I think they're looking for a full corporate history of Upham's logging road. Some of this was published in the April, 1984 issue of The SOO, and touched on again in the 1990 articles about the Clarke County extension.

I'm not sure when you mention the power plant spur that everyone makes the connection with the M&T; one look at the line (gone now) and its logging road origins were immediately evident. The track appeared to be just placed on the existing landscape, with no grading whatsoever.

Was the Marshfield & Texas name Upham's joke on the people of Marshfield? Or was there a village of Texas, Texas creek, Texas County, or Texas Township somewhere south of Marshfield that the road was headed for? I thought that after leaving town it just ran wherever there were trees to be cut, probably changing from time to time as the logging operations moved.

The name, "Marshfield & Texas", was a nick-name hung on Upham's Logging Railroad after Upham quipped to a reporter that asked him where his railroad was headed. Upham answered, "From Marshfield to Texas!!", hence, Marshfield & Texas Railroad.

So help me, I have NEVER found ANY document that lists a "Marshfield & Texas Railroad Company (Or "Railway")" anyplace. It HAD to be a Common Carrier, because Upham had finagled some of his business friends into locating their Industries along it, like Blodgett's Cheese Warehouse, O&N Lumber Co., the Marshfield Canning Co., and, Upham's Furniture Factory and his Banner Mills (Later the Marshfield Milling Co.).

All I have ever found in Reference to the M&T is "Upham Logging Railroad". So, I guess it was easier for everyone to refer to it as the Marshfield & Texas.

No, the M&T didn't make much of a scar on the Landscape, nor was it built to ANY sort of high standard. It lay atop the ground with no subroadbed to speak of.

The M&T really didn't "Go Where The Trees Were", it was more of the gathering line for logs; horse-drawn teams pulled the felled trees in to the M&T, where they were loaded on Log Cars/Flat Cars and then whatever engine Upham had that was running would drag in the 8-10 or so cars of logs to Marshfield. From basically sketchy information, there were 4 or 5 reload points along the M&T's greatest length of 7 miles. I believe Upham even paid farmers clearing land to drop their logs near where the M&T went for later pick up, but there are few photos of Upham's equipment outside of a few photographs of 2 of the second-hand locomotives he had.

The M&T went where Upham found enough r-o-w to go, which is why the r-o-w line was JUST outside of the ends of the ties!!!

The M&T hit what is the Center of the North Wood County Park, better known to us locals as "Richfield", for it is in the center of Richfield Township. The M&T struck off on a fairly-straight course to Richfield, following Mill Creek quite closely, on a more-or-less South-Southeast run, going south of the Muncipal Power Plant. In later years, the Coal Pile for the Power Plant sat right atop where the M&T struck off for Richfield.

Upham couldn't go any farther; I believe the timber to the south was owned by Mead---of Consolidated Papers fame. Upham got into the last workable tract (and still unclaimed) in that area, worked it for about 20 years, then pulled the M&T back to the Power Plant about 1900. Upham continued to get Logs in to his Marshfield Factory into 1925, about the time he got out of Business. He had a logging line that connected to the Athens Line at Athens, Wis., that came down from Goodrich, Wis., and he had a spur off the Greenwood Line out around MP 5 or thereabouts.

For a time, Upham ran log trains over the Soo/WC into Marshfield, but, mention of such comes to a halt around WWI. After that, it seems that the Soo hauled in and interchanged whatever Uphan had coming in for his Factory, or not at all.

What was called, "The Buttertub Track" also served as an Interchange with the Omaha, but I have never been able to determine just how much business there was between the C.St.P.M.&O & Upham. The Buttertub also served as a switching lead for the Blum Brothers Box Co., Blodgett Lumber Co., Wisconsin Buttertub Co., Marshfield Bedding, Dohm Oil (Deep Rock), and Retzer Oil (Standard). It was Joint Track between the Soo & C&NW later on, I think, those arrangements may have carried over to the Soo when the Soo purchased the M&T in 1925.

Keith Meacham

Here, it is 1993, and the Engineer on this run, the Medford Turn, still operating out of Stevens Point yet, is Jerry Konkol. The train is stopped here and the crew is at Melody Gardens Skateland grabbing a bite to eat at the restaurant there, out of sight to the right.

This is a whisper of what I saw everyday moving over the M&T a scant 20 years before. The 728 is no stranger to the M&T, having been used as Switch Engine MANY times under Soo Line auspices.

20 years before, the F.F. Mengel Ready Mix plant in the background was still getting 18-20 cars of inbound material dug out at Custer, Wis., yet, the Power Plant was still getting 30 cars of coal per week, and the Canning Company was still doing somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 cars per year business with the Soo, that's counting inbound and outbound.

Best of all: The "trains" lead over this frail track back in those days were drawn by Alco RS1's.

Bruce asked me not to forward this, but I simply could not resist. Photographs made of Trains on the M&T are too rare, and I could kick myself for not taking more than I have.

And, Yes, that hill the train is on is NOT exaggerated.

Keith

From the high-altitude pole camera of Bruce Oldenberg, the 2442 before she was cosmetically restored.

She looks a whole lot better today.

Keith

Now, I'm certain that, after my description of how this end was switched by allowing the cars to roll in here off the hill behind Bruce's vantage point, you're wondering WHY things were done this way with this run around track right here?

Well, prior to 1966, these two tracks were stub-ended, AND they were owned by the City. Soo Line maps made a point to point out what was Soo Line track and what wasn't. Crews made darned certain NIT to allow the Locomotive too far past the switch in the foreground.

Plus, back 30 years ago, there would be cars all over here, even forcing the Switch Engine to leave two or three cars across the street behind Bruce's vantage point because both tracks would be FULL after the Soo delivered here.

The SOP here for the Power Plant was to leave 6 empties on the "Main"; the inbound loads would go in on the "By Pass". Both tracks held 6 cars a piece. Doesn't look like it here.

In busier times when this plant was providing 90% of Marshfield's power, you'd have 6 empties on the Main, 6 loads pulled back next to the building, and, possibly, 4 loads sitting on the By Pass.

This made for some interesting switch if it landed at about this time of the year (September) and the Canning Co was shipping out cars yet, AND Superior Gas was starting to fill their LP Tanks. Lots of see-sawing around to get cars in the right places, such as the car of LP which had to be first out in the train for Superior when the Switch Engine was done flinging cars around right here.

One last point: Until the Lake States era, these two tracks shown here were AWFUL looking, buried in mud. I don't know the times the Power Plant shoved cars off here with their bulldozer, due to the dire need of something that looked like Ballast or ties. Under Lake States, these tracks were pulled up out of the mud and resurfaced, and used very little after that. The last cars over them were carloads of coal coming OUT going to I can't guess where after the City shut the plant down forever.

They weren't going far, and possibly not off the WC, because EVERY car was overloaded. I have never seen cars squat that low on their truck springs as those cars did, WC let the City get away with it.

Keith

In fact, the Pile Auger empties out onto the Concrete Footing poured almost 30 years before when the Power Plant was expanded for the last time. The Concrete footing was poured in anticipation of expansion due to have taken place only 4 years after the last expansion---approximately 1970. By the time the 1966 expansion was done, the City was fed up with producing it's own power, and that pre-poured concrete footing slab was never used except for the coal pile.

If you look at the concrete block extension on the Power Plant building in the upper right, you'll notice the blocks are different colors. This is because back in August of 1973, after the Switch Engine had finished their work and were headed back uptown, 6 empty Soo Line ORE CARS (for the period 1967-1973 the Soo Line used their surplus ore jimmies to haul in the raw material for F.F. Mengel Ready Mix from Custer, Wis., to Marshfield---cars that were or very close to 60 years old by 1973) rolled back down in here after one car lost a knuckle pin. In switching ops, they seldomly used train air, so the cars simply rolled back down in here at estimated speed of 25 mph and WHACKED the loaded cars the Switch Engine had just left. One loaded 100-ton open hopper was turned over onto it's side, taking out that wall on that extension.

In case you wonder how I know the names of the unloading spots here, when Joe Stauber and I made a photographic record of the M&T not long after Bruce took these photos, I wandered over to the fence shown in the last photo. The control panel was located there, and it spelled out what was what quite nicely!!!

Keith

The cover over the track in the foreground protects "FLOW-1", a both-sides-of-the track unloading vat that fed directly to the boilers inside the power plant at right. Note the Car Shaker, never to be used again. When Bruce shot this, the Power Plant had been abandoned for about 5 years.

That black pipe that snakes along the building and out along the fence was for supplying natural gas to a device I call "The Car Burner". Marshfield Electric & Water USED to unload all year 'round, around the clock. Beyond FLOW-1 are six square covered "Jets" on each side of the spur. In times of cold weather, a car would be placed over those jets, which would be lit and then adjusted to correct color---BLUE or almost invisible. These jets were directed up at the bottom of the car. To ensure keeping the heat directed upwards against the bottom of the car, the Firemen (the gent's that worked on the Coal Pile were known as "Firemen") would put sheets of corrugated metal along the car.

The car was ready for dumping when the ENTIRE bottom, including the hoppers themselves, were GLOWING CHERRY RED and the rest of the car was steaming. Two minutes with the car shaker didn't leave anything behind in the car when they unloaded it.

Keith

This is the Marshfield Canning Co. spur, looking directly North. The M&T Main is off to the left.

When switching the Power Plant, the Switch Engine and 6 empties out of the Power Plant would "Hide" on this spur, while the air and hand brakes were kicked off the inbound cars and this cut allowed to roll past the Canning Co. switch (Out of sight behind Bruce's vantage point). When the last car would clear, the Switchman assigned the task of throwing the Canning Co. switch would do so and the Switch Engine and 6 cars would pop out and grab the rolling cars, acting as a sort of Dynamic Brake.

Looking at this photo, the Canning Co has remodeled itself. If you look at the photo, you'll see a concrete block next to the spur; this was the old support for the can track that fed empty canstock into the canning building. By the time Bruce shot this, the Canning Co. had removed the Can Track and truncated their spur with a concrete dock. The spur originally ran right in to the earth berm that was located above that new concrete dock.

It was always unsettling to come driving down Spruce Avenue and looking at the Headlight of a Locomotive staring at YOUR BUMPER. That's how much difference there was between the height of the road and the level of the Canning Co. spur. The Canning Co. warehouse was built in to the side of a hillock.

Alas, only the Canning Co. warehouse remains, bought by Superior Paper Products. Where the Boiler House and Canning building were is now a-building in to high-end apartments.

Keith

Beyond is the Switch for the F.F. Mengel Ready Mix Plant; the road crossing above that is the driveway for the Ready Mix plant. At one time, the Buttertub Track switch was right atop that driveway; the Buttertub Track (so-called because the track eventually wound up along side the C&NW Merrillan Main Line AND the Wisconsin Buttertub Co.) ran parallel to the M&T to 11th Street, out of sight over the hill in the distance.

Not far in on the Buttertub another switch peeled off and ran parallel to the Buttertub before curving sharply away to the right; this was the spur that serviced Blodgett Lumber Co. It ended atop for concrete bridge piers, this was Blodgett's home heating coal trestle. Those concrete piers are STILL standing, albeit covered in vines now, in what was Rich Peter's backyard when he still resided here.

Everything on the Buttertub was joint track with the C&NW, including a portion of the M&T shown here, just short of Mengel's switch. That was to allow the C&NW headroom to switch Blodgett.

Keith

Mengel's was BIG business for the Soo. When we first moved to Marshfield in 1967, Mengel's got switched 3 times a day during the week, and Twice on Saturday and once on Sunday (until 1973)! 6 cars per trip, so figure out how many cars that was per day per week. Mengel's would start shipping to Marshfield from their Custer Pit operation usually in the second week of April, and continue getting cars until the first hard frost, often the first week of November.

Alas, the Soo was fine with the short haul from Custer to Marshfield for the sheer volume of business Mengel's did, but, starting in 1974, Soo jacked the rates up on some of the raw materials. The first thing that disappeared from the Rails was "Rock"; in 1976, "Stone" disappeared, followed by "Pea" in 1978. By the time the Soo raised the rate on Sand. this ready mix plant was only receiving three cars of sand every-other day or so.

At the same time, Mengel's ended up in competition with Trierweiler Construction, who began his own Ready Mix plant operation and basically stripped away all business from F.F. Mengel's. Business.

Note the ERA Reality Sign; Mengel's has exited the Concrete Business altogether by the time Bruce shot this.

In an interesting twist, Mengel's sold out at a Sheriff's auction. County Concrete Corp. bought most everything, including the Marshfield Operation and Custer Pit. Then, in one of those perverse twists of business, Trierweiler STRONG-ARMED County Concrete to sell them the Marshfield Ready Mix operation----lest Trierweiler find another source for Concrete Storm Drain Pipe!

Trierweiler tore most of this down. You're looking at the New Mixing/Loading Building that Mengel's put up in 1972. I watched most of the parts of both Mixing Building and Loading Hopper creep down the M&T on flat cars.

The older Mixing Building, a diamond-shaped structure, is out of sight to the right. hidden by those bushes. At Mengel's peak as sole Concrete Ready Mix company for large projects in Marshfield, this place REALLY hopped at construction time. Not only did the Soo Line haul material in, so did Mengel in their fleet of Quad and Quintuple axle dump trucks! Both the new and old tipples were loading concrete trucks as fast as they could.

The reason Highway 10 from Custer through Stevens Point to Marshfield is rough and shot underneath the asphalt overlay is because of this ready mix plant pictured right here.

At one point, until 1971, they also got in carload Cement from the Manitowoc Portland Cement Company. Bulk Cement moved in here just about all year long, three cars per week.

When the Switch Engine came to work Mengel's and the Power Plant, Mengel's was the first spot. They'd pull their entire train down to clear Mengel's Switch (Often 12 100 ton cars--6 Mengel's cars and 6 cars of Coal for the Power Plant), and back in to grab Mengel's empties, which Mengel's rolled down clear of this switch as the unloaded their cars. The Switch Engine would push in making couplings on the Mengel's cars as the went; after grabbing the last car, then the move pulled everything back on onto the M&T. The Switch Engine would then shove EVERYTHING they had back up the hill shown here on the M&T to clear the West 11th Street Crossing, shown in the middle background. They'd cut off the inbound Mengel's cars, run down to the switch, and spot the cars as far back on the Spur as they could. The engine would come out light and reverse back to their train standing at West 11th St.

This was more fun to watch when the Soo Line was using their surplus Ore Jimmies to haul Mengel's raw material. Then the trains were somewhat longer by car count, but the tonnage was still the same.

All the Mengel's buildings in the Photo still stand and are used by Northwestern Rental Center.

If you look closely at the photo, you'll also be able to see a distinct line in the concrete alongside the M&T up by the newer steel building where the Buttertub Track came off and ran alongside the M&T to the 11th Street crossing.

Nice looking track, eh?

Keith