Untitled Document

Thanks are due the Washburn County Historical Society, the Gordon-Wascott Historical Society, the Wolfe family descendants --Mildred Wolfe, Ivy King and Marilyn Knachert (and Joe Strenke who led me to these sources) --for early pictures and articles. To Abby Stoddard Marier goes our deepest gratitude for manuscript preparation. To Don Cameron goes our appreciation for editing the text And finally, family members from all generations contributed invaluable pictures and suggestions.

I first obtained a copy of Wolf Springs from my sister Barbara about four years ago. By then it was already a copy of a copy of… The text was readable, but the pictures were just stark black blobs, with no hope of seeing anything in them. Still, I was struck by the stories. Some years earlier my cousins Dolores Hansen and Marilyn Knackert had published Roots, Branches and Leaves , an extensive history of our family with many stories about James Wolfe. Patricia Stoddard's account gave additional details that greatly humanized my Great Grandfather, and also continued the story of the land he homesteaded and loved.

To my delight, I was able to locate Patricia a couple of years ago (see the appendix.) She told me she still had the original copy of Wolf Springs “someplace.” I expressed my hope of seeing it, thinking to get a better look at the pictures. A couple of years later, here came a package from Patricia with the original paste-up of this book. It was then that I decided to commit the book to computer form.

Unfortunately, the much-sought pictures were not original photos. During the original book production, the prints were converted to halftones (look at any newspaper photo with a magnifying glass,) and that's what Patricia was able to send me. Halftones work well on a printing press, or even a copy machine, but do not scan into a computer very well. Fortunately, there is Photoshop. The pictures included here have been processed to enhance contrast and sharpness as best I can. I was able to substitute photos of James and Sadie from my collection, but all others are enhanced scans of the halftones supplied by Patricia.

I also scanned the document through an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) program to recapture the text. It worked reasonably well, but OCR is not perfect. I did my best to proof read and correct errors, but any remaining goofs are mine, not Patricia's.

I used Microsoft Word for Windows 2000 to recreate Wolf Springs . My goal was to be faithful to the original. The layout is close, but not exact. Pagination is about the same, but page numbers are different. The photo layouts are also different on a few pages. I've also added an appendix with an account of our trip to Wolf Springs and a couple of current photos.

Above, Patricia Stoddard acknowledges those who helped her with Wolf Springs , but it is clearly her labor and love that brought the book to completion. On behalf of all of the Wolfe family, I want to express appreciation and gratitude to Patricia for this wonderful addition to the family story.

Update 4-Dec-2004 I sent copies of this document to Patricia and Glenn, and Glenn followed up with a couple of corrections and some nice additions. His nickname is Mac (Mac's Big Buck), and the dog's name is Togo , not Toto. See the appendix for the stories. rww

The springs were always the source of life and splendor on this land. Countless species of wildlife and native Americans watered here, over the centuries preserving the beauty and vitality of this unique place.

Not until 1887 did the first white settler arrive. On first sight James H Wolfe entered in his journal:

“I liked the country. The pine trees are tall and handsome. There are lots of spring brooks with the finest water in them you could wish! There are lots of brook trout in them. There are deer, bear, beaver, mink, martin, muskrat--in fact it is a WILD SCOPE of country. . I found a fine spring brook to make my home on."

Wolfe wrote much. Included in this text are excerpts from his diaries of the years 1883 to 1900. The full account appears in HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF WASHBURN

COUNTY AND SURROUNDING INDIANHEAD COUNTRY, VOLUME II, edited by E. Ward Winton and Kay Brown Winton and published by the Washburn County Historical Society in 1980.

Borrowing from the diaries we read that after many years of "dry farming" in North Dakota, James Wolfe came to Wisconsin to "hunt for money." We assume from this that he meant to earn his living by hunting wild game. In any event, he returned to Straubeville, North Dakota in February 1888 with sufficient funds to "pay all my expenses and to pay all the interest I owed." Further, on finding his Dakota family in good health but "drifted in with snow," he notes that during that winter's experience he "killed twenty-two deer and four bear."

Harlan E. Wolfe, son of James, tells more of the story. In 1955 he recalls for Ward Winton that he arrived in Minong in October, 1888, with his father and three brothers. Harlan describes that arrival:

“In the immigrant boxcar from Oakes , North Dakota , were pigs, chickens, two horses, farm machinery, and some household goods. I was thirteen years of age at that time. One brother who came with us was 16 or 17 and the other two brothers were younger. Our mother and an older brother came about one month later.

Wolfe progressed from hunter to farmer and expanded his mode of living in several ways. In his words of 1902:

“I have cleared up eighty acres of land and built a home. I built 26 X 26 three stories with the basement; built a barn and a trout hatchery. I have lots of trout. I have a shop run by water power and I have built me an iron lathe to turn iron and wood rivet. I run an emery wheel grindstone, blow my forge by power, and grind feed."

In most accounts there is little reference to wife and mother Sadie Wolfe, but in every pioneer setting women were necessary and important. Harlan Wolfe writes about his mother:

“We got some sheep. Mother spun all of her yarn and carded her own wool and spun it. She knit socks and mittens and scarves. She had a spinning wheel which Father made for her. He picked up the bobbin or spindle somewhere, but made all the rest of it. We used all the wool that we grew and never sold any."

The Wolfe Family: Harlan, Ralph, Elmer, Etta Myrtle (wife of Hal), Halvor Keith Wolfe, James and Sadie Wolfe.

"Old John Chittamo was a full-blooded Chippewa Indian. He had put up a log cabin which he and his family used in the wintertime but he also had a bark wigwam alongside of it which they used in the summertime. The other Indians used Chittamo's place for stopping and camping. When they stopped there they would build temporary wigwams and sometimes there would be a dozen wigwams with Indian families at Chittamo's place."

A colorful addition to the Chittamo story is Emily Engebretson's observation that "old Chittamo had Negro blood in him." That the old chief was of mixed blood is more than likely for native Americans made little racial distinction, and as young America expanded westward mixed marriages were scarcely the incident they are today. More telling is the diary record of the Chittamos having adopted a white baby--born illegitimately in the Minong hotel--and of their heartbreak when the infant lived only a few weeks. Emma Goodwin Smith tells their story:

"They buried their little treasure in their front yard. They built a little white house over it and put a tiny white fence around the house. When it rained she would cover the little house with a deer hide, and in the winter she would put blankets over it and sometimes leave a lighted lantern at the door."

Chief Chittamo died in 1898 while camped on the Totogatic River. A friend accompanying him at the time reports that it was during the dead of winter, and since travel by night was difficult, the friend slept by Chittamo's body to keep warm. The following day he took the body to Chittamo's family. Chittamo's wife died of a stroke many years later. She was picking blueberries at the time. Untimely death was a reality in pioneer life when at the turn of the century life expectancy averaged 47 years. Emma Goodwin Smith wrote of the Wolfe family heartbreak when their son Roy died of diphtheria at age 13 or 14:

"They could not let him go so she and Uncle Jim had him laid to rest in their back yard under the big pines. I'm sure the remains were later moved to a cemetery."

Emma's accounts are replete with many stories of the Wolfes, their neighbors and of her own family, the Goodwins.

Another fascinating settler during the early years was Joseph Blackburn. Harlan Wolfe remembers him:

“Blackburn was running his store when we settled in the country. He sold supplies to the loggers and Indians and hunters and traders. Up until then there had been no settlers. We Wolfes and the Goodwins were the first. Settlers made their living from logging and in the winter months the men hunted and shipped deer for market. As many as 65 to 70 deer could be killed by a skilled hunter in season. Blackburn, when he first came, brought his supplies from Stillwater, Minnesota, by water. That was before the railroad came into Minong. --- Blackburn was a noted logger in the early days. He was murdered in 1896. It was a sensational case. He used to keep the accounts of various settlers in an account book he had. After his murder it was discovered that the pages for the accounts of the Goodwins and my dad had been cut out of the book. That is why it was commonly thought that the Goodwin brothers had done it. They were good friends of my dad and we supposed that they thought they might as well square up accounts for themselves by cutting the pages out of the account book.”

The mystery was never solved, nor did the incident impede the march of progress. Pioneer children, for example, like children today, needed education. In 1921 a new Chittamo school was built (below). The building eventually became a church and now serves as a town hall.

The cemetery and town hall were restored through the Indianhead Community Action Agency and the townspeople. On September 1, 1969, a dedication ceremony was held in honor of pioneers who lived and died there. Sending invitations to all neighbors and people with roots in the Chittamo area, Patricia Stoddard was head of the arrangements. Reminiscing and honoring the deceased were Charles Stoddard, Ward Winton and Zoe Richey.

This review of history calls to mind Harlan Wolfe's remarks in 1955: "Through ingenuity and industry" his father became quite prosperous on the land, and in his later years wanted Harlan to take over the fish hatchery. However, Harlan states simply: "I decided not to and in the end and after mother's death, Dad turned it over to the Blaylock family to take care of him for the rest of his years."

Regarding the Wolfe sons, it seems unlikely they would reject a prosperous venture out-of-hand, so one speculates that either their interests were elsewhere or there was family friction that escapes notice in the diaries. The Blaylocks, on the other hand, took ownership of Wolf Springs with optimism, but their fortunes never matched James Wolfe's industry, and eventually they lost the property by tax default.

The misfortune of the Blaylocks proved an opportunity for Charles Hatch Stoddard who took title to the land in the 30' s. Stoddard recorded a concise chronology of events in 1973:

Although James Wolfe died in the early 1920's, his dream and his little oasis of trout springs and big pines lives on into the 1970's - and hopefully for many centuries.

It was my fortune to learn about the "Old Wolfe Place" from a college mate at the University of Wisconsin who shared with me a driving interest in conservation. Fred Zimmerman, now a key official in the Department of Natural Resources, spent his summers near Minong as a boy, and described to me what northern Wisconsin could have been were it not for destructive logging and fires. "You've got to see it to believe it", he said.

So in the summer of 1931, in my old Model T Ford, I rambled out to the Chittamo town road following Fred's map directions. True to his description the Wolfe Pines dominated the landscape to the northeast. It was an island forest in the midst of the cutover. (I learned later that a ground fire had burned over much of the adjacent area in April, 1931, but fire fighters managed to deflect the fire from this still young stand of white and Norway pine.)

As I walked down the trail from the town road through the thick pines to the first spring, I was carried away by the thought that here alone was the answer to a young forester's dreams coming true - a forester's forest. (A truly impossible dream for me with $18 in my pocket and a $12 Ford my only possession!)

On to the clearing and the trout ponds below where the water flowed into Wolfe Creek. Only the charred ruins of Jim Wolfe's house remained and the trout pond dams had been dynamited by poachers.

Five years and five hundred dollars later I was able to make a down payment to the Blaylock family of Red Lake (near Wascott) who had inherited the property from Wolfe. Because my employment as a forester always seemed to be in some distant assignment, progress in the pre-World War II years was slow. But I was able to build a small cabin out of lumber from logs salvaged from trees killed in a beaver pond down Wolfe Creek, to plant a few bare acres on the south and west sides, to begin a forest management program (mainly thinning the thick stand of young pine for pulpwood). My schoolmate, Fred Wilder, and neighbors Sture Ansel, proprietor of the Chittamo store, the Lamberg boys, Ernie Block who farmed nearby, and Harold Smith, his nephew (who was later killed on a destroyer in World War II) all helped in these projects. I prepared a detailed map, timber survey and forest management a plan in 1941 just before going off to the Navy.

In 1946 when I returned, my first project was to mark and selectively cut enough big timber (the trees across the pond were larger and less dense many were poorly and needed to be removed to make room for better trees), to build a house, and to cut more for sale to pay for other building materials. Lumber was good "trading stock" for nails, cement, windows, shingles and wallbond during the shortages of the first post-war years. We moved in early in 1947 with much interior finishing left to do. Rebuilding of the trout pond dams was completed in the spring of 1947 and the ponds were raised to their present levels.

In the last twenty-five years since then, my boys and I have made many changes but we have tried in every way to work with and not against nature - to fit our efforts into the surrounding environment. (Only an impartial visitor can be the judge of that!) Some of the larger undertakings:

• Added 200 acres of adjacent land along Wolfe Creek acquired from a land company - total more than 280 acres.

• 1955-59 - Built two more small lakes downstream by damming Wolfe Creek and flooding large grassy meadows. Grew wild rice on these lakes.

• 1940-1970 - Planted nearly thirty acres of pine and spruce plantations on scattered openings but left four small fields for livestock and wildlife. Also a patch of wildlife berry-bearing shrubs.

• 1938-1972 - By carefully selecting our ripest timber we have harvested eighty MBF of sawlogs, 600 cords of pulpwood and posts (mainly on the original eighty).

• 1970 Standing today are 500 MBF in a solid stand of timber on the original eighty acres.

• 1959-1960 - We built a twenty-five person capacity boys camp and operated it for ten years. It is now leased.

Along with these major projects we have added to our house, planted a garden every year, tried to raise a few mallards and brook trout, maintained our dams, ponds and lakes (impounded water always seeks to find new outlets) and tried to carry out release cuttings and control white pine weevil and blister rust. We find that maintenance now occupies most of our efforts.

• A number of fine specimens of European larch which grows more rapidly than any native conifer and holds much promise for more extensive use in northern Wisconsin plantations.

• Dredging our trout ponds and stream to deepen them for improved fish habitat.

• A flock of captive Canadian geese that add their wild charm to the surroundings.

• Otter families which invade and clean out our trout ponds regularly, leaving only

• An abundance of song birds and a residual population of deer and ruffed grouse.

• And many other little experiments such as re-establishing Canada Yew , a few specimens of hemlock (this is the farthest west they grow in Washburn County ), and an abundant beta grape arbor .

Our guiding principles have been to apply the most advanced techniques of resource management to these still wild lands - using common sense in their application. We would hope that Jim Wolfe, could he see his lands today, would be happy with their state. And we also hope that the Wolf Springs Forest will be a demonstration that man can live in harmony with the green, wild and living things on our planet without destroying them.

And finally that we will leave this little bit of America in a little better state than we found it.

Spooner Advocate Story

The House Adds Dormers for Growing Boys

Trails for Dogs and People

Skiing: Mom, Jeff, and Shady

Dog Sledding

Doc Hirshberg's Famous Flycasting

Hunting: Jack, Charlie, CHS, Chris, and Fred 1954 --- (Glenn) Mac's Big Buck

Swimming: Mac, Jeff, Duffy and Togo With Dad

Partridge Hunting: Jeff and Duffy

Logging (For College Tuition)

The Logo Complete With Wolf

top of page

By the Stoddard account, one sees a return to the multiple use philosophy that began with James Wolfe. While Wolfe doubtless entertained similar dreams, Stoddard came with an expansive multiple use philosophy and a passion to make Wolf Springs a monument to his lifetime.

Today, 1991, a new home is growing on the original homestead foundation. The third building to stand at this site, it reflects not only the needs of a second and third generation of Stoddards but new ideas for land use as well. For example, the camp on the lower lake bears witness to a modernized Birch Hall which offers living and sleeping rooms to families and their guests in a building that was once a study room and dining hall for campers. Manicured trails criss-cross the land. Trout ponds continue to drink from the springs, nurturing wildlife while demanding continuous attention from humans. Additionally, the original Stoddard residence, the "little cabin" at the foot of the hill below the new "mansion" and bordering the second trout pond has been refurbished by the author who dubs her quarters "Grandmere", suggesting a role at the "property" she looks forward to maintaining in the future.

(The picture “A Mansion Goes Up” is not available)

Currently, the owners of Wolf Springs are: Charles H. Stoddard Jr. (b 1937); Paul Christopher Stoddard (b 1946); Glenn McDonald Stoddard (b 1958); Jeffrey Jackson Stoddard (b 1960)

Abby Stoddard Marier (b 1940), chose not to join her brothers and half brothers in property ownership, but this does not preclude her active participation in family events. Abby is married to Donald Marier (b 1942). Their son, Steven (b 1969), is a frequent visitor and worker on the land. Charles Jr. (Charlie), spearhead of the new renovations, is married to Diane (Deedie) Edlund (b 1937). Paul Christopher (Chris) is married to Karen Smith (b 1955). They are parents to Adam (b 1986) and Laura (b 1989). Glenn (Mac) is married to Sharon Stake (b 1958), and Jeffrey (Jeff) is married to Susan Abbott (b 1955). They are parents to Sarah (b 1991).

Charlie: Spearhead of Rebuilding

One sees that multiple use at Wolf Springs now encompasses family comfort and recreation, and while projections for the future may be obscure at this time change will most certainly occur. This will of course mean generational additions to the current text to perpetuate the splendor and beauty of the ongoing history of Wolf Springs .

“The woods my master went

And he was well content”

From A Ballad of Trees and the Master , by Sidney Lanier

top of page

2002 VISIT

In the summer of 2002, my wife Darla and I took what we called our “Roots” trip. We toured in our motorhome through the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin , where both of us have family going back several generations. During that trip we spent some days touring Washburn county. I was born in 1939 in Springbrook, not far from Wolf Springs . We left there when I was very young and I had never been back, so I had no real memories of the area, just stories from my father and a box of old snapshots. I had only recently obtained a copy of Wolf Springs , and I was eager to see if we could find my Great-Grandfather's old homestead.

We drove all around the Chittamo area, looking for the property. There are homes, farms, and small sawmills, but all that remains of the town is the hall. We found a few likely-looking roads into the forest, and followed a couple of them to locked gates, but didn't find anything we could recognize for sure. Fortunately, my copy of the book had a page attached with Patricia's name and address. To my amazement, Directory Assistance provided a phone number. To my delight, Patricia answered the phone! I told her of my lineage, and my desire to see the place. She gave us directions, and insisted that, since we were family, we should feel free to tour at will. The following day we did just that.

Only a short distance in, the house cannot be seen from the road. Most of the land is covered in mixed forest, dominated by firs and pines. The lush greenery was still dripping from the ferocious late summer thunderstorm the night before. The house is lovely and well-maintained, but no one was there so we did not go in. The trout ponds are some yards down a gentle, grassy slope. Patricia told me that the trout were all gone, dinner for otters, but there was still at least one living there. I watched a big one leap for a mosquito, of which there were plenty. I also walked one of the trails back to the lakes to the northwest of the house. It was easy to see what attracted Great-Grandfather to this place. It is indeed a “wild scope of country.”

James Wolfe died well before I was born, but he was always larger than life in the family stories. Even though most of his handiwork is gone now, visiting his homestead gave me a sense of connection with him. He's now a bit more real, a little less legend. I think he would be pleased to see how well his legacy has been managed into a new millennium.

Russ Wolfe

2002 PHOTOS

House and Cabin

The House

Ponds from House

The Lakes

top of page

UPDATE 2004

(Patricia Stoddard put me in touch with her son Glenn Stoddard. He called me, and we spoke for some time about Wolf Springs . He provided the following update. rww)

In recent years, the Stoddard family has continued to manage Wolf Springs Forest in the same tradition of sound natural resource management and forest stewardship that was carried out by Charles H. Stoddard and before him, James Wolfe, who settled the place in the late 1800s.

During the late 1990s, the two small dams on the ponds nearest the house were rebuilt and upgraded to make it possible to manage the water levels in the ponds more effectively for the native brook trout and the planted rainbow trout that now live there. This has also helped in the ongoing effort to control weed and algae growth in the ponds.

In 2002, the four current owners of Wolf Springs Forest , Glenn M. Stoddard, Dr. Jeffrey J. Stoddard, Charles H. Stoddard, Jr., and Paul C. Stoddard, formed a limited liability company, or LLC, to hold title to the land and buildings. The LLC is called, Wolf Springs Forest , LLC. It is owned in equal shares by the four Stoddard brothers. However, Patricia C. Stoddard has a Life Estate interest in the land and buildings and she visits often, particularly when other family members are there. The LLC's stated purpose includes long-term resource management in the same tradition that was carried out by Charles H. Stoddard. The LLC was established to ensure that Wolf Springs Forest would be managed well in the future and that it would remain in the Stoddard family in the future.

In 2002, some forest management and selective thinning operations were carried out at Wolf Springs Forest . The large pine stand was selectively thinned again, several mature aspen stands were carefully logged to improve wildlife habitat, and the maturing red pine plantations put in by Charles H. Stoddard were selectively thinned. After these logging operations were completed, all exposed soil on the logging roads and trails on the property were seed to clover and grass to prevent soil erosion and provide quality feed for wildlife, particularly deer and grouse.

During 2001 and 2002, the Stoddard family also installed several new wood duck houses around the lakes and removed some of the old buildings near the largest lake that were originally used for the Forestry and Conservation Camp that Charles H. Stoddard had built and operated there in the 1960s.

In 2003 and 2004, the Stoddard families continued to use Wolf Springs Forest as a favorite place for outdoor recreation and family gatherings. It is also a favorite spot for deer, grouse and waterfowl hunting by Glenn M. Stoddard and Dr. Jeffrey J. Stoddard. Other activities that the family commonly engages in there include hiking and sight-seeing, mountain biking, bird watching, cross-country skiing, skating on the ponds in winter, and outdoor work projects to maintain and improve the place.

Glenn Stoddard, 2004

top of page

Update Dec 2004

In the first version of this book, I misspelled the name of one of the dogs (see Swimming , page 22.) Glenn sent this story:

“…our dog's name was Togo with a "g" not Toto with a "t". He was a Siberian husky/Alaskan Malamute cross who was bred by a famous dog breeder in northern Minnesota whom my dad knew from his days in government. The guy had developed that cross breed for use in the military in WWII. He bred our dog, which was one of his last pups and the only one in the litter, and then picked out the name Togo . The name " Togo " was based on the same name of the famous lead dog "Togo" who lead the dog team that carried the diphtheria serum from Anchorage to Nome, AK in the 1920s. That route has since become the famous Iditerod Trail Sled Dog Race. Obviously, I wouldn't suggest adding any of that info to the CD, but the name is sort of unique and if you are going to make any corrections I thought you'd be interested in where it came from. He was a great dog, and we did hook him up to a sled from time to time.”

Glenn also sent me the full story on the wolves at Wolf Springs :

“In August of 2003, my own immediate family was at Wolf Springs Forest for a week and on one of the nights we were there my wife and I heard a pack of wolves howling on our place. It was a cool clear night with a nearly full moon. They were definitely howling wolves, and they had to be right on our place near the two lakes (flowages) my dad built in the 1950s. We have also seen wolf tracks on the place in the sand and in the snow in the last few years from time to time. Also, last year I saw a wolf cross the town road on my way into Minong.

The pack we heard was most likely the pack which the Wisconsin DNR has publicly indicated ranges around the Frog Creek area. Much has been written in the news in Wisconsin to the effect that wolves have made a come-back to much of the northern 1/3 of Wisconsin in the last decade or so. They mostly came over from northern Minnesota , according to our DNR and other experts. In fact, according to DNR there are now about 400 wolves living in the state in about 35 different packs and the population is increasing. As such, the DNR is now in the process of reducing the level of protection wolves will be given under state law in Wisconsin . Our family is generally pleased they are coming back but we also think they deserve continued protection.

By the way, just this past weekend I was at Wolf Springs hunting rough grouse (partridge, we call them), ducks and deer (with a bow and arrow) with my younger brother, Jeff. We try to get together there for such a hunt at least once each year at about this time. We each bagged one partridge and Jeff bagged a nice male wood duck. We had a nice game dinner on Saturday night with the three birds and some locally grown wild rice (not from Wolf Springs , however). We also saw other wildlife as well, including a juvenile bald eagle, a very large buck whitetail deer, and several does and fawns. But the most amazing wildlife sightings were of a Badger, which Jeff saw while we were partridge hunting--and the sighting of three black bears (a big sow and two cubs) which I saw when I went out on my own on Saturday at dusk to my elevated deer stand. The three bears passed by about 50 yards away from me and were quite a sight. It made me think of James Wolfe's diary, where he wrote about shooting the bears when he first hunted there in the 1880s.”

rww 04-Dec-2004

CHITTAMO LOCATION MAPS

Northwest Wisconsin

Minong – Superior about 40 miles in straight line

Area Detail ---- Chittamo – Minong about 6 miles in straight line

top of page