History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens, Part 15

Author: Marchetti, Louis. cn
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1042

USA > Wisconsin > Marathon County > History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens > Part 15

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"And for the faithful performance hereof each of the parties hereto are firmly held and bound. In witness whereof this instrument is executed on behalf of said county by the undersigned county clerk and chairman of the board of supervisors under and by virtue of an order of said board of supervisors of the county of Marathon of even date herewith and in the presence of said board and by the undersigned vice president of said company at Wausau, Wisconsin, the day and year first above written.

"JOHN RINGLE, [SEAL]

"In presence of "County Clerk of Marathon County, Wisconsin. "D. B. WILLARD, [SEAL]

"A. KICKBUSCH,

"C. H. MUELLER. [SEAL OF COUNTY]

"Chairman of the County Boord of Supervisors. "H. W. REMINGTON, [SEAL]

"Vice President of the Wisconsin Volley Railroad Company.

"STATE OF WISCONSIN, COUNTY OF MARATHON.

"Be it remembered that on this 15th day of March, A. D. 1873, came before me John Ringle, as county clerk of the county of Marathon, and D. B. Willard as chairman of the board of supervisors of Marathon county, and H. W. Remington as vice president of the Wisconsin Valley Railroad Company to me known to be the persons and officers who executed and affixed their seals and the seal of the county board of supervisors to the foregoing instru- ment and acknowledged the execution and sealing of said instrument as therein set forth for the uses and purposes set forth in said instrument.

"W. C. SILVERTHORN,

"Court Commissioner, Marathon County, Wisconsin."

As another and further consideration for some particular purpose, the county voted $25,000 in tax certificates to the same company and received therefor $25,000 of its common stock; and besides, other aid was given by some individuals and towns through which the railroad passed, amounting to somewhere near $55,000. But the railroad was completed before the time fixed and the first train of cars came to Wausau on the 3Ist day of Octo- ber, 1874. It was a gala day for Wausau and arrangements were made for a

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grand celebration to be held on the 11th day of November, to which the people living on the southern end of the road were to be invited as guests of the people of Wausau. On that day a special free train came up from Tomah, bringing the guests, who were entertained by Wausau people with rides, banquets, and speeches. These were banquets at Music and Forest Hall, Mrs. Winkley and Mrs. Paradise having charge of the tables. The welcome address was made by Hon. W. C. Silverthorn, responded to by F. O. Whyatt, superintendent of the railroad, the whole affair being in charge of a commit- tee of ladies of Wausau, to wit: Mrs. James McCrossen, Mrs. George Mc- Crossen, Mrs. R. E. Parcher, Mrs. Henry French, Mrs. Mary B. Scholfield, Mrs. James Peters, Mrs. F. W. Morman, Mrs. J. Poranteau, Mrs. MeKim, Mrs. James Armstrong, Mrs. L. Thayer, Mrs. Aug. Gotche, Mrs. D. Sullivan, Miss Kate Scholfield, Miss Lina Williams, Miss Mary J. Thompson, Miss Josie Thayer, Miss Nellie McCrossen, Miss Josie Bradford, Miss Nettie Meriam, Miss Ida Brightman, Miss Nellie Blair, Miss May Conolly, and Miss Mary Poor.

There were hundreds of guests for the first time in Wausau, and everyone left duly impressed with the hospitality of the city and best wishes for future prosperity.

It would seem extravagant at this day to give two hundred thousand acres of land for the building of a railroad, of which only about thirty miles were to be built in this county. But at the time of making the contract the lands were bringing little or no revenue; the title was deficient; they were not read- ily salable, or at best at one dollar per acre; they were liable to continual tres- · passes and stripping of valuable timbers, and were of course not taxable, increasing to that extent the taxes on lands which were taxable.

By conveying the land to, the railroad, they became assessable and taxes had to be paid thereon. The new owner perfected the title and had a personal interest in selling them, thereby bringing more settlers into the county.

The contractors who built the road, one of which was J. M. Smith, took part of their pay in lands; Mr. J. M. Smith opened a land office here and widely and intelligently advertised these lands, bringing in many new settlers year after year, and encouraging them in every possible way, mainly by sell- ing them the lands at low prices and giving them years and years of credit, until the land was paid from the earnings of the improvements and clearings made by them on the land. It is due mainly to the labors of J. M. Smith that the population increased in the decade from 1870 to 1880 as never before.

From the time the lands were conveyed to the railroad company, they became a continued source of revenue to the county, which increased from

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HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

year to year as the lands increased in value. Even the $25,000 tax certificates given to the railroad were not all thrown away. The county had received and owned $50,000 of the common stock of the railroad.

Lincoln county was set off from Marathon county in 1874, and under the terms of the settlement was entitled to and did receive $17,400 of that stock ; the balance of $36,600 belonging to Marathon county, was sold to Thomas Scott at 52 cents on the dollar face value, on May 29, 1880, according to the minutes of the county board, the county realizing of that supposed worthless stock, the sum of $16,952.

After Marathon county had one railroad, it was not long before another one entered its boundaries. It was the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway, which, when building its main line to Ashland, built its road to Wausau from Eland Junction, without asking for any aid. It reached Wau- sau in the fall of 1880, and really caused more of the growth of Wausau, and the development of Marathon county than the Wisconsin Valley Railroad.

In 1890, the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western extended its line to Marshfield, and by way of inducement, all the county lands were deeded to that road, being about twenty thousand acres.

A logging railroad was built from Stratford into the town of Cleveland, which later incorporated as a railway corporation, and will reach Mosinee in no distant time.

The Wisconsin Central Railroad entered Marathon county, built its line west from Stevens Point, reaching Abbottsford about the year 1872. After leaving Marshfield it enters Marathon county, running nearly diagonal through township 26, range 2, to the village of Spencer, and then north on the boundary line between the counties of Marathon and Clark to Dorchester. At Abbottsford a spur runs to the village of Athens, a distance of about fifteen miles, giving Athens a railroad connection with the Central, now the Minneapolis & Sault St. Mary Railroad.

In 1881, the Wisconsin Valley Railroad extended its line north to Merrill and later as far north as Star Lake in Vilas county, Wisconsin.

THE PASSING OF THE RIVERMAN.

With the completion of the railroad to Wausau in the fall of 1874, and to Merrill in 1881, rafting and running of lumber on the river ceased and railroad transportation took its place. Lumber found new markets in the newly opened states of the west, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and in eastern points, some going as far as New York state. The railroads also opened a market

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for the hardwood which was abundant in this county and theretofore been of no use, except a little for home consumption, and the burning of timber came to an end. The riverman had to look for other employment and became a figure of the past ; but being used to hard work, easily accommodated himself to other spheres of work under new conditions.

The riverman was a picturesque character. His work, exciting, demand- ing quick judgment, often dangerous, hard at all times, with only occasional spells for rest, for weeks out of touch with any other associates than his co- rivermen on the fleets, made him loud-mouthed, rough-spoken, but only at very rare times indulging in a spree to sort of make up for the long intimate familiarity with river water, which kept him wet not only inside, but often outside from foot to head. There were thousands of them that went down annually, every spring and summer, and there must have been sometimes a bad character among them, as can be found in an equal number of men in every vocation of life; and from such an occasional bully or rowdy a false deduction was often made as to all others. As a rule they did not stand high in the estimation of the low river farmer, and were looked askance by the people of the low river towns, where a fleet sometimes tied up overnight. Yet they were better than their reputation. They committed no willful acts of depredation ; molested no peaceful citizen, nor their property; enjoyed only at times in pranks or little mischief, which were often unduly magnified. Many of these boys were from the farms of this state and Illinois and Canada, and could milk cows as the best dairymaid. When a fleet was landed and cow bells were heard in the woods fringing the river, some of these boys would steal away from the fleet with a pail, one of the boys coax the cow to stand still while another relieved her of the precious fluid, and they were hailed as benefactors on their return by the crew. Sometimes a landing had to be made, and quick, too, when a proper place was found, and it happened that a green talesman, a sucker, hitched the line to an old fence post, and the raft would pull down fence post and part of the fence as well, to the consternation of the riverman as well as to the farmer, when he discovered the damage. On the other hand, the fleets furnished a good market for small farm products, which more than made up for all damage done. Rivermen were voracious eaters ; they had to have strong food and plenty of it, and when a fleet passed a river town, the cook was always out looking for eggs and butter, and paid a good price for it. The boys, as a rule, had no money when they started out, and only in very pressing and exceptional cases would the pilot make any advances, nothing being due until the trip was ended. In Sauk City a fleet landed one night and some of the crew were determined to have a frolic and

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HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

some drinks; but being in the usual condition without money, they made the pilot advance them some shingles for money, which were duly charged to them. They took a bunch of shingles each man, proceeded to the next saloon and traded their shingles for drinks, without keeping a strict account of the drinks they had. When they wanted more they were informed they had their full share, and if more drinks were wanted, more shingles must be produced. Good-naturedly, they promised to get them; he that was acting as a foreman or leader, told some of the boys to go to the rafts to get them while he and others were waiting for them, playing cards to pass the time. In due time the boys returned with the shingles, went in at the front door, delivered them through the back door in the yard and had their fill, and departed in the best of spirits. When the saloonkeeper counted his bunches of shingles next day he found only the original consignment ; they had, instead of going to the fleet for shingles, gone to the back yard on the outside, taken the shingles, carried them through the saloon and back again, and in that way balanced their account. It is not likely that the saloonkeeper was the loser thereby after all.

When on the Wisconsin the fleet started at the first glimpse of the dawn, and ran until dark. After landing and supper, the boys would sit around a fire, tell stories, when at times one would break out in the most ribald song, and when through, another would intonate "Father, dear father, come home with me now," or some similar touching sentimental song, the rest all joining in the chorus, and when completed, one after another would silently creep to his hard bunk, and drawing the grey blanket over his face, sink into deep sleep under the melancholy cry of the whippoorwill, until roused out by the loud "tile ut" of the pilot, repeated from raft to raft.

On the Mississippi the fleet ran day and night, unless a strong wind or storm made landing a necessity.

While as a rule the rivermen were rough in speech, especially when on the trip, they were good-natured and even tender-hearted. There was no shooting, no pistol cowboy practices on the river; their work made them inter- dependent on each other, and their common dangers and hardships bound them together, and often friendships were formed which lasted a lifetime. Years afterwards, even to this day, old rivermen, when they meet, love to speak of their experiences and adventures through which they passed on their trips. There were a number of pilots at Wausau which took fleets out and down the Mississippi, and only some of them can be mentioned. There was John C. Clarke, who was a pilot in the beginning of his career as lumberman, but quit when his lumber business increased, only on rare occasion running

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lumber for others over Big Bull Fall; there were Edw. Nicolls, Orson Phelps, Louis Lenneville, A. Lee, who drowned at Little Bull; Joseph Latour, who shared the same fate; Ben Jones, A. B. Fitzer, William Beers, Joseph Hollis, and Peter Crochiere.

At every fall or rapids the rivermen had their favorite to whom they gave the particular honorable designation "Star Pilot."

Beginning above at Merrill, Charles and Henry Sales were the favorites; Leander Swope had the distinction of running more falls successfully than any other, for he took nearly all the lumber out from Pine river, and had to run it not only over Big Bull Fall, and all others, but get the lumber over six dams in Pine river before he landed it in the Wisconsin; at Wausau, Edw. Nicolls was the star pilot. When he ran rafts over the falls in the best stage of water, his piece carried always numerous passengers, female as well as male, who made the trip for the pleasure and excitement ; when the stage was high, the bridge was lined with spectators, sometimes betting between themselves as to how few cribs would be stove in the passage. At Little Bull, as has already been said, William Cuer excelled. The last fleets taken out from Wausau were piloted by a young German, Charles Hagen, who made a fine record as a pilot, coming up here from Grand Rapids only a few years before the railroad, but then the time for rafting out lumber had nearly passed away, and he has the melancholy satisfaction of being the last of the renowned Wausau pilots.

LINCOLN COUNTY CREATED.

It has been stated that at the time of the creation of Marathon county there was no land surveyed in the whole county, except the few lots which were specially surveyed and the land sold in Washington, which were the lots bordering on the river, and with the fall and rapids constituted the water power in Wausau and Mosinee. The lands above township 31 were unsur- veyed until after 1860, when surveying began, which was not completed until 1865, and these lands were first offered for public sale in October, 1866.

After some years much of it was sold and became subject to taxation, and the people north demanded a new county to develop the resources of the upper territory. This demand was justified and was heeded, and no opposition was made when a bill was introduced in the legislature for the creation of Lincoln county. By Chapter 128, Laws of 1874, the new county was created, an elec- tion ordered to be held in the fall of the same year ; only for judicial purposes it was attached to Marathon county, simply because it had no place to hold

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HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

a term of court, which was quickly remedied, a courthouse being built in Merrill the next summer, and Lincoln county started out as a fullfledged county in the state. The new county included all the territory "in the county of Marathon lying north of the correction line on the south line of township numbered thirty-one (31) north." The new county had an area of about one hundred congressional townships, but has been cut down considerably by creation of new counties in the next twenty years.

Lincoln county elected its county officers and the following is a copy of the settlement made between the two counties, to wit :

SETTLEMENT WITH LINCOLN COUNTY, MADE JANUARY 18TH, 1875.

Resources of Marathon County.

Balance in treasury $19,975.80

Value of tax certificates, on hand 18,000.00

Value of Poor Farm

2,000.00

Value of Courthouse and buildings.

4,000.00

Value of Public Square

3,000.00

Furniture and Fixtures

1,446.00

Total

$48,421.80

The Wisconsin Valley Railroad stock was left as an unsettled account of unknown value, as also the records of Marathon county.

Liabilities.

South Line and Plank Road bonds $12,120.00

Outstanding county orders 39,218.11

Due to towns 3,003.54

Balance due on railroad contract 1,500.00

Bills presented and not yet allowed

2,862.50

Total $58,720.65

Liabilities above resources $10,298.85 Assessed against Lincoln county accord- ing to last assessment 3,706.85 and all unsettled accounts not presented to be settled on the same basis.

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It was further stipulated that the amount assessed against Lincoln county shall become due and payable as follows:

April 1, 1876. $1,000.00

April 1, 1877. 1,000.00

April 1, 1878 1,706.05

The above settlement was made by a committee of J. Paff, D. L. Plumer and A. W. Schmidt on the part of Marathon county, and Charles Sailes, H. A. Keyes, T. B. Mathews and Z. Space on the part of Lincoln county.

Attention is called to the resources and liabilities of the county, and especially to the amount of outstanding county orders, showing that the out- standing orders exceed the cash on hand just about 33%. The last installment due from Lincoln county was not paid until the time when Lincoln county demanded its share of the Wisconsin Valley Railroad stock, in 1881, when it was delivered upon payment of this last part of the amount found due upon settlement made in 1874.

CHAPTER XIII.

Timber left in 1875-Farm Development-Roads and Communications- Timber Lands in 1912-Schools-Courthouse and County Institutions- The Marathon County Agricultural Society-The Marathon County Bar.

MARATHON COUNTY.

After railroads had penetrated the county, the population increased speed- ily. Up to that time (1871) there was no settlement at all in ranges 2 and 3, in townships 26, 27, 28 and 29, and none as far north as Ashland; and the first settler in fact was the Wisconsin Central Railroad. It passed through a splendid timber county, and saw mills sprang up almost simultaneously with the road. From the mill settlements at Mannville, Spencer, and Unity, farm- ers went in east and west, making farms in Clark and Marathon counties. At Colby a farmer settlement sprang up, and the towns of Hull and Holton were the strongest farming communities in the extreme west of the county in the first years, there being a large amount of government lands which was taken up by homesteaders. They had to go through the same experience as the ear- liest pioneers, except that they were a little nearer to a base of supplies along all the railroad stations. Otherwise their work was as hard and their distress at times as severe as those of all pioneers. Like all others, they had to cut their roads for themselves ; were deprived of all comforts for some years, but their compensation for braving the wilderness came sooner because they were nearer markets and a railroad to connect them with civilization. During the decade from 1870 to 1880 the county increased faster proportionately than before or after. The population in 1870 was 5,885, but in 1880 it was 17,121, having more than trebled; and it must be remembered that in 1874 all that part of Marathon county lying north of township 30, which had a population of over 800 in 1870, which is included in the census of 1870. was taken off from Marathon county and organized as Lincoln county.

In 1875 there was still an immense amount of standing timber in Mara- thon county, which was computed at that time by D. L. Plumer and John Ringle, from estimates received from the best and most reliable sources, as follows :

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On the Central Railroad 200 million feet

On the Little Eau Pleine 200 million feet

On Rib River. 75 million feet

On the Big Eau Pleine 100 million feet

On Little Eau Claire too million feet

On Big Eau Claire [ 50 million feet

On Big Plover 150 million feet .

On Trappe

40 million feet

On Wisconsin

50 million feet

valued at the time at $1.50 per thousand feet, stumpage.

This estimate was based, of course, upon the best information obtainable, and included only the standing pine timber; but judging from the fact that pine lumber operations on these streams have been carried on until very recent years, it is safe to assume that it was rather an under than over estimate.

There is little pine, if any, left on these streams, but there are yet many million feet in this county standing among the hardwood timber, which is carefully saved and guarded by the owners, mostly farmers.

The saw mills have decreased, but other factories where wood is manu- factured into smaller articles have increased; but the output of lumber is still very large, amounting to somewhere one hundred million or more in the county, mainly manufactured at Wausau, Scholfield and Stratford.

Some of the logs come still on the river route, but most are shipped in by rail from the north. In place of saw mills, paper mills have been built, and give employment to labor ; veneer mills cut up the timber into less than one-sixteenth of an inch, where formerly lumber was sawed one and two inches thick. Sash and door factories work up the rough material into high priced articles, and iron factories furnish the mills with the machines and build bridges for export. All these factories will be mentioned later, when coming to each city, village or town. But most of all, the farming industry had developed to an extent never dreamed of before.

With the slightly diminished supply of pine came a demand for other woods; first for hemlock, which was regarded as almost worthless and gave the farmer the most trouble in burning; hemlock bark was being shipped to the tanneries of Milwaukee and La Crosse by thousands of cords every year, but much is now consumed at the large tannery at Wausau; after the bark was stripped off, the logs could be sold for a fair price at the mills, being at least salable, and in later years commanded a good price, especially compared with its former worthlessness ; next basswood came in large demand, and after

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HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

1880 there was not a stick of timber that could not be sold at a mill, at a low price sometimes, but the burning had an end.

Every log was now worth something, and paid the farmer a fair compen- sation for clearing, where formerly he had to burn. Such being the case, the clearings became larger and larger; the country settled up; new villages sprang up; towns had to be divided, and new ones organized; agriculture advanced; new farm houses were being built; the old log house and barn dis- appeared and in its place came fine, comfortable frame, brick and even con- crete houses, and large frame barns and stables. The many creameries and cheese factories created a demand for improved stock, and prosperity smiled upon the farmers of Marathon county. The ox as a draft animal is no longer to be seen anywhere; even the logging, rather skidding, is now done with horses. The German farmer, who is in the overwhelming majority in this county, getting fast Americanized, however, in this generation, did never take very kindly to ox driving; as soon as he had a farm large enough to keep a team of horses in feed, he took to horses; and it is a fact that no finer or better horses can be seen anywhere in the state. The German farmer loves his horses and takes care of them as if they were human beings, and they repay his kindness and care.

The progress of farm development from 1900 to 1910 is clearly indicated by the following statistics :

1900.

1910.

Increase per cent.

Population

43,256

55,054

Number of farms

4,276

5,080

Acreage in farms

442,878

532,876

Acreage in improved farm land

145,060

184,153

Woodland on farms, acres

236,444

Value of all farm property

$10,688,438

$25,293,638

I36

Value of farm land

6.328,210

15.640,77I

147

Value of buildings

2,253.170

5,611,400

149

Value of implements and machinery. .

497,820

1,273,612

156

Value of domestic animals .

1,609,238

2,767,855

Value of farm land, per acre.

14.29

29.35

106

The census of 1910 shows 5,080 farms in Marathon county, having an average of 105 acres. The general average is decreased by the number of small holdings of one or a few acres by workingmen on the outskirts of the cities and villages, which are counted as farms in the census, as otherwise the farms usually exceed 120 acres.

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History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens, Part 15

Author: Marchetti, Louis. cn Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1042

Author: Marchetti, Louis. cn
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1042