James Haney
In 1850 James moved to Wisconsin in covered wagons. First he bought a farm North East of Port Andrew. He didn't stay there long, but rented it to other farmers for a share of the crop.
Before 1860 James Haney built the store at Port Andrew He used to buy logs and hire gangs of men to float logs down the Wisconsin river to Mississippi river towns. There lumber companys bought the logs for lumber and railroad ties. They would guide the logs by hopping from one lead log to another and turn their direction with an article called a "cant" hook. They wore spiked shoes so they didn't slip into the river.
James was very properous at that time. He stayed home and ran the general store. They sold shoes clothes, yard goods, groceries, kerosene, and anything a pioneer family might need. James would be counting his money by stacking gold pieces; 10s 20s and 50s on the big round dining room table and it was covered. There were no near banks so he used to bury it in the cellar of the store. The Haney living quarters were above the store. There was plenty of room.
James Haney was a stubborn man with temper; he feared no man As the years went by in the Civil War, in respect to Abe Lincoln, he fed the widows and orphans and war veterans free.
Once a shack was built on a raft with logs tied together with log chains. In the shack men ate and slept in shifts. On one trip down the logs were sold to a company in Kansas City. They delivered the logs but the
company could not pay. The logs were to be used for ties to lay a railroad from Kansas City west. The company went bankrupt so James was out 10,000. The men came home on a steamship.
Go to my website for pictures and more history of James Haney
http://www.hanna-family-history.com/jameshaneylife.html
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