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

10 draw the saw logs TO the river
lhorses as well as oxen were used
the horses manured the roads and in
the spring timothy and clover sprang
Iup as thick and straight as it ever die
in any meadow. Here | would relate
an incident that occurred in 1914.
1.-TWO yoke of oxen strayed away
from home, on the west side of the
river. They had been gone several
days and two men, Martin Lynch and
John Mccain were sent to hunt them
up. After they had entered the for
est few miles they lost their bearing
and got bewildered and were lost
They were gone two weeks and had
nothing to live on with them but the
luscious blue grass which kept them
in good order and fat enough to butch
er for beef. Lumber men, as soon as
the snow was gone in the spring,
would turn the cattle out to get their
own living and in month or SO they
would be fat enough for pinery beef
| relate this to show the fertility of
the land in the growing of grasses.
| ''But it took several years before
the clearing of the hardwood ridge
was tackled. The Marshall farm was
about the first. Benjamin Single, Joe
E. Briggs, JOS. Dessert, James Moore,
Ben Berry, Abraham Brawley, Ed.
Armstrong and U. E. Maine cleared
on the hardwood ridges in the latter
| '40's. After these men showed their
success many others followed.
Naming Old Settlers.
Nov | will tell you about several
pretty old settlers. Charles Single,
one of the early pioneers, an English
man by birth, emigrated with his step
father, Thomas Youles, to Milwaukee
where he resided until 1S45. He came
to Grand Rapids and worked there un-
til 1916. He came TO Little Rib with
his brother, Ben Single, and stayed
there until 1850 when he moved his
family here to Wausau and built and
ran the famous Forest House, keeping
it for many years until it burned down
in 1878. He was brave, hospitable,
kindhearted and generous. His whole
life ran to these lines and in all the
prospects and plans to benefit and
open up the county he was always
found in the foremost ranks doing his
level best in the great work that was
and had to be done to get the railroad
into the country. The Forest House
was home for all, rich and poor,
and many poor, crippled, injured and
sick man that was nursed and cared
for by him. One young fellow, just
returned from the war at it's close,
started to go down the river on a
fleet of lumber. Through some blum
der or accident he got his leg in the
cable roll III trying to stop his raft
at Sturgeon Eddy and his leg was torn
off. He was taken up to the Forest
House and there kept until he got we'll
some four months and this with
out fee or reward. At the blowing up
of G. L. Judson's mill at the foot of
Marshall hill there were five or six
men blown to pieces and some ten or
twelve severely injured. Friend Sin
gle was in the thickest of work, nurs-
ing, caring for and bandaging the
wounded He had natural aptitude
for surgery was very skillful in set
ting broken limbs, was never known
to refuse to go to any person in sick
1ess and distress, nor was he ever
known to charge a cent for any such
kind and generous to the poor and
needy, in fact he had a heart as big
as an OK. His wife was good help
meet to such man, and her many
deeds of kindness will be remembered
as long as there is an old pioneer left,
for she was truly one Of them in heart
and spirit. When Wausau lost the
old Forest House, it lost one Of the
landmarks of the pinery, and when we
lost Charley Single he was more
missed from the community than any
man that ever lived here; may his
memory ever be green in our thoughts.
The large and worthy family ne left
behind him are numbered with our
best families, and I am proud to say
are the worthy offspring of noble
parentage.
'T would now speak about one of
the best business men ever on the
river, and it is generally spoken by
many of the old pioneers, that Mcln-
doe was here when they came, or be-
for the Indians came to these forests.
The truth is w. D. McIndoe's coming
here is as follows: James Moore, of
the firm of Moore & Berry, who built
what is now known as the Plumer mill
in 1874, was at St Louis with lumber
for sale. He got acquainted with Nc
Indoe, who was then connected with a
boarding house or hotel near the old
French market. Moore was con-
jenial spirit, and he and McIndoe be-
came firm and fast friends, which
lasted many years. Moore, by some
arrangement borrowed of McIndoe
$500 to be paid the next year. He
failed to connect, so in the season
of 1S45, McIndoe came up here the
first time. Moore paid him in lum-
Der which was run down the river.
In 1916 they made another trade and
in the fall of that year, McIndoe came
| up here and brought with him John
Boyd, Louis Kraft, John EmmoIs and
several others of the old pioneer boys,
and some II or IA yoke of work ca5
tie, for Moore. That winter the pine
timber, (great majestic) trees ts.s.s
grew on the land that is now Wausau,
was cut and hauled into the Moore