Joseph Back

If water is a fluid (according to physics), and air is also a fluid (according to physics), does that mean that old and uninhabited human habitations on land are like the shipwrecks of the atmosphere, and land woods the equivalent of an underwater kelp forest? Hold that thought.

“The door blew down,” a local paper reader informed us of a door that had been propped up near the old barn ruins at the site of the Schmidt Family Farm on Copenhaver Avenue after it appeared in the newspaper some time back. It turned out they had made a trip to the site to look for a grave marker, though without success. For those seeking the grave of male farmhand Florian Brzuzan who perished in the August 7, 1935 fire, he is buried in Holy Family Cemetery along Pine Road, in Stanley. As of the present his marker is not listed at findagrave.com, which helped lead to the confusion.

Returning to the subject of the Schmidt Family Farm Nature Preserve, now is as good a time as any to see the ruins., allowed to return to nature adn located at the tree line just past N13659 Copenhaver Avenue when heading south.

With frozen and crunchy snow replacing fall leaves for a land cover, the prints of deer and man are visiblle in a trail line–but wait, is that wolf, or a dog? Ticks are dormant this time of year and there isn’t hunting allowed by man as the 100-acre site is a nature preserve, but could wild dogs be afoot? The tracks appear largely separate from the solitary shoeprint of yesterday. Speaking of humans, how did the Schmidt Farm ruins come to be in the first place? Very suddenly, on August 7, 1935 around midnight. In a possibly electrical fire as to source, Margaret Jane (Peterson) Schmidt and her son Frank were killed along with a farmby hand named Florian Brzuznan, while the Schmidt Family Home was reduced to ashes. Although a plaque on the site says that Margaret and Frank’s ashes are spread on the Copenhaver Avenue site, the Stanley Republican of August 16, 1935 with corroboration at www.findagrave.com places their graves in the Wheatland Township Cemetery at Naperville in Will County, Illinois. A plaque photo from the Wheatland burial site site uploaded by one “icedobe” relates the following, inscribed in English: “Tears, ere your death, for many a one we shed, but yours are all our tears since you are dead. To comforters we lend an ear apart, while pain sits ever closer to our heart.” The plaque is similar in form to one in German at the home site, which talks instead of “finding rest.” George Washington (G. W.) Schmidt died in 1952, and the The Schmidt Family Farm site was donated by a son of George and Margaret Schmidt decades after the fire as a nature preserve, and is marked as such. While still alive, however, G. W. Schmidt is recorded in the newspaper as pondering the dedication of the farm site to conservation purposes, being inspired by close neighbors.

Also appearing inside the Stanley Republican but much closer to (nine days after) the fire is a special tribute to Margaret Schmidt, which brings light to a world often centered more on men both career and otherwise at the time.

“When death stalked through a farm home last week, it removed a quite remarkable mother, who had given the world to some talented children. They were not talented because of college degrees which she had been able to buy for them with an accumulation of wealth. But they were rich and happy in the accumulation of knowledge garnered along the pathway of life which she had pointed out to them. The same pathway is open to all humanity but only a pitiful few ever discover it…we do not know from whence Margaret Schmidt got her inspiration. But to her the world was very interest-ing… The Schmidt family put to shame that class of people who think life humdrum in a farm home and who think they must seek real entertainment in the cosmopolitan centers of population. Margaret Schmidt and her children constituted a real university (learning from nature) which in proportion to its numbers has not often been excelled in the quality or quantity of its work…” Going on to extol the wife of Professor George Washington (G.W.) Schmidt, the editorial comments in the newspaper of August 16, 1935 relate. So how does one get to the road viewing site exactly? Glad you asked! For those coming from Stanley, a drive south on X out of town followed by a left turn onto H and then MM will bring one to County N. From there, a right turn will bring you to Copenhaver, where a second right turn will bring you to the farm ruins. Coming from the north of Copenhaver off N, the site is located on the right, while those coming from the south after a left turn off Broek Road the site is located on the left side of the road, with yellow signs from UW-Eau Claire marking the area as a nature preserve and an old sign designating the former Schmidt Farm site with fire number 734, Town of Worden. With the gun deer season now over, orange may not be necessary, but its still good to let others know where you’re headed. Although the site is just offroad, it just takes one fall to scrape your head on buckthorn or crack it open on a rock from the old foundation.

But as to lower atmosphere shipwrecks, the ground at the Schmidt woods is solid, not soggy. If you want that, try a seafloor–or a swamp. Happy visiting!

A plaque in German adorns the sight of Fernwold, which means “far-off wood,” located at the pine tree line just past N13659 Copenhaver Avenue when headed south, on the right. Although the plaque says that the ashes of Margaret Schmidt and her son Frank are at Fernwold, findagrave.com places their graves at Wheatland Township Cemetery in Naperville, Illinois, where a plaque in English provides the complementary passage to that on the rock at the old burned-out farm site. Four main sites are discernible when not snow-covered. Staff photo.

A historic picture of Fernwold taken from page 227 of “Stanley Our Town: 1881-1981.” The photo just right is taken from the different angle on the other side and slightly further back.

Now uncovered by green leaves in the winter time, a yellow sign marks the site, with the silo and home foundation just to the left in this photo, though perhaps hard to see for the trees.

A record of a previous human visitor to the site, soon to melt with spring. Staff photo.

Thermodynamics in Action: An old Taylor washing machine, washed by the air and rain. Staff photo.