The Battle of Cameron Dam Revisited

Family History and Research

As a child growing up, I heard from my mother and my grandparents, the story of how one of my great uncles on my mother's side of her father's family gained fame in the early 1900s by being involved in a Northwoods shootout with a big logging company on their family farm.
A story that was talked about nationally at the time it happened and even appeared in the New York Times and years later the story of what happened was written by a man named Malcom Rosholt.
My mom bought me a copy of the book titled "The Battle of Cameron Dam" on my 12th birthday and it has been one of my most treasured books I have ever owned.

One of my most treasured family heirlooms

While researching my Dietz family tree this morning, I came across a few photos that are housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society depicting the incident.

The family in front of their cabin

Come along as I share an abridged version of the story of John Dietz, my famous Great uncle, and his time in the spotlight in the lumberjack era of the untamed wilds of Northern Wisconsin.

Historical Highway Marker a few miles from the Homestead

My 3rd Great Uncle John F Dietz brandishing a Pistol in Front of his Cabin

An abridged version of the events that led to the Battle and its aftermath

In 1904, John F. Dietz and his family purchased a farmstead on the Thornapple River about 8 miles southeast of the Village of Winter. Dietz soon discovered that the Cameron Dam, one of the many logging dams on this important tributary of the Chippewa River, lay on his property. He thereupon claimed that the Chippewa Lumber 7 Boom Company, a Weyerhauser affiliate, owed him a toll for logs driven downstream. For four years he refused to permit logs to be sluiced down the Thornapple, defending “his” dam at gunpoint and successfully resisting attempts to arrest him. At least one deputy and two of Dietz’ children were wounded in confrontations. In becoming an outlaw, Dietz also became a folk hero with a nationwide following. In October 1910, a large sheriff’s posse surrounded his house. In the ensuing gun battle, Oscar Harp, a deputy, was killed.

John Dietz surrendered and was sentenced to life in prison. He served ten years, but public pressure eventually convinced Governor John J. Blain to pardon him in May 1921. Dietz died in 1924. Cameron Dam has long since disappeared. Several books and even a play have been written about the Battle of Cameron Dam.

THE BATTLE OF CAMERON DAM

The Story of A Man Who Stood Up To The Big Lumber Companies That Ruled The Woods Of Northern Wisconsin.

Wikipedia Article on my 2nd Great Uncle John F Dietz

My 2nd Great Uncle, John F Dietz was born in Winneconne, in Winnebago County, Wisconsin in 1861 and by the time of his death in 1924 he would be remembered in the history of Northern Wisconsin almost to the same fame as Paul Bunyan, the famous lumberjack.

My 3rd Great Grandfather, John  Dietz Sr. was born in 1824 and emigrated from Hesse-Darmstad Germany during the revolution of 1848. 

John Sr. married my 3rd Great Grandmother,Almira Swart, on 17 Dec 1851 in Middleburg, Schoharie, New York and moved to Schenectady, NY where three sons were born.
The 1st being William Wallace in 1853, then my 2nd Great Grandfather, Henry Sr. in 1854, and Charles in 1859 who died young, as he was not in the 1860 or 1880 census of the family. 

The family lived in Saratoga Springs NY and Scholerlie NY areas before moving to Wisconsin in Winnebago County and settled in the town of Winneconne, where John F. was born in 1861.
John Dietz, Sr. volunteered for service in the Union Army and came home unharmed. 
Around 1870 he decided to pull stakes again and head for the cut-over lands of Barron County. 
He settled on a farm less than five miles southeast of Rice Lake. 

It was here in the pioneer country of Wisconsin that John, Jr. grew to manhood along with his brothers, watching the comings and goings of the lumberjacks working in the nearby camps for Knapp, Stout & Company. 
His older brothers would become leading citizens of the Hayward WI landscape with William being the Sheriff of  Barron County for many years as well as Marshall of the city of Rice Lake; and my 2nd Great Grandfather, Henry, having a Supply company to the Lumberjacks of the area as well as being a deputy for his brother and undertaking numerous other business ventures through the years.

John F. would follow a different path...the path of a "nomad wonderer" more akin to a gypsie than to a farmer, an occupation which he was often said to have practiced. 

John and Hattie & The Family Homestead on Cameron Dam

In 1882 John married Hattie E. Young, 16, who he took to calling "Tatsy." 
Hattie's family were also some of the 1st settlers of this part of Wisconsin.

They moved to a small farm southwest of Rice Lake, but the farm was owned by Hattie's relatives, and Dietz probably got tired of trying to meet the interest payments. Most of the children. May, Myra, Clarence, Leslie, Helen, and Stanley were probably born on this farm. 
In 1899, Dietz decided to go into real estate business with a brother in Rice Lake. But this quickly turned sour too, and in December, 1900, we find him in Hayward, making entry, in his wife's name, on a quarter section located on Thornapple River. • -•

What came to be known as the "Deitz family farm/homestead, was about 10 miles outside Rice Lake, abutting the Cameron Dam on the Thornapple River in Sawyer County just outside the village of Winter, in Northwestern Wisconsin.

Exterior view of Deitz cabin and barn, fences, and other outbuildings in winter, about two weeks after shooting of deputy. No members of Deitz family were present, but stock were still in barns, cared for by two young men. The shooting was done from the hayloft through a hole made in the roof.

Arguments Ensue with Large Logging Company

When he moved there in 1904, Deitz was already disputing with the Chippewa Lumber and Boom Co., a subsidiary of the Weyerhauser syndicate. He claimed they owed him back wages and they claimed he had been paid in full. The Cameron Dam was used by the company to raise upriver water levels prior to floating logs downstream; when it was opened each spring and the logs came through, Deitz's land and crops were flooded. 

Deitz erected a "No Trespassing" sign in 1904 and refused to let the company send logs downriver using his dam. Whenever company officers or the local sheriff appeared, Deitz and his sons drove them off at gunpoint. 

He was involved in several minor shootouts in the following years during attempts to serve injunctions on him and on attempts to just "do away" with him; one such attempt written about by John F. himself follows:

Second Assassination Attempt, July 25, 1906. 

"The facts about the battle of July 25, 1906, are these: We 
hauled in a load of hay before dinner. When we had about half 
the second load on we heard someone call dinner. This was about 
12 o'clock and my wife had said she would have dinner about 
half past twelve. After dinner we hurried to unload the hay, 
as it was threatening rain. Clarence was on the load, Leslie and 
myself in the barn, Myra driving the team on the hay fork and 
my wife pulling back the rope. Just as we had the load off, my 
wife noticed a cow going south with her head up smelling. She 
told Helen to go and see what the cow was looking at. Helen 
ran down to the brow of the hill and saw men with guns, then 
she came back and told us. I took my gun and went to the brow 
of the hill, but could see no one. I called: 'Get off of my 
place.' I soon saw two men crawling through the grass, going 
south toward the camp. They crawled about 2 00 yards until they 
came to a bunch of logs, then they got up and walked until they 
were in the woods close to the camp, which is about 120 rods 
from our house. I followed down the path on the side hill and 
kept ordering them off. I was about 70 rods from the house, in 
sight of the dam and camp, when Leslie came down and said: 
'Pa, come back; there are more in there yet. We saw two crawl 
out west since you left and cross the river." When I got back 
I said I guessed they were all gone. Clarence insisted that there 
were more In there and said he heard them breaking brush. I 
said: 'If you think there are any more in there why don't you 
go and drive them off?' Clarence went down the hill about three 
rods from where I stood, and had gone by Rogich, when I saw a 
streak of smoke. Clarence threw up his hands and fell on his 
back. We heard the report of a gun about ten seconds before 
Rogich shot Clarence; there was a shot fired down near the 
camp. As soon as Clarence fell, I called to my wife and told 
her that they had killed him, thence I commenced shooting into 
the bunch of willows where that shot came from. 

"In a few seconds another shot came from the same spot and 
Leslie dodged, and said the bullet came so close to his face he 
felt it burn. I told Leslie there was no use dodging after the 
bullet had gone by, and he commenced shooting into the clump 
of willows. Then they began shooting at us from across the 
river — I should judge there were eight or ten of them, and they 
must have emptied their guns, for their firing ceased about the 
time we emptied our guns. By this time Clarence had crawled 
up to where we were and we all started for the house, which was 
about ten rods distant. When we were about half way to the 
house the firing commenced again from across the river, and 
we could see little clouds of dust where the bullets struck in 
front of the house, close to my wife and the children. I saw 
Hedrington, the company foi-eman, swinging his arms and heard 
him shouting: 'Shoot the sons of .' As soon as I re- 
loaded my gun I went out and took a shot at Hedrington, for he 
was the only one in sight, and he 'ducked,' and that ended the 
bottle. At this time Rogich appeared, the first time on the 
bunch of logs that I mentioned before, and Leslie shot at him 
and he fell as though he had been struck with an ax. That was 
the one that struck him in the neck, for he was south of us and 
going southwest, and the bullet must have struck him on the left 
side of the neck. He then crawled about 50 yards through the 
grass, got up and walked away in plain sight for about 100 
rods. We didn't shoot at him any more, for he walked as if he 
had all the load he wanted to carry. I only saw four of that 
party and think I could have killed three of them had I so de- 
sired; two of them disappeared before the shooting began. 

In another attempt, a neighbor who helped him, Valentine Weisenbach, was brought to trial for attempted murder and sentenced to prison in Waupun. 

For years, no deputy was brave enough to serve a warrant on Dietz.

Deitz claimed that he owned the dam and could dictate how it was used, including how much he should be compensated. The company claimed that he did not have that right because the person from whom he haad bought the property did not herself possess legal title to the dam. He claimed that he was being persecuted for having exposed collusion between the company and county government. Local authorities claimed they were just trying to enforce the law.

Another attempt on the family was made during the weekly journey to Winter to get supplies and is recounted here by newspaper chroniclers of the time:

The Shooting of Myra:

Finally, last summer, when Sheriff ^Madden at last saw 
a chance for revenge for his humiliation in the election of 
1902, he placed an ambush, together with Thorbahn and Van 
Alstyne, for catching Deitz on his weekly trip to Winter, 
the nearest town to Cameron Dam. 

The shooting of Myra Deitz and the brutal treatment 
she was afterwards subjected to by Sheriff Madden and his 
chief deputy, Thorbahn, and Van Alstyne, the mail robber, 
cannot be matched for cruelty and wanton brutality by any 
events in civilization except the Russian government's 
treatment of the Nihilists. 

Darkest Wisconsin under the lumber trust is as barba- 
rously treated as darkest Russia under czarism. 

A little more than ten weeks ago, on Saturday, the 1st 
of October, Clarence, Leslie and Myra Deitz were going to 
Winter, the nearest town to Cameron Dam, to make their 
usual weekly purchases for the family. They had no sus- 
picions of danger, they felt happy and were singing, having 
no arms of any kind. 

They were about half way to Winter when the horses 
showed excitement, and the next moment two shots were 
fired, followed in quick succession by ten or a dozen more. 
The first shot took effect, Clarence being hit in the arm, 
but he had enough presence of mind to hold the horses. 
Myra received a bullet in the left side, which later exam- 
ination of the wound showed to have passed diagonally 
through the body, grazing the kidneys and passing out after 
splintering the spine. When shot she fell over the dashboard. 

Leslie jumped from the wagon to run home for help. 
His doing so probably saved his sister and Clarence, for 
the official higliwaymen then sent their bullets after him. 
It is said that they fired more than a hundred shots after 
him, and yet he escaped unhurt. 

Then the three marksmen rushed up to the rig, and while 
the brave Thorbahn covered Myra with two six-shooters, 
and Van Alstyne courageously covered Clarence with his 
Winchester, that nervy Sheriff IMadden, who afterwards in 
court declared that he had neither ordered nor seen the 
shooting because he was back in the woods at the time, 
clapped handcuffs on Myra and Clarence. Clarence is to 
be tried, among other things, for resisting arrest. This re- 
sistance consisted in demanding to see the warrant, and 
when Madden did not produce it, protesting that he had 
no right to arrest them without a warrant. 

When the case came up in court Madden admitted that 
he had no warrant, and it was three days before he got one, 
ex post facto, to be served on these two innocent people. 

Then the three official guardians of laAV and order took 
charge of the outfit. Continually threatening the two 
wounded occupants wath their guns, they put Myra at the 
bottom, and then drove on regardless of her pleas to drive 
easy. As she bled profusely, she longed for water, and on 
passing a creek she begged for a drink, but Madden told 
her she could wait until they reached Winter. 

When they got there ^Madden left Thorbahn in charge 
of Myra and took Clarence to Hayward jail. Thorbahn 
brought Myra to the hotel and, revolver in hand, made her 
sit on a chair bleeding, although there was a bed in the 
room, and she begged to be allowed to rest on it. There she 
sat a long while before the physician. Dr. Burns, arrived. 
When he took Myra into another room, Thorbahn tried to 
force his way in, but was stopped by the doctor. 

Dr. Burns, however, merely applied a dry bandage. 
When Myra asked him to examine her wound, because she 
felt the pain of the wound in her back as well as in her side, 
he refused, and said she had merely received a surface flesh 
wound. 

Thus she remained with this legal cerberus watching 
her until Monday, when he took her to the hospital at Ash- 
land, some fifty miles distant. 

The physician there seeing the careless way she had been 
attended to was horrified, and found that an operation 
would be necessary to save her life. If properly cared for at 
Winter probably no operation would have been required. 
We quote Ashland News : 

That Criminal Sheriff. 

At the time, Sheriff Madden proclaimed to the news- 
papers that Miss Deitz was an expert marksman, fully as 
dangerous as any of the family when behind the gun. Miss 
Deitz declared that she had never fired a gun in her life 
and that therefore the warrant which Madden read to her 
was absolutely ridiculous, and now Attorney Lamoreaux, 
in his statement for the persecution, admits that after investigation they found that Miss Deitz never used a 

rifle. Commenting upon this, the Ashland News, December 6, 
says: "Miss Deitz was dangerously shot by an officer of Saw- 
yer county and brutally handcuffed after being wounded. 

"She was confined for weeks in a hospital with a wound 
that gave her great suft'ering, and yet on a sick bed, had to 
endure the humiliation of having a deputy sheriff stand 
guard over her, opening all her personal, private mail and 
refusing to admit friends to her room, and after all this 
experience, which it is claimed has been taken in the name 
of the law, the announcement is suddenly made by the 
prosecution that they have no case against Miss Deitz and 
no ground whatever for the terrible wrongs they have in- 
flicted upon her. 

"It certainly seems incredible to believe that such in- 
justice would be worked out against an American woman, 
and yet no suggestion of punishment is made for such 
actions." 

Sawyer county is likely to have to pay heavily for that 
outrage. It would have been well for them if they had 
followed the advice of the Milwaukee Journal some two or 
three years ago and paid "Deitz his claim against the com- 
pany rather than stand the expenses that are likely to be 
incurred before the row is settled." 

As the stalemate continued from 1904 to 1910, the Deitz case made national news. The liberal press cast him as a common man defending his home against corporate greed, like David facing Goliath. Conservative critics called him a vigilante anarchist who thumbed his nose at the rule of law. Neighbors wondered if he was a principled hero or just a trigger-happy lunatic. 

Articles, books, and even one film were made about "The Defender of Cameron Dam" in order to raise funds to support the family.

Things Come To A Head/ The Battle at the Dam

In 1910 Sawyer Co. officials, embarrassed at their repeated failures to arrest Deitz, deputized mercenaries (including men with ties to the lumber company) to bring him in. On Oct. 1, 1910, three of them ambushed his children in the woods, shooting his daughter through the abdomen. 

A week later, 30 (some stories say 70) men riddled the Deitz home with bullets. 

Members of the Deitz family during happier days prior to the 1910 shootout with sherriff's deputies. Front, from left, Helen, John Deitz, Myra, Clarence, Mrs. Deitz and John Jr. Standing are Stanley and Leslie.

Photograph hanging on the wall of the family cabin of John F. Deitz. The glass of the picture was broken by a bullet piercing the walls between the logs in the battle which had occurred a few weeks earlier, between Deitz and the Sheriff's deputies.

Photograph hanging on the wall of the family cabin of John F. Deitz. The glass of the picture was broken by a bullet piercing the walls between the logs in the battle which had occurred a few weeks earlier, between Deitz and the Sheriff's deputies.

In 1910 the Chippewa Lumber and Boom Company announced that it was holding its final log drive, a decision which Irvine said marked the end of the logging era in northern Wisconsin. A timeline of how things unfolded in the fall of 1910 leading to the shoot out: Sept. 6: Deitz and two of his sons went to Winter to vote.  Afterward Clarence got in an argument with the president of the school bard, Charles G. O'Hare, about the county's agreement to provide a school teacher and $20 a month board so the Deitz children could be educated at home.  Deitz entered the argument and so did logger Bert Horel, who knocked Deitz down. Deitz reacted by drawing a pistol and shooting Horel through the neck, seriously wounding him.  Deitz and his sons retreated to their farm.  Sep. 13:  someone fired a shot at Deitz as he was going from his house to the barn.  Oct. 1:  Sheriff Mike Madden and deputies Fred Thorbahn and Roy Van Alstine ambushed a wagon occupied by Clarence, Myra and Leslie. Clarence and Myra were wounded and Leslie fled back to the farm where Deitz was being interviewed by a Minneapolis newspaperman.  Clarence and Myra were taken in the wagon to Winter.  Oct. 6:  A ring of armed men had formed around the Deitz farm. They were joined by about 30 men from the Kaiser Lumber Company camp north of the Deitz farm.  Oct. 8 :  Midmorning, the posse began working its way toward the Deitz house.  Firing began about 9:30 a.m.  Scores of bullets hit the house where Deitz and his wife huddled with their children. Deitz ran to the barn.  In the gunfire that followed, Oscar Harp, a deputy was fatally wounded.  About 3 p.m. Deitz ran back tot he house and later his daughter Helen emerged waving white towels.  Deitz, wounded in the hand, and his family surrendered. Souvenir hunters began rummaging through the Deitz house.  Bound Over For Trial/ Guilty of Murder/ Prison/ Appeal/Pardon John, Hattie and Leslie were charged with murder, but the charge was dropped later against all but Deitz. Deitz represented himself during a trial at Hayward but failed to convince a jury - which included four lumber company employees - of his innocence in Harp's death.  On May 13, 1911, he was sentenced to life in prison at Waupun. Hattie and the children still at home would visit him whenever they could and moved for a time close to Waupon to be closer to the prison but the years were hard on John and on the family and Aunt Hattie became estranged from John in just a few years time. She and the kids ended up moving to the Milwaukee area where they had relatives.  Appeals were made for a new trial and Deitz's release over the next several years, with money from sympathizers aiding his cause.  Gov. Francis McGovern commuted Deitz's sentence to 20 years in 1914.  After more appeals and petitions from citizens, Gov. John J. Blaine pardoned Deitz and he was released in May of 1921. Death Came Quickly After Prison My Ancestral Great Uncle, John F. Deitz died May 8, 1924, and is buried in a small cemetery south of Rice Lake.  My 2nd Great Uncle's memorial page on Find A Grave with his obituary Hattie went to live with her eldest daughter Myra in Rice Lake. Some of the family including Leslie and Clarence stayed in the Milwaukee area while John Junior settled in the Rhinelander Wisconsin area and Helen eventually settled in Texas. After the Oct. 8, 1910, shootout, the Deitz family never again lived on the Thornapple and Hattie sold the land in 1934. My 2nd Great Aunt, Hattie died in 1942 in Rice Lake. My 2nd Great Aunt's memorial page on Find A Grave Memories Made, Memories Fade, Lives Altered Forever The Saga of the Battle was even made into a movie by one of the founders of Universal Pictures and was shown widely in the early 1920s. I am thinking it was a silent film and though no official record or copy of the film exists that I have been able to find, I do remember my mother talking about it and that her grandmother once viewed a copy that a family member had on a reel back in the 1950s. I am certain it is now lost but I will continue to search for it.  His death was reported in many of the newspapers of the time as well with full page obituaries telling the tale of his "chapter in the annals of Wisconsin history". Below are some photos of the Flyers that were distributed at the time, advertising this "moving picture" and some of the newspaper articles of the time telling the story. "A True Story Where Rights Were Trampled On by Power" This shows side 2 of the DIETZ BATTLE flyer. John Dietz and his family moved to northern Wisconsin where they purchased part of the Cameron estate, but the evil Lumber Company trampled the rights of the hard-working family, hunted them down and forced them off their land, ca. 1910. Leslie Dietz recounted the family version of events in his lectures around the region.  Clearly, this was an emotional story, of corporate greed grabbing property without compensation, of the growing conflict between wealth and poverty, and political intrigue. Continue reading for more on this fascinating period in northern Wisconsin history. What wasn't mentioned in the press at the time was the terrible environmental destruction of northern Wisconsin forests, as seen in photos taken during that era. Here's a closeup of the DIETZ BATTLE film flyer, side 1. Newspaper Article of the Time (page 1) Newspaper Article of the time (page 2) Milwaukee Newspaper Article Wisconsin State Journal Article  Janesville Gazette Article with photo  of John and Hattie Not Forgotten Paul Hass, a Wisconsin historian, wrote in the 1960s: "Fifty years afterward, it is plain that the drama that was played out on the Thornapple made no lasting mark on the history of the Wisconsin pinery. A man died violently, a number of lives were drastically altered, but the central event of the time and place - the passing of the great forest - was neither stayed nor hastened by a single day. "John F. Deitz is remembered, or rather half-remembered, as an aberration, a kind of natural calamity: he happened and was gone. "In a grim sense, he was simply another waste produce of the warning days of lumbering." The current owner of the land  (A mr. Biller) that the Cameron Dam was on says: In the spirit of keeping our state history and this part of it alive for future generations, it is important that the Deitz farmstead be restored for its historical value, "to our area, and the whole state of Wisconsin." "The time to do it is now while there are still some who remember," Biller said. "You know, the main question in all of this is what would have happened if the Deitz story would have happened today," he said. "I believe that in this day and age, with the more liberal courts and all, John Deitz would have won his case. He was a victim of the times." Also as I was researching for this post I came across some entries on the Ancestry.com website from 2000 from a few people commenting on the Dietz surname and I think that one of the entries was from my Uncle Clyde Dietz who mentioned that his father was Raymond and that he once met Clarence.  I also see a post from a man saying he is the grandson of of my 2nd great uncle as well. See below: Family history is amazing.  Dietz family in Wisconsin Change to Thread View   Oldest First  Newest First  1 of 1 Dietz family in Wisconsin Holly Dietz Hoffmaster (View posts) Posted: 20 Nov 2000 10:56PM Looking for any Dietz connections in Wisconsin. My family is from the Winnebago County area.     holly john f. dietz, jr (View posts) Posted: 03 Dec 2000 06:06AM I am the grandson of John F. Dietz of Cameron Dam history. You could possibly be related to my Great-Uncles Henry or William who lived in the Waupaca area.     dietz Holly Dietz Hoffmaster (View posts) Posted: 03 Dec 2000 10:39PM I would love to know more about your Dietz relatives. You can email me at hdietz1@yahoo.com     DIETZ clyde Deitz was dietz grandfather Henry changed in 1945 (View posts) Posted: 10 Dec 2000 12:06AM My grandfather hunted and was close to JOHn DEitz from cameron Dam. I met the son who was shot in the head.Weare from the amherst jct area which is close to waupaca.     Re:DIETZ Holly Dietz Hoffmaster (View posts) Posted: 10 Dec 2000 11:49PM Do I understand from your name that you changed it from Dietz to DEITZ in 1945. Also, was your grandfather Henry Dietz(b. 1834) who was married to Mary S. Jacobs and lived in Neenah, WI? THey had children: Frank, Benjamin R., Dora E., Ralph W.E., Magdalen H., William, and Henry b. 1880 If you think that it is the same person, please let me know.     dietz vs deitz holly (View posts) Posted: 11 Dec 2000 02:30AM My grandfather was from waupaca and he was born and around the 1880's He was henry sr. my dad was raymond and he had a brother henry jr     Re: Re:DIETZ  RebeccaKoszalinski40  (View posts) Posted: 21 Jul 2001 02:33PM Edited: 01 Jan 2005 08:57PM Surnames: Root, Roblee, Dietz, Books It looks like you just described a possible branch of my ancestors... I decend from Joseph and Theresa Dietz to Sophia who then married a Roblee. They too lived in the Neenah area. Regards, Rebecca Now you know a bit more of my family history. Warm Regards, John J. Dietz Repinski "My Family Historian"