Newspaper Notes: 1875-1902: Articles of Rib Lake and Vicinity from Taylor County Newspapers

1879

1/4/1879		TCN		SAWYER DAM -- Messrs Sawyer and Austin will build a large flooding dam on the Black River, in town 31; range 1 west, at an expense of $3,000 to $4,000. The capacity of the dam will be about the same as the Hemlock Island dam [in Clark County, north of Neillsville]. MERRILAN LEADER			Their sawmill was in Black River Falls. In 2013, probably the best preserved large dam site in Taylor County is on Pine Creek. The earthen wings of this dam can still be clearly seen north of Taylor County Highway A, SE SW 13-30-1W, Town of Holway.
1/11/1879		TCN		OGEMA -- B. M. Holmes mill [at Ogema] is doing a good business, sawing at about 50,000 feet a day.			The mill had recently been rebuilt after a disastrous fire.
1/18/1879		TCN		CHELSEA -- L. [Linus] M. Marshall of Chelsea is running his mill night and day. A. [Abram] Taylor Esq. is one of the hardest working men along the line of the [rail] road, night and day he is busily engaged in attending the numerous duties devolving upon him as Mr. Marshall’s superintendent.			Abram Taylor was initially the founder and owner of the Chelsea saw mill.
1/18/1879		TCN		WESTBORO -- John Duncan, of the firm of Duncan & Taylor, with his corps of assistants, Thomas and William, his sons, Mr. Jacobs, the gentlemanly book-keeper for the firm, are up to their eyes and ears in business. With several camps in full blast, the largest and best mill on the line running daily, a large and complete stock of groceries, provisions and merchandise to dispose of, makes business very lively around the village Westboro. Mr. Eli [Elias] Urquhart is conducting the logging operations for this firm.			The same edition reported that “Messr. Palmer and Cone have commenced clearing ground and are preparing to build a dam at what is known as “high banks” on Silver Creek…a splendid stream and immense body of water is tributary to Westboro. This was the second saw mill for Westboro. In 1901 it became the Westboro Lumber Co. The Palmer & Cone sawmill was building ½ mile east of the Wisconsin Central north-south main-line, about ¼ mile northeast of where, in 2016, CTH D crosses Silver Creek. August Franck constructed Westboro’s third sawmill. It was located “downtown” on the west side of the railroad tracks and powered by a wind mill Franck built. It was the only wind powered saw mill in the State of Wisconsin. Greater Westboro’s fourth saw mill was located about 1 mile northeast of the village on the east side of what is in 2011 Lucia Road. The mill was owned and operated by Isaac Gay and formed the nucleus of “Gay Town.”
2/1/1879		TCN		Duncan & Taylor removed the belting and saw from their mill at Little Black to Westboro during last week.
2/1/1879		TCN		Mooer & Bussell are still doing big work, hauling from 1500 to 2000 feet at a load. Bob lays it to putting his sprinklers to work before the snow fell last fall, and now he is getting the benefit of them.			The winter of 1878-79 had little snow and, therefore, sleighing loads was difficult. Mooer and Bussell spread water on the routes which turned to ice, making sleighing productive.
2/1/1879		TCN		BIG TREE -- Eldred & Son send us the following as a sample of the kind of trees they make a deal of for the Glasgow market. They cut a pine tree on the north branch of the Oconto River which made seven logs scaling as follows: 1 log 50 inches, 12 ft long, scaling 1,587 ft 1 log 49 inches, 12 ft long, scaling 1,452 ft 1 log 46 inches, 12 ft long, scaling 1,323 ft 1 log 44 inches, 12 ft long, scaling 1,200 ft 1 log 42 inches, 12 ft long, scaling 1,083 ft 1 log 49 inches, 12 ft long, scaling 972 ft 1 log 38 inches, 16 ft long, scaling 1,158 ft TOTALS: 7 LOGS, 88 FEET LONG, TOTALING 8,773 board feet The combined length of the logs was really over 90 feet, the odd two feet being taken up by the extra inches allowed for the log. John Driscoll is putting in 5,000,000 feet of logs for Eldred & Son on the north branch of the Oconto River that will average one and a half logs to 1,000 board feet. These are intended for the Glasgow market. GREEN BAY ADVOCATE			Here “inches” refers to the diameter of the log on the smaller end. I surmise these logs were exported to Glasgow, Scotland.
2/1/1879		TCN		WESTBORO’S SECOND SAWMILL -- Cone and Palmer have a crew of men at work clearing and breaking ground for their mill at Westboro.			The Duncan, Taylor and Ritchie was the first sawmill at Westboro. Cone and Palmer’s was the second; in 1902, it became the Westboro Lumber Co. The latter mill stood c. 1000 feet north of the county highway bridge across Silver Creek.
2/8/1879					TCN	PINE LOGGING PROJECTIONS FOR SEASON -- We have taken considerable pains to procure the amount of logs banked at the several logging camps up to February 1st. Below will be found the amount as reported by H. Ripley, from estimates made upon the ground: Linus M. Marshall Chelsea 1,800,000 John Owen Silver Creek 800,000 Meridian Slough Co., Mondue [Mondeaux] 1,900,000 Ingram Kennedy & Co ditto 1,100,000 Wm. Miller & Co ditto 1,100,000 Duncan & Taylor Westboro 3,000,000 David McCartney [Medford sawmill] 3,000,000 “This statement does not include timber cut upon the Rib, Spirit or any of the tributaries of the Wisconsin River.” “IT WILL BE PERCEIVED THAT A FEW YEARS MORE WILL FIND THE TIMBER VERY SCARE THROUGHOUT THIS COUNTY, FROM THE WAY IN WHICH IT IS BEING CUT AT PRESENT.” (EMPHASIS ADDED]		I DELETED FROM THE LIST OF THE NAMES AND DATA OF 26 LOGGING OPERATIONS GOING ON ALONG THE YELLOW RIVER IN TAYLOR COUNTY. The editor of TCN concluded that the season cut would total about 40,000,000, excluding figures from tributaries of the Wisconsin River. NOTE THAT THE DUNCAN MILL AT WESTBORO CUT 3,000,000 FT. BUT, ANOTHER 4,900,000 WAS CUT IN THE WESTBORO AREA, ALTHOUGH MILLED ELSEWHERE.
2/15/1879		TCN		FIRST MENTION OF WHITTLESEY -- G.W. Norton, of Chelsea, has delivered about 1800 telegraph poles at Whittlesey station for D.O. Miltimore of Dorchester.			This is the first mention of Whittlesey using that name in the TCN. Previously, the locale was called Charlestown. At the time of the railroad construction there in 1873, the Wisconsin Central named it Charlestown after a suburb of Boston; the board of directors of the railroad at that time had several Bostonites. The early Wisconsin Central maps show the location named Charlestown. Ezra Whittlesey had acquired from the Wisconsin legislature - in which he served–the right to dam the Black River there; his activities lead to naming the station and eventual community after him.
2/15/1879		TCN		CHELSEA HOUSE -- Chelsea, Wis. C.H. Gearhart, Proprietor. I respectfully solicit the patronage of the traveling public.			This was a long running ad.
3/1/1879		TCN		John Worthington came down from Chelsea last Tues with two lynx and several other skins. John is the boss lynx hunter
3/1/1879		TCN		SAWYER DAM -- The iron and castings to be used on the dam being built by Sawyer & Austin at T31, 1W arrived this week.			This refers to the long standing log driving dam on the Black River.
3/1/1879		TCN		A.J. Perkins, wholesale and retail dealer in FLOUR & FEED! Medford, Wis. Keeps constantly on hand the celebrated Weyauwega Flour, manufactured by Weed Gunnar & Co. Special prices given to wholesale dealers.			Albert J. Perkins would turn out to be one of JJK’s longtime friends and supporters.
3/8/1879		TCN		STEAM SHOVEL -- The Wisconsin Central Railroad is repairing a steam excavator, purchased by it from the Hannibal and St Joe Railroad; it will load 150 railroad cars per day. The company intends to commence ballasting the road as soon as the weather will permit.
3/8/1879		TCN		The Wis. Central pay-car has been up and distributed the needful among the boys. The last pay was for November [1878], leaving the company still three months in arrears with its employees.			The Wisconsin Central Railroad operated for long periods of time while in bankruptcy.
3/8/1879		TCN		PROPOSED STATE HIGHWAY -- Messrs.’ C. C. Palmer of Taylor County, Everett of Chippewa, and Kline of Lincoln, are the commissioners of the State Road running from the Village of Jenny [Merrill] in Lincoln County, via Westboro, to a point in Chippewa County. They have caused a survey of that portion of the road running through this county and Chippewa to be made….The completion of this road will open up one of the finest agricultural sections in this county. The road in passing through Taylor County strikes Town 33 in ranges 1, 2, and 3 east, also Town 32 in Range 3 east.			This may be what John H. Dums Sr. described and mapped as the Wausau Road; see the 1981 Pictorial History of Rib Lake at page 104.
3/15/1879		TCN		L. M. Marshall at Chelsea stopped logging last week for the season: all told he has hauled to the mill about 3,000,000 ft. of splendid logs 1,300,000 ft. he has manufactured. The mill will be kept running until July.			The mill man referred to is Linus M. Marshall; many documents in the photo and document collection refer to him.
3/15/1879		TCN		Duncan & Taylor of Westboro have cut the last winter a little over 3,000,000 ft. of good logs and have manufactured about a third of that. Their mill will saw about all they have on hand by the first of June if they run to its capacity.			Their former partner, James Ritchie, has gone bankrupt and is no longer an owner of this mill.
3/29/1879		TCN		THE LOG CROP -- …The cut on the Wisconsin River and its tributaries foots up 125,000,000. On the Black Rivers and tributaries the cut is larger than it has been in eight years; footing up something over 250,000,000 while work is still going on in a large number of camps. The great army of men in the Black River pinery was paid last week. Senator W. T. Price, the most extensive lumberman on the Black River the past year, has paid for help over $37,000. On the Chippewa and Eau Claire Rivers, the cut reaches 225,000,000.			The same edition reports: “driving on Black River will commence about the 10th of April.”
3/29/1879		TCN		K.A. Ostergan, a/k/a OSTERGREN -- Mr. K.A. Ostergren of Ogema, Price County, well known along the line of the Wisconsin Central Railroad, has been appointed one of the members of the State Board of Immigration, as provided by Chap 176 Laws of 1879, The Board as fully constituted is: Gov. Wm. E. Smith, ex-officio; Hon J. A. Becher of Milwaukee; Sec. of State Hans B. Werner, Hon. J. M. Smith of Wausau and Rev. K. A. Ostergren of Ogema. The appointment of Mr. Ostergren will give universal satisfaction throughout this part of the State. He is eminently fit and will be instrumental in settling Taylor and Price counties with a large number of emigrants the coming season,			Pastor Ostergren was instrumental in bringing a host of Scandinavian settlers to what would become the Town of Spirit, Price County. By 1885 Taylor County had its own Immigration Association; it published well-written, illustrated German-language booklets soliciting settlers.
4/19/1879		TCN		Parties that have been out on the south fork of the Yellow River at the head report that all the fish, which were of the very finest kind, pickerel, large bass and muskellunge, are all dead. Immense quantities were found all through the ice and about the edge of the lake. Old fishermen attribute their death to the want of air and the severity of the winter freezing the lake nearly to the bottom. THIS IS THE CASE ON WHAT IS KNOWN AS LITTLE RIB LAKE. (emphasis added)			About 40 acres in size, Little Rib Lake is one mile west of 320-acre Rib Lake. This is the first mention of Little Rib Lake in the TCN.
4/26/1879		TCN		Peter McCourt has a curiosity, captured by Henry Grant near Rib Lake, in the shape of a young porcupine…
5/3/1879		TCN		The last Congress passed an act allowing all homestead settlers on public land within the granted limits [of] land grant railroads to enter 160 acres of land…. The law formerly was that only soldiers were entitled to 160 acres within railroad limits and others to 80 acres…			The Westboro and Rib Lake areas were within the limits of the Wisconsin Central land grant.
7/5/1879		TCN		O’Leary won the great 75 hour walking match at Chicago having completed 250 miles to his opponent’s 225. The prize was $10,000. The gate money was $ 8,000.
8/2/1879		TCN		HEMLOCK -- The shipment of hemlock bark from Little Black, Medford, Chelsea and Westboro will aggregate 125 car loads, averaging 11 cords per car; this makes nearly 1,400 cords of bark at an average price on the car of $ 2.50 per cord, making the total receipts for bark nearly $3,500…
8/2/1879		TCN		The Review of Fort Howard, Wisconsin, notices the appearance of John Duncan of Westboro and David McCartney of Medford. Both gentlemen have residences at Fort Howard.			John Duncan was a major industrialist in Fort Howard operating the Duncan and [William S?] Taylor foundry there; the foundry had just suffered a $30,999 loss through fire. In 1874 John Duncan, William S. Taylorand James Ritchie constructed a large sawmill in Westboro just north of Silver Creek and abutting the Wisconsin Central railroad tracks. The 8/23 edition reported “work on Taylor & Duncan’s new foundry and machine shop is being pushed along as rapidly as possible.” This work was taking part at Fort Howard, Wisconsin, which is just west of Green Bay.
8/23/1879		TCN		SPIRIT LAKE -- We are informed that a colony of about 30 families WILL SETTLE NEAR THE SPIRIT LAKES, about 6 miles from Westboro next spring. (emphasis added)			I have no firm evidence that a group of 30 families, in fact, settled; but, the report may have referred to Siegfried Meier’s “German Settlement” or K. A. Ostergren’s Swedish-Norwegian group.
8/30/1879		TCN		COURT CASES -- Wisconsin Central Railroad vs. Taylor County, John Duncan and William S. Taylor vs. C.C. Palmer; H.C. Milnor vs. John Duncan and William S. Taylor.			John Duncan and William S. Taylor were the remaining owners of their sawmill at Westboro after their partner, James Ritchie, went bankrupt. The actual court files were about 1980 transferred from the Taylor County courthouse to the regional historical library on the University of Wisconsin campus at Eau Claire.
				1880
10/30/1880		TC STAR		The Hon. T. B. Scott, Hon. Myron McCord and Hon. Ambrose Hoffman, are on the line this week viewing the political horizon.			Thomas B. Scott was the leading lumberman in Merrill, Wisconsin. Perhaps the Village of McCord—a few miles east of Prentice- is named for Myron. A later edition reported he was elected to the Wisconsin Legislature.
11/7/1880		TCS & TCN		James Garfield is elected president.			This newspaper labeled itself “Republican” and finished its reporting on Republican candidate Garfield’s election as president: “Thank God the country is safe for another 4 years.”
11/7/1880		TCS & TCN		LITTLE BLACK -- Duncan and Taylor will operate the Little Black mill this coming winter, and stop the Westboro mill; logs cannot be got to Westboro to run that mill the entire year. The mill at Little Black has stood idle for about 4 years.
11/7/1880		TCS & TCN		WESTBORO -- S.D. Cone, one of the whitest (sic) men on earth, has purchased the interests of his partner, C.C. Palmer, in the sawmill at Westboro, and will hereafter run the mill himself.			This mill stood on the west side of Silver Creek 1000 feet north of current county trunk highway D; it later became the mill for the Westboro Lumber Company. The John Duncan and William S. Taylor mill was one half mile further downstream and on the east side of the railroad mainline.
11/13/1880		TCS&NEWS		J.J.KENNEDY AND BRO. WILL LUMBER ON THE YELLOW RIVER IN THIS COUNTY THIS COMING WINTER. (emphasis added)			This is the first mention of John J. Kennedy, later founder of Rib Lake, in the TCN. Kennedy was then living in Spencer, where his sawmill had just burned. Several newspapers reported that he and a brother [Angus Kennedy] logged pine and drove them westward from Taylor County; they moved to Rib Lake in 1881. John J. Kennedy had 3 brothers. FOR DETAILS ON ALL THE KENNEDY FAMILY, GO TO: WWW.RIBLAKEHISTORY.COM AND SEE THE Folder “Kennedy Family”
11/20/1880		TCS&NEWS		MEDFORD NEWSPAPERS -- Ed. T. Wheelock is editor and proprietor of “Taylor County Star and TCN”.			Each was then a separate paper.
11/20/1880		TCS&NEWS		The planing mill has gone up in smoke.			The Medford sawmills and its planing mill was owned by David McCartney. The paper gives a long account.
11/27/1880		TCS&N		The cold weather is making an excellent bottom for logging roads by freezing the swamps and wet places. A few more days of cold and 12 inches of snow will make the loggers happy.
11/27/1880		TCS&NEWS		INDIANS -- Some of our Medford saloon keepers appear to ignore the fact that it is an offense against the law to sell liquor to the Indians, being prohibited by both state and federal law. Indians are often found drunk upon the streets…
12/4/1880		TCS&N		C.H. Gearhart has built a new barn at Chelsea for the accommodation of teams hauling supplies to logging camps in that neighborhood. Gearhart is doing a rushing business in his hotel.			A beautiful picture of the 3-story hotel can be found in the photo and document collection of the Rib Lake Historical Society at its website: www.riblakehistory.com.
12/4/1880		TCS&N		LOGGING MATTERS -- The following camps are now in operation in the Towns of Chelsea &Westboro: RIB RIVER H. Curran, of Stevens Point, T 32 R 2E, will put in 2 to 3 million [board feet of pine]. BLACK RIVER Vaughn, logging on section 7, T. 32 R 3E. Contract for 2,000,000 to be sawed at the Chelsea mill for Fay, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Henry C. Shearer, for [David] McCartney on section 9 T 32 R 1E. A[bram] Taylor, 3 camps: one in section 4 T 32 R 1E, another 28 33 2E. YELLOW RIVER McKay, 8 32 1W. Baker & Prealx, [T] 32 2W. J. Day, 24 T 33 1W. D. McLeod, T 33 1 West. Joseph Gibson, two camps MONDEAUX CREEK Fred Leonard, one camp for Meridian Mill Co. J. Meehan, 30 33 1W. Joseph Gibson, one camp. Ingram & Kennedy [Orrin H. Kennedy-NOT J.J. Kennedy] 4 camps on Mondeaux and Yellow [rivers]. D. Alexander for A.D. Lunt, 13 32 1W. SILVER CREEK Duncan & Taylor, 4 camps in operation. John [S.] Owen, 2 camps The following loggers are operating in the Town of Westboro, but we do not know on what stream they are banking [their pine logs]: William Miller for Ingram & Kennedy; Ed. Rutledge, two camps; McKinnon, one camp.			Silver Creek begins by flowing out of North Harper Lake. One of John S. Owen camp foreman was named Harper; the lake was named after him. Note the logging on the Rib River; it was downstream from Rib Lake. Consult the Photo & Document Collection at www.riblakehistory.com; it contains a map prepared in 2011 by Taylor County Zoning administrator Larry Peterson of loggings dam sites he has seen on Mondeaux Creek.
12/11/1880		TCS&NEWS		G.S. Phelps has 12 men putting in logs off his homestead in the Town of Chelsea. He will run them to [the] Yellow River and sell them in the spring to [city of] Eau Claire parties.			A great many Taylor County pine logs were sawed at mills in the cities of Chippewa Falls and Eau Claire—floated there by way of the Chippewa River and tributaries.
12/11/1880		TCS&NEWS		In the Logging Items of last week’s paper we state that Mr. A. Taylor of Chelsea had 4 camps in operation. Mr. [Abram,] Taylor informs us that he is not interested in logging, but Mr. L. M. Marshall is doing the business…			The reference is to Linus M. Marshall; the photo & document collection has a variety of original documents, including leases and maps regarding his Chelsea sawmill.