1918 Marsh Celebration Images

These historic photos were originally assembled by Stephanie Carpenter for the University Bay Project in 1972-73.

Laying the First Tile (1914

Laying the First Tile (1914): Workers, as part of an experiment, dug ditches and installed clay tiles to drain the 80 acre peat marsh inside Willow Drive so that the area could become experimental agricultural fields. This was one of the first attempts to drain a marsh that was lower than or level with an adjoining lake. Earlier attempts to drain this marsh using open ditches and a wind powered elevator failed to drain the area. After the tiles gathered the water into a reservoir, a manually controlled gasoline engine raised the water from the marsh into the higher University Bay. The skilled tile layers were paid $2 a day (Elliott, et. al. 1921). Courtesy of the UW Archives

First Successful Plowing (May 8, 1914)

First Successful Plowing (May 8, 1914): After the initial tiling horses were able to walk on the marsh for the first time and plow the thick peat. This was the first plowing of a lake-level marsh (Elliott, et. al., 1921). This peat soil was nutritionally unbalanced and fertilizer, usually cow manure, was required to make crops prosper (McCabe and Carpenter, 1976). Courtesy of the UW Archives

Examining the Ditch (1916): People from the Agricultural Experimental Station examining a tile ditch from near University Bay Drive at the edge of Shorewood Hills. Each tile ditch was dug by hand. Ditches were 3 to 5 feet deep and about 300 feet long. Due to the labor-intensive nature of the work, only 7 to 15 acres of tile were laid per year. The area was not completely drained until 1921. In order to drain the entire 80 acre area, approximately 20 miles of tile were laid by hand (Elliott, et. al., 1921). Courtesy of the UW Archives

Soldier in Tile Ditch (1915)

Soldier in Tile Ditch (1915): Military exercises of the Student Army Training Corp were conducted in the partially drained fields. In addition, due to the shortage of labor, cadets from the Military Department were used to dig trenches (McCabe and Carpenter, 1976). Note the depth of the trench and the thickness of the tile. Courtesy of the UW Archives

Pump House (1921)

Pump House (1921): The manually controlled gasoline driven pump was replaced by an automatic 10 horsepower electric pump later in 1914. The pump lifted the water up approximately 7 feet from the reservoir to release the water into University Bay (Elliott, et. al. 1921). Today a pump at a pump house in the same location controls the water in the Class of 1918 Marsh. Courtesy of the UW Archives

Cornfield (1918): A view of harvested corn shocks in the successfully drained fields from University Bay Drive near the intersection with Lake Mendota Drive. At the back the pump house and Willow Drive are visible. Today the Class of 1918 Marsh covers much of this area. Courtesy of the UW Archives

Sources:
Elliott, G. R .B., E. R. Jones, and O. R. Zeasman. 1921. Pump Drainage of the University of Wisconsin Marsh. University of Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 50.

McCabe, R. and S. A. Carpenter. 1976. A Niche in Time. The University Bay Project. University of Wisconsin – Madison. Unpublished manuscript. Available Steenbock Memorial Library Archives.

back to 1918 Marsh Overview

back to top of page