservers and if any accident occurred, or a fire broken out, they might all have lost their lives. However, after that they only used the tug a few times. .. Mr. Cole heard some of the men say that when the camp broke up they were going to take some of these deer home with them, and he told them that if anybody touched one of the deer, or took him away, he would report him and have him prosecuted - and soon as the weather moderated the deer left the camp of their own accord...Another way of shooting deer was with setguns. A gun would be placed along a logging road, with strings stretched across the road, about a foot above ground, so that if anything struck the string it would pull the trigger of the gun and probably kill the object that tripped the trigger. I know of two men were killed by setguns; when they went out in the morning before light to remove the guns from the road they accidentally tripped against string and were shot. Mr. Cole used to object vigorously to this practice because he said that he very often had to go to a camp after dark, along the logging road, and if a gun were set he probably would have gotten killed...In the spring of 1887 we made an agreement with the Oconto Company to improve the North Branch for driv ing purposes, from Snow Falls to the outlet of Lake John. Mr. Brooks, President of the Oconto Company, thought we should go up there and look it over and he said he would take his logging superintendent, Mose Thompson; and I should take our superintendent, Gus Cole, and he had Thompson make arrangements for us to camp out at Snow Falls, providing tents and a cook. We went up there one day in May, Mr.Cole going as far as the McCauslin Brook Farm and waiting there until we came back, as he was lame and could not travel through the woods on foot...We stayed one night there and Hale took us up to a point on the North Branch in Section Five, Township Thirty-three, Range Sixteen, which, he said was the best location for a dam and after looking it over we came back and looked at a possible site for a dam in Section Twenty-four, Township Thirty-three, Range Sixteen, and then we returned to Brooks's camp, where Mr. Cole met us and took us to the Farm. The next day Mr. Cole went with us, taking the Indian trail to Waubee Lake, riding on horseback while Thompson and I walked, and visited the three dam sites that we had looked at, and we agreed that one dam should be built at the Lower Rapids where we had left our boat, which was later named the Sullivan Dam; and another dam at the site which Hale had shown us, which was called the Knowles Dam. We decided that it was not necessary to build a dam at the third site that we looked at...The Oconto River was too small a stream to drive logs without flooding dams, so there were a good many dams operated on that river. Mr. Cole told me once that the Chute Dam was built by Eldreds and Balcom about the time that Mr. Balcom came out here from New York state and joined with Messrs. Anson and Elisha Eldred in the Stiles operation, and Mr. Cole was logging superintendent under Mr. Balcom's direction. I think he said it was the winter of 1856 and 1857 that they landed some logs in the North Branch near the mouth of McCauslin Brook and the drive was being hung up, and they had to build a dam in the summer of 1858, which was known for many years as the Old Dam but when it was rebuilt in 1887 it was called the Tar Dam, The reason it was called that was that the timber work was all tarred, with an idea that it would preserve it, but I do not think that idea amounted to much. After that time I do not think there ever was a drive hung up on the Oconto River or any of its tributaries, except perhaps some on Peshitigo Brook...I understand that in the early days each Company drove its own logs, which was a very difficult thing to do because the logs became mixed and it was impossible for the river drivers to drive only their own logs; so there was a meeting called of all parties having logs on the river, at the Funke Hotel in Oconto (later known as the Schodier House), to discuss making a joint drive. All parties agreed that this was a good idea but the question arose as to who should be the head manager of the drive. Mr. Paul McDonald of the firm of McDonald & Billings, who at that time owned and operated the Water Mill at Oconto, said that he thought Gus Cole was the best man to take charge as he was a very competent man and they all had confidence in him. Mr. Balcom said that he was a good man and that he "had learned him all he knew about logging and driving," to which Mr. McDonald replied, "It is funny that you learned him more than you ever knew yourself," after which the meeting came near breaking up in a row, but it was finally agreed to turn the job over to Mr. Cole and he continued to have charge of it until he retired in 1887...At an early date Joseph Leigh built a saw mill and grist mill on Little River at a place which has since been known as Leightown. He sawed and rafted lumber and floated it down the river and loaded it on vessels at the mouth of the river. One summer when the log booms had all been filled with logs and they were coming faster than the mills could saw them, his rafts of lumber were delayed at the upper dividing piers near Couillardtown. He brought a suit against Holt & Balcom for damages, claiming that they had no right to prevent the free passage of his lumber down river; while Holt & Balcom contended that they did all they could possibly do and could not divide logs when the booms below were full and the mills were unable to saw the logs as fast as they came. Leigh won the suit and I was told that what won the case for him was that Mr. Cole, disliking to have to pay the men at the dividing piers for doing nothing, took the crew and cleared up a forty of land a short distance from the dividing piers, thinking that he was saving some money, but as it turned out it was an expensive farm...One winter I went up to the camps with Bill Starkey, who was driving a four mule team and hauling supplies to the camp, and we stayed over night at Depot Camp. We had a man with us who was going up to cook at a small camp which Mr. Cole was starting and which he called Camp Nothing. This cook asked Starkey where the depot was, as he had been all around there and had seen no railroad. Starkey told him the depot was back in the woods about half a mile, and the cook was much surprised when he found out there was no rail-road within sixty miles. That same time Starkey told Mr. Clapp, who was in charge of the Depot Camp, that I was going up to cookee at Camp Nothing; and in the morning when Clapp asked me to sign my name in the book, as he had to keep track of all of the men who stayed at the camp, he was surprised to learn who I was and he gave Starkey quite a calling down for telling him I was the cookee...Wheeler then sent a man on horseback all the way down the river to notify different people that there was a flood coming and to raise the gates of the dams. He was too late, however, to save the dams on McCauslin Brook, all of which were washed out and also the dam which was then known as the Old Dam, later known as Tar Dam, on North Branch; and one wing of the Eldred Farm dam went out. The Chute Dam and the Flatrock Dam were saved by raising the gates before the flood reached them. As soon as the word reached Mr. Cole, in Oconto, he arranged to move our camps to other locations. Camp I he moved to Section 35, Town 30, Range 17, and that camp, with Graham as foreman, logged the timber Into the South Branch of the Oconto. Camp 2, with Frank Wheeler as foreman, was moved to Section 16, Town 32, Range 17, at the head...Our Logging Superintendents were a superior class of men. Mr. Augustus Cole was the general superintendent of Holt Balcom and he looked after the woods work himself. He was a lumberman at Painted Post, New York, before coming to Oconto. He was lame, one leg being several inches shorter than the other, but he managed to get around wherever a team of horses and a buck- board or sleigh could go...The logs were sold by the sheriff, to satisfy the liens, and Holt & Balcom bought them in at something less than the amount of the claims which, however, added to the amount which the company had already paid for supplies and labor. In the spring Mr. Cole sent a crew up on the South Branch to drive these logs, and they found that some one had set fire to them and burned them. We suspected who it was who had set the fire but we had had enough of lawsuits by that time and nothing was done about it...
APPENDIX
LOGGING CAMPS ON THE OCONTO RIVER
My personal knowledge goes back to 1882-1883, and what I will record here previous to that date is what was told me by Augustus Cole and others who were personally in contact with it, and what I have learned from records in our office and that of Holt & Balcom.
Previous to 1860 most of the logging was done on the Main River and on the North Branch below the mouth of the Waupee, and on the South Branch and on Little River and Peshtigo Brook. However, Eldreds and Balcom, under Mr. Uri Balcom's management, did log on the North Branch above the mouth of the Waupee, between 1855 and 1860. The Chute Dam was built in 1857 and the following winter logs were put in as far up as Township 32, Range 16, about five miles above where Mountain is now. However, this upper drive was hung up, so in 1858 the "Eldred Farm Dam" and what was, later called the "Tar Dam" were built. With these two dams and the Chute Dam there never was a drive hung up, so far as I know."
Name: Augustus Cole
Residence: Oconto, Oconto, Wisconsin
Birth date: 1831
Birth place: New York, United States
Relationship to head-of-household: Self
Spouse name: Franciska Cole
Spouse birth place: New York, United States
Father name:
Father birth place: Canada
Mother name:
Mother birth place: New York, United States
Race or color (expanded): White
Ethnicity: American
Gender: Male
Marital status: Married
Age: 49 years
Occupation: Lumberman
Children:
Henry Cole
NARA film number: T9-1440
Page: 307
Page letter: A
Entry number: 1774
Film number: 1255440
Collection: 1880 United States Census
In February 1892 an obituary was published in the Oconto County Reporter newspaper. It essentially tells the story of his life...coming from New York State to Oconto Wisconsin and working as a lumberman for most of his life.
He became very wealthy.
Green Bay Gazette
June, 1868
OCONTO, WISCONSIN A Flourishing Village — Large Lumbering Interests -- Early Settlement -- LUMBER BUSINESS
The next mill in extent is that of Holt & Balcom—Chicago men—which is one of the most complete in all of its appointments of any we have ever seen. Its capacity is about 13,000,000 of lumber annually—100,000 feet per day... Employ about 200 men in mill and on the river. Superintendent. N. Emery, one of the oldest and most successful lumbermen on the Bay. Outside superintendent, A. Cole ; financial manager, T, Goodrich; book-keeper, O. A. Ellis.
County Officers.—This is the seat of government of the county, and the Court-House and county records are here, of course. The following are the officers: Judges R, W. Hubbell ; Shcriff, P. W. Gilkle; Clerk of Court, Joseph Hall; Register of Deeds and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, B. G. Gunnert; Treasurer, B. L. Hall; Supervisors. I. Stevenson, Augustus Cole, and Geo. W. DeLano ; Attorney, John, B. Fairchild. This county contains about 6,500 square miles—166 townships.
OCONTO COUNTY REPORTER
August 9, 1879
**A Crack Shot
A hunting party consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Scripture of Oconto Falls, and August Cole of this city, while out hunting on Saturday last, a deer started up some 20 yards in front of them. Mrs. Scripture, who is a lady somewhere over 60 years of age, jumped from the wagon, in which the party were, and took deliberate aim at the deer and brought it down at the first fire. She always had a desire to shoot a deer, and this was the first opportunity she had to gratify it. Right well did she improve it.
OCONTO COUNTY REPORTER
September 3, 1881
L. H. Brown, of Bath, N. Y. one of the earliest settlers on this county, was in the city Tuesday, and in company with Mr. A. Cole went out to Stiles, where both worked when they were young men, in the "good old times", when fashions were unknown and styles as varied as the tastes of the individuals.
Oconto County Reporter
12 February 1892
DEATH OF AUGUSTUS COLE
Died in this city, on Monday, Feb. 8, 1892, at 2:10 p.m., Mr. Augustus Cole, in the 62nd year of his age.
The deceased had been a resident of Oconto for nearly thirty years, and was one of the most widely known men in both city and county, and was held in the highest respect by all classes. A man of sterling worth and unblemished character, strong in friendship and genial in disposition, high-minded and industrious, he was an example of business integrity, to be emulated by young men. As a citizen, from both a social and business standpoint, he occupied a foremost position, and by his death Oconto loses one whose place it will be hard to supply.
Mr. Cole was a native of Oxford, N.Y. where he spent the earlier years of his life, receiving his education at the academy in that town. In 1851 he obtained his first experience in the lumbering business when he went to Cooper's Plains, N.Y. and entered the employment of his uncle, Colonel Uri Balcom, now of Chicago, with who he remained five years as superintendent. In 1856 he came west and settled at Stiles, and for a year looked after the lumbering interests of Eldred & Balcom. He left Stiles the next year and went to Eau Claire, where he remained for a short time. From there he went to Illinois, returning to Stiles in 1858, and once more entered the employment of Eldred & Balcom. In 1863 he came to Oconto and cast his fortunes with the firm of Holt & Calkins, which afterwards became the firm of Holt & Balcom, and was general superintendent of the milling and logging operations of this firm, in which he owned an interest, up to 1887 when Col. Balcom retired from the business and the property passed into the hands of the Holt Lumber Co. Shortly after the time Mr. Cole fitted up and stocked an extensive coal yard, which business he successfully conducted up to the time of his death.
When a young man, in 1853, Mr. Cole slipped and fell while helping a lady from a carriage and received a slight injury to his right knee. The wound appeared so trifling that little attention was paid to it until inflammation had set in which resulted in a serious case of hip disease, from which he subsequently recovered, not however, until a slight deformity had resulted to the affected limb. At various times since his accident occurred Mr. Cole has suffered more or less, but nothing beyond than temporary inconvenience was experienced until about two years ago, when he was afflicted with an attack of erysipelas. Before thoroughly recovering from this malady he caught a cold which wound up in a case of typhoid fever. As usual with this fever, it made its most virulent attack on the weakest part of the system, and as it passed away left the injured limb in a weakened condition that caused Mr. Cole much pain and anxiety. He continued under medical treatment, but not recovering as fast as he desired, he visited Hot Springs, Ark., but received little or no benefit from the celebrated waters at that place. Shortly after coming home he placed himself under the care of Dr. O'Keef, who found an abscess had formed in the limb of Mr. Cole which it was necessary to relieve by making an incision through the flesh. Temporary relief only was obtained by this means, and as his case continued to assume a more serious phase, several surgical operations were made necessary but all to no purpose, and on Monday evening, last, at 6:10 o'clock, after making a heroic and manly struggle against the destroyer, his weary body gave up the fight and he peacefully and quietly breathed his last surrounded by sorrowing and loving friends.
In 1856 Mr. Cole was married, at Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to Miss Frances F. Davis, who has been his wise counselor and loving helpmeet up to his dissolution, and who remains, in sorrow and grief, to mourn her loss of a loving and considerate husband. Only one child blessed this union, Mr. H. U. Cole, our respected townsman, who with his mother and uncle, Mr. Henry C. Cole, of Omaha, Neb. are the only surviving near relatives of the deceased.
The funeral took place yesterday (Thursday) afternoon from his late residence on Main Street, service being conducted by the Rev. G. Bossard, pastor of the Presbyterian church, and an immense throng of friends and sympathizers of the deceased testified to their friendship by following his remains on his last earthly journey to their place of rest in the public cemetery.
Thus closes a busy and useful life, and an eternal rest has come to one whose active and honest industry in this life has entitled him to the crown of peace.
Out of respect for the memory of the departed flags were carried at half mast on the Holt Lumber Co's. mill and on Goodrich & Martineau's business block during the funeral yesterday afternoon.
Oconto County Reporter
12 February 1892
Mrs. Frank Hoeffel has returned from as extended visit with her parents at Whitewater.
Elisha Morrow and Joseph Hoeffel, Sr., were up yesterday to attend the funeral of the late Mr. A. Cole
__________
EARLY DAYS IN THE LUMBER BUSINESS
Page 18 & 19
"While Mr. Cole was in charge of Holt & Balcom he used to let the young people take the tug Balcom occasionally for a dance out in the Bay, and on one occasion he took a party of young people to Idlewild, near Sturgeon Bay. Nothing ever happed but when I got control I told them they could not do that unless they towed a scow along side, as there were no life-boats or life-preservers and if any accident occurred, or a fire broken out, they might all have lost their lives. However, after that they only used the tug a few times. .. Mr. Cole heard some of the men say that when the camp broke up they were going to take some of these deer home with them, and he told them that if anybody touched one of the deer, or took him away, he would report him and have him prosecuted - and soon as the weather moderated the deer left the camp of their own accord...Another way of shooting deer was with setguns. A gun would be placed along a logging road, with strings stretched across the road, about a foot above ground, so that if anything struck the string it would pull the trigger of the gun and probably kill the object that tripped the trigger. I know of two men were killed by setguns; when they went out in the morning before light to remove the guns from the road they accidentally tripped against string and were shot. Mr. Cole used to object vigorously to this practice because he said that he very often had to go to a camp after dark, along the logging road, and if a gun were set he probably would have gotten killed...In the spring of 1887 we made an agreement with the Oconto Company to improve the North Branch for driv ing purposes, from Snow Falls to the outlet of Lake John. Mr. Brooks, President of the Oconto Company, thought we should go up there and look it over and he said he would take his logging superintendent, Mose Thompson; and I should take our superintendent, Gus Cole, and he had Thompson make arrangements for us to camp out at Snow Falls, providing tents and a cook. We went up there one day in May, Mr.Cole going as far as the McCauslin Brook Farm and waiting there until we came back, as he was lame and could not travel through the woods on foot...We stayed one night there and Hale took us up to a point on the North Branch in Section Five, Township Thirty-three, Range Sixteen, which, he said was the best location for a dam and after looking it over we came back and looked at a possible site for a dam in Section Twenty-four, Township Thirty-three, Range Sixteen, and then we returned to Brooks's camp, where Mr. Cole met us and took us to the Farm. The next day Mr. Cole went with us, taking the Indian trail to Waubee Lake, riding on horseback while Thompson and I walked, and visited the three dam sites that we had looked at, and we agreed that one dam should be built at the Lower Rapids where we had left our boat, which was later named the Sullivan Dam; and another dam at the site which Hale had shown us, which was called the Knowles Dam. We decided that it was not necessary to build a dam at the third site that we looked at...The Oconto River was too small a stream to drive logs without flooding dams, so there were a good many dams operated on that river. Mr. Cole told me once that the Chute Dam was built by Eldreds and Balcom about the time that Mr. Balcom came out here from New York state and joined with Messrs. Anson and Elisha Eldred in the Stiles operation, and Mr. Cole was logging superintendent under Mr. Balcom's direction. I think he said it was the winter of 1856 and 1857 that they landed some logs in the North Branch near the mouth of McCauslin Brook and the drive was being hung up, and they had to build a dam in the summer of 1858, which was known for many years as the Old Dam but when it was rebuilt in 1887 it was called the Tar Dam, The reason it was called that was that the timber work was all tarred, with an idea that it would preserve it, but I do not think that idea amounted to much. After that time I do not think there ever was a drive hung up on the Oconto River or any of its tributaries, except perhaps some on Peshitigo Brook...I understand that in the early days each Company drove its own logs, which was a very difficult thing to do because the logs became mixed and it was impossible for the river drivers to drive only their own logs; so there was a meeting called of all parties having logs on the river, at the Funke Hotel in Oconto (later known as the Schodier House), to discuss making a joint drive. All parties agreed that this was a good idea but the question arose as to who should be the head manager of the drive. Mr. Paul McDonald of the firm of McDonald & Billings, who at that time owned and operated the Water Mill at Oconto, said that he thought Gus Cole was the best man to take charge as he was a very competent man and they all had confidence in him. Mr. Balcom said that he was a good man and that he "had learned him all he knew about logging and driving," to which Mr. McDonald replied, "It is funny that you learned him more than you ever knew yourself," after which the meeting came near breaking up in a row, but it was finally agreed to turn the job over to Mr. Cole and he continued to have charge of it until he retired in 1887...At an early date Joseph Leigh built a saw mill and grist mill on Little River at a place which has since been known as Leightown. He sawed and rafted lumber and floated it down the river and loaded it on vessels at the mouth of the river. One summer when the log booms had all been filled with logs and they were coming faster than the mills could saw them, his rafts of lumber were delayed at the upper dividing piers near Couillardtown. He brought a suit against Holt & Balcom for damages, claiming that they had no right to prevent the free passage of his lumber down river; while Holt & Balcom contended that they did all they could possibly do and could not divide logs when the booms below were full and the mills were unable to saw the logs as fast as they came. Leigh won the suit and I was told that what won the case for him was that Mr. Cole, disliking to have to pay the men at the dividing piers for doing nothing, took the crew and cleared up a forty of land a short distance from the dividing piers, thinking that he was saving some money, but as it turned out it was an expensive farm...One winter I went up to the camps with Bill Starkey, who was driving a four mule team and hauling supplies to the camp, and we stayed over night at Depot Camp. We had a man with us who was going up to cook at a small camp which Mr. Cole was starting and which he called Camp Nothing. This cook asked Starkey where the depot was, as he had been all around there and had seen no railroad. Starkey told him the depot was back in the woods about half a mile, and the cook was much surprised when he found out there was no rail-road within sixty miles. That same time Starkey told Mr. Clapp, who was in charge of the Depot Camp, that I was going up to cookee at Camp Nothing; and in the morning when Clapp asked me to sign my name in the book, as he had to keep track of all of the men who stayed at the camp, he was surprised to learn who I was and he gave Starkey quite a calling down for telling him I was the cookee...Wheeler then sent a man on horseback all the way down the river to notify different people that there was a flood coming and to raise the gates of the dams. He was too late, however, to save the dams on McCauslin Brook, all of which were washed out and also the dam which was then known as the Old Dam, later known as Tar Dam, on North Branch; and one wing of the Eldred Farm dam went out. The Chute Dam and the Flatrock Dam were saved by raising the gates before the flood reached them. As soon as the word reached Mr. Cole, in Oconto, he arranged to move our camps to other locations. Camp I he moved to Section 35, Town 30, Range 17, and that camp, with Graham as foreman, logged the timber Into the South Branch of the Oconto. Camp 2, with Frank Wheeler as foreman, was moved to Section 16, Town 32, Range 17, at the head...Our Logging Superintendents were a superior class of men. Mr. Augustus Cole was the general superintendent of Holt Balcom and he looked after the woods work himself. He was a lumberman at Painted Post, New York, before coming to Oconto. He was lame, one leg being several inches shorter than the other, but he managed to get around wherever a team of horses and a buck- board or sleigh could go...The logs were sold by the sheriff, to satisfy the liens, and Holt & Balcom bought them in at something less than the amount of the claims which, however, added to the amount which the company had already paid for supplies and labor. In the spring Mr. Cole sent a crew up on the South Branch to drive these logs, and they found that some one had set fire to them and burned them. We suspected who it was who had set the fire but we had had enough of lawsuits by that time and nothing was done about it...
APPENDIX
LOGGING CAMPS ON THE OCONTO RIVER
My personal knowledge goes back to 1882-1883, and what I will record here previous to that date is what was told me by Augustus Cole and others who were personally in contact with it, and what I have learned from records in our office and that of Holt & Balcom.
Previous to 1860 most of the logging was done on the Main River and on the North Branch below the mouth of the Waupee, and on the South Branch and on Little River and Peshtigo Brook. However, Eldreds and Balcom, under Mr. Uri Balcom's management, did log on the North Branch above the mouth of the Waupee, between 1855 and 1860. The Chute Dam was built in 1857 and the following winter logs were put in as far up as Township 32, Range 16, about five miles above where Mountain is now. However, this upper drive was hung up, so in 1858 the "Eldred Farm Dam" and what was, later called the "Tar Dam" were built. With these two dams and the Chute Dam there never was a drive hung up, so far as I know."
Name: Augustus Cole
Residence: Oconto, Oconto, Wisconsin
Birth date: 1831
Birth place: New York, United States
Relationship to head-of-household: Self
Spouse name: Franciska Cole
Spouse birth place: New York, United States
Father name:
Father birth place: Canada
Mother name:
Mother birth place: New York, United States
Race or color (expanded): White
Ethnicity: American
Gender: Male
Marital status: Married
Age: 49 years
Occupation: Lumberman
Children:
Henry Cole
NARA film number: T9-1440
Page: 307
Page letter: A
Entry number: 1774
Film number: 1255440
Collection: 1880 United States Census
He became very wealthy.
Green Bay Gazette
June, 1868
OCONTO, WISCONSIN A Flourishing Village — Large Lumbering Interests -- Early Settlement -- LUMBER BUSINESS
The next mill in extent is that of Holt & Balcom—Chicago men—which is one of the most complete in all of its appointments of any we have ever seen. Its capacity is about 13,000,000 of lumber annually—100,000 feet per day... Employ about 200 men in mill and on the river. Superintendent. N. Emery, one of the oldest and most successful lumbermen on the Bay. Outside superintendent, A. Cole ; financial manager, T, Goodrich; book-keeper, O. A. Ellis.
County Officers.—This is the seat of government of the county, and the Court-House and county records are here, of course. The following are the officers: Judges R, W. Hubbell ; Shcriff, P. W. Gilkle; Clerk of Court, Joseph Hall; Register of Deeds and Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, B. G. Gunnert; Treasurer, B. L. Hall; Supervisors. I. Stevenson, Augustus Cole, and Geo. W. DeLano ; Attorney, John, B. Fairchild. This county contains about 6,500 square miles—166 townships.
OCONTO COUNTY REPORTER
August 9, 1879
**A Crack Shot
A hunting party consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Scripture of Oconto Falls, and August Cole of this city, while out hunting on Saturday last, a deer started up some 20 yards in front of them. Mrs. Scripture, who is a lady somewhere over 60 years of age, jumped from the wagon, in which the party were, and took deliberate aim at the deer and brought it down at the first fire. She always had a desire to shoot a deer, and this was the first opportunity she had to gratify it. Right well did she improve it.
OCONTO COUNTY REPORTER
September 3, 1881
L. H. Brown, of Bath, N. Y. one of the earliest settlers on this county, was in the city Tuesday, and in company with Mr. A. Cole went out to Stiles, where both worked when they were young men, in the "good old times", when fashions were unknown and styles as varied as the tastes of the individuals.
Oconto County Reporter
12 February 1892
DEATH OF AUGUSTUS COLE
Died in this city, on Monday, Feb. 8, 1892, at 2:10 p.m., Mr. Augustus Cole, in the 62nd year of his age.
The deceased had been a resident of Oconto for nearly thirty years, and was one of the most widely known men in both city and county, and was held in the highest respect by all classes. A man of sterling worth and unblemished character, strong in friendship and genial in disposition, high-minded and industrious, he was an example of business integrity, to be emulated by young men. As a citizen, from both a social and business standpoint, he occupied a foremost position, and by his death Oconto loses one whose place it will be hard to supply.
Mr. Cole was a native of Oxford, N.Y. where he spent the earlier years of his life, receiving his education at the academy in that town. In 1851 he obtained his first experience in the lumbering business when he went to Cooper's Plains, N.Y. and entered the employment of his uncle, Colonel Uri Balcom, now of Chicago, with who he remained five years as superintendent. In 1856 he came west and settled at Stiles, and for a year looked after the lumbering interests of Eldred & Balcom. He left Stiles the next year and went to Eau Claire, where he remained for a short time. From there he went to Illinois, returning to Stiles in 1858, and once more entered the employment of Eldred & Balcom. In 1863 he came to Oconto and cast his fortunes with the firm of Holt & Calkins, which afterwards became the firm of Holt & Balcom, and was general superintendent of the milling and logging operations of this firm, in which he owned an interest, up to 1887 when Col. Balcom retired from the business and the property passed into the hands of the Holt Lumber Co. Shortly after the time Mr. Cole fitted up and stocked an extensive coal yard, which business he successfully conducted up to the time of his death.
When a young man, in 1853, Mr. Cole slipped and fell while helping a lady from a carriage and received a slight injury to his right knee. The wound appeared so trifling that little attention was paid to it until inflammation had set in which resulted in a serious case of hip disease, from which he subsequently recovered, not however, until a slight deformity had resulted to the affected limb. At various times since his accident occurred Mr. Cole has suffered more or less, but nothing beyond than temporary inconvenience was experienced until about two years ago, when he was afflicted with an attack of erysipelas. Before thoroughly recovering from this malady he caught a cold which wound up in a case of typhoid fever. As usual with this fever, it made its most virulent attack on the weakest part of the system, and as it passed away left the injured limb in a weakened condition that caused Mr. Cole much pain and anxiety. He continued under medical treatment, but not recovering as fast as he desired, he visited Hot Springs, Ark., but received little or no benefit from the celebrated waters at that place. Shortly after coming home he placed himself under the care of Dr. O'Keef, who found an abscess had formed in the limb of Mr. Cole which it was necessary to relieve by making an incision through the flesh. Temporary relief only was obtained by this means, and as his case continued to assume a more serious phase, several surgical operations were made necessary but all to no purpose, and on Monday evening, last, at 6:10 o'clock, after making a heroic and manly struggle against the destroyer, his weary body gave up the fight and he peacefully and quietly breathed his last surrounded by sorrowing and loving friends.
In 1856 Mr. Cole was married, at Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to Miss Frances F. Davis, who has been his wise counselor and loving helpmeet up to his dissolution, and who remains, in sorrow and grief, to mourn her loss of a loving and considerate husband. Only one child blessed this union, Mr. H. U. Cole, our respected townsman, who with his mother and uncle, Mr. Henry C. Cole, of Omaha, Neb. are the only surviving near relatives of the deceased.
The funeral took place yesterday (Thursday) afternoon from his late residence on Main Street, service being conducted by the Rev. G. Bossard, pastor of the Presbyterian church, and an immense throng of friends and sympathizers of the deceased testified to their friendship by following his remains on his last earthly journey to their place of rest in the public cemetery.
Thus closes a busy and useful life, and an eternal rest has come to one whose active and honest industry in this life has entitled him to the crown of peace.
Out of respect for the memory of the departed flags were carried at half mast on the Holt Lumber Co's. mill and on Goodrich & Martineau's business block during the funeral yesterday afternoon.
Oconto County Reporter
12 February 1892
Mrs. Frank Hoeffel has returned from as extended visit with her parents at Whitewater.
Elisha Morrow and Joseph Hoeffel, Sr., were up yesterday to attend the funeral of the late Mr. A. Cole
__________
EARLY DAYS IN THE LUMBER BUSINESS
Page 18 & 19
"While Mr. Cole was in charge of Holt & Balcom he used to let the young people take the tug Balcom occasionally for a dance out in the Bay, and on one occasion he took a party of young people to Idlewild, near Sturgeon Bay. Nothing ever happed but when I got control I told them they could not do that unless they towed a scow along side, as there were no life-boats or life-preservers and if any accident occurred, or a fire broken out, they might all have lost their lives. However, after that they only used the tug a few times. .. Mr. Cole heard some of the men say that when the camp broke up they were going to take some of these deer home with them, and he told them that if anybody touched one of the deer, or took him away, he would report him and have him prosecuted - and soon as the weather moderated the deer left the camp of their own accord...Another way of shooting deer was with setguns. A gun would be placed along a logging road, with strings stretched across the road, about a foot above ground, so that if anything struck the string it would pull the trigger of the gun and probably kill the object that tripped the trigger. I know of two men were killed by setguns; when they went out in the morning before light to remove the guns from the road they accidentally tripped against string and were shot. Mr. Cole used to object vigorously to this practice because he said that he very often had to go to a camp after dark, along the logging road, and if a gun were set he probably would have gotten killed...In the spring of 1887 we made an agreement with the Oconto Company to improve the North Branch for driv ing purposes, from Snow Falls to the outlet of Lake John. Mr. Brooks, President of the Oconto Company, thought we should go up there and look it over and he said he would take his logging superintendent, Mose Thompson; and I should take our superintendent, Gus Cole, and he had Thompson make arrangements for us to camp out at Snow Falls, providing tents and a cook. We went up there one day in May, Mr.Cole going as far as the McCauslin Brook Farm and waiting there until we came back, as he was lame and could not travel through the woods on foot...We stayed one night there and Hale took us up to a point on the North Branch in Section Five, Township Thirty-three, Range Sixteen, which, he said was the best location for a dam and after looking it over we came back and looked at a possible site for a dam in Section Twenty-four, Township Thirty-three, Range Sixteen, and then we returned to Brooks's camp, where Mr. Cole met us and took us to the Farm. The next day Mr. Cole went with us, taking the Indian trail to Waubee Lake, riding on horseback while Thompson and I walked, and visited the three dam sites that we had looked at, and we agreed that one dam should be built at the Lower Rapids where we had left our boat, which was later named the Sullivan Dam; and another dam at the site which Hale had shown us, which was called the Knowles Dam. We decided that it was not necessary to build a dam at the third site that we looked at...The Oconto River was too small a stream to drive logs without flooding dams, so there were a good many dams operated on that river. Mr. Cole told me once that the Chute Dam was built by Eldreds and Balcom about the time that Mr. Balcom came out here from New York state and joined with Messrs. Anson and Elisha Eldred in the Stiles operation, and Mr. Cole was logging superintendent under Mr. Balcom's direction. I think he said it was the winter of 1856 and 1857 that they landed some logs in the North Branch near the mouth of McCauslin Brook and the drive was being hung up, and they had to build a dam in the summer of 1858, which was known for many years as the Old Dam but when it was rebuilt in 1887 it was called the Tar Dam, The reason it was called that was that the timber work was all tarred, with an idea that it would preserve it, but I do not think that idea amounted to much. After that time I do not think there ever was a drive hung up on the Oconto River or any of its tributaries, except perhaps some on Peshitigo Brook...I understand that in the early days each Company drove its own logs, which was a very difficult thing to do because the logs became mixed and it was impossible for the river drivers to drive only their own logs; so there was a meeting called of all parties having logs on the river, at the Funke Hotel in Oconto (later known as the Schodier House), to discuss making a joint drive. All parties agreed that this was a good idea but the question arose as to who should be the head manager of the drive. Mr. Paul McDonald of the firm of McDonald & Billings, who at that time owned and operated the Water Mill at Oconto, said that he thought Gus Cole was the best man to take charge as he was a very competent man and they all had confidence in him. Mr. Balcom said that he was a good man and that he "had learned him all he knew about logging and driving," to which Mr. McDonald replied, "It is funny that you learned him more than you ever knew yourself," after which the meeting came near breaking up in a row, but it was finally agreed to turn the job over to Mr. Cole and he continued to have charge of it until he retired in 1887...At an early date Joseph Leigh built a saw mill and grist mill on Little River at a place which has since been known as Leightown. He sawed and rafted lumber and floated it down the river and loaded it on vessels at the mouth of the river. One summer when the log booms had all been filled with logs and they were coming faster than the mills could saw them, his rafts of lumber were delayed at the upper dividing piers near Couillardtown. He brought a suit against Holt & Balcom for damages, claiming that they had no right to prevent the free passage of his lumber down river; while Holt & Balcom contended that they did all they could possibly do and could not divide logs when the booms below were full and the mills were unable to saw the logs as fast as they came. Leigh won the suit and I was told that what won the case for him was that Mr. Cole, disliking to have to pay the men at the dividing piers for doing nothing, took the crew and cleared up a forty of land a short distance from the dividing piers, thinking that he was saving some money, but as it turned out it was an expensive farm...One winter I went up to the camps with Bill Starkey, who was driving a four mule team and hauling supplies to the camp, and we stayed over night at Depot Camp. We had a man with us who was going up to cook at a small camp which Mr. Cole was starting and which he called Camp Nothing. This cook asked Starkey where the depot was, as he had been all around there and had seen no railroad. Starkey told him the depot was back in the woods about half a mile, and the cook was much surprised when he found out there was no rail-road within sixty miles. That same time Starkey told Mr. Clapp, who was in charge of the Depot Camp, that I was going up to cookee at Camp Nothing; and in the morning when Clapp asked me to sign my name in the book, as he had to keep track of all of the men who stayed at the camp, he was surprised to learn who I was and he gave Starkey quite a calling down for telling him I was the cookee...Wheeler then sent a man on horseback all the way down the river to notify different people that there was a flood coming and to raise the gates of the dams. He was too late, however, to save the dams on McCauslin Brook, all of which were washed out and also the dam which was then known as the Old Dam, later known as Tar Dam, on North Branch; and one wing of the Eldred Farm dam went out. The Chute Dam and the Flatrock Dam were saved by raising the gates before the flood reached them. As soon as the word reached Mr. Cole, in Oconto, he arranged to move our camps to other locations. Camp I he moved to Section 35, Town 30, Range 17, and that camp, with Graham as foreman, logged the timber Into the South Branch of the Oconto. Camp 2, with Frank Wheeler as foreman, was moved to Section 16, Town 32, Range 17, at the head...Our Logging Superintendents were a superior class of men. Mr. Augustus Cole was the general superintendent of Holt Balcom and he looked after the woods work himself. He was a lumberman at Painted Post, New York, before coming to Oconto. He was lame, one leg being several inches shorter than the other, but he managed to get around wherever a team of horses and a buck- board or sleigh could go...The logs were sold by the sheriff, to satisfy the liens, and Holt & Balcom bought them in at something less than the amount of the claims which, however, added to the amount which the company had already paid for supplies and labor. In the spring Mr. Cole sent a crew up on the South Branch to drive these logs, and they found that some one had set fire to them and burned them. We suspected who it was who had set the fire but we had had enough of lawsuits by that time and nothing was done about it...
APPENDIX
LOGGING CAMPS ON THE OCONTO RIVER
My personal knowledge goes back to 1882-1883, and what I will record here previous to that date is what was told me by Augustus Cole and others who were personally in contact with it, and what I have learned from records in our office and that of Holt & Balcom.
Previous to 1860 most of the logging was done on the Main River and on the North Branch below the mouth of the Waupee, and on the South Branch and on Little River and Peshtigo Brook. However, Eldreds and Balcom, under Mr. Uri Balcom's management, did log on the North Branch above the mouth of the Waupee, between 1855 and 1860. The Chute Dam was built in 1857 and the following winter logs were put in as far up as Township 32, Range 16, about five miles above where Mountain is now. However, this upper drive was hung up, so in 1858 the "Eldred Farm Dam" and what was, later called the "Tar Dam" were built. With these two dams and the Chute Dam there never was a drive hung up, so far as I know."
Name: Augustus Cole
Residence: Oconto, Oconto, Wisconsin
Birth date: 1831
Birth place: New York, United States
Relationship to head-of-household: Self
Spouse name: Franciska Cole
Spouse birth place: New York, United States
Father name:
Father birth place: Canada
Mother name:
Mother birth place: New York, United States
Race or color (expanded): White
Ethnicity: American
Gender: Male
Marital status: Married
Age: 49 years
Occupation: Lumberman
Children:
Henry Cole
NARA film number: T9-1440
Page: 307
Page letter: A
Entry number: 1774
Film number: 1255440
Collection: 1880 United States Census
Family Members
Children
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