Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1903-01-08

| Is not only to her manufacturing
industries but to the population of
| this territory that the people of
Grand Rapids should first devote their
energies. The city at the present
time shows every evidence of thrift.
Building is in progress, the streets are
torn up with the process of improve
ment, everybody is busy, the hotels
are filled with strangers. lands are
selling and city property is in big
! demand. But all this means little
compared to the new industries being
planned for this city. The settler and
the manufacturer hold in the hollow
of their hands the future of Grand
| Rapids.
Fifty years ago Grand Rapids was Il
good place TO go to hunt deer and bear
or to be Scalped by the Indians. Then
came the saw mill and the river RATS.
River logging was an enterprise and
water transportation an industry.
Then railroad forced it's way through
the unbroken forest and more saw
mills followed. The river logging
prospered and increased each year.
Finally the big pines along the river
bank and for d few quarter sections
were slaughtered. There was a new
enterprise. Then some timber hook
ing sage sugguested hauling logs by
rail. The experiment was tried and
the experiment sounded the death
knell of river logging. 1t marked
an epoch in the history of lumber. A
| winter without snow gave birth to
another proposition. Snow roads gave
way to ice roads. Then the lumber
man smiled. Ice roads revolutionized
logging and were followed by railroads
to lumber camps. But fifty years ago
is history. To-day hardly method Of
primitive days is in use. More than
four-tifths of the hauling OF logs to the
saw mills is now done by rail. Cars
are loaded higher than a cats back
ready for action. A log chain is used
for binding and away they go to the
mill. Then began the development
existence. The soil was tested and
found to be prolific. Then followed
the factory and foundry, bank and
mercantile houses until to-day an in
dustral and agricultural empire has
been hewed and plowed out of the pine
forests of half a century ago. There
is little left of the cherished surround
ings of the days of the early pioneer.
An occasional timber wolf or hun
CRY bear comes out to the clearing and
is now regarded as novelty more than
a nuisance. The red men are few in
number and have become in most
cases citizens. A few reservations
are left. Occasionally feathered
crowned chief or a mOccasin footed
Squaw are seen, but they are only
reminders, land marks of the long ago.
Their children and their childrenS
children are tilling the soil and en-
gaging in industrial pursuits. With
the passing of the pine, which has
been prOphecied for more than thirty
years comes another more startling
proposition. Giant forests Of hard
wood comparatively untouched are
now marketable at double the price
at which pine went to make mil
liOnaireS. But how about the farmer,
the man with the hoe. the man be-
hind the plOw, the man who with ak
and stump puller who has made a
pa aradiSe of hundred Of acres of stump
age? All credit to the man VINO began
the work of development with the
saw mill. All credit to the railroads.
4 | credit to the manufacturer, the
merchant and the school teacher. But
let us not forget the man who first be-
gan to plOw among and around stumpS
in the creation Of a farm and home.
| The settler to him is due the credit.
| He is the real man who has wrought
such wonderful change in the make
up of Wood county during these COM
parative few years. He it was who
demonstrated that Wood county
could produce something besides lum-
ber. He is the man whether by choice or
necessity who has proved that the soil
especially in the vast hardwood belt Of
this county would reap an abundance
of almost every known agricultural
crop. He has shown his brother man
of a generation ago that in Central
Wisconsin white and red clover, Ken
lucky Blue Grass and Timothy and
other grasses grow freely and luxur-
iantly. He is the man that had the
sand and the hardihood, the bravery
to lead the way into the wilderness of
| forest that for years had been ac-
counted as barren soil and bring
| forth results of untold wealth to man
| kind. Yes. it was the settler who
really discovered Wood county. He
has demonstrated that any man re-
gardIess of his financial condition can
come up into the north woods and in
a few years convert piece Of its here
| tofOre deSpised timber land into a
farm and home. All honor to such
man. Make way for him and his
| followers.