Holiday Gifting

Stocking Stuffers & Gift-able editions

4 products

Sort

Madison

David Sakrison

$7.99

Lead Mining Towns of Southwest Wisconsin

Carol McLernon

$24.99

Kenosha's Jeffery & Rambler Automobiles

Carol McLernon

Lead Mining Towns of Southwest Wisconsin

9780738551999

$24.99

East of the Mississippi River, and just north of the Illinois-Wisconsin border, the soil was once fertile with huge deposits of lead and zinc. White men discovered these riches in the early 1800s, well before Wisconsin became a state in 1848. Miners, farmers, and merchants flocked to the region, some bringing along their families. Towns with names like Snake Digs, Cottonwood, and Etna grew very rapidly. Roads, bridges, and railroad tunnels soon connected these towns where schools, churches, and businesses developed. Today tourists are invited to visit museums, mines, and shops in the region to explore its colorful past.

Patrick Foster

Kenosha's Jeffery & Rambler Automobiles

9781467128919

$7.99

These mailable vintage-photograph postcards feature various early models of Jeffery and Rambler automobiles. The Thomas B. Jeffery Company existed as an automobile maker from 1902 to 1916 and in that short span created a corporate foundation that would lead to successor firms Nash Motors, Nash-Kelvinator, American Motors, and Jeep. Thomas Jeffery named his automobile the Rambler, after the popular bicycles he manufactured prior to his car venture. The Rambler was a car of outstanding quality and reliability. From its first showing in Chicago in 1902, the Rambler stood out as an unusual value for the money. That reputation carried over when Tom Jeffery's son and successor Charles decided to change the car's name to Jeffery in honor of his late father. In 1916, Charles Nash, then president of General Motors, resigned his position and purchased the Thomas B. Jeffery firm, renaming it the Nash Motors Company. Before long, an all-new Nash car was introduced, and the Jeffery brand faded away. Nash went on to become one of the largest of the American independent automakers.

Diana Peterson

Logging in Wisconsin

9781467126922

$7.99

Wisconsin was the perfect setting for the lumber industry: acres of white pine forests (acquired through treaties with American Indians) and rivers to transport logs to sawmills. From 1840 to 1910, logging literally reshaped the landscape of Wisconsin, providing employment to thousands of workers. The lumber industry attracted businessmen, mills, hotels, and eventually the railroad. This led to the development of many Wisconsin cities, including Eau Claire, Oshkosh, Stevens Point, and Wausau. Rep. Ben Eastman told Congress in 1852 that the Wisconsin forests had enough lumber to supply the United States for all time to come. Sadly, this was a grossly overestimated belief, and by 1910, the Wisconsin forests had been decimated.