Editing Little Black, Wisconsin (section)

==History==
The western edge of the six by six mile square that would become Little Black was first [[Surveying|surveyed]] in 1847 by a crew working for the U.S. government. That west edge of the town is on the Fourth [[Principal Meridian]], the first north-south line surveyed up through the forests of Wisconsin, from which towns, sections and forties were later measured. In October 1854 a different crew of surveyors marked all the [[Section (United States land surveying)|section corners]] in the [[survey township|township]], walking through the woods and swamps, measuring with [[Gunter's chain|chain]] and [[Solar compass|compass]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Land Survey Information|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/SurveyNotes/SurveyInfo.html|publisher=Board of  Commissioners of Public Lands|accessdate=May 31, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Field Notes for T30N R1E|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/SurveyNotes/SurveyNotes-idx?type=PLSS&twp=T030NR001E|work=Original Field Notes and Plat Maps, 1833-1866|publisher=Board of Commissioners of Public Lands|accessdate=May 31, 2011}}</ref> When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:
<blockquote>''This Township contains some Swamps, all of which are unfit for cultivation. The North West portion is mostly worthless, being almost all Swamp. The Land is generally of poor quality, and not good farming land, the soil being poor and the rocks coming to the surface in many places. Most of the Timber is [[Tsuga canadensis|Hemlock]] but where there is Hardwood the land is fair(?) farming land. There is no [[Eastern White Pine|Pine]] of any consequence. The Township is well watered with small streams and in the North part of the Township there is a large Stream of sufficient size for [[Watermill|milling]] purposes, with high banks, rocky bottom and rapid current. There are no improvements in the Township.''<ref>{{cite web|last=McBride|first=J|title=Interior Field Notes (Oct. 1854)|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/SurveyNotes/SurveyNotes-idx?type=article&byte=1402674&twp=T030NR001E|publisher=Board of Commissioners of Public Lands|accessdate=3 June 2011}}</ref></blockquote>

Around 1873 the [[Wisconsin Central Railroad (1871–1899)|Wisconsin Central Railroad Company]] built its line up through the forest on the east side of the six-mile square that would become Little Black, heading for Medford and eventually Ashland. To finance this undertaking, the railroad was granted half the land for eighteen miles on either side of the track laid - generally the odd sections. The railroad built a station at what would become Stetsonville.<ref name="Martin">{{cite book|last=Martin|first=Roy L.|title=History of the Wisconsin Central (Bulletin No. 54)|date=January 1941|publisher=The Railroad and Locomotive Society, Inc.|location=Baker Library, Harvard Business School|pages=41–42}}</ref> In 1873 a sawmill was built in the hamlet of Little Black - the first in Taylor County. One was built in Stetsonville in 1875. They were first fed by lumber cut from the surrounding country.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ruesch|first=Gordon|editor-last=Kalmon|editor-first=Lars|title=Our Home - Taylor County Wisconsin - Vol 1|date=January 2012|publisher=Taylor County History Project|pages=15–16|chapter=Taylor County Logging and Lumbering}}</ref>

When Taylor County was formed in 1875, Little Black was six miles north to south same as today, but it spanned the full width of the county, including all modern towns from [[Taft, Wisconsin|Taft]] to [[Deer Creek, Taylor County, Wisconsin|Deer Creek]]. It was named for the Little Black River. Deer Creek was split off in 1880 and other towns in subsequent years.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ruesch|first=H.O.|title=Our Home - Taylor County Wisconsin - A Topical History of our Roots|year=2011|publisher=Taylor County History Project|chapter=Taylor County Historical Sketch|editor=Stephen Lars Kalmon}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Dahl|first=Ole Rasmussen|title=Map of Chippewa, Price & Taylor Counties and the northern part of Clark County|year=1880|access-date=November 28, 2023|publisher=The Milwaukee Litho & Engr Co.|location=Milwaukee, Wisconsin|url=http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/maps/id/1046/rec/3}}</ref>

[[Image:Little_Black_community_Taylor_County_Wisconsin.jpg|thumb|A bit of the hamlet of Little Black in 2023]]
A village of Little Black was platted, with most lots aligned to the compass instead of the railroad. The map shows a post office and church.<ref>{{cite book|title=Gilman, Murat, Little Black, Hannibal, Jump River, Whittlesey|date=1913|publisher=Geo. A. Ogle & Co.|location=Chicago|url=https://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/36895/Gilman++Murat++Little+Black++Hannibal++Jump+River++Whittlesey/Taylor+County+1913/Wisconsin/|access-date=November 21, 2023}}</ref> As mentioned above, the first sawmill there started in 1873. A shingle mill was added in 1880. Another mill was added in 1883 where the Wisconsin Central crossed the Little Black River. This mill went through a succession of owners until it was bought by Davis and Starr of Eau Claire, then burned in 1889. Davis and Starr rebuilt it with the latest technology at the time to be one of the largest mills in the state, running night and day, employing over 200 men. Then in 1893 they shut it down.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ruesch|first=Gordon|editor-last=Kalmon|editor-first=Lars|title=Our Home - Taylor County Wisconsin - Vol 1|date=January 2012|publisher=Taylor County History Project|pages=16–17|chapter=Taylor County Logging and Lumbering}}</ref>

A map from 1900 shows the town largely filled in by settlers, except for the southwest corner. The same map shows the adjacent 6-mile squares on the east and west still in large blocks owned largely by lumber companies or the Wisconsin Central, but the land near the railroad was filled in with settlers for miles. East-west wagon roads were in place every mile, except for the southwest corner. North and south, predecessors of Swallow Drive and Gibson Drive already spanned much of the town. Settlers' homesteads lined these roads, with 40 and 80 acres the most common farm sizes. The map shows sawmills at Little Black and Stetsonville, two rural schoolhouses along a predecessor of Elm Avenue, a schoolhouse west of Little Black, and another where Apple Avenue now meets Castle Drive. It shows churches in Stetsonville and Little Black.<ref>{{cite book|last=Queary|first=O.K.|title=Map of Taylor County, Wisconsin|date=1900|publisher=Bogk & Rowland|location=Milwaukee, Wis.|url=https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/maps/id/1568|access-date=November 28, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Wisconsin Atlas and Gazetteer|date=1999|publisher=DeLorme|location=Yarmouth, Maine|page=74|edition=6th}}</ref>

The 1911 plat map shows thicker settlers, filling even the last southwest corner. By this time even the east-west roads were nearly complete every mile. To the previous schools, one had been added three miles west of Stetsonville. Another sawmill had been added a mile south of Stetsonville.<ref>{{cite book|last=Paetzold|first=C.H.|title=Map of Taylor County|date=1911|publisher=C. Paetzold and Koehler Land Company|location=Medford, Wis.|url=https://content.wisconsinhistory.org/digital/collection/maps/id/20288|access-date=November 28, 2023|chapter=Plat map of T30N R1E}}</ref>