On July 7, 1905, sixteen loggers of the Chippewa Lumber and Boom Company tried to break a log jam on the Chippewa River at Holcombe below Little Falls dam, one of the largest wooden dams in the world. The batteau boat they rode reached the jam but got beyond the men's control in the wild current of the rapids, and at 10:30 in the morning it capsized. Eleven men drowned: Oscar Barquest of Cadott, Max Billard of Drywood, Saul Brackett of Eau Claire, Henry Bryon Furgeson of Chippewa Falls, Louis Gokey of Flambeau, Andrew Gonyea of Jim Falls, Ole Horne of Chippewa Falls, Burt Larry of Anson, Paddy Leyden of Drywood, Joe Peloquin of Drywood, and Adolph Toutant of Cadott. Five men survived: John Dressel of Chippewa Falls, George Kaiser of Chippewa Falls, Eddie Martin of Chippewa Falls, William Smith of Drywood, and Emil Toutant of Cadott. Dressel, Kaiser, and Smith jumped onto the log jam itself when the boat struck it, while Martin and Toutant were swept through the rapids and were picked up later a mile down the river nearly exhausted. Sixty other loggers of the Chippewa Lumber and Boom Company saw the accident from the shore and quickly launched another batteau to try a rescue.