The recording of history is a newspaperman’s job at the time of the events chronicled. Writing historical articles or books is essentially a rearrangement of the facts as they were reported at the time according to the importance assigned to them by later judgement. The historian is actually a plagiarist since he has culled his facts from other sources. His excuse for existance is that he sorts out what he thinks might interest a new reader, puts it in his own words and, too often, claims credit for furnishing the original information. The chaff he leaves for future times and historians.
Sawyer County Treasure Map
By: Eldon Marples
You won't find an "X" to mark the spot where something of value is buried or hidden on this treasure map. The treasure is the map itself. An incredible feat of folk art blended with history, this map is a treasure of entertainment for anyone with a curious mind and interest in the past. And if you have an eye for originality and art, it's even better. But like any great treasure map, much about it remains a mystery.
Hand-drawn in pencil sometime around 1920, the map provides a one-of-a-kind, fascinating, and amusing window to Sawyer County as it was over 80 years ago. This extremely original map is housed in the Sawyer County Historical Museum on Highway B in Hayward, across from the Lumberjack Village.
Softly yellowed with age, it is an impressive 37 1/2 inches wide by 32 1/4 inches high so it is easy to view and study. But you won’t find the treasure in this map with a glance. You'll find yourself drawn into the discovery of the fine details, and subtle whimsy displayed. This is no ordinary map. It's a piece of history, but shows how history is fun.
A few familiar roads, towns, lakes and streams, as you'd expect to find on a map, provide surprisingly accurate, familiar references. And with these guideposts the fun begins.
From Sawyer County to the Nation
The most intriguing detail of the map is “Where Old Abe was captured.” The most famous bald eagle in American history began his astonishing journey near the Flambeau River. In 1861 Chief Big Sky of the Flambeau Ojibwa captured an eaglet, which he later sold to farmer Daniel McCann for a bag, or bushel, of corn. The bird lived with the family as a tethered pet. McCann tried to enlist in the Union Army but was rejected due to a limp. But, seeing a patriotic duty he took the eagle to Eau Claire where Captain John E. Perkins of the Company C 8th Regiment Badgers saw a perfect mascot. His soldiers, bound for the Civil War, chipped in ten cents apiece for the purchase. The eagle was ceremoniously sworn into the Federal army and literally began his flight of destiny to become a true national, and Wisconsin state treasure.
Naming the eagle after President Lincoln the Wisconsin soldiers changed their own name from the Badgers to the Eagles, and marched off to the killing fields of the war. Old Abe served in 36 battles and skirmishes in Missouri, Louisiana, and Mississippi, logging in over 14,000 miles of travel. It's reported that he would walk among the tents of the camped soldiers who would feed him. Loved by the Union he inspired the troops as he literally flew above them in their battles.
Understanding the power of a symbol like Old Abe, which the Southern troops had nicknamed "that Yankee buzzard," General Price of the Confederate Army demanded, “That bird must be captured or killed at all hazards.” Though sharpshooters in gray tried innumerable times to shoot him down, they failed, Old Abe survived unscathed.
After the Civil War Old Abe was retired to the Wisconsin State Capital in Madison, lodged in his own two-room apartment where he was cared for by volunteer veterans from the Wisconsin troops. Sadly, in 1881 stored oil and paint caught fire, and though Old Abe was rescued, he subsequently died from the smoke inhalation. Sawyer County's bald eagle Old Abe lives on today embroidered onto the shoulder patches of the 101st Airborne Division. He remains an historic treasure.
A County of Discovery
Other treasures of Sawyer County are scattered throughout the map like some historic “Where’s Waldo?” In a surge of creative whimsy the cartographer embellished the accurate details of the map by including deer running through the forest, a lurking bear, and busy beaver taking down trees. Canoes ply the lakes and streams casting minute reflections on the water, though not all the lakes even showed or had names. And near New Post, a small group of Ojibwa hold a Pow Wow. The more you look the more little treasures are found.
Logging had been the industry of legend throughout northern Wisconsin, Sawyer County included. Though the heyday of logging was past, the map shows the tough northern Wisconsin timber towns created by the industry. As large-scale logging faded and the local economies suffered it was pretty common for the towns to fade into memory. But you'll discover many Sawyer County towns on this map, each with its own story of survival, which live on today.
A vintage logging truck prowls toward Hayward, a logging train chugs to a depot with cars laden with freshly cut logs. A couple of woodsmen replant seedlings in a recent clear-cut (recent in 1920), with a noted projection of when this section of forest can be harvested again.
In an incredible feat of carpal tunnel- producing fanaticism, the artist literally, and liberally covered the entire county map with hand drawn forests of the types of trees growing in 1920. Oak, pine, aspen, maple forests are not only drawn into their locations throughout the county, each little forest is depicted with hundreds of properly coded trees, guarded by scattered fire towers. (The mature maple trees have representative syrup buckets). Thousands and thousands of tiny perfectly formed trees were drawn one at a time, all properly coded back to the map's Legend as to which type of tree is represented.
The other industry of the era being carved into the countryside of the county was farming. And so farms with barns and animals and crops are shown, some of which are still working farms today. Dairy cows, beef cows, horses or pigs, they all have their place in Sawyer County's history.
The towns themselves are detailed with small houses and churches, shown down to the windows, siding, and doors. With an eye to the future and tourism, you can even find a golf course (would this be the first, and the only gold course in the county back then?) nestled in the forest by a tiny lake. It's a course, which is still played today. This map had to have been a labor of love, and remarkable skill. It's why it's such a gem of history and so much fun to study today.
The Mystery
Perhaps the most curious treasure find of the Sawyer County map is M.H.Drohomer, the mapmaker, and the person who created this treasure. Who was he? Or was he a she? From studying Drohomer's historical map it appears there must have been some connection to the timber industry given the forest legend, the logging truck and train and the obsessive recreation of the forests of the county. Why did he do it? What possessed Drohomer to devote the inestimable time and minute detail the map required? How many days or months had it taken to create? Winters are long in northern Wisconsin, so if it was his winter project did it drive him into the throes of cabin fever so he was never heard from again? Study the creation and you'll ask your own questions, unanswered at this time.
Whatever inspired or drove him to create this woodland masterpiece the result is a map to be admired, studied, appreciated, and treasured.
Finding Treasure
The Sawyer County Historical Society made special arrangements to reproduce this fascinating map a couple of years ago. Recognizing the creation as historical folk art and the most entertaining conversation piece any cabin or lodge in Sawyer County will come across, the map has been meticulously reproduced as giclée fine art prints. This process involves printing the maps one at a time, taking nearly an hour to make each one. But the quality of the printing is unmatched, truly produced as fine art treasures.
These reproductions can be purchased, which helps support the Historical Society and Museum, at the Sawyer County Museum or at Art Beat, both located in Hayward. Reproductions are available at the full size (37 1/2"x32 1/4"), or due to the large size, they are also available at half size; 26 1/4 inches wide by 22 1/2 inches high (image size).
The Museum winter hours are Saturday thru Wednesday from 12pm to 4pm. The Museum will also be open during the Birkebeiner Race. Sawyer County Historical Society Museum, 15715W Cty Hwy B (P.O. Box 384) Hayward, WI 54843. (715) 634-8053 or 462-3044
You can also purchase these and other fine historical art prints from around the nation, online at www.historicfineartprints.com
