Hughey, Wisconsin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hughey, Wisconsin
|
|
|---|---|
 Hughey, Wisconsin
Location in Wisconsin
Hughey, Wisconsin
Location in the United States
|
|
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Wisconsin |
| County | Taylor |
| Elevation | 390 m (1,280 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Area code(s) | 715 & 534 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1579494 |
Hughey is a quiet, empty place in the town of Cleveland, Taylor County, Wisconsin. It is not a town or a village, but an unpopulated spot. Long ago, it was a busy area where logs were loaded from the Yellow River onto trains. This happened on the Omaha Railway. The logging work stopped in the 1930s. Today, you can only find the old railroad path and some overgrown building foundations.
Contents
Hughey: A Railroad Logging Spot
The Forest Before Hughey
Before people settled here, the land along the upper Yellow River was covered with many kinds of trees. There were hemlock, birch, maple, and especially white pine. White pine trees were the most valuable. Loggers would cut these huge trees. Then, they would float them down the river in what were called "log drives."
The Yellow River was not always easy for floating logs. So, logging companies built special "splash dams." These dams would hold back water. When needed, they would release a "splash" of water. This splash would help push the logs along the river. One of these splash dams was built around 1861. It was near the spot that would later become Hughey. After the valuable pine trees were cut, other types of timber remained. But these other trees did not float well.
The Railroad Arrives
In 1902, a part of the Omaha Railway started building a new train line. This line, called the Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, and Northeastern Railway, went along the Chippewa River. It stretched from Chippewa Falls to Holcombe. By 1903, the railway extended its line even further. It went through Arnold and Hannibal to reach the Yellow River.
The main reason for this extension was the Yellow River Lumber Company. They needed a way to get their timber out of the area. Where the train line met the river, they built a special loading area. Here, logs were pulled from the river's log boom. A log boom is like a fence of logs that keeps other logs together. These logs were then loaded onto train cars. The trains would take the logs to the company's sawmill in Stillwater. This train stop was named Hughey. It was named after E.K. Hughey, who was the president of the Yellow River Lumber Company.
Life at Hughey
Besides the log loading area, Hughey had other buildings and features. There was a bunkhouse where workers could sleep. There was also a corral for livestock. Another building was on the site. The railway also had a wye here. A wye is a Y-shaped track. It allows train engines to turn around. There was also a gravel pit nearby.
From Hughey, one train track branched off to the northeast. This track went for five miles. It led directly into the Yellow River Lumber Company's logging areas. In 1908, reports said that the Yellow River Lumber Company was loading 30 train cars of lumber every day. Another track branched off to the south. This track went to a different loading area downstream on the river. That area was run by the Stanley, Merrill and Phillips Railroad.
Hughey Today
By 1935, the train line to Hughey was no longer needed. The company that operated the trains asked for permission to stop running them. The request was approved. Soon after, the train tracks were pulled up.
Today, Hughey is a very quiet place along the Yellow River. No one lives there anymore. It is mostly covered in brush and trees. Only a farm is located nearby. The area serves as a reminder of Wisconsin's logging and railroad history.
