Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-07-24

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church by the Hon. j. c. Clarke, deal
ing with the early history and develop
ment of this county. The paper is one
which will be of great historical value
in the years to come, and this issue OF
the PILOT should be preserved by every
subscriber.
The story of the men who hewed
civilization out of the forests of this
section and who paved the way for
making beautiful Wausau and one
of the best farming sections in the
state, is an interesting one, and any
thing touching upon it is likewise full
of interest.
The settler who came here in an
early day perhaps did not dream that
fields of ripened grain would so soon
supplant the giant pine forests that
surrounded Wausau. But the trans
formation has been completed, and
from the typical woodmen has come
out of this evolution the farmer, the
manufactured and the tradesman
Like the SHOWS of winter melting be-
fore summers sun the forests have
yielded to the axe and saw. All the
early conditions have been changed,
and what is now left of the primeval
forests are decaying stumps and the
fat bank accounts of the pioneer lum-
bermen. Following the slaughter of
the pine forests came the settler, who
with dynamite and hard work, has
developed agricultural riches and is
building up churches and school houses.
Although lumber manufacturing is car
ried on yet to come extent, still we are
passing the wooden age, so to speak,
and our energies are turning in other
directions. The advent of the railroads
coming into this country of course
made a great change in its develop
ment. But we will not 60 further in
the discussion of this subject, but leave
the story of cause and effect, in relation
to our development, to the pen of Mr..
Clarke. Here is his paper:
The First Settlements.
"The locating of Fort Winnebago
at the old Portage, between the Wis
consin river and Fox river, at the
time of the Black Hawk war, was the
upper part of the Wisconsin river,
first pioneered and settlements first
started about 1882. The Menominee
Indians held the country up as far
as where the village of Plover now
stands. To the north the Chippewas
held the country. North of them, to
Lake Superior. For the building of
Fort Winnebago the first pine trees
were cut and hewed on Pine Island,
ten miles up the river from the loca-
tion of the fort by Lieutenant Jeffer-
son Davis and a squad of soldiers.
Zachary Taylor was the colonel in
command. In the year "a or '35 Geo.
Whitney, an employe of the American
Fur company, established a trading
post at Point Baussee, this being the
head of navigation. The river above
there for two hundred miles had many
rapids and waterfalls almost to its
source. The pine forests and plains
of the valley commenced at Portage
and extended through to Lake Su-
perior.
Coming of A Pioneer.
MY thoughts at times runs away
with me, when thinking of the long
ago in these great forests In 1885
Robt. Wakely opened a tavern and
trading post at Point Baussee, he be-
ing live American desiring to know
where the river headed, wandered to
the north and travelled up and up un-
til he came to Big Bull, and on and
on to Grandfather Bull, and after
leaving Shaw Rapids, (now Stevens
PoinD he first encountered the thick
heavy timbered country of pine trees,
and became enamoured with it. In
1889 he was down at ST. Louis on lum-
Der from Whitney Mill, there met Geo.
Stevens, who was there with lumber
from the Alleghaney where he had
numbered for many years. He run
his lumber down the Allegheny to
Pitts5urg, in RATS and on to Cairo,
the mouth of the Ohio river, then by
barge up to st. Louis.
''Wakely told Stevens about the
oraat nina forncts ond tbo xotor,o~-o-
on the Wisconsin river which greatly
excited Stevens for he thought that
Wakely was telling him fairy tales
Wakely told him to come and see for
himself, and he would go with him
which invitation was accepted. Ste
vens soon after came to wisconsin
and found things to his notion far
better than Wakely had told him.
He went back home to Pennsylvania
and made his arrangements to come
west. He settled his family N Bel
yidere, and then came to Wisconsin
pines and located himself at Rig Bull,
under guidance of Wakely where he
made his claim and built the dams
and guard locks, ard the first saw mill
above Grand Rapids. All this l de-
rived from letters written by Ste
vens to his patron Bosworth at the
time. In this we have the foundation
of the entering and developing of the
Upper Wisconsin.
Faced Wilderness.
so many of the pioneer settlers
of this country have passed to the
great beyond. their tolls. troubles and
cares in opening the country being OF
such a character that many OF the
weaker through some mishap or 9th
er. have fallen by the wayside- have
lived amongst them for nearly six
ty years, and have seen and known oi
the efforts used to get here from the
civilized world and to open up the
vast forest wilderness of the northern