Back Roads from Wisconsin’s Past

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LeeAnne Bulman For Agri-View
Mar 20, 2024
Mar 20, 2024

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'The Gang' explores Shanagolden Dam in 1916 near Glidden, Wisconsin. The mill dam in Shanagolden didn't provide enough power for a sulfite pulp plant. It was removed to deter fishers from poaching walleyes and muskies. Photo from the Chippewa River Journal – Howard Greene family papers

Wisconsin Historical Society, Image #127252.

As in many abandoned towns, most of the homes in Shanagolden are moved to the nearby town of Glidden, Wisconsin.

Contributed

There isn't much left of Shanagolden, Wisconsin. Some ruins of lumber-company buildings are still visible.

Contributed

William Vilas, a lawyer and politician, was the key to financing the Nash Lumber Co. and Shanagolden. He served as a U.S. Senator, postmaster general and U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

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LeeAnne Bulman For Agri-View

SHANAGOLDEN, Wis. – Remembering his ancestral home in County Limerick, Ireland, led Thomas Nash to name his Ashland County paradise “Shanagolden.” The lumber town situated in the woods near Glidden, Wisconsin, wasn’t able to survive for the long haul but is still a beautiful spot.

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LeeAnne Bulman writes about agriculture from her farm overlooking the beautiful Danuser Valley on Wisconsin’s west coast. Email genwim2@gmail.com to reach her.