Early History of Solon Springs Wisconsin

Early History of Solon Springs

As long as people have lived in Northwestern Wisconsin, they have used the Portage Trail located in Solon Springs to travel between Lake Superior and the Mississippi Rivers via the Bois Brule and St. Croix Rivers. Many famous early European explorers made their way through the historic portage including, Daniel Greysolon, Jonathan Carver and Henry Schoolcraft.

The first written record of a permanent settlement in the area is of a Chippewa Village on Crownhart Island on Lake St. Croix in 1832. A couple of decades later the areas first permanent white resident settled in the area.

Charles Lord, a French Canadian fur trader and his Chippewa wife, Catherine, homesteaded in the White Birch Township and eventually built a boarding house, a saloon and a real estate office. While Charles continued his fur trading business, Catherine started her own businesses, constructing birch bark canoes, snowshoes and moccasins. See Charles Lord Obituary 1910

The coming of the railroad in 1882 brought settlers and loggers according to local historian Elvin Bakken. Musser Sauntry built a logging camp at what is now the Main Street area of Solon Springs. Lake St. Croix was used as a giant holding pond with logs reaching from shore to shore.

The first U.S. post office was opened in the village of White Birch in 1885. It was during a meeting between White Birch postmaster and early settler, Nick Lucius and Superior postmaster Thomas Solon, that the idea for a bottled water plant came up. With a pure spring located close to the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad tracks, Solon started the Solon Springs Bottled Water Company. With the decline of logging in the area the Solon operation became the largest employer in the area. In 1896 White Birch was renamed Solon Springs in honor of Thomas Solon and his contributions to the community.

Jenson, Jan "Indians Called Charles Lord 'The White Devil'" The Riverway Echo March 1880. ((old wagon ))Photo from Solon Springs Historical Society collection. See More on Charles Lord