USA > Wisconsin > Wisconsin, its story and biography, 1848-1913, Volumr VI > Part 20
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GEORGE T. THUERER. Since 1911 mayor of the city of Baraboo, Dr. Thuerer, who is a native of Baraboo, is one of the citizens of that com- munity whose long residence, success in professional life and high per- sonal character entitle them to the best distinctions in public life, where their previous records insure faithful and intelligent service in the public interest.
George T. Thuerer was born at Baraboo, September 23, 1869. His parents, Christian and Anna (Thomas) Thuerer, were born in the little Republic of Switzerland. The father came alone to America in 1867, finding his first home at Lodi, Wisconsin, where he followed the trade of blacksmith and afterwards engaged in the making of carriages and
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wagons. That business was the basis of his successful career and was followed in Baraboo for twenty years. Ile later changed his work to the handling of agricultural implements and continued in that line until his retirement. At the present time Christian Thuerer is serv- ing in the office of city weigher, and is one of the highly respected old residents of the city. In his family were ten children, three sons and three daughters surviving.
Dr. Thuerer, the oldest of the children, grew up in Baraboo, attended the city schools, and after a fair education determined to fit himself for the profession of dentistry. His first training along that line was received in the office of Dr. A. H. Gellette, with whom he remained two and a half years. His studies were then continued in the dental de- partment of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he was graduated D. D. S. with the class of 1890. Throughout his career he has been identified with his home city, and after graduating in dentis- try, spent a year and a half with his former preceptor, Dr. Gellette. On January 1, 1892, Dr. Thuerer set up an independent practice, and during the subsequent twenty years has acquired a large measure of professional success. In 1895, his brother, C. L. Thuerer, became asso- ciated with him in the same profession, and their firm has long enjoyed perhaps the most seleet and most profitable business in Sauk county.
Aside from his professional interests, the doctor has always enjoyed participation in public affairs, and is a man who works for the public without thought of personal gain. At the death of Mayor Bender, he was appointed to fill out the unexpired term, and in 1912 was regularly elected to the office of mayor. His administration has been characterized by much progressive work in the city, and Baraboo has never had a more progressive and public-spirited mayor.
Dr. Thuerer is well known in fraternal circles. Ilis Masonie con- nections are with the Blue Lodge, the Baraboo Chapter No. 49, R. A. M., and Baraboo Commandery No. 28, K. T., he being the present commander of the Knight Templar organization, and being a past high priest in the Royal Arch. His other affiliations are with the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Royal Arcanum. Besides his present office he contributes to the general advancement of the com- munity through his membership in the Commercial Club of Baraboo. Professionally his relations are with the Sauk County Dental Society and the Wisconsin State Dental Association. Dr. Thuerer was mar- ried at Baraboo to Miss Emma M. Roiek. Their one daughter is Mar- garet, born June 11, 1905.
FRANK E. SHULTS. The present postmaster of Baraboo was for nearly a quarter of a century before taking up the duties of his present office, engaged in the real estate and insurance business in that eity, and has long been active in both business and civic affairs. He is a
,
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native of Sauk county, and the family was established here during the pioneer era.
Frank E. Shults was born in Sauk county on a farm July 6, 1864. His father, the late Joseph P. Shults, was born in Pennsylvania, while the mother, Mary M. Shults was a native of New Jersey. Joseph Shults came west in 1848, the year in which Wisconsin became a state, with a family of two children, and after living for a time at Delevan, where he followed his trade as a wagon maker, moved to Sauk county, and in 1856 located in Newport. At Newport he opened a shop and engaged in wagon and carriage making as an independent business, which was continued until 1864. The purchase of a farm in that year led him to the quieter pursuits of agriculture, and he followed farming with a regular prosperity up to 1883. In that year his home was moved to the city of Baraboo, where he continued to live retired until his death in 1894. His widow survived some years, until 1911. Joseph Shults was a Republican in politics, was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a man always held in high esteem in whatever community he selected as his residence. There were six children in the family, four of whom are still living.
Frank E. Shults grew up on a farm in Sauk county, had the oppor- tunities afforded by the district schools until he was sixteen, and then lived at home and assisted his father until twenty-two years of age. In 1887 Mr. Shults began his business career in Baraboo, and his operations as a real estate and insurance man laid a solid foundation for his business prosperity. In the meantime he has been identified with various local commercial affairs, and has served as secretary of the Sauk county agricultural society, being a worker for advanced princi- ples and methods in farming.
In 1911 President Taft appointed Mr. Shults to the office of post- master in Baraboo, and his service began August 12, 1911. Much has been done to increase the facilities of the local postoffice in behalf of the general public, including the introduction of a postal savings depart- ment on April 1, 1912, and Mr. Shults also supervised the installation at the local office of the parcel post system.
Mr. Shults is a progressive Republican, and has represented the First Ward of his city as supervisor three years. He was married Oc- tober 24, 1899, to Miss Myrtie Critchell, a daughter of Seymour and Lida. C. Critchell.
LESLIE WILLSON. A large and distinctive contribution to progress and municipal improvement in Chippewa Falls was made by the late Leslie Willson, who became identified with the state in 1867, was for a number of years in business at Eau Claire, and during the seventeen years of his residence in Chippewa Falls built up one of the largest concerns in the mercantile district. Throughout his long and pros-
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perous career he was one of the best friends and benefactors of his home city. He was not sixty years of age when his course was fin- ished. In every community death is constantly taking its toll from the living, however valuable their lives and services. It was a conspicu- ous member of Chippewa Falls' citizenship whose life came to an end on December 6, 1906, and the people of both Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls paid many tributes of respect to their former associate and friend. When, a few days later, his body was laid to rest in Forest Hill ceme- tery, an unusual honor was paid to his memory in the general cessa- tion of business and the closing of all stores.
Leslie Willson was a Pennsylvanian by birth, born at Sugar Grove, in Warren county, May 1, 1847. When he was fifteen years of age, and after he had received most of his early education in Pennsylvania schools, the family went to what was then the far west, locating in 1862 at Hastings, Minnesota, and soon after at Winona, Minnesota. His father for upwards of twenty-five years and until the time of his death, was president of the Merchants National Bank of that city.
The late Leslie Willson was twenty years of age when, in 1867, he became associated with the Eau Claire Lumber Company at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, still making Eau Claire his home. Later that business was closed out, and Mr. Willson subsequently represented as traveling sales- man the firm of Bell, Conrad & Company of Chicago, selling teas, coffees and spices over the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota for a period of seventeen years. From 1889 until his death, Mr. Willson made his home in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Twenty-four years ago he organized the Chippewa Valley Mercantile Company, a wholesale grocery house of which at the time of his demise he was both presi- dent and active manager. In the beginning this was a very small con- cern but under his able and practical management it developed in the course of years into one of the leading mercantile enterprises of Chip- pewa county. Mr. Willson erected the fine warehouses which are now in use and the general offices, which occupy a space of one hundred and fifty by one hundred and twenty feet and comprise a large three-story structure of brick and stone. Practically all the stock in this company was owned by him. To no small degree the development of Chip- pewa Falls as a commercial center was due to the initiative and enter- prise of the late Leslie Willson. He was numbered among the most capable and farsighted business men of the city and aside from his individual interests took an active part in the promotion of many progressive public projects, so that his passing deprived Chippewa Falls of a valued and representative citizen. As a business builder he had few equals among his associates in northern Wisconsin.
His success in business he again and again converted into practical assistance and co-operation in behalf of the general welfare of Chip- pewa Falls. Public offices and places of honor were frequently offered
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to him but he always preferred to work in the ranks, though always present with his counsel and generous of his means. Leslie Willson very often subscribed liberally to stock in order to locate new indus- tries in Chippewa Falls. Almost the only office ever held by him was that of president of the Progressive League, which he accepted under protest. Probably a greater tribute was never rendered a man by his fellow citizens than that conveyed in the resolutions and testi- monial written by the Progressive League in memory of Mr. Will- son, a copy of which is framed and hangs on the walls of the office of the institution which he established.
His place in the community was recognized by all, and of the many tributes paid to his life and services at the time of his death, one of the best is the following paragraph quoted from the leading Chippewa Falls daily paper: "Leslie Willson leaves a place that cannot be filled in this community. He was a forceful character and striking personality. His many friends were loyal to him to a marked degree. There is genuine sorrow throughout the community over the loss of a man in the fullest sense of the term, and a friend who loved to see his city progress and develop. Mr. Willson could be depended upon to aid any legitimate enterprise for the benefit of the city. He was a most potent factor in the Progressive League council, and doubtless his influence in building up the city was greater than that of any other man in the League. . He did his work mod- estly, but effectively, and solely with the interests of his fellowmen in mind. A very successful business man, a highly esteemed citi- zen, and a loving husband, Mr. Willson was a high type of man- hood that was refreshing to meet."
On the 16th of September, 1884, Leslie Willson married Miss Nellie Wilson, a native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and a daughter of R. F., and Martha (Newton) Wilson, the former a pioneer lumberman in that vicinity. He died in February, 1903, at the age of seventy-eight, and is buried in the Forest Hill cemetery at Eau Claire. His wife survives him and makes her home with Mrs. Leslie Willson. Since her husband's death Mrs. Willson is continuing the business of the Chippewa Valley Mercantile Company. A few years ago she had erected in Forest Hill cemetery a beautiful chapel known as the Leslie Willson Memorial Chapel. The chapel, modeled after the architectural lines of the celebrated Parthenon, provides, in addition to catacombs for the immediate family, a beautifully arranged and decorated chapel for funeral services and a public vault where the people may place their dead temporarily until other arrangements are made for their disposal. The entire structure is built in the most permanent man- ner of stone, cement, steel and enameled brick.
This monument to her late husband was built not merely as a super- ficial structure to prolong the memory of the dead, but as an institu-
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tion of lasting usefulness for the publie and a fitting memorial for a man who did so much for Chippewa Falls.
THOMAS WILLIAM ENGLISH. President of the First National Bank of Baraboo, Thomas William English has had a long and active career in Sauk county business affairs and public interests. A native of Vir- ginia, his home has been in Sauk county for sixty years, and the family is one of the best known of those who settled in this locality during the pioneer epoch.
Thomas William English was born in Franklin county, Virginia, June 18, 1849. His parents were Thomas T. and Anna Martha Eliza (Powell) English. The early ancestry goes back at least to the foun- dation of the American republie during the eighteenth century. Grand- father English was a soldier in the War of 1812, and many of his phys- ical and moral traits have descended to subsequent members and possess- ors of the name. He was a splendid specimen of physical manhood, tall in stature, and of a natural military bearing. The late Thomas T. English is remembered as a man of exceptional physical powers, stand- ing six feet in height and well proportioned. Almost all the male mem- bers of the family have been large, and as the Baraboo banker claims a height of only six feet, he makes no pretention to measuring up to the standards set by the majority of his kin. Thomas T. English died in 1904, while his wife passed away in the preceding year. The year 1853 was the date of the location in Sauk county by Thomas T. English, and that indicates the very early settlement, since the county was at that time largely in the domain of wilderness and his work was a factor in the early progress of civilization in this section of the state. Locat- ing in the present bounds of the city of Baraboo he conducted a farm there for many years and later kept a hardware store in the city, though finally returning to his homestead and pursuing the quiet arts of the agriculturist until his death. A part of the city now stands upon the land which he once worked as a farmer. In polities he was a staunch Democrat, and a leader among his partisans. It was a common remark that whichever way Thomas T. English went, so his party in this county would go. Among the minor offices occupied by him at different times were those of chairman of the board of trustees and assessors, and clerk of the town board. Of the five children in the family four are still liv- ing, and Thomas W. is the oldest.
Until he was sixteen years old he attended with considerable regular- ity the district school. For a short time he was a student in the Uni- versity of Wisconsin, but as he had no intention of preparing for a professional career and his tastes and inclinations were all for active business, he soon left school and took up farming on his father's farm. That was his work until twenty years of age, at which time he became identified with the hardware trade at Baraboo. His partner was Charles
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H. Lee, and the name of Lee & English was the title of a prosperous local business for ten years. At the end of that time with accumulating interests and prestige in local business affairs, Mr. English was elected president of the First National Bank of Baraboo. This bank, with re- sources upwards of a million dollars is one of the strongest banks of Sauk county, and its president is well known among the bankers of central Wisconsin.
Mr. English affiliates with the Masonic Order, with the Baraboo Lodge No. 34 A. F. & A. M., has taken the York Rite up to and includ- ing the Knights Templar degrees, and has occupied the position of com- mander in Commandery No. 28. He was one of the charter members in the local lodge of Elks, and at the present time is serving as treasurer of the body. His political career has always been that of a Democrat, following in the same line as his father, and official record comprises service both in local and general politics. He has been alderman in Baraboo, assessor, clerk of the town board, and during the Peck admin- istration was a member of the general assembly. While in the legisla- ture he helped to elect William H. Vilas as United States Senator from Wisconsin.
Mr. English married Miss Izero Ellen Evans. Her father, H. D. Evans, was one of the early settlers in Sauk county. Mrs. English died in 1912, leaving three children: Tillie E .; Harry E .; and Izero Virginia.
HERMAN GROTOPHORST. As a lawyer, banker, industrial promoter, and public citizen, Herman Grotophorst has for many years taken a prominent part in the life of Baraboo, and Sauk county, and is well known throughout the state. Before taking up the outline of his indi- vidual career, it will be an appropriate place to insert some mention of the recent iron-ore development which has been undertaken in Sauk county, and largely as a result of the courageous enterprise of this Baraboo lawyer. The following paragraphs are therefore in the nature of a chapter on the latest phase of Wisconsin's mining history, and will add many facts not generally known concerning the resources of this particular section.
Sauk county is not only known for its farm products and beautiful scenery, but has lately also developed into an ore-producing country. The scenery for which the county is noted is produced by the rugged and picturesque Baraboo bluffs. The bluffs extend from Caledonia, in Columbia county to Ironton, in Sauk county, a distance of about thirty miles. The foundation of these bluffs is quartzite, and this quartzite has been pushed up from below to the surface of the earth by the shrink- age of the earth's crust. This quartzite formation rises in many places to a height of six hundred feet above the valleys. It is known to be at least one mile in thickness, dipping toward the north, at an angle
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of from thirty to ninety degrees. The southern outcropping of this quartzite forms the southern boundary of the Baraboo Valley. There is a quartzite outcropping less prominent, forming the northern boundary of this valley. The Baraboo Valley is about three miles wide and twenty-five miles long, and contains large iron deposits. Between the southern and northern quartzite outcroppings is a large basin, the foundation of this basin being the quartzite aforesaid. Immediately upon the quartzite is a large deposit of slate. This slate is impervious and by reason of this condition has caused and allowed iron ore to be formed. Above the iron ore deposit is a conglomerate of slate, dolo- mite and jasper, together with other rock formation to a depth of about thirty to fifty feet. Over this is a deposit of from three hundred to four hundred feet of sandstone, and on the sandstone is a deposit of soil from thirty to seventy feet in depth. Thus it will be seen that the iron ore is found from four to five hundred feet below the surface of the earthi, and therefore, very difficult of discovery.
About three miles south of North Freedom is an outcropping of iron ore, known by miners as a "blossom." When iron mining had reached its highest state of excitement in 1882 and 1884 the company was formed to prospect this outcropping near North Freedom, which company was known as the Douglas Iron Mining Company. A shaft was sunk to a considerable depth, but nothing except a lean ore was discovered, and the enterprise was abandoned. After this failure to locate iron ore, it was generally claimed by iron experts and geologists, that there was no merchantable ore in Sauk county. There were sev- eral men, however, who had faith in the iron deposits of this county, and through their continued efforts, and at great expense to them, valuable ore deposits were finally discovered. These men were: W. G. LaRue, of Duluth; Herman Grotophorst and B. C. Deane of Baraboo.
For twelve years these men worked to get capital interested to make the necessary explorations and finally succeeded in getting R. B. Whiteside of Duluth, a capitalist, sufficiently interested to furnish the necessary funds to explore the country in the neighborhood in which this "blossom" was found, by means of a diamond drill. Exploration work with a diamond drill is extremely expensive, costing approximately three dollars a foot. After long and expensive exploratory work, a large, merchantable iron-ore deposit was finally discovered. But even after the showing made by these diamond drill tests, it was difficult to get men interested who would agree to sink a shaft and develop the property for mining purposes.
At this time the Sauk County Land & Mining Company was formed, a close corporation, with five stockholders, viz .: W. G. LaRue, Herman Grotophorst, B. C. Deane, R. B. Whiteside, and T. W. Robinson. Through the efforts of this corporation, a lease was finally entered into with the International Harvester Company on a royalty basis. The
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International Harvester Company sank a shaft, and proved the exist- ence of large, merchantable iron ore beds. The Sauk County Land & Mining Company secured most of the iron bearing lands in the neigh- borhood. As soon as the public became aware of these iron ore deposits a mining fever swept over the county as had never been dreamed of by the quiet farming community. Nearly every farm in the Baraboo Valley was optioned. Mining companies were formed by the score. Stock was sold all over the country ; but most of these corporations were composed of men unfamiliar with mining, and since most of them went into the game for gain and not for the purpose of exploration, these companies met with early failure.
The Sauk County Land & Mining Company finally got the United States Steel Corporation interested, and leased nearly all of its lands, consisting of several thousand acres, to the Oliver Mining Company, a branch of the United States Steel Corporation. The Oliver Mining Company immediately started prospecting and spent in the neighbor- hood of one million dollars in diamond drill work, and in developing the property which they had leased. The International Harvester Company had a track built from North Freedom to its mines, a dis- tance of about three miles, and considerable ore was shipped. The United States Steel Corporation, by reason of its extensive and thorough prospecting, has shown that in the North Freedom district alone there is a deposit of merchantable ore estimated at over five hundred million tons, and it is expected that in the near future this company will ship to Gary, Indiana, large quantities of this ore. Although the ore is not of very high quality, it is a hematite order and contains from forty-five to sixty-two per cent of iron. Other parties have taken an interest in ex- ploration work, and a mine has been discovered about two miles south of the city of Baraboo. A shaft has been sunk on this property, known. as the Cahoon mine, to a depth of about three hundred and fifty feet, and the shaft is showing up good ore. Farther to the east, in Caledonia, considerable exploration work was done also, and large ore deposits were located at that place. It has thus been demonstrated that iron ore may be found in almost any place in the Baraboo Valley, and no doubt in the near future new deposits will be discovered. These de- posits will greatly increase the wealth of Sauk county, and are apt to increase largely the population of the county, because, by reason of the proximity of this deposit to Gary, shipments can be made, not only in very short time, but also at small cost.
Herman Grotophorst, whose enterprise in this direction has opened up a new phase of mineral development in central Wisconsin, was born August 26, 1856, in the town of Honey Creek, Sauk county, Wisconsin. His parents were John H. and Gertrude (Dahlen) Grotophorst, both natives of Germany. The father came to America in 1849, bringing his family of three children, and found a location in Sauk county, where
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he was among the early settlers. ITis career was that of a farmer, and aside from his substantial prosperity in that line, he was known as an honorable, upright citizen, respected by all who knew him. In the early years of his American citizenship, his political support was given to the Democratic party, and that continued until the death of Lincoln, after which he was equally strong in his support of Republican prin- ciples. In the family were four sons and one daughter.
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