*
[flag rustling, river rushing]
- The power of falling water
fueled the growth of Appleton's pioneer industries.
Flour mills, woolen mills, and rag paper.
[urgent instrumental, military marching]
As local militias headed to Camp Randall in Madison for training,
the Civil War would transform Appleton's paper industry,
bringing about huge changes to the city and the region.
- Carol Couillard: The Civil War marked
a change in the way that the whole country communicated.
So people became used to getting the news during the Civil War
because we had the telegraph.
People were used to that, and they demanded it,
and so newspapers really had to scramble to keep up,
and the thing that held them back really
was having enough newsprint.
[birds chirping]
- At the time, a change in Appleton's wheat industry
would help the city answer
the nationwide call for more paper.
[horse neighing, reins clicking]
Wheat farming had moved to more western states,
and Appleton's small flour mills couldn't compete
with the giant modern mills running in Minneapolis.
Appleton's papermakers bought up closing wheat mills
and began installing new machines
that could grind up wood for pulp instead of cotton rags,
allowing Appleton to help meet the demand
for more newsprint.
- Carol Couillard: Appleton's a really desirable place
for papermaking
because it has everything you need to make paper.
You need some sort of fiber,
you need water, and you need a power source,
and Appleton had all three of those in abundance.
A lot of the infrastructure was already here.
The flour mills all had water wheels already.
They knew how to get the goods to the different markets.
And so, it was just kind of perfect
that they found something that they could manufacture
and really take the lead on.
[steam engine chugs, blows whistle]
- A chance meeting on a train would further jump-start
Appleton's papermaking expansion.
[train chugs, rings signal bell]
Henry Rogers, who made a fortune
in western land speculation and silver mining,
used that fortune to open banks in Colorado and Wyoming.
- George Schroeder: He starts the first bank
in the state of Wyoming in Cheyenne.
Why does he pick Cheyenne, Wyoming?
A little thing called the Transcontinental Railroad
is coming through.
And when opportunity knocks,
Henry wants to be there to answer.
When the railroad arrives in 1867,
he now makes another fortune
financing the economic explosion that follows the railroad.
The railroad is also another part of the story here
because on the railroad between Cheyenne to Chicago,
he's going back and forth,
he meets two gentlemen, William and John Van Nortwick.
Their dad owns the biggest paper mill west of Ohio.
It's right outside of Chicago,
and its biggest customer is the Chicago Tribune, the newspaper,
but it can't keep up with demand.
So, Henry's got another great idea.
He's got the fortune.
They've got the technical expertise.
Let's get into the paper business,
and they've gotta pick a spot.
Where do they pick?
Appleton, Wisconsin
because it's perfect for the paper industry.
- Rogers and the Van Nortwicks
formed the Appleton Paper and Pulp Company
in 1876.
Soon the mill was grinding out pulp for Chicago
and making six-and-a-half tons of newsprint a day.
- George Schroeder: The Rogers and Van Nortwicks aren't alone
when it comes to paper mills in Appleton.
There are others who will recognize
the benefits of Appleton for the paper industry.
- Kimberly-Clark & Company expanded from nearby Neenah.
Opening a series of mills in Appleton,
including the Atlas Mill, one of the largest in the country.
- Carol Couillard: Kimberly-Clark & Company, when they built the Atlas,
they were in what we would think of as mainstream paper.
So, writing paper, Manila paper, all those different things.
The Atlas Mill kind of set itself apart
because Kimberly-Clark then ventured into wallpaper,
which was a huge moneymaker for them,
and it was huge for the Atlas.
- George Schroeder: Appleton ends up with
the highest concentration of paper mills in the world.
By 1890, there are 22 mills
just between Appleton and Kaukauna.
And so, they're cranking out pulp and paper
for a national market.
I mean, it's why we still call the valley "the paper valley."
One of the essential parts of the story
are the workers in the mill.
- Carol Couillard: The Appleton Crescent was running headlines
of bring more people here, bring more industry here.
There's room on the river for everyone.
- George Schroeder: They're attracting people
from all over the country and all over the world,
and those are the people
who are really driving the explosion of growth in Appleton.
Appleton grows 400% in the 20 years from 1860 to 1880.
[people chatting, trolley ringing]
- Carol Couillard: One of the interesting things about the paper industry
in Appleton is that
it didn't just have a lot of mills, which it did.
There was a lot of supporting industry
that was really important in helping the industry flourish.
One thing that was really important
is just the construction companies.
A lot of them built their business around
constructing these huge mills.
Not only did they construct the mills.
They would go in and do machine repair.
It was a very specialized industry.
A lot of the companies began here, and they work worldwide.
It was something else that really set Appleton apart.
- The paper industry also attracted
paper-related companies
like the Appleton Wire Works,
creating a highly specialized product for the industry.
- Dustin Mack: And they saw that there were no wire factories
in the Western United States.
So they moved out into this area and began making wire mesh,
and eventually became the largest producer in the world.
[factory sounds]
- Wire mesh is critical to the papermaking process,
straining out the water from the pulp slurry.
And at the same time,
creating a bed to make a continuous sheet of paper.
*
- Carol Couillard: They couldn't have one wire out of place,
or it would obviously mark all the paper that they made,
and it had to be woven in one continual looping screen.
They called it "the clothing for the paper machines."
- Dustin Mack: So, wire weavers were often
the most skilled workers within the wire industry.
They had to go through an apprenticeship
over a number of years
to learn exactly how to weave wire without any imperfection.
They would often work in teams of two or three,
pushing a shuttle back and forth on a large loom
in order to make the weave perfect,
but also to keep an eye on the process.
So, any little imperfections earlier on in the weave
would screw up the rest of the sheet.
- To meet the demand for new kinds of paper,
the Wisconsin Paper Industry partnered with Lawrence College
to create the Institute of Paper Chemistry in 1929.
Lawrence constructed a building and began a program
of researching and teaching paper science.
This research resulted in innovations
that helped paper manufacturers
improve paper quality and production.
With plentiful natural resources
and a highly skilled workforce,
Appleton's paper industry led the way
in answering the national call
for more paper and creating new kinds of paper products.
- Dustin Mack: Appleton was at the right place at the right time
to serve that need.