Marathon County, Wisconsin - Chapter 19, 1913 (part 2 of 2)

The cost of the drive wells together was somewhere near $60,000, much more than estimated by the engineer in charge, but in order to receive the full benefit of that system a new, stronger pump was planned at the same time, which was to be lowered about twelve feet below the old pumps, to obtain better suction. This engine was not set up, however, until the winter of 1913, when the unsatisfactory condition of the water service peremptorily demanded its installation.

Municipal Lighting Plant

The question of installing a municipal lighting plant turned up again when, in 1911, the contract for furnishing the current to the city by the street railway expired. Mr. W. F. Lusk, a waterworks engineer, who was then supervising the sinking of the deep water wells, was requested to make an estimate of the costs of a plant, and gave it as his opinion that a plant could be installed and the current generated at the station for i cent per k. w.", which was i 3/10 cent less than what the city paid for the current furnished by the Electric Light Company.

In the full confidence of this report the city desired to install their plant, but before it could do so, it had to make application to the State Commission of Public Utilities for a permit to do so, under Section 1797, M-74 Revised Statutes of Wisconsin, and prove to the satisfaction of that commission that public convenience and necessity required the installation of the plant. A hearing before the commission was had, the city relied on the evidence of their engineer, W. F. Lusk, to prove his contention that electricity could be generated by a plant owned by the city for a lesser price than the price it was paying. It is enough here to say, that the contention of the city or the statement of the costs as estimated by its consulting engineer, W. F. Lusk, was not proven, that the estimates were unreliable, and that the current was

After the hearing the city did not make a new contract for hgliting, but received the current, and the Street Railroad Company which furnished the same, reduced the price charged, so that it now charges a fixed price of $2.10 for each arch light, and a corresponding rate for ornamental lights. A comparison of the cost of lighting the city with electricity with the cost in other cities, is much in favor of Wausau.

With the close of the administration in the spring of 1912, the city's net interest-bearing debt in bonds and state debts was $255,000, and there was a large floating debt, which was taken up in 1913 by issuing $35,000 school bonds, and a debt created for the water system improvement, which with other expenses for the same purpose, mainly for the pump, was covered by the issue of $40,000 water bonds in October, 1912.

Commission Form Of City Government

Towards the latter part of the year 191 1 there was much talk about the advantages of the commission form of governing cities. It had been first tried out in the city of Galveston after the great flood in that city in the year 1900 and had proved a blessing for that city, and some other cities, notably Des ]\Ioines, Iowa, followed that example. A law was enacted by the Legislature of Wisconsin in 1909, for the government of a city by a mayor and two commissioners, and amended by Chapter 387, Laws of 191 1, providing that upon petition duly filed the question, whether a city would prefer this form to the charter government, should be submitted to a vote of the people, the majority of the electors to decide the question which should then be binding as a law. A petition was duly filed in time and the question submitted to a vote prior in time to the annual charter election, to elect officers under the commission form, in case it should be adopted. It is an undeniable fact that many people favored the commission form, but there was also opposition, and no doubt some good grounds could be urged against it as well as for it. To be governed entirely by three men, who were the legislative as well as the executive power in their own person, is something new in this country, to which people were not yet accustomed. Under the circumstances under which it was inaugurated in Galveston, there was everything in its favor. That city was ruined by the sea which swept over the city, carrying desolation and destruction in its wake. The city was nearly destroyed, and there was no time for hesitation, procrastination or even deliberation. Something had to be done, an almost absolute power had to be entrusted by the people to a centralized government, and the people were willing to submit without murmur to such a government in order to save themselves from ruination, which stared them in the face. An enlightened, just and absolute government can accomplish many things in short time, which a deliberative body cannot do - at least not in that short time. But history also teaches that an absolute government may become oppressive, or incompetent as well as imbecile, and many people were afraid to take suddenly a plunge in this sea of uncertainty. The German Alliance, an organization representing some Gemian societies, having taken a stand against the change, was invited to a public discussion of the merits and demerits of the commission form, and they chose John Ringle and Anton Mehl as their representatives. The other side was represented by W. H. Wilcox of Eau Claire, and A. C. Schmidt of Wausau. The debate was held in the Opera House, which was filled to its utmost capacity, and during the debate it became apparent that the opponents were in a large majority.

At the election the people voted against commission form, as already indicated in the meeting at the Opera House, and John Ringle, who was one of the spokesmen against it, was chosen and prevailed upon to offer himself for mayor, his aid, Anton Mehl, having absolutely refused to be considered as a candidate.

In the following election he was elected, receiving within three hundred votes as many as both the socialistic and independent candidates together. The other question which was submitted to the people was "Shall a new city hall be built?"

As has already been mentioned, this question has been before the city council for the last six years, and to avoid any responsibility the outgoing administration left the matter to be decided by the people directly. When this was done in the council it was surmised that the proposition would be defeated, because it was made by an outspoken opponent of the project. A few courageous men, who saw the need for the building and the danger of losing the splendid site, signed and published an address, recommending the project to a favorable vote of the people, unless the opponents could show a better site for its location. No one replied to that address, for it was patent that no better location could be secured. The election was a surprise to the faint-hearted and the prejudiced ones. Every ward without exception voted in favor, and the proposition to build was carried by a majority of 800.

He held more important positions in public life for a generation or more than any other man in Marathon county. He came with his parents to Wausau in the year 1859, attended the Wausau school and two years at the Madison University. Returning from Madison, he was clerk in the office of the county clerks, B. Ringle and Jacob Paff, thus becoming early familiar with county affairs. He made the first abstract of titles to Marathon county lands, which he afterwards sold and which is now owned by the Wausau Law and Land Association as part of their complete abstract of titles; he then served six years as county clerk; then as member of assembly in the sessions of 1879-1880 and 1881, and again in the session of 1893. While in the assembly in 1879 he was instrumental in defeating the bill which had already passed the senate, to exempt the lands of the Wisconsin Central Railroad from taxation, to the great relief of the population of the western part of the county, and subsequently defeated the scheme for the division of the county. When county clerk he induced the city to purchase a fortyacre tract of county lands for $40, which is the forty-acre tract on which the isolated hospital is located, by which the city got a forty-acre tract which it still owns and which is a very valuable tract today for many purposes.

He was elected to the senate in 1882 and mayor of Wausau in 1884. When the question, whether the city should own and operate a waterworks system was before the council in the early part of 1885, it was through his influence that the measure was carried through ; he was chairman of the board of supervisors when the board determined to build the present courthouse, and he secured a reconsideration of the vote by which the project seemed defeated, and upon reconsideration of that vote secured favorable action. From 1893 to 1897 he served as postmaster of Wausau, and again as supervisor from 1901 to 1904, and for over thirty years as member of the school board.

Since his last term as supervisor he had withdrawn from public life and gave his whole time to the carrying on of the business of the Ringle Brick Company, located at Ringle, on the Chicago & North Western Railroad, which furnishes nearly all the brick used in the city, but has an export trade too by rail. The agitation for the commission form of government brought him in prominence as an opponent, and made him the leader of the opposition, which led to his election in 1912. He assumed the duties of the office with a detennination to bring order in the state of finances, which had become muddled. By a decisive vote the people had ordered the building of a new city hall, but with the advanced price of all building materials and labor since 1906, it was plain that $40,000 would not pay for the same, and that more money must be provided. Wausau owns its waterworks system, does the sprinkling of streets, owns part of the lighting system, does the repairing and cleaning of streets and macadamizing directly by labor, without the intervention of contractors, thus carrying on a large municipal business, which needs ofifice rooms and vaults for officers and storage rooms. A city building to comport with the dignity of an advancing industrial and commercial city had to be erected, large enough at least for the next twenty-five years or more.

. Then there was a large debt for school loans which had been carried by the Wausau banks for years, besides a debt created for the extension and enlargement of the pumping station of the waterworks, for the payment of which no provision had been made, neither by a loan nor a tax levy ; the debt was simply carried along from time to time.

But the time had come to liquidate these debts, and there being no money in the treasury available for the payment, bond issues became necessary shortly after the new mayor had taken charge of the office. That of itself would have been sufficient to test the strength and capacity of any city government: but to cap the climax, there occurred the flood in July, 1912, which destroyed bridges, washed out streets and roads, doing damage which it cost the city at least $30,000 to repair, and thus it was apparent that the administration was not resting on a bed of roses.

Waterworks bonds, $40,000: bridge bonds, $20,000. A large tax levy was made to prevent a too large accumulation of interest-bearing debt, and to pay current expenses. The tax levy was felt all the heavier, because countv and state taxes had more than doubled in the last ten years, and were exceedingly high in 191 2.

But the repairs had to be made, and no time was lost in making them. The Leahy & Beebe bridge was first restored, the abutment and east span of the high bridge finished, and in January, 1913, a higher and stronger steel bridge on the south (Stroller's) was opened in place of the one destroyed by the flood.

The long-planned enlargement of the pumping station was finished and the new powerful pump installed during the winter of 1912-1913, and the people now look forward to a thorough cleaning of the pipe system as soon as the season pennits, and a good, clear and sparkling water supply as originally furnished by the waterworks.

To take up the debts incurred for school purposes, which had been a floating debt from three to five years (nobody seems to know exactly when the first deficit arose, which grew from year to year) another bond issue of $35,000 will be made April i, 1913. Besides these school bonds, there will be issued new bonds in the amount of $15,000 for a sewer to carry off the sewage and flood water after every heavy rain in the middle portion of the east side, which the Canal street sewer and outlet is insufficient to carry off, and city hall bonds to the amount of $25,000, when it is to be hoped that the whole debt of the city is funded, and an era of debt-paying may set in.

In trying to put the city back on bedrock financially. Mayor Ringle has a great task before him. If he succeeds and the first year of his administration gives the best hopes, it will be hailed as one of the greatest accomplishments of any administration.

John Ringle has been a lifelong, consistent democrat politically; he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Cincinnati in 1880, and again to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago in 1892, and twice he was nominated by his party for the office of state treasurer and carried the forlorn hope of his party in the state. His official record is without a flaw and so is his private character. His long, successful official career is proof of the high estimate in which he was always held by the people of Marathon county and the confidence they have put in his character and ability, his first official position dating back to 1871, when he was elected county clerk.

The Wausau Postoffice

The following is the amount of business transacted at this office in 1912, and comparing the amount of business in that year in the same branch with the business done in that office in the year 1897, shows the increase in the business of the postoffice, which is a fair index of the increase of the general business in the city of Wausau during the same space of time:

Two postal stations were established since 1897: Station No. i on April I, 1905, at 312 S. First avenue; and Station No. 2 on April 16, 1901, at 1703 Sixth street.

The number of officers and employes are: Postmaster, one assistant postmaster, six regular clerks, nine city carriers, and one substitute city carrier, five regular rural carriers, and one substitute rural carrier.

United States Land Office

The Stevens Point land office was established by act of congress approved July 30, 1852 (Tenth United States Statutes, 25). Executive order of June 19, 1872, directed the removal of the same from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, to Wausau, Wisconsin. The office at Stevens Point was closed August 10, 1872, and opened at Wausau, August 19, 1872.

In the fall of 1893 the United States land office at Menasha was combined with this office, and later the Eau Claire and latest the Ashland United States land office, so that now the land office at Wausau is the only United States land office in this state.

Since the date of the removal of the United States land office the dates of the commission of these officers are not at hand, but the following is substantially the correct term of service of its occupants :

William Gallon, receiver, from 1881 to 1883 and resigned; E. B. Sanders, receiver, from 1883 to 1889; August Kickbusch, receiver, from 1889 to 1891 and resigned; R. H. Johnson, receiver, from 1891 to 1893; E. B. Thayer, receiver, from 1893 ^^ 1^97; Henry McCrossen, receiver, from 1897 up to the present time.

The Waterworks

of the city of W'ausau belong to the municipality of Wausau. The contract for installing it was let in the winter of 1885, work thereon was begun in the spring, and it was completed in the fall of the same year. The machinery was put in a solid brick power house situated near the Wisconsin river on the north side of the city. It consists of four steel boilers in battery, two pumps, compound pressure Holly engines, capacity of each 3,000.000 gallons in twentyfour hours, and the water was pumped from a well thirty-five feet deep and forty feet in diameter. A big pipe was run from the pmnp into the river in order to obtain from it an inexhaustible supply of water in case of a conflagration and about eleven miles of mains were put in the ground which were sufficient at that time to supply the whole city. The water furnished by the well was of the best quality, but the supply from the well was found to be insufficient in 1894. The city was financially cramped for money at that time, and the fact that good water had been found in ample quantity up to that time led the city government to believe that all the water obtained from underground at and near the place where the well was sunk to be the same. \\'ithout asking any advice they ordered a tunnel to be sunk in a northeasterly direction from the well to get another supply of water. At a depth of about fourteen feet or less a strong flow of water was struck, and by means of a large pipe conducted into the well; it furnished as much and more water as both pumps could draw out from the well, but its quality was different. After this water was used some years, it was discovered that the water supplied by the system deteriorated and pipes that were taken out, and especially the supply pipes, were found to be encrusted on the inside. In 1902 pieces of this pipe containing the crust were sent to Professor Smith of Beloit College, Wisconsin, for investigation. He discovered that the crust was due to the growth of a plant called Xenotrix, which is the only plant that can grow without sunlight and gets its food from iron dissolved in the water. The cause of the deterioration of the drinking supply having been now discovered it remained for the city to find the remedy. A newer and better supply of water was determined upon, and in 1907, thirty 6-inch drive wells were sunk at a depth of 135 feet which, however, did not furnish a sufficient supply, and some years later ten lo-inch drive wells at a depth of 135 feet were sunk which with the first thirty 6-inch wells were expected to furnish a bountiful supply of water for present needs and for years to come, but to obtain a continuous strong flow from these drive wells it became necessary to get a new pump set deeper in the ground to shorten suction. This new engine and pump is expected to be installed during this winter (1912-1913); it has a capacity of pumping fully as much and more as the two other pumps together. These deep drive wells contain but a very insignificant amount of iron in solution, insufficient to sustain the life of this plant which is expected to die for want of food. Nevertheless, that of itself will not cure the evil, but the plant which has grown in the system must be expelled before the water will retain its original purity and good taste. There is no doubt that this can be accomplished and will be accomplished in a short time, especially after the new powerful pump is established. There are 38 miles of water pipes in the ground, 260 fire hydrants, and 6 free drinking fountains. The watenvorks are now controlled by a water commission consisting of five members; the mayor being a member, ex-officio, the city council electing one of their members for a member of the commission, and three others are elected by the council who must not be members of the council. The term of the mayor and the alderman is limited to two years, but the term of the other members having no other connection with the city government directly is three years. The present commissioners are :

Employes: William C. Slosson, chief engineer; Charles C. Boerke, assistant engineer; William D. McGee, assistant engineer; Arthur W. Ehricke, Ole Olson, and Otto Knacker, firemen; William Schmidt, city tapper; Henry Gross, superintendent.

A large amount of money has been spent since 1906, bringing the cost of the system all together up to more than three times its original cost, much of which was caused by the effort to free the plant from this obnoxious growth.

The Wausau Fire Department

Up to the year 1869 there was no organized force nor any equipment to combat fire. Houses and stores or shops were standing scattered over the ground, and the burning of one did not immediately endanger the next one. Of course, buildings caught fire and were destroyed, as, for instance, the United States Hotel, so called, a large boarding house, standing on Second street between Washington and Jackson streets ; the Corey and Daniels shingle mill on the Corey lot south of the County square which burned in 1866 with a lot of shingle bolts, but the flames did not reach the next buildings. The county was then still a forest with only small clearings and the village surrounded by large timber and trees where the wind had little chance to spread the flames, and so a fire was easily limited to the place where it originated.

Of course if a building caught fire it was doomed and little or nothing could be done to save it, as, for instance, when the United States Hotel burned in 1863, the flames spread so quickly that the lessee, S. Kronenwetter, lost all his belongings, saving nothing^ but his life and his family. But as the village grew and houses began to grow up near to each other one burning building would set fire to the next, thereby increasing the danger as when in 1869 one building caught fire on Washington street and spread and destroyed three others and partially a fourth. This was an object lesson to teach the necessity of an equipment to fight fire. Wausau Fire Company No. I was organized working a hand engine, as mentioned in a former chapter. Later in 1880 a steam engine was purchased and a team of horses kept to run the engine out at an alarm, but a voluntary company still existed until 1885, when the waterworks were finished which were calculated to and did furnish water under pressure to put out fire, and a voluntary hose company was organized to work at fires. This hose company served for several years until a full paid fire department was established in 1893.

At the trial of the waterworks as to their power to throw water, the works forced ten i-inch streams high enough in the air over the tallest building in Wausau. The city engaged a few paid firemen who were in constant service at the fire station houses and a few half paid men whose duty it was to respond to every alarm. A chief of the fire department was appointed by the mayor, usually one who had served in the volunteer company and was competent to take command over the paid and half paid firemen at a fire. The chief was not required to be in attendance at the fire stations except for practice, and his salary was m.erely nominal.

The several chiefs of the fire department under this arrangement were : D. L. Plumer, F. \V. Kickbusch, August Lemke, J. C. Gebhard, and L. Bellis. In 1893 the fire department was fully organized with the chief staying at the station like other firemen. The first station house was the present fire station No. I on South Third street, and at about the same time fire station No. 2 was established on Second avenue.

The chief of the fire department and eleven firemen and three volunteers who received $10 per month each. The volunteers attended practices and responded to a fire alarm, but were not stationed at the station house; the equipment consisted of one Ahrend fire engine, three hose wagons, one hook and ladder truck, all . necessary hose, buckets, and fire extinguishers and seven horses.

The chiefs since the full quota of paid firemen were engaged were: William Waterhouse, from 1893 to 1895; J. Adams, from 1895 to 1897; Henry Lemke, from 1897 to 1899; Henry G. Miller, from 1899 to 1909; F. F. Zielsdorf, from 1909 to the present time.

The present department was greatly enlarged after 1908. Two more station houses were built about 1909 and fully equipped in the year following, and the present department (1912-13) consists of the chief and twentyone paid firemen, and one part paid man with the following personnel and titles :

Equipment. - Thirteen horses, three combination hose and chemical wagons, one hose cart, one hook and ladder truck, two steam fire engines, one chief's horse and buggy.

The Police Department

consists of the following: Thomas Malone, chief; John Fehl, Jr., captain; James Kennedy, sergeant; and eight uniformed police or patrolmen and one plain clothes man.