Wisconsin Stories: Heavy Industries in Wisconsin

Map adapted from Cultural Map of Wisconsin: A Cartographic Portrait of the State by David Woodward, Robert Ostergren,
Onno Brouwer, Steven Hoelscher, & Joshua Hane. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996.

With abundant water, lake ports, and rail corridors crossing the state, Wisconsin manufacturers gained access to Midwestern iron and coal. Milwaukee became a major heavy industrial manufacturing center. Abundant pulpwood and water made Wisconsin a major papermaker. Shipbuilding became a major industry in Wisconsin's Great Lakes ports. Lumber and iron ore resources turned Ashland and Superior into major lake ports.

intro • wood +paper • heavy industry • ports • ports + heavy industry

SHS WHi W6. Not to be reproduced without written permission from the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.

Lumber
Loggers began cutting white pine in northern Wisconsin in the 1850s. Over 60 years, billions of board feet emerged by river raft and trainload until it was gone. It took nearly one hundred years to regrow a diverse forest of mixed hardwood and pulpwood.

Papermaking
Plentiful water and pulpwood made Wisconsin the center for Midwest paper manufacturing. Companies along the Wisconsin, Fox, and Marinette Rivers needed clear water to make paper and dump waste.

intro • wood +paper • heavy industry • ports • ports + heavy industry

1850B Dipper Wisconsin's heavy equipment manufacturers built the machines that built the machines. Manufacturers in Milwaukee and Manitowoc built overhead cranes, power shovels, and draglines to move earth, submarines, and other enormous loads.

The Milwaukee Car Yards in the industrial Menomonee Valley built box and flat cars for the Milwaukee Road. Beloit's Fairbanks-Morse built huge diesel engines for locomotives and ships.

intro • wood +paper • heavy industry • ports • ports + heavy industry

WW II ship built by Leathem D. Smith.

Shipbuilders first used Wisconsin timber for sailing ships, but switched to steam power, diesel, and steel hulls. Superior, the Green Bay region, Manitowoc (also submarines), and Milwaukee were Wisconsin's shipbuilding centers.

intro • wood +paper • heavy industry • ports • ports + heavy industry