Learn more about the Sawyer - Goodman Lumber camp

Pembine was a rough and tumble town in it's earlier years as some of these newspaper clippings represent.  There were many taverns and many lumberjacks looking for a good time.  This created a volatile environment of Alcohol, guns, knives and axes; keeping the peace was a challenge.

Wausaukee Independent
January 6, 1900
CAMP RIOT AT PEMBINE
French and Polish Woodsmen Have a Little War of their Own

   A pitched battle occurred last week Wednesday at Kirby, Carpenter Co.’s camp 7, near Pembine, in which France conquered Poland. Three of the victors were arrested and brought to Marinette by Under Sheriff Murphy to answer to a charge of assault and battery with intent to do great bodily harm.
   The particulars are given in Saturday’s Marinette Eagle and are as follows:

    The trouble started over a trivial affair and its origin was very amusing. A Marinette man by the name of Alex Perreau put some frozen meat on the stove to thaw it out for his dog. This incensed a number of the Poles who claimed that it gave the camp a bad odor. The meat was knocked off the stove by one of the aesthetic Poles, who had an ax in his hand and then the fun started. Axes, guns, clubs, peavies, cant hooks and other hastily improvised weapons went sailing through the air for a few minutes and Poland and France engaged in an awful combat. All the noncombatants fled from the camp. After it was all over, only a few were found to be hurt. Kosta, one of the Poles, fled from the camp in his bare feet and traveled several miles to the nearest station in that condition. The next day the entire force of Poles left the camp and returned to Menominee.

   The camp is now operating again with a reduced crew. Supt. Patterson, of the Kirby-Carpenter Co., returned today from the camp after restoring order.

June 2, 1909

Two thugs attempted to hold up William Imlay a giant Woodsman near Marinette. Imlay fought and one of the bandits laid his cheek open with a razor. Constable Stoveken "Happened Along" shot one of the men through the hip and both were then captured and lodged in jail at Marinette.

George Wilson was shot and killed by Sheriff Charles Stovekin during a disturbance by a group of woodsmen   (Stoveken)

September 15, 1900
PERRAULT ARRESTED
He was Concerned in French Polish Riot in K. C. Camp

   Alex. Perrault was arrested Saturday in Florence and brought to this city Sunday by an officer from that city. He is anted here on the charge of assault with the intent to do great bodily harm. The officers have been looking for him since last winter.
   He was one of the three men who is charged with having assaulted a Pole in a Kirby Carpenter camp last winter.  It is alleged that Perrault chased the pole down a road with an ax and threatened to brain him. The affair was the result of a riot which broke out in camp between Frenchmen and Poles. The latter all left the camp.
   It was a serious melee. Perrault kept out of the way of the officers until last Saturday when Sheriff Nelson secured trace of him and he was arrested as he was calling for his mail at the Florence post office.  — Eagle