History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens, Part 7

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

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HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

Men were swept overboard at Little Bull on many occasions, but in hanging on to bunches of shingles or getting hold of the raft, came out of the whirlpool safe and sound, but some were drowned, Little Bull exacting one or more victims nearly every year until lumber running ceased in 1882.

Having run over one piece of six cribs, it was landed as near as the stage of the water permitted a landing, then the crew walked back for another piece until the whole fleet was over. This going back was called "gigging." The distance to "gig" at Wausau was from one to two and a half miles, de- pending on the stage of water ; at Little Bull it was about one-half mile : at the Stevens Point dam it was one mile: at Conants Rapids it was three miles ; at the Five Points above Grant Rapids it was all of four miles; at Grand Rapids it was one and a half miles, then from four to five miles at the Whitney Rapids, and again four miles to Point Baussee. Much lumber was broken up in going over the falls, dams and rapids, and besides the loss, it took time to re-raft the crib. Sometimes a piece would get stuck on a rock or dam, and would have to be floated off in small bunches. Arrived at Point Baussee, three rapids pieces were coupled together, having about seventy-five thousand feet of lumber, which was called a raft, which was run from this point by two men, the bowsman and talesman. But it was not all easy and smooth sailing or running on the so-called low river.

The Wisconsin river, with its sandy bottom and shores, changes its chan- nels with every freshet, because of its strong current.

To pick out the channel was the duty of the pilot, who headed the fleet, the rafts following in succession one by one. There were from six to ten rafts in a fleet, eight being the usual number. It is a matter of common knowl- edge that the water in a river is not on an absolute level. It is always a little higher in the current, and when the current changes from one bank to the other, the water flowing out of the current will carry a raft out the channel and onto a bar where it will stick, unless this is prevented by the men who guide the raft by holding it against the drift of the water in the height of the channel .. which requires them to put their every pound of muscular strength into the oar to keep the raft from drifting onto the bar. When a raft was thus stranded, and that occurred frequently in low water, the whole fleet had to land-always a difficult job-and the boat had to be rowed back, and pilot and crew had to walk back, where the raft stuck from two to five miles some- times, then the whole crew would jump into the water, handspike in hand, and pry the raft loose. In going. over the rapids, men were up to their knees and hips in water, which in summer was not of great concern, but which chilled the men to the marrow in the early spring when the ice was hardly out. There

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was little chance to change clothes. Rivermen hardly ever had more than they carried on their person; at night they would sometimes start a fire on the bank and try to dry their clothes; sometimes they would crawl into their bunks and let the clothes dry on their person. The most popular shoes with them was a prunella gaiter, which was light and would let the water out as quick as it got in. They lasted usually one trip down the Point Baussee.

The river running was no light or easy job. It required men of nerve, muscle, intelligence, alertness to danger and quick decision, in short, men of a strong, healthy body, coupled with intelligence and capacity for hard work; but it had one advantage in this: that when the raft reached St. Louis or any other point on the Mississippi, the men were paid off in cash, in money for which they had been waiting often for a year or more. Pilot as well as the men were hired to be paid a certain amount for the whole trip, and the daily work began with the first dawn of morning and ended when darkness had set in.

CHAPTER VII.

The Town of Big Bull Falls Organized-Marathon County Organized- Election of County Officers-The First Term of the Circuit Court-Action of the County Board-New Commerce-United States Land Office Lo- located at Stevens Point.

MARATHON COUNTY ORGANIZED.

The situation in Marathon county as described in the foregoing chapter and the depressing conditions under which lumber business was carried on remained substantially the same for some years yet to come. There being no prospect of a change for the better in the near future, some of the pinery men who had come with high expectations of gathering wealth in a short time, became discouraged and departed, but others took their places and there was also a slight annual increase in the output of lumber.

One of the newcomers at that time was Walter D. McIndoe, of St. Louis, Missouri. In 1845 he came up here to take lumber from James L. Moore for a loan of $500 made to him in St. Louis, and in the following year ( 1846) McIndoe returned, bringing with him John Boid, Louis Kraft, John Emmons and several others, and twelve yoke of work cattle for Moore.

A large amount of logs were put in, being all cut on the area of the orig- inal plat of the city of Wausau, sawed during the winter in the Moore mill and run down in the spring to St. Louis. In the fall of the same year ( 1847) Walter D. McIndoe returned with his fair young wife and installed her in the house already built for her, standing on what is now McIndoe park, half way between the south corner and the library building on Main street. It was small at first, was enlarged in later years, but remained the home of W. D. McIndoe and his widow until the end of their lives.

Walter D. McIndoe was the first man who came with the intention of making here his home; he came with a determination to stay and grow up with the country. He, better than anybody, appreciated the immense resources, and he forecast the splendid future of this region. He saw that first of all, highways were needed, which all could see; but it was he who set in motion the activities of men to accomplish the desired object. He devoted his time

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and energy to open up this country to bring it in contact with the outside world.

The community was a peaceable one; no breaches of the law had yet occurred except sporadic personal encounters of no consequence, no crimes that required the interference of a court, which by the way, was far away in Dane county ; there was really nothing here to excite the cupidity of men; all were poor, all had the same simple fare, lived in similar huts or shanties or log houses ; the employer worked as hard and got no more pleasure out of life than the employee.

But this free life had its drawbacks, too.

There being no government, there was consequently no concerted move for municipal or communal improvement; there was no feeling of solidarity of interests, and it was the great merit of Walter D. McIndoe of having first undertaken the arduous task of welding the different settlements into one harmonious community for their mutual advantages.

With this end in view, he threw his whole personality in favor of the adop- tion of the constitution which made Wisconsin a state in 1848. Next a town government was established, an order to this effect having been obtained from the county board of Portage county.

An election was held on the 10th day of October. 1849, and the town of Big Bull Falls was organized with the following officers, to wit:

John Stackhouse, chairman; E. A. Pearson, Hiram Martin, supervisors : Levy Flemming, overseer of highways: D. R. Clement, town clerk: D. R. Clement, town treasurer ; Henry Engler, assessor.

There were also elected four justices of the peace, and two constables, but only Charles Shuter and Alva Newton qualified as justice and constable, respectively, and the records show that the others were fined ten dollars each for failing to qualify; but there is no record to show that one ever paid the fine.

The town board organized November 10, 1849, and elected Robert Frazer as treasurer in place of D. R. Clement, resigned. At its next meeting, on November 20th, it was "Ordered, that a road be laid out commencing at the forks of the road about one-half a mile from the village of Big Bull Falls, and running thence to and crossing the Eau Clair river at or near Martin's mill (at the site of the Brooks and Ross Lumber Co. now), running thence to or near to Blodgett's house at the Rothschilds rapids, thence southerly and cross- ing Cedar creek where the bridge now stands, thence southerly to the south line of the town."

At the same session it was ordered, "That a road be located from A.

HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

Warren, Jr.'s, by the nearest and best route to Pine river, crossing said Pine river at or near D. Warren's mill, thence by the best route to Trappe river, thence by the nearest and best route to Big Bull Falls."

These were the first attempts to lay out roads in Marathon county. The first one mentioned became in time the South Line and Wausau Plank road, so-called, although no part was ever planked; the other was the road from Merrill to Wausau, crossing Stiensfield creek and coming down on what be- came later Main or First street.

It will be noticed that no section corners are mentioned, nor lines. The land was then all unsurveyed and only such visible marks as houses, bridges, buildings or trees would serve as monuments.

This was a good enough beginning, had the roads been actually laid out, or even cut out. They may have been located, perhaps blazed out, but they were not even cut out, and these orders like many others, failed of execution for want of money. There was no other road tax except the poll tax, one dollar and fifty cents for each man, which did not go far to cut out a road; and lands not being taxable, only improvements such as houses, mills and personal property could be taxed.

At a special town meeting held on the 11th day of December, 1849, a special tax of $300 was levied for the purpose of building a "Suspension Bridge" across the Eau Claire river at or near Martin's Mill-the vote being 19 in favor, and I against, the proposition.

What the assessment for the year was can be judged from the pay of the assessors; Henry Engler, assessor, and John Stackhouse, deputy assessor, each received $6.75 for four and one-half day's work making the assessment, making nine days' work for one man in assessing the whole town with all mill settlements.

On the Ioth day of January, Hiram Martin resigned as supervisor.

During this time Walter D. McIndoe had become the owner of the mill on the east side of the pond, tore the old mill down and erected a new one a little further down, where it still stands. It was a great improvement on the old mill. By moving further down it gave more storeroom in the pond and a higher fall with correspondingly more power. Muley saws were installed in the new mill and shortly thereafter in all others, and business assumed a different aspect.

In the general election of 1849, Mr. W. D. McIndoe had offered himself as a candidate for member of assembly, and was elected, although the far greater vote of the district was south of Stevens Point, against which he had to contend. He was a Whig, and in the minority party in the assembly ; but

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his courteous bearing, his tact and good sense, together with his broad infor- mation as to the needs of the state, made him a prominent and influential member. Through his effort the bill introduced by him to detach territory from Portage county and create the county of Marathon became a law, and the act provided for the organization of the new county in the spring of 1850. For its name he selected the name of "Marathon," probably as indicative that this new county was destined to play a prominent part in the sisterhood of counties, conquering the obstacles in its progress as the ancient Greeks had conquered over its would-be oppressors on the fields of Marathon.

To the county seat he gave the name of "Wausau," a Chippewa ideom, meaning Far Away, as it was indeed far away from their ancient homes and hunting grounds in the far east from whence they had come.

The prominent places in this new county where notices of election were posted in the absence of a newspaper here were:

The house of John Stackhouse at Wausau, the house of George Kollock at Little Bull (Fall House), the house of Goodhue at Eau Clair river, and the shop of Davies at Big Bull Falls (on Plumers Island).

The house of John Stackhouse is one of the small houses standing yet on Main street between Washington and Jefferson streets, and was smaller at that time.

The election was held on the 2d day of April, 1850, and resulted in the election of the following named persons, to wit: For sheriff, John Wigging- ton; for coroner, Timothy Soper ; for clerk of circuit court, Joshua Fox; for clerk of board of supervisors, Joshua Fox; for county surveyor, Henry C. Goodrich ; for register of deeds, Joshua Fox; for county treasurer, John Stack- house; for district attorney, John Q. A. Rollins.

These officers were elected to hold until the general election of 1850. at which officers were elected to hold for two years, to wit: For sheriff, Charles A. Single; for coroner, Timothy Soper; for clerk of circuit court, John A. Corey; for clerk of board of supervisors, John A. Corey; for register of deeds, John A. Corey; for county treasurer, Morris Walrad; for county surveyor, Henry C. Goodrich.

No election seems to have been held for district attorney.

Thomas Hinton and Milton M. Charles were, at a special election, elected as supervisors for the town of Big Bull Falls, which included the whole county. On the 24th day of February the town board resolved to lay out the road from Point Washington to the south line of this county "as soon as practi- cable," which shows that this road had not been touched, although it was ordered to be laid out a year ago.

HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

At the anual meeting of the town board on April 1, 1851, Thomas Hinton, M. M. Charles and J. S. Snow were elected as supervisors, and among other officers Philip D. Marshall was elected as superintendent of public schools, which shows that schools did receive attention even in early times when but very few children (if any) of school age were here; but Marshall failed to qualify and the office was vacant for a year or more.

On May 17, 1851, the county board established road districts with the following boundaries :

District No. I-From the north line of the county to the 9-mile stake below Trapper river. Superintendent, Andrew Warren.

District No. 2-From the 9-mile stake south to the 18-mile stake. Super- intendent, Philip D. Marshall (of Marshall now M. Graff Farm).

District No. 3-From the 18-mile stake south to the 30-mile stake. Super- intendent, M. D. Corey.

District No. 4-From the 30-mile stake to the south line of the county. Superintendent, George W. Kollock.

These stakes were on the proposed Jenny road to the south line of the county, on a survey made by the county.

The districts ran through the whole county from east to west.

On the 10th day of June, 1851, the first bridge across the Eau Clair river was contracted for $500.

The Eau Clair river as well as most other rivers were narrower than now. The going out of the dam at that river washed away the bank in the course of time and the bridges became longer.

There were four election precincts in the county in 1851 ; one at the house of Thomas Hinton on Jackson street, one at Dennis Warren on Pine river, one at George J. Goodhue at Eau Claire, and one at the house of George W. Kollock at Little Bull Falls.

There was some change in county officers in the election of 1851, as shown by the result, namely: For clerk of circuit court, Asa Lawrence : for county clerk, Asa Lawrence; for register of deeds, Asa Lawrence; for district attor- ney, Hiram Calkins; for county treasurer. Reuben M. Welch.

The county having been organized for all purposes, it became necessary to hold a circuit court, and court was to convene on the 25th day of August, 1851. But where to hold the session was the question which agitated the mind of the members of the county board. There was no building big enough to accommodate court, officers, clerk and jurors, in fact all buildings had no more space than for a kitchen, dining and sleeping room, and the mill board- ing houses could accommodate no more than the crew and hardly that, but

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court had to be held somewhere, and they thought of a bowling alley, stand- ing on the block and near where the Alexander Stewart lumber office now is, and that roughly boarded-up bowling alley was selected and the first term held therein, and the clerk's minutes show that there were present on the second day of the term when court opened :

Hon. Charles H. Larrabbee, judge presiding

Charles A. Single, sheriff, and Asa Lawrence, clerk.

In attendance as grand jurors were :

Timothy Engler, Joel Briggs, Edward Bosworth, Thomas Youles, George Moody, Henry Strobridge, Milo M. Palmer, C. Pope, E. M. Mclaughlin, W. S. Hobart, P. D. Marshall, C. Wilson, John C. Clarke and Freeman · Keeler.

Petit jurors :

G. W. Kollock, Erastmus Sprague, James L. Moore, D. A. A. B. Barnes, John Le Messurier, N. Cheney, W. S. Hobart, Joseph Barnard and P. S. Call, John Black, E. Phelps, N. Sikes, Rob. Walrad, John Boyd, N. Hubbard, M. D. Corey, M. Mills, Perley Dodge and U. E. Main.

Either for want of business or want of quarters, the jury was dismissed the following day and court adjourned.

The record of the proceedings of the county board show that Walter D. McIndoe had very much to do with the government of the town, as well as the county ; he served as deputy county and town clerk in the first years of the organization, not being too proud to help out and assist the new officers when they needed assistance.

The newly elected county treasurer, Reuben E. Welch, evidently did not qualify, or resigned, anyway for some reason he did not serve, and the county board on the 30th day of January, 1852, appointed W. D. McIndoe as county treasurer.

In the fall of 1852 an election precinct was established in Jenny Bull Falls.

At the annual election in 1852, the whole number of votes cast was 344, which shows a slight increase for the county.

As county officers were elected : For sheriff, Thomas Hinton; for coroner, Joseph Barnard; for clerk of circuit court, Asa Lawrence; for county clerk, M. D. Corey ; for register of deeds, there was no choice; for county treasurer, Charles C. Wilson; for county surveyor, Asa Lawrence; for district attorney, Hiram Calkins.

On the 29th day of August, 1853, the county board let the contract for a bridge across Pine river for $440, and one across Trappe river for $625, the first to Bosworth and Armstrong, and the last one mentioned to C. Fletcher.

HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

On the 15th day of November, 1853, the county board purchased from McIndoe & Shuter block No. 17 of the original plat of Wausau for a place to erect a court house thereon, for one hundred dollars, and it has always been understood that McIndoe, so far as he was interested, gave the deed to the county without consideration.

The county had no court house up to that time, nor until 1868, when the first court house was completed. Two years previous to that, the county paid to Thomas Hinton the sum of $98.78 for an office building for the county clerk, which up to the erection of another building served for all county officers. It was located on Jackson between Main and Second streets. After the court house ground was purchased, the contract for building a county house for the officers was let to WV. D. McIndoe ; the price is not mentioned. in the proceedings, but it was small, less than $900. The building was one . story high, with an office for the clerk, treasurer and register of deeds, and years afterwards a vault was added as a protection of the records from fire. This little building served its purpose until 1868, when the first court house was completed and the old building sold for two hundred dollars and moved to the west side of Main street, nearly opposite the store of. R. E. Parcher, where it was used as a saloon and burned down in the later seventies. The fire broke out in daytime, and though closely between two other frame buildings, the volunteer fire company with a hand engine, which they put upon the ice in the pond, succeeded in putting the fire out without any damage being done to the neighboring buildings.

A curious order was made by the county board on the 29th day of March, 1853, which is reproduced here, because of its originality. and as showing that these pioneers were actuated to do the fair thing to all the people and that equity was the basis of their acion. And this is the order :

"Whereas an unavoidable discrepancy of great magniture exists in rela- tion to the taxes of 1851, therefore for the purpose of equalizing the same with the least possible expense to the county. It Is Ordered, by the board that the tax paid for the year 1851 be refunded to the different persons who paid the same respectively upon satisfactory evidence of the fact being adduced to the board of supervisors."

It does not appear what the unavoidable discrepancy of great magnitude was, but evidently it was of such a nature as would cause great inequality to the persons who had already paid their taxes, and to equalize it the county board ordered all taxes which had been paid to be returned so as to put every- body on an equality. This may have been bad law, but it was good sense and equity.

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The assessed valuation of the whole county for 1853 was $223,668.00. Amount of county tax levied was $3,802.38. Amount of state tax, $670.00.

It does not appear when the town of Big Bull Falls ceased to exist by name ; but in the year 1853 the town of Marathon was organized, which included in its territory the whole county, and is the successor to the town of Big Bull Falls, as it was organized as a town in Portage county.

On the 5th day of April, 1853, the voters of this town voted a tax for the support of common schools of one mill on the dollar, which seems to have been an unanimous vote, while on a vote for a road tax there were 28 for and 7 against it.

The supervisors for town were: Charles A. Single, chairman; A. S. Wes- ton and B. F. Berry, supervisors. Hiram Calkins was elected as county super- intendent of schools.

On the 29th day of August "It was ordered by the county board that the settlement made by Messrs. Berry and Weston on the part of Marathon county with the supervisors of Portage county, be accepted, which settlement was as follows: Marathon county will relinquish all right and claim to the county buildings in Portage county, and the supervisors of the said county of Portage do release the county of Marathon from their share of the debts of Portage county and Marathon county, contracted before the division of Port- age county."

On the annual election in the fall of 1853, Asa Lawrence was elected as register of deeds and county clerk.

On the 26th day of March, 1854, the county board met and decided that the assessment made by the assessor, P. D. Marshall, was illegal for the reason that it was not made in time prescribed by law, and the board then assessed the property themselves, the valuation as fixed by the board being $227,252, then levied a tax of two cents on the dollar for county and town purposes and six mills for state tax and one mill for school purposes.

At the meeting of the town board of the town, a tax of one-half a mill additional was raised for schools and three mills on each dollar for road purposes.

At the meeting of April, 1854, Hiram Calkins was elected county super- intendent of schools.

The county tax for all general purposes was $3,802.28, out of which the salaries, court expenses, bridges ordered to be built and what little office furni- ture was needed, had to be paid, making it evident that no money was left for making roads. There was something which had the semblance of a road, from Wausau to Merrill north, and to Little Bull south, but it was winding,

HISTORY OF MARATHON COUNTY

using every bit of available logging road as part, and there was also a trail from Wausau to Little Rib, where Benjamin Single had his mill and living there with his wife, so that the mill settlements were connected in a sort of a way, but there was still nothing resembling a wagon road. But the village of Wausau had increased somewhat; the mills had been improved and the output was larger, which necessitated more men to run the lumber to market. Muley saws had been installed in most mills. They would make two cuts at a time, thus increasing the output of lumber. A larger amount of shave shingles too was made, and they became an important article of export, nearly as mich so as lumber.

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History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens, Part 7

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