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

RIB LAKE SHORTS -From The Rib Lake Herald -- The construction gang on the logging railroad is out about six miles [east of town].
Mrs. Oscar Lange returned from the Battle Creek Sanitarium Thursday morning, much improved in health.
Dr. William started for Rib Lake and was taken sick on the road with hemorrhage of the stomach. Although it is quite bad we have hopes he will be with us soon.
N.G. Norton of Butternut, Wisconsin, will run the charcoal kilns at [Rib Lake]. If he finds everything satisfactory, he will move his family here. He is an expert charcoal manufacturer and a good citizen.

The extension of the railroad track eastward from Rib Lake is under construction. Measured by the actual route of the right-of-way, the construction gang was near Mud Lake. While the primary use of the extension was for logging, the easements for the line were in the name of the Wisconsin Central Railroad, which in 1902 was taken over by the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railroad. The latter known as the “Soo” Line.
10/19/1901	TC STAR &NEWS		HOMESTEAD HALF MILE EAST OF LITTLE SPIRIT LAKE -- DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Land office at Wausau, Wis. -- Notice is hereby given that the following named settler has filed notice of his intention to make final proof in support of his claim, and that said proof will be made before the Clerk of Circuit Court at Medford, Wisconsin, on October 28, 1901, viz: Henry Wagner, who made H. E. [Homestead Entry] No 7174, for the W ½ SW ¼, Section 4, Town 33 N, Range 3 East. He names the following witnesses to prove his continuous residence upon and cultivation of said land, viz: Otto Olson, S.M. Swanson, Pat J. Cullen and Anton Lundquist, all of Rib Lake. /s/ John W. Miller, Register				Rib Lake area lands were still being acquired from the federal government by way of the Homestead Act. The 80 acre parcel claimed by Wagner is just ½ mile east of the Little Spirit public boat landing.
10/26/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		RIB LAKE SHORTS - From the Rib Lake Herald -- Frank J. Hintz is building a telephone line from his store to his saw mill. William Hess and his men have to hustle to supply the demand for ground bark, and this means that the tannery is running almost to its full capacity. Rib Lake is to have another store, which will be located in Voss’s building. The owner, Mr. Christianson, is from Marshfield. Dr. R.G. Werner has returned from his trip East and established himself in his office on Third Street. He tells us he has worked hard the past few months.				The first step in extracting tannic acid from tan bark was to run it through a grinder. Its capacity determined the upper limit of tannery production. Bill Hess worked on the steam hauler, which pulled sleigh loads of hemlock bark to the tannery. The Voss building stood where Barry Anderson’s Body Shop exists in 2012: 840 McComb Ave. Rib Lake’s Third Street is exactly one block long running between Railroad and Church Street; J.J. Kennedy created it in 1895 in the Original Plat of the “Village of Rib Lake.”
11/2/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		McKinley’s Assassin Electrocuted. Was Quietly Disposed of Tuesday Morning, and the Remains Cremated in Quick Lime and Acid -- Auburn, New York, Oct. 29: at 7:12:30 o’clock this morning Leon Czolgosz, murderer of President William McKinley, paid the extreme penalty enacted by law for his crime. He was shocked to death by 1,700 volts of electricity…				Czolgosz had been convicted of the assassination which resulted in vice president Teddy Roosevelt becoming president. The article quoted Czolgosz talking to witnesses as he was strapped in the chair: “I killed the President because he was an enemy of the people, of the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime.”
11/2/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		ANOTHER SAW MILL FOR THE TOWN OF GREENWOOD -- Mr. C. C. McNamar, accompanied by his eldest son, arrived here last week from Richland County, and they are now engaged in preparing a home for their families and erecting a saw mill in the Town of Greenwood. They are located on section 34, 32, 2 East-not far from the Urquhart Post Office. They appear to be industrious, intelligent, and the kind of people that make good citizens, and we bespeak a hearty welcome for them.				The site is just a mile west of the Marion Kiger mill opened in January, 1901. The same edition reports: “John Frey is building a mill. The Steen boys and Johnny Lemke are sawing firewood with their machine.” I surmise the machine was a gas or kerosene engine which was then very popular.
11/15/1901	TC STAR &NEWS		MARSHFIELD COMPANY LOGGING SOUTH OF GOODRICH -- E. Finney of Marshfield, representing the Upham Lumber Company of that city, stopped over in Medford on his way to the four [logging] camps of his company on the logging [rail] road running north of Athens. He reports satisfactory progress.				The Upham Lumber Co. wanted the railroad line extended north of Athens to tap its rich timberlands. The extension eventually reached Goodrich and for a while the Soo Line offered passenger service to and from Goodrich. In 1906 the Rib Lake Lumber Co. built a spur off this Athens-Goodrich railroad to serve its Camp 1. The new line was called the Copper River Spur – since it went toward that stream.
11/15/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		TAYLOR COUNTY STAR & NEWS CHANGES HANDS -- On Saturday last, November 9th, my connection with the STAR & NEWS as editor and proprietor ceased, having sold the property on that day to Mr. J. H. Waggoner… /s/ Peter Danielson				Wagoner consolidated the Star & News with two other Medford papers, the Medford Sentinel and Republican.
12/6/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		MOVE TO CREATE A NEW TOWN -- Petition Filed with County Clerk Asking for a Division of the Town of Westboro -- A petition signed by a number of residents of the Town of Westboro asking for the creation of a new town to be formed by setting apart two townships from the western end of Westboro was filed with County Clerk Martin on Monday. It is proposed to make the line between ranges 2 and 3, west, town 33, the dividing line, thus forming a new town of township 33 ranges 3 and 4…				In time, the Townships of McKinley and Jump River were created from land taken from the Town of Westboro.
12/6/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		Amateur Play at Westboro -- “Under the Laurels” will be played by the Westboro Amateur Dramatic Society Saturday evening at W. O. W. hall. The proceeds will be used to buy a new organ for the Westboro High School.				W.O.W. stood for Woodmen of the World; it was a lodge headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska; there were other chapters of this lodge in Medford, Rib Lake and most Wisconsin lumber towns. It performed a major social function and sold life insurance. The same edition of the Star & News published a list of Medford’s “civic societies” including “Medford Camp, No. 1378, M. W. A.” The initials stood for Modern Woodmen of America. Its officers were: V. C., Peter Danielson; W. A., Chris Ziemer; Clerk, Elias L Urquhart; and banker, William A. Warren.
12/13/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		PINE AND HEMLOCK - Rising Price for One and Threatened Corner of the Other -- The price list committee of the Mississippi Valley Lumbermen’s Association at Minneapolis, the other day, agreed to advance the price of lumber from 50 cents to $3 a thousand [board feet], according to grade. The committee says the immense demand is responsible for this action. Altoona, Penn., correspondents say that interests closely identified with those of John A. Dubois, the Pennsylvania lumber king, are backing of a project having for its aim the cornering of the hemlock market. Twenty million dollars are said to be at the disposal of the combination. Mr. Dubois has sent representatives to half a dozen states and their work has been done so quietly that its nature and intent were not revealed until the “corner” had been practically affected. Hemlock is $14 to $15 [per 1,000 board feet], but it is thought the scramble for it that will now ensue will bring the price up to $19 or $20. The latter figure is the one fixed by the combination for letting go of their vast accumulations. A Milwaukee lumberman interested in hemlock, says the [Milwaukee] Sentinel, scoffs the report that a corner had been formed in that lumber. He says: “if Pennsylvania men have really tried to perfect such a corner, they have [not] reckoned with their host. Wisconsin has a practically unlimited amount of hemlock, which is in so many hands that to combine the producers would be impracticable.” “The Pennsylvania hemlock supply is annually less, and it is only a question of time when Wisconsin and other Northwestern states will be called upon to furnish a large part of the Easterners’ supply. At present, much [hemlock] cut in Wisconsin is going East, and Wisconsin can break the corner, if such a plan is really being considered.”				The State of Pennsylvania had large hemlock forests; in fact, its official state tree is the hemlock. The existence of a “price list committee” reminds me of the days the Wisconsin State Bar had its “Uniform Fee Schedule.” When I was admitted to the Wisconsin Bar in 1972, the admittees were furnished a copy of the Schedule; it prescribed the “recommended” minimum charge for common tasks a general practitioner would likely encounter.
12/13/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		Alice Kennedy and Arthur W. Pollatz to WED --County clerk William Martin issued a marriage license to Arthur W. Pollatz and Alice Kennedy of Rib Lake on Wednesday.				The bride was born in Nebraska and not a relative of J.J. Kennedy. The groom was born near Bromberg, Posen, Kingdom of Prussia, the son of Frank [Franz] and Amalia Pollatz, nee Rusch.
12/13/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		WELLS DRILLED AT RIB LAKE -- Sweet & Schafer have completed operations at Rib Lake and vicinity; where they have drilled about 25 wells. Their outfit has been moved to Chelsea where they also expect to put down a number of wells.				At the time, the majority of wells initially used by settlers were hand dug. Somewhere simply holes in the ground, others were lined with wood and still others with rock. You can see a hand dug well built at the McGillis pine camp at SE NW 13 33 2E; it’s along the Nordic ski and snowshoe trail. Sweet & Schafer had a well drilling machine, driving a metal casing into the ground.
12/13/1901	TC STAR &NEWS		PUSHING ITS CLAIM - Taylor County Seeks to Recover Cost of Small Pox Cases -- Good progress is reported by District Attorney G. W. Adams in securing testimony which will enable Taylor County to recover the money expended for the care of Indians during the smallpox epidemic last winter. Before acting on the claim, exact and detailed statements were required by the government showing the number of cases of smallpox, the cost to the respective towns, as well as the facts in reference to the residence of the Indians in those towns. A report fully covering the desired information has been received by Mr. Adams from Chairman W. H. Hanley of the Town of Cleveland. Form this it appears that the Indians living in that town are members of the Pottawatomie and Chippewa tribes. There were 60 cases of smallpox among them last winter, resulting in 9 deaths, while the expense to the town was $1,850. A similar report will be received in a short time from the chairman of the Town of Westboro, and these documents will be forwarded to Indian Agent S. W. Adams at Ashland. The matter involves between $2,500 and $3,000, that amount having been repaid to the Towns of Cleveland and Westboro by Taylor County. There are about 200 and 300 Indians living in the county, principally in the two towns mentioned. They are members of tribes owning lands from which revenue is derived, but have taken up their residence in the unsettled part of Taylor County. Last winter smallpox broke out among them and for the protection of white residents the towns were obliged to care for the Indians at a considerable expense. The present movement is not only to recover from the federal government the amount thus expended BUT ALSO TO COMPEL THE REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS TO THEIR RESERVATIONS. THEY ARE UNDESIRABLE NEIGHBORS and the fact that many of them are living in a locality makes it impossible to sell lands in that vicinity to actual settlers. (emphasis added) District Attorney Adams has taken hold of the matter and is pushing it with his characteristic vigor.				The only known physical evidence in 2018 of Indian residence in Taylor County is “the Indian Farm” within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in the Town of Westboro. A grassed dancing circle is still to be seen where an Indian “village” existed for several years in the nineteenth century. Authorities no longer give its precise location in an effort to protect the site. Ironically, personnel of the National Forest substantially degraded the site by machine planting red pine on much of it. In my 75 years of researching Taylor County history, I have not come across anything to support the claim that the Native Americans there were “undesirable neighbors” to the white, Caucasian population. The claim is vile and racist. RPR 1/18/2018.
12/13/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		LOCOMOTIVE TO RIB LAKE -- The Heidrick & Matson [Lumber Company’s] engine [railroad locomotive] has gone to Rib Lake to haul logs for the Osburn Lumber Company this winter.				Heidrick and Matson did not yet have a logging railroad stretching into the woods. They had a variety of Wisconsin Central spur tracks in and about their saw and planning mills and usually needed their own locomotive to do switching there. Here they leased their locomotive to the W. A. Osburn Lumber Co of Rib Lake which had use for the engine both in its yard and on the 6 miles of newly constructed railroad exploiting the rich timberlands east of Rib Lake. [The Star & News continues to mistakenly refer to the W. A. Osburn Lumber Co. as Osborn; I will continue my practice of using the correct spelling, notwithstanding what the Star & News prints. RPR]
12/13/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		STORE AT RIB LAKE BURNS -- The Rib Lake Mercantile Company’s store was burned Thursday night of last week, the total loss being $20,000, partly covered by insurance. In addition to the company’s store, the building was occupied by the post office, W. A. Osburn Lumber Company’s Office, [and offices or meeting rooms for] Attorney William Pringle, the Odd Fellow’s, Modern Woodmen, Royal Neighbors and Good Templers societies. The lodges lost their outfits [for their members]. No mail was lost and the post office fixtures were saved. The fire started in the attic and is supposed to have been caused by a [kerosene] lamp exploding.				Like most mid-size or larger lumber companies operating in Wisconsin at that time, the W. A. Osburn Lumber Co. owned and operated a general store. At many locations—but not at Rib Lake—the company store provided a convenient way to use “script” issued by the lumber company in lieu of U.S. currency which was often in short supply.
12/13/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		ANGUS KENNEDY RETURNS FROM VISITING MOTHER -- Mr. Angus and Mrs. Sara Kennedy and children returned home [to Rib Lake] last Saturday from a visit of seven weeks with relatives in New York and Canada. Mrs. Kennedy’s mother is 93 years. Her home is in Canada. Mrs.Kennedy’s people live in central New York [state].				Angus Kennedy was a brother to John J. and was a member of the party who on August 8, 1881, camped on the shores of Rib Lake and scouted the site for the mill constructed there in the fall of 1881. He was for decades closely associated with J. J. in the lumbering business at Rib Lake serving as general manager of his brother’s concern. J.J. Kennedy was born at Glengarry, Ontario, Canada.
12/20/1901	TC STAR & NEWS		More Testimony Received -- Chairman Edward Evans of the Town of Westboro has forwarded to District Attorney Adams a report covering the facts relative to the smallpox epidemic among the Indians in that Town last winter. There were 26 cases of the disease and five deaths. The Indians were Pottawattamie (sic) and Chippewas, whose homes are in Jackson County, Kansas [following their removal from their probable birthplace of northern Wisconsin]. They do not wish to return there [Kansas] because there is no hunting in that region. Chairman Evans reports that their removal from [the Town of Westboro] is desirable because their presence obstructs the settlement of the Town, people being afraid of them, and because they kill game out of season. All the testimony in the matter has been forwarded to [the United States Indian Agent at] Ashland by District Attorney Adams, but it will probably be several months before action is taken by the [federal] government.				This testimony was “evidence” supplementing the claim of Taylor County to be reimbursed for money it paid the Towns of Cleveland and Westboro in caring for Indians during the recent smallpox epidemic. In addition, the County wanted the federal government to remove the Indians from Taylor County. See the edition of 12/13/1901 for a related, prior article. Note the claim that these Indians hunted illegally. In fact, all of Taylor County is in the “ceded territory.” The Indians ceded lands to the United States by treaties which permanently recognized and guaranteed that the Indians, i.e. the Ojibwa (“Chippewa”), could lawfully hunt and fish; these rights remain today as recognized by recent federal court decisions. The Potawatomi and Chippewa (properly called the Assinabe) Indians, prior to white settlement, lived in north Wisconsin where they hunted, fished, farmed and ate natural foods, such as wild rice. The Indians referred to in the 12/20/1901 Star & News were forced by the US Government to leave Wisconsin but forced to live on the treeless and lakeless prairie of Kansas, an environment totally start and difficult than their Wisconsin homelands and devoid of the flora and fauna that had fed and clothed them. See, also, article dated 1/17/1902/
			1902
1/3/1902	TC STAR & NEWS		New Sawmill Machinery -- A three saw edger was recently shipped to the Holliday Lumber Company at Curtis by Campbell and Anschutz, proprietors of the Medford Machine Shop & Foundry. This company is also making a single-block hand (band?) shingle machine for Frank J. Hintz of Rib Lake and a new gang slasher which is to be put into the sawmill of the Medford Manufacturing Company of Medford.				It’s easy to overlook the ubiquity of cedar shingle making. Some concerns had shingles as their end-all and be-all. Others like Frank J. Hintz, added shingle making to lumber production. The virgin wetlands of Taylor County were many and were often covered by thick stands of northern White cedar. Naturally rot resistant, cedar was easily split or sawed into shingles which roofed nearly every local building of the time. In addition to roofing, shingles could be the permanent siding of a building.
1/3/1902	TC STAR & NEWS		W. A. OSBURN DIES -- W. A. Osburn of Dubois, Pennsylvania, vice-president of the W. A. Osburn Lumber Co. of Rib Lake, died at his home on Christmas day. He was 39 years old and is survived by his wife and six children and other relatives.				On September 14, 1900, W. A. Osburn and others for $525,000 bought out the J.J. Kennedy Lumber Co. Incorporated; see document #13,888. On May 6, 1902, the W. A. Osburn Lumber Co. formally changed its name to the Rib Lake Lumber Co., Incorporated. W. A. Osburn died December 25, 1901, without a will. This fact caused the W.A. Osburn Lumber Co., a corporation; to sue his heirs to have a court authoritively determine who got what.
1/10/1902	TC STAR & NEWS		BIG SALE OF REAL ESTATE -- Northwestern Lumber Company of Eau Claire buys 42,000 acres in Taylor Co. The purchase price is $210,000. Property formerly belonged to Chippewa Lumber and Boom Company and is timbered land. One of the biggest real estate deals ever made in Taylor County was completed during the past week. Forty-two thousand acres were transferred in the Towns of Molitor and Cleveland in Towns 32 and 33, Ranges 1, 2 and 3 west. The property was sold by the Chippewa Lumber and Boom company to the Northwestern Lumber Company of Eau Claire and includes practically all the holdings of the former company in this county. The price paid for the tract is about $210,000. It is timbered land, being covered with hemlock and hardwood forest, and is also good farming land. The intention of the purchase is to cut the timber as fast as practicable and then dispose of the land to settlers. Logs cut on the tract will be sawed at Stanley, where the Northwestern Lumber Co. has a sawmill.				The legendary Frederick Weyerhaeuser was long associated with the seller which had already cut all the pine from the tract. The buyer’s railroad, the Stanley. Merrill & Phillips, would transport the remaining timber to the buyers huge saw mill at Stanley.
6/10/1902	TC STAR &NEWS		FIRE AT RIB LAKE -- Business Places and Dwelling Burned with Loss of $8,000 -- Fire broke out at 1:45 o’clock Friday morning in Buxton & Co.’s drug store and destroyed it together with Dr. O.E. Werner’s home, office, barn and adjoining buildings occupied by the Rib Lake Mercantile Co. Dr. Werner and Buxton & Co. carried insurance to the amount of $3,000. The Rib Lake Mercantile Co. had no insurance, but saved some goods. This is the second disastrous fire at Rib Lake within a few days.				Note that Dr. Werner’s residential buildings inside of the village included a barn. He owned at least one horse to pull his sleigh or wagon when making house calls.
6/10/1902	TC STAR & NEWS		REDUCTION IN LAND FORFEITED DUE TO NON PAYMENT OF TAXES -- The tax deed notice by the Taylor County clerks during the same period corroborates the details of the delinquent lists and confirms the conclusions deduced there from. In 1896 the notice contained 2234 [land] descriptions, and in 1901, only 1121---only 8 more than one-half the former number. And the manifest greater activity in sales of lands, the more rapid settlement of the county, and the increasing value and permanence of its development, certainly promised during the five years next to come, indicated constantly increasing reductions in these lists, as shown by the experience of older counties in the state, until in the very near future, NEARLY EVERY ACRE OF LAND IN TAYLOR COUNTY WILL BE OCCUPIED AND TILLED BY ITS OWNER, who will pay his taxes to the town or city treasurer before return-day to the county treasurer. (emphasis added)				Such misplaced optimism.
1/3/1902	TC STAR &NEWS		NEW ‘HOT POND” AT MEDFORD -- The Medford Manufacturing Co. has placed a pile driver on the ice over the Black River for the purpose of driving piles for a “hot pond” to enable them to thaw logs for sawing.				The water within a wooden walled pond next to the saw mill would be kept from freezing; this was done by circulating steam through a system of pipes laid on the river bed within the “hot pond.” Normally leaving a frozen log in the heated water overnight was sufficient to thaw it; once thawed, the log was taken into the saw mill via a “bull chain” for sawing. The Rib Lake Lumber Co. throughout its existence used a hot pond. It occupied about one acre of Rib Lake; in 2012 its location is marked by an official Wisconsin State Historical Marker.
1/10/ 1902	TC STAR & NEWS		The Wisconsin CENTRAL Railway -- The Wisconsin Central Railway maintains a daily train service between Chicago, Milwaukee, Manitowoc, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Ashland and Duluth, reaching Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Marshfield, Hurley, Ironwood and Bessemer as well as the principal points of Wisconsin en route. Connections with roads [other railroad companies] running south, east, west and north are made at terminal points. Pullman sleepers are attached to all night trains and meals are served a la carte. Any agent of the Wisconsin Central Ry. will be pleased to give you further information, furnish tickets and reserve sleeping car accommodations. /s/ James C. Pound, General Passenger Agent, Milwaukee, Wis.				The Wisconsin Central Railway used the term “railway” at this time to distinguish itself from its prior corporation which used the term “railroad.” The name change was part of managing the company’s financial woes which forced it into prolonged bankruptcy proceedings. I normally use the term Wisconsin Central Railroad for the sake of simplicity even where the term “railway” should technically be used. RPR
1/17/1902	TC STAR & NEWS