Railroads   (Photos)

IN 1899 the Chippewa Valley and Northwestern Railroad Company started construction of a railroad line near Rice Lake and extending east into southern Sawyer County. It reached Birchwood at the western edge of the county in 1901 and Couderay and Radisson in 1904. It was then purchased by the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad Company and continued construction east through the county connecting the villages of Winter late in 1904, and Draper to the east in 1905 . After that construction slowed and it finally reached Park Falls in 1911. This finally connected the area to larger cities where goods and passengers could transfer to other main line railroads.

There were over a dozen spurs to the Omaha as it traveled through Sawyer County. Most of these spurs branched off through the forestland to reach lumber camps and sawmills and were used to haul out the heavy loads of logs to the main line. At it's peak, there were one passenger and 11 logging trains streaming through the county each day.

The railroad not only met the needs of the lumber camps and mills but with it came the influx of settlers and families who were buying up pieces of cut-over land at cheap prices, with the promise of happy days, good crops, and an opportunity for a new life.