The Move to Little Popple

Andrew Ekquist worked in the Florence Iron Mine in the summer, and in the lumber camp during the winter, along with many other Swedish and Cornish immigrants. Mining began in Florence in the late 1870’s.

In the early 1880’s, the United States Government offered land for homesteading in Florence County, Wisconsin. The law required three steps – first they had to file an application, improve the land, and file for a deed of title. Anyone who had never taken up arms against the U.S. Government, could file an application to claim a federal land grant. The occupant had to be 21 or older, or the head of a family, live on the land for five years and show evidence of having made improvements.

Andrew chose 160 acres of cut-over land under the Homestead Act. The reason he picked this particular land was because there was an old logging shanty on it, which would provide shelter and a home for his family. This was more important than being close to the road 1/2 mile away.

Emil Reinhord Ekquist was born January 26, 1883 in Florence.

In April of 1883, the entire Ekquist family moved from Florence to this farm site in Little Popple, later called Burnsville, and finally Homestead, Wisconsin. This homestead was later considered to be the “stoniest and stumpiest land”in the area. Only 30 acres were workable. They joined the John Larson’s,and the Lars Peterson’s as the first pioneers in “Little Popple.”

The men were employed at the mines in Commonwealth, 12 miles away, and worked long hours, 6 days a week, and stayed in Commonwealth from Monday to Saturday. Andrew came home once a week, and sometimes only 2 or 3 times a month.

In the meantime, the family had to fend for themselves, with nothing to eat except berries and fish until Andrew came home with groceries. The story is told that a big trout could be pulled out of the Little Popple as fast as a line could be dropped. Andrew even carried a cookstove home on his back.

More Swedish immigrant men built log houses and moved their wives and children out into the woods. The men continued working in the mines, walking through the dense forests on weekends to bring their families supplies, which they carried on their backs, crossing the Pine River on a log. They had special harnesses for this purpose and could carry household needs, large quantities of supplies, or 100 pound sacks of flour. The first few summers the families in the woods existed mostly on potatoes and wild leeks, and wild berries. On the weekends, they gradually cleared patches of their land.

Andrew filed the application to occupy and to farm the site on May 19, 1884, under the Federal Government Homestead Act at the U.S. Land Office in Menasha, Wisconsin, Entry No. 2358, north east quarter of Section 1. Township thirty eight of Range 161-8/10 acres.