CStPM&O & CNW

 Cornell Wisconsin

Cornell is located at the intersection of highways 27and 64. This river front town hosted a few businesses serviced by the railroad throughout the years. The paper mill and the local farmers co-op have been near the tracks for most of the last century, and they still provide services for the community. Changes have taken place over the years with other business that have came and gone, but the structures remained to host the new owners on their next endeavor. Along with the paper mill and co-op, there was an enterprise called Fireproof that manufactured fire resistant panels for structures. This as well as the other businesses needed raw materials and a method of transportation that could handle weight in tonnage as the product that the community created was sent throughout the world.

The original plans of Cornell from the mid 1800's shown on the left reflect the city on the opposite (West) side of the Chippewa river. The smaller dams surrounding Brunet Island would control the logs coming in from the North.     Cornell city map from 1918 is shown on the right. This map shows the siding and rail owned by the Omaha. Additional rail was added by the mill owner to assist in delivery of pulpwood to the log pond. This photo came from a booklet publication that was distributed in the early 1900's which intent was the promotion and advertisement of the area called Cornell for settlers and businesses. It referred to Cornell as a community that was more than a just a "Mill Town".

At the edge of the West side of town a dam was built to create power for the community and the industries. The town was called Brunet after Jean Brunet then was renamed after Isra Cornell, founder of the famous Cornell University when he came west to purchase logging property.

Cornell as any other town at the turn of the century contained most of the products and services required to maintain unity and comfort for the residents. General stores, grocery stores, barber shops, saloons, and other specialty shops existed as the town approached mid-twentieth century. Much of the replacement supplies arrived on the railroad from external sources. Deliveries of textiles, canned goods, coal for heating, oil for those who did not have electrical lamps, gasoline for autos, farm equipment, and building materials to name a few items commonly seen arriving on the Omaha.

    The Omaha had regular runs to Hannibal from Norma in Chippewa Falls each day through the first half of the 20th century. The train was a combination freight and passenger service as shown to the right. This picture of a Northbound shows the paper mill on the right, and feed mill on the left. In the early 40's a passenger car was no longer used as part of the train and the few passengers that rode the train spent their trip in the caboose with the conductor as reflected below. 

    When I rode the train in 1943 and 1944 from Chippewa Falls to Cornell, I boarded the caboose of the train at the depot in Chippewa (then called Norma). There were very few passengers then. I don't remember anyone else getting on the train while I was riding. I did not ride all of the time, only when I went home for the weekend. I used to wave at my parent's place when we went through Jim Falls on the way to Cornell. Traveling was expensive then at 25 cents one way. I remember a small stove in the caboose which kept the car warm in the winter. It could have been wood, but probably coal because that was what the engine used. There were two small benches on either side of the caboose that were used for passengers. The car had small windows on the sides that I could look out while we were traveling.
Courtesy of Lila Pahl

    Exports also existed from Cornell. There were paper products from the mill, sugar beets, milk and milk by-products, lumber, cattle, grain such as corn and oats, and fire resistant panels from Fireproof industries. Most product was processed through the depot located at the end of Main Street on the West side of town. 

   The picture to the right was taken for the 1918 advertisement shows the depot that was built in 1902.

Below pictures show additional pictures of the same depot later in its existence.

Cornell is the home of the local area paper mill. The mill has provided work for many of the residents of the city. There is a very unique structure located across the highway from the main building called a pulpwood stacker. It looked like a large crane, housed an elevator, and carried pulp wood log bolts 150 feet into the air before dropping them into separate piles based on the type of wood used. Different wood was used for different products, and at the time a stacker was the most efficient method of inventory control. The logs were moved from the piles into an underground conveyor system through a sluice and carried under the highway and railroad tracks to the mill where they were ground  into fibers for pressed board, cardboard, and many other paper products. There was a small network of track that allowed cars to be moved into and out of the mill for paper pickup and pulpwood drop-off. 

This would be the Engineer's view of approaching Cornell WI as heading north on the Hannibal branch line. Notice how the additional pulp wood for the paper mill that could not be processed was dumped along the rails for skidding out in mid spring when it was difficult to get into the woods. The Mill Spur exited the main line to the left as shown heading toward the river and the mill pond

This picture shows the Stacker and log piles for the paper mill as seen from the north-west end of the mill spur. Notice that there is only one set of rails for the gondolas and flat cars to use at the end.  This single rail held the cars that needed to be offloaded. This rail may have also been used to stage outgoing cars for the next exchange with the railroad. 

Logs were off-loaded at the mill pond by a steam crane, corralled up by workers in the hot pond, headed through the gate and onto the conveyor of the slasher where they were transported up into the slasher building and cut into 2 foot bolts for stacking based on wood type using the Stacker. Photo on the left shows the use of a boom car to offload the pulpwood into the pond rather than dumping the product as seen in some other mills.

From the slashing house the logs were sent up the crane shaped stacker  into piles of wood bolts based on type of wood. The paper  mill produced various products and certain wood cells were specifically needed. The position of the piles were relative to the position of the stacker. 

The two foot log bolts were floated in the plant heated sluice way that traveled under hwy 64 from the piles to the mill.

The grinders in the mill  received the 2 foot bolts and literally ground the wood into a pulp for the  use in the presses.

A close-up of the grinders shows the wheels used grinding pulpwood into a product that could be pressed into paper. After grinding the  wood into a fibrous slurry, the material would be rolled and pressed into many products that were used by the nation. The mill was very flexible and could make a variety of products. I remember some textured framed pictures in our house hallway that were made from the pictures from a calendar that somehow was glued and rolled into a 8 x 10. Not sure who made them but remember thinking about the diversity of products coming from the plant.

Product was gathered based on destination and transported out of the mill in boxcars as shown. loads were staged along the spur for pickup by the Omaha. hundreds of thousands of tons of rearranged wood fiber left Cornell to travel around the country and some possibly around the world .

Left is a picture  of the stacker, out buildings, and pulp wood piles from a time when the air was bustling with activity. Also is a brief description of what the stacker's  function was in years gone by. The stacker as seen today is very quiet. There is no more clanking and clattering of a chain dragging 2 foot bolts of wood high into the air. Where the buildings and great piles of wood the could be seen for miles once stood, is now a park and ball diamond for the residents. A museum  is next door to keep the  memories alive

 If you have any information, stories, corrections, or pictures regarding this or any of the other towns along the Hannibal branch line, Please let me know, < E-mail > along with your permission to publish your personal memories in an attempt to keep the history available for future generations. Non-digital pictures and documents will be returned upon request.

Thanks for looking

Doug Stoll