http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/images/common/logo.gif http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ The Wisconsin Historical Society presents Odd Wisconsin, to amuse, surprise, perplex, disgust, astonish, and otherwise engage you with the past. Michael Edmonds (mailto:miedmonds@whs.wisc.edu) Wisconsin Historical Society <webmaster@wisconsinhistory.org> en-us 2012-05-16T01:02:36-06:00 http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/002144.asp A Greek philosopher once claimed that you can never step into the same river twice. His maxim apparently escaped the notice of some Wisconsin lumberjacks. The trees of the Wisconsin River pinery were among the first harvested. As early as 1853, 20 mills were running more than 100 saws and floating 70 million feet of lumber downriver each year. Makeshift... 2144@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ 2012-05-16T01:02:36-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/004853.asp For Mother's Day, here's a peculiar story about a humble woodchuck that won the heart of a rugged lumberjack named John Nelligan. Nelligan was a tough character who braved death many times, punched out more than his share of bullies and brawlers, and demanded unquestioning obedience from his crew. He once drove a bear from his camp by sneaking up... 4853@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Animals 2012-05-10T09:12:54-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/002761.asp John Till was not your typical doctor. He wore farmer's overalls rather than a white lab coat, and he couldn't show you a college degree or even a medical license. But at the start of the last century, people came from far and wide to be healed by his miraculous treatment. Unfortunately, the medical profession and state regulators were not... 2761@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Odd Lives 2012-05-02T01:10:57-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/001333.asp As spring unfolds and campers, hikers, and cyclists fan out across our north woods, encounters between Wisconsin's bears and humans will start making headlines again. Long ago our ancestors lived in much closer contact with bears, and run-ins between people and bruins were a simple fact of life. Close Encounters In 1855, a bear tried to carry a pig off... 1333@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Animals 2012-04-26T01:31:01-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/004846.asp Tornado season has begun. Click over to Ready Wisconsin to learn how to protect yourself (and see some amazing pictures and video). You can also follow Ready Wisconsin on Twitter for local severe weather alerts as they happen. Many local media outlets will send a text message to your phone when severe weather approaches. To sign up, look on their... 4846@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Curiosities 2012-04-18T11:01:52-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/004839.asp For months the mass media has been ramping up for the centennial of the sinking of the Titanic. A new 3-D version of the blockbuster 1997 film will be released this weekend, 14 different television programs will air, and hundreds of news stories have already appeared. So we decided to join the crowd and look for Wisconsin connections to the... 4839@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Strange Deaths 2012-04-10T11:23:15-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/004837.asp This weekend marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburgh Landing, at which unsuspecting Union forces narrowly escaped a surprise attack from their Confederate foes. For hundreds of young men from Wisconsin, it was the first exposure to combat. For nearly 300 of them, it was also their last. Caught by Surprise About 65,000 Union soldiers had... 4837@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Strange Deaths 2012-04-05T11:52:17-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/003305.asp On the evening of March 31, 1918, Prof. E.A. Schimler of Northland College was kidnapped by a mob of masked men. They took him to a lonely spot outside Ashland, stripped him naked, beat him, covered him in tar and feathers, and left him in the woods. Schimler limped back to his boarding house, where friends helped him clean himself... 3305@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Curiosities 2012-03-26T01:30:45-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/004826.asp We grow up with the idea that all our pioneer ancestors were church-going pillars of the community. That's because those were the people who wrote the histories. But they actually shared the world with disreputable bullies, gamblers, thieves, and drunks, just like we do. Like every frontier town, Madison attracted disreputable characters fleeing from civilized society back East. One of... 4826@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Odd Lives 2012-03-21T11:46:36-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/004822.asp In his memoir Old Times on the Upper Mississippi, steamboat pilot George Merrick recalled some St. Patrick&#39;s Day hijinks in the river town of Prescott, Wis. They took place during the late 1850s, when hundreds of side-wheelers fueled commerce in the heart of the continent. Assistant Engineer Billy Hamilton of the &#39;Fanny Harris&#39; Merrick described Billy Hamilton, the assistant engineer... 4822@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Curiosities 2012-03-15T13:21:42-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/004817.asp 4817@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ 2012-03-07T13:37:01-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/004813.asp During March the mainstream media usually pays lip service to the role of women in American history. This is the month when we hear about famous crusaders like Belle La Follette or selfless martyrs such as Cordelia Harvey. But what about obscure women? What challenges did they face, and what choices did they have to make? This month we'll tell... 4813@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Curiosities 2012-03-01T14:27:50-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/004809.asp It's the season for polar plunges, with fund-raising leaps into frozen lakes taken this week in Wausau, Whitewater, and Madison, among other cities. Here's a story about an unintentional plunge into icy Wisconsin waters taken by an unfortunate young lumberjack in 1878. Paddy Disappears John E. Nelligan (1852-1937) was the head of a logging crew in northeastern Wisconsin when a... 4809@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Odd Lives 2012-02-24T08:21:05-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/001998.asp "With that front of calm endurance, on whose steady nerve in vain, Pressed the iron of the prison, smote the fiery shafts of pain..." - John Greenleaf Whitter in Voices of Freedom (1846, poem inspired by the acts of Captain Johnathan Walker). Soon after Whittier wrote those lines, the man with the branded hand moved to Wisconsin. He was Capt.... 1998@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Odd Lives 2012-02-16T11:14:56-06:00 Michael Edmonds http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/archives/004799.asp Valentine's Day is Tuesday, so you have time this weekend to pick up something special for your sweetheart. When you're all worn out from wandering the malls in pursuit of the perfect gift, click over to our gallery of historic valentines to see where this custom originated. Years ago, people didn't buy mass-produced cards from multinational corporations in chain stores.... 4799@http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/odd/ Curiosities 2012-02-09T10:36:06-06:00 Michael Edmonds