Marathon County, Wisconsin - Chapter 12, 1913

Chapter 12

JVar Times - Indian Scare - Railroads and Railroad Litigation - The IVisconsin Central Railroad Company - The Wisconsin Valley Railroad Company^~The Lake Shore & Western Railroad Company - The Passing of the Rivermen - Lincoln County Set Off.

War Times

The presidential election of i860 did not create much of a stir, although the political questions involved in that contest were and had been aired in the debating club existing at Wausau for more than a year. In these debates the Democrats had always the best, because they were always there in the greatest number. It is easy, too, to understand why men in the pinery, working hard for a living and without any of the comforts of life and settlers in the woods working day and night to keep the wolf from the door, did not give much thought to the wrongs of another race five hundred miles away. They had their own troubles, their own difficulties to solve, did not and could not give much time to politics, and they were almost cut off in their isolation from other parts of the United States. In the election of i860 Lincoln received in Marathon county 219 votes to 481 for Stephen A. Douglas, Breckinridge had 4 and Bell i vote.

But when the crisis came, when the question was whether this country should remain as it was, one Union, or be broken up into fragments, when Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 men and Stephen A. Douglas answered - not 75,000 but 300,000 men, the last dollar, the last drop of blood in defense of the Union, the Democrats of Marathon county w-ere not behind their Republican brethren in upholding the starry emblem of the Union. The bombardment of Fort Sumter reverberated through the country, the echoes of it were heard at \\'ausau, and Silas S. Stoddard with his fife, and B. F. Luce with his drum announced the breaking out of the war, and the patriotic pinery men rallied in defense of our common country.

On the first day of May, 1861, Leander Swope came to W'ausau from Pine river and was joined here by Burton Millard, Preston Lord, John Cooper, Charles Tracy, and Alphonse Poor and took the stage to Berlin, where they enlisted. The county board and afterwards the towns made some provision for assistance to those families where the father had enlisted.

No record of names was ever kept; at least none can be found to show who served in the army from Marathon county, but the archives of the state show that there served in the army from Marathon county soldiers as follows :

This is a very creditable showing for Marathon county, with only 705 votes of men of all ages, with one-third at least who had come but two or three years or less from Germany and were not yet citizens.

The soldiers of Marathon county served in the severely buffeted Army of the Potomac, in the Army of the Cumberland, they were with Sherman at Atlanta and through Georgia, with Thomas at Nashville, some even with the ill-fated expedition on the Red river under Banks. Burton Millard was the first to fall; others followed him and are buried on the southern battle fields ; other carried honorable wounds to their graves ; many did not return.

The following is a list of persons who enlisted from Marathon county and served during the war, far from being complete, but it contains all the names which could be collected after careful inquiry among survivors at this late day: Edw. Armstrong. S. Armstrong, William Averill, Fred Aschbrenner, Braatz, Brunow, M. H. Barnum, M. D. Brown, Carl

The first year of the war brought the business nearly to a standstill, but it revived in the second year and ad\anced with every following year with rapid strides. Lumber was then in great demand on all points on the Mississippi, and brought good prices. Greenbacks had displaced state currency and if they were at a discount, they were at the same discount at every point in the Union and always a legal tender at face value. The increased demand for lumber, with corresponding good prices, brought enlarged saw mills and improvements in the manufacture.

W. D. Mclndoe was the first to replace his gang and muley saws with rotary saws, in the winter of 1862-1863, the first ones in the Wisconsin pinery. His example was soon followed, and in a few years every mill was operating with circle saws, which more than doubled the output of lumber. B. G. Plumer had succeeded B. Barnes in 1861 and acquired the Lyman mill in 1865, and both mills were running to their full capacity, Plumer operating his first mill, and the Lyman mill was rented to Brown and Fellows. The booms were extended to hold more logs, business was brisk generally for several years after the war, and an agitation for railroad connection began. At a public meeting in 1863 a delegation of five of the most prominent business men of Marathon county (John C. Clarke among them) was sent to Milwaukee to interview Alexander Mitchell, then the president or manager of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, to induce him to build that road from Berlin via Wautoma and Stevens Point to W'ausau, and they were authorized to offer a bonus of $50,000 from business men of the county. Mitchell could not be convinced that there was business enough to warrant the expense, and gave no encouragement. Curiously enough, in speaking to him of freight, only such as would come to Wausau was mentioned, while freight from W'ausau, such as lumber, was not mentioned at all. Evidently it was supposed that railroad transportation could not compete with the river route. Lumber had been rafted and sent down to the Mississippi so long by river that another mode of transportation was not even thought of at those times. Such is the force of custom and habit, which accommodates itself but slowly to great changes.

Meanwhile fanning had progressed ; some new settlers had come, not many, but there was an influx every year; the Wausau and South Line road had become fairly passable, houses and stores were being built and, in 1867, the lumber output alone in ^^^ausau had increased to about twenty million feet. Roads in the farming settlements had been made and the fanners had already some of their produce to sell, all of which had formerly been imported at great expense.

The mills were doing a large amount of custom sawing for people who engaged in lumbering. Wages, for rivermen were high, bowsmen getting from $150 to $175; talesmen from $100 to $125 per trip, which on an average was made between five and six weeks. Small shopkeepers, such as black- smiths, shoemakers, carpenters, and many of the farmer sons made at least one trip out in the spring, coming back with money which, as a rule, was well invested. Formerly the raftsmen were nearly all transient men, who brought no money back to this country. In 1867 there were a number of portable mills near Wausau, one owned by Dr. Wylie and Judson ; one by Wylie and Aucutt ; one by John Grey, and one by M. Stafford, and R. P. Manson had erected a large stationary steam mill on the west shore of the Wisconsin, near the mouth of Rib river. The portable mills nearly all exploded after a time, with more or less loss of life or personal injuries ; hardly one ran more than two seasons ; but they were displaced by better mills. A bridge had been built across the Rib river at Marathon City in 1861, which was of immense benefit to the farmer community in that town and town of Wien.

The town of Easton was created in the March, 1865, meeting of the board of supervisors; the town of Main established in 1866, and the town of Wien in 1867. A good bridge was built across the Wisconsin river at the falls in 1866 by Adam Young and J. Dern, resting on a substantial pier, with a roof over the bridge, in old-country fashion.

On July I, 1867, the contract for a courthouse was let to .August Hett for $7,500. which was to be and was completed so as to accommodate the circuit court in the fall term of 1868. Up to this time the circuit court had been moved from place to place ; the first term was held in a vacant bowling alley; then at a hotel; then at the second story of the shop of N. D. Corey, which was fixed up as a hall, and where also school was taught for a while ; then at Forest Hall of C. A. Single, until it finally got into permanent quarters. Marathon county had now a courthouse and was beginning to feel its political importance.

Pine timber became valuable. The county had hundreds of thousands of acres of land, and was glad to sell the timber to receive something for stumpage.

In 1869, hardwood lands were sold by the county at 75 cents an acre; one third could be paid in county orders, which were still at a discount of from 25 to 30 per cent. But signs of advancements and culture were seen every- where, and Marathon county saw now the ghmmer of the dawn of prosperity. In 1865, the IVisconsin River Pilot made its appearance in Wausau, a weekly newspaper, which always championed the public interests of Marathon county. It was founded and owned by Valentine Ringle, a practical newspaper man, and sold by him in 1884 to E. B. Thayer. It exists to this day in all its pristine vigor. It has never missed a publication, and has never wavered in its allegiance to the Democratic party. J. W. Chubbuck edited the Pilot for more than ten years. It was a sprightly paper, advocating the principles of the Democratic party.

The Indian Scare

Marathon county had a touch of the Indian scare which swept over the state of Wisconsin, when thousands of farmers fled to the larger cities, following the Sioux war in Minnesota, which began with the terrible massacre of the people of New Ulm in the summer of 1862; but in Marathon county the panic was wholly confined to the village of \\'ausau. An incident happening near the village had caused some friction or unfriendly feeling between Indians and whites, and that, together with the more than ordinary number of Indians around the village, and the outbreak in Minnesota, caused apprehension of the possibility of a concerted movement of all Indians against the whites. A white woman complained that she had been assaulted while picking berries near the Wisconsin river by a young Chippewa, and claimed to have identified her assailant as the son of a certain chief or Indian headman. The sheriff with some assistants, visited several camps, and not finding the supposed culprit, demanded of the Indians that they should give him up for trial, asserting that they well knew his whereabouts. They indignantly claimed not to know where he kept himself and refused any assistance to capture him. That this occurrence left a sort of hostile feeling is evident.

The terrible news from Minnesota had recently reached the people here, and the whites feared for their safety. A meeting was consequently held at Ringle's Hall one evening to discuss the situation and prepare for a defense in case of an attack, although Mr. Aug. Kickbusch, who carried on quite a trade in furs with the Indians and knew many of them, gave it as his opinion that no harm was planned by them.

While debating was going on, an old man came running in the hall, nearly out of breath, with the exclamation, "They are coming down the river in canoes. I have seen their lights," which announcement stampeded the meeting, each man running home to arm himself. In a few minutes they met again on some corner - (the populated part of the village being still very small) some armed with guns, some with axes, more with pitchforks, and one had a scythe, and a portion of them was sent down to the guardlock as an advance guard to reconnoiter.

Another party went down Grand avenue as far as the brewery, intending to keep watch on a large Indian camp on the east side of the marsh, which then extended from there for half a mile north, without seeing anything to justify suspicion. The movements of the Indians were carefully watched the following day and at night, and a patrol was sent at night across the river as guards. They proceeded slowly and carefully through the thick brush and timber which covered the ground, when all at once they heard some suspicious noises, cracking of dry twigs and grunts, and while investigating, were all at once almost scared out of their wits by hearing a breaking and cracking through the bushes, and some pigs jumped across their path. The grunters had been disturbed in their quiet night repose and were fleeing from the disturbers.

Having discovered nothing more dangerous, they returned and reported, and Wausau had a sudden recovery from the scare. The panic did not affect the settlement at all; they evidently had heard nothing of any supposed outbreak, which again shows that news was traveling very slowly yet in Marathon county. The young Chippewa, however, whose misconduct, with its consequences, is said to have been the main cause of the feared Indian hostility, afterwards took service in the Union army.

Other Indian Troubles

A fight with Indians, in which one of them was killed, occurred in October, 1866, at a saloon at Keelerville kept by a man by the name of Aaron Forbes.

A party of Indians came there in the evening, demanded whiskey and got it ; then they wanted more, and got it, and got intoxicated and boisterous and wanted more, then were refused. The Indians then began demolishing the furniture, and the scared saloonkeeper ran for assistance to the mill boarding house of Mr. Gouldsbury. He returned with some of the men, ordered the Indians out, and upon their refusal, attempted to put them out. In the ensuing tussle and fight an Indian was killed (stabbed), which so aroused the Indians that the whites fled. The Indians proceeded to demolish counter and

Next day the Indians demanded that the white man who had killed their brother should be given up, but he had fled, and a hunt for him proved fruitless. For awhile it looked as if the Indians were bent upon promiscuous revenge, but better counsel prevailed, and through influence of some of the white friends of the Indians, further trouble was happily averted. Public opinion was strongly against Forbes, who, it was said, had made it a practice to sell whiskey to the Indians, and he did not resume a business in Marathon county, but emigrated.

Railroads were now the topics of discussion, and when the Wisconsin Central began building its road from Doty's Island to Stevens Point, eventually to Ashland, a strong effort was made to have the railroad go to Ashland via Stevens Point and Wausau. By taking this route, the Central road would have lost a part of the land grant until it struck out west from Wausau again ; but there were government lands yet in Marathon county, which in part would have reimbursed the road, besides getting all the traffic ; but the men at the head of the Wisconsin Central were shortsighted and insisted they could not come to Wausau without extra compensation, but proposed running a spur from Stevens Point. They submitted an agreement, whereby the railroad agreed to build that road to Wausau, and give the county its common stock (worthless) in the amount of $250,000, in consideration of which Marathon county was to give $250,000 of its corporate bonds, payable in twenty years, with interest thereon at 10% - interest payable semiannually, and besides furnish depot grounds at Mosinee and Wausau and right of way in Marathon county.

The bonds to be immediately issued after a favorable vote, to be deposited in "escrow" with a financial institution in New York or Boston, to be chosen by the Wisconsin Central Company, to be delivered by them to the railroad, after completion ef the road to Wausau. A vote upon that proposition was taken on the 21st day of October, 1871. The village of Wausau voted almost unanimously in favor, there being only eleven votes cast against it, and also the towns on the proposed line of the road, while the vote in the farming communities was strongly against it.

The proposition to accept the railroad proposition was carried by about two hundred majority, mainly brought about by the vote in the village of

Wausau. The only person of prominence in the whole county opposed to the proposition was the Hon. W. C. Silvertliorn, then district attorney, but his words fell on deaf ears in Wausau. With the fanners it was different. They remembered that county orders were still at a discount from 25 to 3o7o ; that $12,500 interest payable every six months for twenty years would be a fearful drain on the resources of the county, saying nothing about the payment of the principal of $250,000 after twenty years, and besides securing the right of way and depot grounds. The hard common sense of these farmers rebelled against voting so large a debt, even then with no absolute certainty of getting the road without more sacrifices.

Consequently, when the proposition was carried, the town of Berlin, then the strongest farming community in the county, consulted Mr. Silverthorn, and as the result of that consultation, a suit was commenced by that town in the name of F. Sellin, Town Clerk, et al., and an injunction obtained in the circuit court of Winnebago county restraining the county authorities of Marathon county from issuing the bonds. These towns were later joined by five or six other towns. The case never came to a trial, the county not pressing for a trial, nor the Wisconsin Central Railroad. The road did not enter upon its work of building, evidently because no bonds being issued as yet, and it was doubtful whether they ever would be issued, and without a showing of a portion of the road built at least, the railroad company could not have much standing in a court ; and perhaps, too, because the road could not get the money to build.

The case was adjourned over several terms, and in 1873, Mr. Silverthorn was elected a member of assembly. He procured the passage of an act, chap. 317, Laws of 1874, by which, among other provisions, any municipality having voted bonds in aid of a railroad, could under certain conditions vote again on the same proposition, and if the vote should be against granting aid, the former vote in favor of aid should thereby be rescinded.

This provision of the act was applicable to Marathon county and other municipalities similarly affected : the act was drawn up, in fact, to fit the condition of this county. Under this act a new election was held on June 13, 1874, and the proposition defeated by an almost unanimous vote. Thereupon and in order to remove any possible cloud or claim of the Wisconsin Central Railroad, arising out of the first vote, Mr. Silverthorn was instrumental in securing from the Wisconsin Central Railroad a disclaimer, which was filed and is recorded in the office of the county clerk of Marathon county, to wit:

"Whereas, the county of Marathon, by a vote of the people of said county in the year 1871, agreed to issue bonds of said county, to the Wis. Central Railroad Co. to the amount of $250,000, in payment of a like amount of the common stock of said company at par, and to furnish the right of way through said county with certain depot grounds, and whereas, the said bonds have never been issued by reason of injunction issued in certain suits dismissed and now pending, and the vote by which said agreement was entered into, having been rescinded under and by virtue of Chapter 317 of the general laws of the state of Wisconsin for the year 1874.

"Now therefore, the Wisconsin Central Railroad Co. hereby fully and completely disclaims and releases to the county of Marathon, all liabilities that may exist or that may have existed under said agreement, and this may be filed on record in the office of the county clerk 01 Marathon county for the purposes therein expressed. "Dated at Madison, Wisconsin, February 25th, A. D. 1875.

That disposed of the whole controversy for all times to come. All suits were withdrawn, each_ party paying its own costs, and Marathon county, not having been to any expenses, although defendant, by order of the county board, paid a small sum to the towns to help them pay their expenses, mainly attorney fees. The town of Berlin is entitled to the credit of having instituted the proceedings, and Mr. Silverthorn to the credit of having taken hold of a very unpopular case at the time, leaving his vindication to the future. He carried the controversy through successfully and his vindication came sooner than expected. Meanwhile railroad agitation had been kept up and negotiations had been begun with another embryo railroad, the Wisconsin Valley Railroad, to extend their line of road from Tomah and Grand Rapids to W'ausau. This road connected at Tomah with the main line of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, and thereby furnished connections with a first-class railroad and other roads.

On the 3d day of March, 1873, by an order of the county board, a committee was appointed, consisting of C. A. Single, Leonhard Guenther, and j\Iichael Baumann to confer with Messrs. Remington and W'hyatt, the representatives of the Wisconsin Valley Railroad, then at Wausau, in relation to the extension of their line of road from Grand Rapids to Wausau and Merrill. A proposed contract was reported to the county board the next day and consideration thereof postponed until March 15th next, to feel the public pulse; but in anticipation of such a contract the county lands were withdrawn from sale.

"Resolved, That the railroad contract between the Wisconsin Valley Railroad Company be, and the same is hereby accepted, and the chairman and clerk are hereby ordered to execute the same."

"This Indenture made and entered into this 15th day of March, A. D. 1873, ^Y and between the Wisconsin Valley Railroad Company and the county of Marathon, Witnesseth ;

"That for and in consideration of tlie agreement to be performed and kept on the part of the county of iMarathon as hereinafter sfet fortla, said Wisconsin Valley Railroad Company hereby promises and agrees to build, construct and operate a first class railroad with all necessary equipments, turnouts, culverts, bridges, stations and depots, from Centralia in the county of Wood to the city of Wausau in the county of Marathon, said railroad to be completed and the cars run over the same for ordinary railroad business from Centralia to the city of Wausau before the close of the year 1874;

"That there shall be a station on said railroad in range 6 or range 7 in township 26 and said line of railroad shall touch at a point and have a station within threefourths of a mile of Little Bull Falls in the town of Mosinee and from said point on the most feasible and direct route to the city of Wausau aforesaid, and have a station and depot at said city of Wausau within three-fourths of a mile of the courthouse on the east side of the Wisconsin river, provided the right of way is furnished free to said company one hundred feet in width within and through the limits of said city. That active operations shall be commenced upon the building and construction of said line of railroad within ninety days from the date hereof and the work thereon shall thereupon be finished to completion to said city of Wausau from Centralia as aforesaid without cessation unless prevented by severity of weather and at all events with sufficient force and vigor to insure completion of said line within the time before mentioned. And upon the completion of said line of railroad as aforesaid the said railroad company shall issue to the said county of Marathon, 250 shares of the common stock of said company of $100 each, and being in the aggregate $25,000 of the capital stock of said railroad company and shall deliver to the said county full paid certificates thereof in due form, and for and in consideration of the premises the said county of Marathon hereby agrees to subscribe for and take the said shares of stock and to convey to the said Wisconsin Valley Railroad Company by ordinary form of quit claim deed all the right, title and interest which the said county may have in and to two hundred thousand (200,000) acres of county lands (so called) within said county as follows : Twenty-five thousand acres when said line of railroad shall be completed as aforesaid to the south line of said county of Marathon, as an advance for the line of road to be built and completed as aforesaid within the limits of said county; seventv-five thousand acres when said line of railroad shall be completed as aforesaid to the point before mentioned in the town of Mosinee as an advance for the line of road to be built and completed within the limits of said county, as aforesaid, and the balance of one hundred thousand acres when said line of railroad is completed as aforesaid to the city of Wausau, in full for the building and completion of said line of railroad within the limits of said county of Marathon as aforesaid. And it is understood that there are now of said lands about one hundred and eighty thousand acres deeded to said county, with a large additional incoming list, sufficient to meet the obligations of this contract. But in case there should be a deficiency in the quantity of said lands, it is hereby further agreed and fully understood by the parties hereto that such deficiency shall be made up by the assignment on the part of said county to said railroad company of all the certificates of sale held by said county upon a sufficient quantity of lands within said county to make up such deficiency, and such lands shall be such as shall be soonest subject to deed. And it is further understood and agreed that said lands shall be from and after the 15th day of March, A. D. 1873, withdrawn from sale by said county and the same set apart for the purposes of this contract, and none of said lands are to be conveyed by said county to other parties. And it is understood and agreed that in case work on said line of railroad is not commenced within ninety days from the date hereof and the same prosecuted to completion as aforesaid the said county may consider the building of said line of railroad abandoned and the obligations of this contract of no effect otherwise of full force.

"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.

"State of Wisconsin, Colntv 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 instrument and acknowledged the execution and sealing of said instrument as therein set forth for the uses and purposes set forth in said instrument.

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 31st day of October, 1874. It was a gala day for Wausau and arrangements were made for a grand celebration to be held on the nth 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, resixinded to by F. O. Whyatt, superintendent of the railroad, the whole affair being in charge of a committee 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 readily salable, or at best at one dollar per acre ; they were liable to continual trespasses 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 selling 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 year to year as the lands increased in v-alue. 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 temis 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 Alarathon 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 Wausau 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 ot Athens, a distance of about fifteen miles, gi\ing Athens a railroad connection with the Central, now the Minneapolis & Sault St. Mary Railroad.

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 for the hardwood which was abundant in this county and tlieretofore 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, demanding 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 corivermen 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 detennined to have a frolic and 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 througli 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 melanchol}^ cry of the whippoorwill, until roused out by the loud "tile ut" of the pilot, repeated from raft to raft.

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 interdependent 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 liis lumber business increased, only on rare occasion running 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.

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.

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 unsurveyed until after i860, 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 election 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 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.

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 outstanding 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.