History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens, Part 25

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

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

house of Mrs. Henry Paff, who furnished the yeast for the housewives, and next was the St. Paul church.

Only a few shanties were east from the church towards the marsh.

On Jefferson street, coming from Main street, was the house of J. Burns (now Fingerhut), the house of Bradford on corner of Third street, Corey's house on Third and Jefferson and the Slosson house on corner of Fourth and Jefferson, with some shanties further east, occupied by the brothers George and Jacob Stelz, who had removed to Wausau from a farm in the town of Stettin a few years before.

On the north side of Jefferson street beginning west, was the house of George G. Green and another small building near the corner of Third; the court house block was unfenced, and Herman Miller's house occupied the place where the gas company building and opera house now stand.

On Scott street were no buildings at all until Third street was reached, where George Lawrence had a building on the site of the Bellis House, and where the McCrossen store now stands, was a building owned by Slos- son ; well towards Fourth street was the home of Ely R. Chase and the post- office. This postoffice building was later removed to Main street and served as an office for W. D. McIndoe and the Stewart Lumber Company and was later moved to Second street near Forest street.

Where the Federal building now stands, was the house of W. Wilson, occupied by him until the site was chosen for the present postoffice. On McClellan street lived J. Dobbly, Louis Lenneville, and next to him was the St. John's Episcopal church, and opposite the church the residence of R. P. Manson, one of the most prominent buildings at the time. On Sec- ond street from the south, was the house of Ernst Schultz, next one belong- ing to Luedke, both shoemakers, and further north passing Scott street, lived Mich. Rouseau; also Shaughnessy which place is now owned by P. O. Means; further north was the house of William Dodge.

On Third street was the Forest House, the Paff store already mentioned, the hardware store, and the tin shop of Richard Baumann, the Casterline and Bradford buildings already referred to, and opposite the court house was a one and one-half story building, "the Bank of the Interior," owned by J. A. Farnham. On the east side of Third street was the Forest House barn, in the next block north the grocery and lumbermen's supply store of E. M. Mott and Herman Miller, the J. Gensman's residence and shoe shop, which is now on Second street; on the corner was the August Engle watch- maker's shop already referred to, and on the corner of Mcclellan street was the home of Babcock. No buildings at all were on Fifth street.

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There were other small houses and shanties scattered through this ter- ritory here and there; the streets were not graded, and only in the business portion of the village had the stumps been removed; very few and narrow sidewalks existed. The end of Washington street at the Kickbusch store and Main street were much higher than at present, the slough bridge was much lower than now, and consequently so steep a descent down as to make it impossible for one team to haul up a heavy load. On Washington street was a well near the sidewalk at Kolter's toy store, which was well patronized by the neighborhood. This is mentioned only to show the rural character of the streets at that time.

In the northern end of the town as far north as Grant street lived John Haines, Benjamin Thomas, and Lawyer J. P. West.

W. C. Silverthorn, district attorney, occupied the second story of the Strobridge building on Fourth and Forest streets. On Grand avenue was the house of Mich. Le Mere, one block further south the house of Lamereaux (Edee estate), and still further south the house of M. Walrad; then came the property of Plumer and Walton, unplatted, and cultivated by B. G. Plumer as a farm.

The Ruder brewery was the only building on the west side of Grand avenue and a saloon with a small dance hall was standing in Columbia Park with the residence of Edw. Kretlow, father of Ed. C. Kretlow, who had come from Milwaukee to take charge of the newly organized Wausau concert band and teach and conduct its practices. That park was and remained for thirty years and upwards, the recreation ground of the work- ing population of Wausau.

Opposite the Brewery park was the house of Adam Young, whose busi- ness was to haul freight from points below. 1

The marsh stretched out from a little south of McIntosh street to some- where up to Franklin street and extended west to Seventh, and in the spring even to Sixth street. The roads leading out from Wausau were the Jenny road, the road to Little Rib, Stettin, and Marathon, the road on the west side through the town of Main to Berlin, the Whiskey road, so-called, branch- ing off from the Jenny road at the three-mile boom, a corderoy road across the marsh at the head of Jackson street and slanting up east hill to the set- tlement in Wausau and Easton: the town line road to Eau Clair and Hog- arthy, the south line road to Mosinee, and a road branching off at Schol- field to the Kelly mills. No other streets except on the original plat had been platted, and only half of them were worked; for instance, Fourth street east of the court house had only a wagon track winding around the stumps.

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On the west side of the river were two or three shanties close to the river bank, and further down was a house on the Kennedy farm (now Chellis), then occupied by the widow of Judge Kennedy who had married Peter Gif- ford, a saw filer, and the place became known as the Gifford place; the forty acres owned by the Aug. Kickbusch estate, was in a good state of cul- tivation, owned at the time by John Kopplin and sold to Aug. Kickbusch in this year, and Anton Schuetz had commenced clearing on his farm on the hill joining the Kickbusch place.

On the road leading north in the settlement, there was the H. Daniel's shingle mill, the house of Mrs. Poor, and a farmer by the name of Hoff- mann, father of William Hoffmann, who with his sons engaged some in logging. Up towards the north, on the west side of the road, the land where now are located the fields of John Egeler, the fields enclosing the George Jung slaughter house, the S. M. Qnaw and Herman Hartel farm, and other well cultivated smaller tracts, was termed the "Brand," meaning burned district. The timber had been cut, then a high wind threw down the remaining trees, the fire ran through and gave it a desolate appearance ; the whole tract was supposed to be sterile and worthless.

To summarize : There were in Wausau in 1867-The original four saw mills, seven general merchandise stores, one hardware store, one toy store, four blacksmith shops, three wagonmaker shops, four shoemaker shops, three hotels, and one boarding house, and seven saloons.

The hotels and boarding houses were crowded except in midwinter and midsummer.

The lumbermen in business at Wansau were: First the nfill owners W. D. McIndoe, B. G. Plumer, John C. Clark, and Brown & Fellows, J. and A. Stewart, R. P. Manson, Kickbusch Brothers, R. E. Parcher. Lawrence & Peters, Mich. Stafford, Jacob Paff, and Herman Miller.

Of the men who operated portable mills D. B. Wylie and Gerry Judson only lived in Wausau. J. D. Gray lived at Scholfield, and so did William Callon, and the brothers William P. and N. T. Kelly operated two mills on Eau Clair river and resided there.

The Trappe mill was operated by M. D. Courcey, the Pine river mill by Ed. Armstrong, and the mill in Jenny by Combs and Andrews. William McIntosh had a mill on Sandy creek. The mill on Little Rib owned by B. Single sawed a large amount of lumber annually for years yet to come.

The Scholfield mill probably cut the largest amount of lumber about that time, doing a large amount of custom sawing under the management of D. B. Willard. Nearly all the trade from these mills came from Wausau. 16

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J. E. Leahy had come to Wausau in 1866 and commenced logging operations in 1867 and lived at the Forest House until his marriage in 1872 to Miss M. D. McCrossen.

The question may arise in the minds of some readers: Where did the hundreds of river men stop or sleep until the lumber was rafted and was on its way down stream? Many of these young men came after the ice had gone out and rafting had commenced; they slept in the rafting shanties at each mill in bunks until the fleet started down, when they made room for others. Wausau was the place where they congregated, and from here they went to the mills at other points, to Scholfield, to Kelly, to Little Rib, Big Rib and Trapp, Pine, and Jenny, and to the points in the Wisconsin where the lumber sawed at the portable mills was piled or stacked.

The capacity of the mills after the introduction of circular saws had immensely increased, still it was small when compared to the output of a modern mill.

In 1867 the largest output on record in one day's run of twelve hours less the time consumed for dinner, was a little over 30,000 feet, and was made in Plumer's mill, but it was only made by selecting the best of logs from the crop of good, fine logs at hand, and much of it was sawed into 11/2 and 2 inch stuff.

The small capacity of early mills accounts for the holding out of the pine supply as long as it did; and only the best of logs were taken; such as showed some ring rot, and punk knot were left in the woods on the ground to rot. And it cannot be said that it was willfully wasted. Such were left in the woods Simply because to cut, haul, drive, and saw them would have entailed actual loss to the lumbermen. No such loss occurred later with bet- ter prices for lumber and cheaper and better transportation facilities, but in early years this loss was unavoidable. With the great number of young men, especially in the spring, street brawls were not uncommon, but had no serious consequences ; such crimes as shooting and stabbing did not occur. Indeed the carrying of a pistol was very uncommon. Women and girls were safe from molestation as much and more so than now, the dude or masher was an unknown being.

Mail arrived daily, but the roads left much to be desired. It often hap- pened that passengers had to walk a distance where the horses could only get through with the empty stage, or over a hill, or lift it out of the mire.

The village marshal kept, or attempted to keep order. Indians were still numerous, but inoffensive. No gambling or sporting house existed, and the community was a peaceable one. Mills stopped running during the

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day on Sundays, but not rafting, when the freshet was on. The churches having regular services on Sunday were the Methodist church, the St. John's Episcopal, and the St. Paul's Lutheran church.

Business conditions in the year 1867 were exceptionally good. Lumber brought good prices and cash pay. Mills prepared for a greater output, and the mill owners for an enlargement of the boom to hold the greater quantity of logs, which was expected to be manufactured next season. B. G. Plumer, with the keen foresight which was characteristic of him, had obtained the Baetz Island, and the land adjoining the river for the boomage of his logs, and in the coming winter he put in the piers and the Baetz Island boom, which while put in for his own use, nevertheless were of immense advantage to the other mill owners, in that it at least doubled the capacity of the boom, besides making a safe boom, able to withstand high freshets easily. Another event occurring in that year, needs mentioning.

Mr. August Kickbusch, the senior member of the firm of Kickbusch Brothers, was another one of the business men who saw the advantage which this county offered to the industrious poor man, who was willing to under- take the cultivation of the land, in other words, go farming. In the spring of that year, he made a trip to his old home in Pommerania, a province in the kingdom of Prussia. He had left his home just about ten years before, a comparatively poor man, and when he returned, a wealthy man, his coming created a mild sensation. In speaking of this country, he had to tell only the truth without exaggeration, to induce many people to emigrate and cast their lot with the new country. He was able to assure them that they could find employment at paying wages, and could with their earnings purchase good land and become independent men, and being willing to work, a great many took his advice and came to Marathon county.

He did not spend much time in Germany, having to hurry home to give his attention to the firm's business, and returned about the end of June. A number of families came with him, among them, John Marquart and wife, August Laabs and wife, Carl Goetsch, John Grochow, John Bartz, Henry Hintz, Ludwig Marth, Otto Schochow, Ferdinand Kickbusch and family, Ferdinand Laabs, August Buss and wife, and August Borchardt and sister, and some young unmarried men and women.

They made their home first in Wausau, but most of them took up land after one or two years and became prosperous farmers. But they were only the first ones of the large emigration of low Germans which followed them year after year until about 1880, and which built up the towns of Main. Berlin, Stettin, Wausau, Easton, and Hamburg ..

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HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

The first settlement in Wausau, which was the first settlement in Mara- thon county when it was part of Portage county, has already been referred to, and how the growth of the village made it necessary to organize a village government, which was effected in the spring of the year 1861.

The principal village officers were :

1861-F. A. Hoffmann, president of board of trustees; Thomas Single, village clerk.

1862-B. Ringle, president of board of trustees; Thomas Single, village clerk.

1863-B. Ringle, president of board of trustees; M. H. Barnum, village clerk.

1864-R. P. Manson, president of board of trustees; M. H. Barnum, village clerk.

1865-Aug. Kickbusch, president of board of trustees; William Wilson, village clerk.

1866-Aug. Kickbusch, president of board of trustees; R. P. Manson, village clerk.

1867 -- Jacob Paff, president of board of trustees; J. W. Chubbuck, vil- lage clerk.

1868-Jacob Paff, president of board of trustees; J. W. Chubbuck, vil- lage clerk.

1869-Jacob Paff, president of board of trustees; J. W. Chubbuck, vil- lage clerk.

1870-C. Hoeflinger, president of board of trustees; J. W. Chubbuck, village clerk.

1871-C. Hoeflinger, president of board of trustees; J. W. Chubbuck. village clerk.

All these names were familiar as the names of old residents at the time. except F. A. Hoffmann, whose career was rather meteoric and not lasting. The proceedings of the county board mentioned in a former chapter show him as the power in that body for a space of time at least. Thomas Single was one of the four brothers Single, who were among the first comers into this county.

In the last years of the war and after its close, the lumber business was profitable, mill owners made improvements to increase the capacity of their mills, and there was a general good and secure feeling as to the future. Lum- ber was in demand and advances on lumber in piles could be procured before it was rafted. Nevertheless some unforeseen events occurred from time to time which retarded any sudden advance in prosperity.

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In April, 1866, there was a high freshet which swept away the bridge (at the falls), went over the guardlock, and people living on Shingle street removed with their goods in time to escape destruction. The east end of the guardlock was swept away, the wall of water coming down washed out the street, tore away the pier under the slough bridge and also the conductor between the Clarke and Plumer's mill, a part of Clarke's mill, and some lumber and logs. The carrying away of part of the dam of the mill pond between the Clarke and Plumer mill delayed all mills in their work until the damage was repaired and gave rise to some hard feeling between the owners, it being claimed that repairing the damage was unduly delayed.

During the summer and until the bridge at the falls was rebuilt, a com- munication with the western settlements was established by running a ferry boat from the eddy above the dam to McIndoe's Island, which was connected with a light bridge with Clarke's Island. To raise some cash, needed for the building of the bridge at the falls, the county board ordered an issue of county orders, sufficient to realize at a sale of them the sum of $1,000.00, the orders not to be sold for less than seventy-five cents on the dollar at their face value.

When the county board fixed that value on county orders, it could not be expected they would bring more, and they did not.

The portable mills closed sawing in April, 1866, with an output estimated at 16 million feet.

No calamity of any kind befell Wausau in 1867 and 1868; but in 1869 a fire consumed the built-up portion of the north side of Washington street between Second and Third streets. It broke out in the night time in the house of John Cramer on corner of Second street, and with only water pails to fight, it spread to the next, the residence and harness shop of Ernst Felling, then to the residence and toy store of Jacob Kolter. then to Kolter's music hall, the finest hall then in Wausau, completed in the fall of 1868, and threat- ened to fire the house of Frank Mathie, which was saved by tearing down the addition nearest the burning music hall and keeping wet blankets on the roof of the main building. The buildings on the south side of the street, the residence of F. Wartman, the house of John Dern, and the house and store of Charles Woessner were saved by the same methods, nearly the whole population being in line from the river up to handle water in pails to the fire.

All these buildings were substantially new buildings, especially music hall, which was quite a pretentious one for the time, and as the insurance companies in which they were insured turned out wholly or partly insolvent,

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the loss was severely felt by the owners; but with pioneer grit they all went at once to work to rebuild.

The fire was an object lesson to the people, which the village board was not slow to comprehend. The night of the fire was still, hardly any air stir- ring, else had there been only a moderate wind, increased by the heat of the flames, all the portion of the village within the sweep of the wind would have been swept clear by the fire. A hand engine was promptly purchased, which arrived on the 22d day of July, 1869, which was named "W. D. Mc- Indoe" by the village board. No holiday was proclaimed on the day of its arrival, but there was an impromptu celebration nevertheless.

Wausau Fire Company No. I was already organized, and this company with that hand engine, for nearly twenty years worked voluntarily, that is, without any pay, attending meetings, fire practices and working at fires, protecting the property of the citizens from heavy losses, and on more than one occasion saved the village from destruction. It proved its efficiency in the same year when on October 8th, the Clarke mill caught fire in the night time, and in spite of the immense inflammable material in and all around it, through the efforts of the fire company, aided, of course, by the citizens, the conflagration was confined to the mill proper, no other building or lumber piles being consumed. B. G. Plumier, whose property was in greatest danger, gave to the Wausau company a silver speaking tube as a memorial of good service. Another instance was the burning down of the large Forest Hotel, a three-story building, standing close to Forest Hall and the Winkley House, on the 2d day of August, 1878. In spite of heat and falling sparks, the fire was limited to the Forest House, and the adjoining buildings escaped destruc- tion, although not more than twenty feet distant from the burning one. The streets from Main up to Fourth between Forest and Washington streets had then been built up very compact with only two or three exceptions, all light frame buildings, and more than one had caught fire and burned down, and in each instance the fire was confined to the burning building, a record of which any regularly paid company might justly be proud.

The engine house with an alarm bell stood first on the southeast corner of the Court House square: in 1880 it was removed on the corner one block further east. When fire broke out somebody ran to the engine house, rang the bell, the firemen dropping everything in hand, ran to the engine house, pulled out the engine and two hose carts, each with five hundred feet of hose and hurried to the fire. In most cases the fire could be reached with hose from the shore of the slough or from platforms erected on convenient places on those shores; later cisterns were built at the intersection of streets

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to furnish water. No time was lost waiting for horses, the fire company always responding promptly. This engine house is now the property of Mr. Charles Burke on Scott street and used by him as a barn and stable.

The following named gentlemen were foremen at different times of this fire company, but it is barely possible that one or two names may have been overlooked, the names being cited from memory, the records of the company having been lost. The first foreman was George Werheim; others were: B. G. Plumer, W. C. Silverthorn, Jacob Paff, F. W. Kickbusch, Valentine Ringle, C. H. Mueller, Henry Miller, and Louis Marchetti.

During the whole of its existence, excepting only the first two years, Mr. August Lemke was hose captain, and no inan ever rendered more efficient and patriotic service than he. When he died in February, 1901, the sur- vivors of the extinct company, feeling that such a mark of respect was due to his memory, assembled, and under the lead of Louis Marchetti, the last foreman of the company, escorted his remains to the grave .*

Before the casket was lowered Judge Marchetti said:

"We stand at the bier of a dear friend, whom we have known long and well. With him is gone from our midst another of those generous, daring and whole souled pioneers, who have opened up a wilderness for thousands of people to follow them, who profiting by their toil, have found homes and comfort, and happiness, and many of them even wealth. Few men are liv- ing yet, who, like the deceased, have seen Wausau grow from a mere trading post to its present proud position among the sisterhood of cities of our proud state. Nearly his whole life was spent here, from early youth to his ripe old age. His life was an open book that everybody could read.

"At his bier the injunction to speak only good of the dead becomes use- less for there is nothing else to say. No man could ever say that August Lemke did him wrong, not even in thought, much less in deed. In his prime of life, his body was that of a giant, yet his soul was that of a child, harmless, guileless, innocent. He never harbored malice, never knew what it was. Like all human beings, he had his joys and his sorrows, but he was never boastful in his success, never bitter in his grief.

"He was an intensely loyal and patriotic citizen. He loved his family and brought up his children to be honest, useful citizens, not drones in society. Next to his family he loved this city, and gave his best thoughts and many months and even years of his life to the service of this community without

* After the inauguration of the water works, the hand engine was sold to the village of Athens, where it is still doing as good work as ever.

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pecuniary compensation. Who is there that has done more than that; how many are there that have done as much as that?

"For twenty years or more he was an active fireman in the voluntary fire department and second in command during the whole time, his modesty pre- venting him from taking first place, which he would have filled with credit to himself and benefit to the community.

"Often have we seen him surrounded by smoke and flame drenched through and through in the cold of a winter night, and never flinch. He never sent a man to a place of danger where he would not go himself. He served his city and county well in other places, but he was one of those silent, modest men, who would rather shun than seek publicity. It all the more be- comes the duty of those who knew him well to speak of his many merits at his grave and point out to the younger generation that they might well emulate the example of our honored friend. August Lemke was a thorough disciple of Christ. His life was regulated by the rule 'As you would that others should do unto you, do you even so unto them.'

"Like most other pioneers he did not accumulate great wealth; he does not leave riches to his children, but something of more value than that; he leaves behind him a name honored and beloved for good acts and deeds done in life. for his civic virtues, for his spotless character, for his unflinching integrity, and a name which will be remembered in the history of Wausau along with those other good and noble men who have gone before him, and with those who will soon follow him, as the founders of our city.

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History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens, Part 25

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