Ralph Eswein
Compiled by Jacinda Marquis, UWSP, 2024
Biographical Summary
Ralph Eswein
(November 13, 1945-February 19, 2021)
Ralph James Eswein was born in 1945 to Johannah Gjertsen and Arthur Ross Eswein. He grew up in Port Edwards, Wisconsin and studied cartography and climatology at the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse. In 1971, he moved back to Black River Falls and married Andrea Jean Scholze the following year. In 1976, he began work with the Co-op Trout Program for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and in the late 1980’s, he relocated to Jackson County to work as a surveyor. Ralph spent much of his time in southeastern Jackson County hunting and mapping the abandoned logging railroad grades and collecting old lumber photographs that he later used as resources for his book and film.
Eswein is the author of Logging Dilemma in the Big Swamp: A Late 1800’s History of Harvesting in the Last Virgin Pine Forest of West Central Wisconsin. He produced a film of the book in a Ken Burns-style documentary, published by the Monroe County Historical Society in 1995. After 30 years of working in forest conservation, he retired in 2006.
UWSP Archives
The Nelis R. Kampenga University Archives and Area Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point holds a portion of Ralph Eswein’s personal and business records, which is described in the folder list below.
For access to the collection please contact the archives at 715-346-2586 or email archives@uwsp.edu.
Collection 104 – Forest History Association of Wisconsin
Box 60 VHS 1[i] Live Canals and Dams
VHS 2 Final music + Stump to ship
VHS 3 Heart the Burn
VHS 4 River shots
VHS 5 Weber’s tree sawing
VHS 6 Video Narration
VHS 7 Ralph E. Interview
VHS 8 Logging video + Bluff photos
VHS 9 Sound for film
VHS 10 Logging Pictures
VHS 11 Last Credits and Revised inputs
VHS 12 Nature Recording + awards
VHS 13 Wisconsin Stories, Logging
VHS 14 Final pictures + Music for film
VHS 15 Extra Photos
Box 61 1 Logging Along the Black River (1680-1850)
2 Halls Creek Sawmill & Map
3 Olson Sawmill, Pine City
4 Notes on Tolden Mound by Ralph E
5 Black River log marks, end marks, and side marks
Cassette 1[ii] Fiddle and Banjo Recordings
Cassette 2 Final Music & nature recording
Cassette 3 Logging soundtrack
Cassette 4 Woods recording
Cassette 5 Logging Dilemma soundtrack
Cassette 6 Bagstad Original
Cassette 7 Railroad background
Additional Resources
https://www.tributearchive.com/obituaries/20047096/Ralph-James-Eswein/wall
Book URL https://search.library.wisc.edu/catalog/999802024202121
YouTube link to film https://youtu.be/2gaknXp5kOw?si=Hq3YaG0yHhyzj7dW
Historical Article about Wisconsin Logging https://wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS409
Additional Background to Wisconsin Logging Standing Tall: Logging Industry Key to E.C.’s Early Days – the… (volumeone.org)
[i] The VHS tapes are pieces and scenes from his film, Logging Dilemma.
[ii] Cassett tapes vary from the narration of Logging Dilemma and background music for the film.