Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1882-07-27
GRAND RAPIDS.
AND
CENTRALIA.
Water Power. Mill and
Factory Sites.
Unriyaled Opportunities for
Remuneratiye Invest
mGntS.
Men with Capital and En-
tGrpriSe Wanted.
What has been done and is being
done this year.
Men with Capital and En-
tGrpriSe Wanted.
What has been done and is being
done this year.

In the development Of new sections
and the building Of new cities, seasons
of thrift, enterprise and prosperity,
succeeded by days of apathy, inaction
and derth follow each other with al
most prophetic certainty; how often
cities in the west have grown and ex-
banded in size and wealth as if brought
into existence by the wand of the
magician and then how quickly they
have withered and wealth and the
busy hum of industry have departed.
Names of thrifty cities which are
household words to-day, tomorrow
will be forgotten and others will claim
the attention by reason Of the moving,
jostling crowd Of seekers after riches
and daily bread. Why is this =? Why
these constant and oft recurring
changings? Is it not mainly because
the enterprises which once called such
places into being have become ex-
haustcd? The springs, which once fed
the main stream of particular indus
try, have lost their vitality and there
Is derth where once was abundance
\ few years ago Grand Rapids and
Ccntralia was the head on the Wiscon-
sin river Of an immense lumber trade
The busy hum of numerous mills pre-
PEELED by an almost unlimited water
power running day and night furnished
ample remuneration to the employer
and the employed and contributed
millions upon millions of choicest
lumber to the markets of the world.
For nearly forty years this industry
continued and then there came a
change. The harvest fields of pine
had been garncred and they grew no
more. The fields of supply became
distant and the mills were too remote.
The special industry that first Gale d
Grand Rapids and its sister city across
the river INTO existence had become
dry at its source. 4 financial crisis
coming at this inopportune moment,
the busy hum of wheel and saw died
away and were still. The stiffness Of
despair succeeded the buoyant rush of
prosperity and thrift, The gate was
lifted no more, the wheels and shafts
forgot their motion, while rust and
decay, the insiduous devotees Of idle
ness, did their worst. Alone, unten-
anted and unkempt the old mills stood,
beaten by storms and racked by the
winds, wrecks of what once were the
busy workshops of a city's bone and
sinew. The whispered words went
forth Grand Rapids has seen its best
day" "Grand Rapids is dead" and
none were found who could say to a
certainty it Is not so. True hope
which springs eternal in the human
breast found Judgment with many of
our citizens while others, selling at a
sacrifice, sought more hopeful fields
where the bow of promise seemed
brighter 1t was hard to believe that
with the immense natural facilities for
the building up of a rich and popuIous
manufacturing center this Rip Van
Wrinkle like sleep could long continue,
for even in the primitive days of the
use Of waterfalls this point could not
have failed to attract the attention of
one seeking a safe and never failing
source Of power.
Unlike many other points this Sec
ton had remaining, when one and the
first industry became exhausted, other
grand and lasting facilities for the