Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1900-05-15
TELEPHONE COMP ANY.
Marathon County Telephone Com
pany to be Organized at Once.
TO BE BUILT DURING 1900.
The villages of Marathon County to
be Connected With the
County Seat.

The Villages OF Marathon County TO
be Connected With the
County Seat.
For several years there has been a
good deal of talk of constructing tele-
phone lines to connect the towns and
villages of this county with the county
seat The phenomenal success, finan-
cial and otherwise, which has attended
the local company, and the fact that the
toll line between here and Merrill pays
81 per cent of its cost each year, has
lent strong encouragement to this pro-
ject, and as the great convenience of
telephone service is becoming more
and more appreciated each year, the
demand for making such connections
become stronger The directors of the
Wausau Telepone Co. have approved
the plan and recommended it in their
reports for several years past, as one
likely to not only prove profitable in
Vestment from money standpoint, but
one that would bring the people of this
county into closer contact and promote
better feeling between them. The pro-
ject has been heartily approved by the
stockholders, but the demands that have
been made each year on the local COM
pany in the way of local extentions have
taken all the time the directors, whose
work is gratuitous, could we'll afford to
give to the matter Besides, these ex-
tentions have absorbed the surplus
earnings of the company, and are likely
to do so for some time to come At the
last stockholders meeting of the Wau-
sau Telephone Co. it was proposed to
raise the fund by the sale Of stock, but
here a stumbling block was found in
the charter of the company, which re-
quires that all stockholders must be
lessees of the ecplpany's telephones,
and limits the amount of stock one per-
son can hold to one share for each
phone leased by him for his own per-
sonal use.
Here matters stood until about a
month ago, when g. ID. Jones, one of
the directors of theWausau company, re-
ceived II letter from Judge j. A Gaynor,
of Grand Rapids, stating that he was
about to organize a company to build
aliae from Grand Rapids to Marshfeld,
which would give connections south
with the Waushara telephone line, and
east with the Little Wolf line to Stevens
Point, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac and other
points. Judge Gaynor suggested that
Il like company be organized here also
to build to Marshfield, there to connect
with the other lines
Mr.. Jones, while very much interested
in the question, felt unable to spare the
time to promote the line but was willing
to take stock and give the benefit of
his experience to the work. A number
of meetings of those known to be in
favor of the line were held and l.. X.
Wright was asked to do the necessary
preliminary work. 1t was finally de-
cided to organize a stock company,
with $4,000 capital stock, divided into
500 shares of S25 each, and to build lines
connecting Wausau and Marshfeld and
the intermediate villages of Marathon,
Edgar, Fenwood, Mcmillan, Stratford,
Poniatowski and Athens, and the vii
lage of Mosinee, the line to Poniatowski
and Athens to be branch line running
from the village of Edgar. The COM
pany to be organized not later than
June 10th and the lines to be built
during 1900
1t is contemplated to put in a first
class metallic circuit aud it viii be
necessary to raise about six or seven
thousand dollars, leaving some three
thousand dollars of surplus stock, which
can be sold in case additional lines
should be decided upon later.
The directors of the Wausau Tele-
phone Co. attribute the marvellous sue
cess, financially and otherwise, of that
company to the loyal support of their
many stockholders, and the good will
and friendly sentiment of their patrons.
No doubt this is the most important
factor in the success of this project. 1t
is considered important by the promo
ters of the new company, therefore,
that theyillage and country people of
this county have the first opportunity
to become subscribers for its capital
stock They will be the patrons of the
company, The stock will be offered for
subscription, therefore, to the people
along the proposed line, and after they
have taken what they want the balance
will be sold in Wausau
Mr.. Wright has been at work on the
preliminaries for the past two weeks,
and last week made trip to Athens
and Poniatowski At both points the
people are enthusiastic on the subject,
Athens coming to the front with stock
subscriptions to the amount of $40,
while the little farm settlement at Pom
iatowski took s325. The people all
along the line feel the same enthusiasm,
and the work will be pushed 20 a sue
eeSSfdl termination.
The lines it is proposed to build this
summer are greatly needed by this
county. No doubt other lines viii be
added from time to time hereafter until
each village in the county is connected
with the county seat. The promoters
of the new company confidently expect
that the same liberal policy towards the
public viii be pursued by this company
as by the home company. The manage
ment Of the new company viii be, OF
course. separate from the Wausau Tele-
phone Co, but it is expected that the
two companies will haze close and
friendly relations. The PILoT predicts
the same prosperity for the proposed
Marathon County Telephone Co. that
has been enjoyed By the home company
That company. while furnishing tele-