Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-08-25

county in 1896. He is the acting
representative of the Fred RietbrOck
Land and Lumber company of Athens.
To the efforts of Mr.. Rietbrock and his
associates is due the. greater part of the
work done in the DEVELOPMENT of the
resources of Athens land its surround
ing country. Mr.. Erbach Is now the
superintendent of the company and
has charge of" the farm, land Office,
lumber office and the Abbotsford &
North Eastern, Railway.
Among the early settlers on farms
in this locality may be mentioned
VIM. Hogan of the Town of Halsey
also Andrew Kreutzer, Ferd. Degner
and J. G.. Soaring of the same town.
Fred Dahl of the Town of Rietbrock
was also also among the first to settle
here. Frank Miller and Andrew
Keuger of Halsey were also very early
settlers.
The crops crown on the company's
farn are those which have been
mentioned previously. Mr.. Erbach
states that there was some difficulty
found in growing corn in the small
clearIngs on account of the cold and
were large enough to allow of enough
sunshine this disappeared. He also
thinks that seed corn which is planted
should be grown here or in other
words that the plant should be ac-
cimated to the locality in which it is
to be grown.
Tobacco is grown in the vicinity of
Athens but the quality of the product
has not been tested. Flax is raised in
small quantities but is found to be an
exhaustive crop on the land. Straw
berries are a great success as are apples,
plums and blackberries.
Mr.. George Kreutzer came to Mara
thon county in 1880. He has engaged
successfully in farming, staging, lum-
boring and store keeping. He brought
this first team of horses to Athens and
used them as a stage team. Men and
women packed their provisions on
their backs many miles in those days.
There were very poor roads then and
only small loads could be drawn. In
1890 the railroad was built and trans
pOrtation became less difficult.
Mr.. Kreutzer thinks that Marathon
county has great future before it in
an agricultural way, as the soil is very
deep and fertile and there is an album
dance of water and timber. He states
that all the cere-l crops do well here
aud that many special crops are being
experimental upon. Sugar beets are
raised which give high test and flax
and tobacco are raised by some as all
experiment. Fruit is grown with con-
siderable success. Garden vegetables
are grown in great abundance.
Dairying is soon to be a leading in
dustry. Mr.. Kreutzer is associated
with joint stock company that is this
year to build creamery with a capa-
city of fifteen thousand pounds of
milk per day, 1t will operate two CT
more cream skimming stations. He is
now operating two cheese factories on
his own account. In his general store
at Athens he handles great number
of eggs during each season. The
poultry products OF the county aggre-
gate a large amount. In the Town of
Hamburg, a few miles from Athens,
there II poultry paper published by
Henry Voigt. It's circulation is not
very extensive in the county but the
editor states that ITS circulation In
other states is considerable and is con-
StdnlI1 1ttcf tsA~iuR. 0cNcfdk btCCurE~
of pure bred Aocks of hens may be
found in the county.
The creamery made article is gener-
ally much better although it would, in
many cases, bear improvement.
a'reaneries operated by graduates of
the T.. w Dairy School have good
SUCCESS and send out very creditabit
product. but there are men operating
some of these creameries Who know
only what they have picked up by
working in a creamery somewhere for
a few morIlis and who are consequent
liz entirely incompetent. The county
has very many cheese factories The
butter and cheese factories aud the
affairs will number this
spring between twenty-five aud thirty
for the county. The aggregate output
each year from these factories is in
creasing rapidly. The county is espec-
tally well adapted 10 the dairy industry
ON account of its luxuriant grasses,
great soil fertility, abundant crops of
feeding stuf9s, plentiful supply of pure
water, aud cool nights in summer
These make its future success in this
industry assured
A new industry il to be started the
coming season in the form of canning
factory. Former Supt. III &. Head OF
the Asylum farm takes charge of IL
and undey his management its Success