Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-12-24


and within ten miles of it, is situated a
vast domain of the richest agricultural
land in Marathon county, gradually be-
ing opene,l up to settlement, and yet OF
which the average inhabitant of this
city is as ignorant as though IT were in
the heart of Africa or in the arid plains
of the distant west, and this though the
old Stevens Point and Wausau road,
over which our people have travelled for
half a century, skirts along the western
edge of this land.
By one of those curious freaks of fate
such as caused thousands of holSe-
seekers in an early day to pass unheeo-
ingly through the rich prairie lands OF
Illinois and Southern Wisconsin, the
tide of immigration has steadily swept
by this rich district and fully 90, 900
acres in this tract await the husband
man.
Two factors were responsible for this
condition of affairs. One was that the
land bordering on the highway had
once been ravaged by fire, destroying
all green timber. Looking across this
level plain one saw nothing but the
blackened trunks of myriad of pine
trees, for miles. Everywhere grass
grows luxuriantly and occasionally this
has taken fire and kept down the tim
Der growth, making the grim pine stubs
stand out more prominently than they
otherwise would, like some great tomb
stones to forgotten past, and giving
to the region an uninviting appearance.
Occasionally some adventurous soul,
attracted by the ease with which this
land could evidently be cleared up and
convinced by the rank growth of grass
which covered the ground as to its fer
tility, has succeeded in finding piece
not held by one of the great lumber
companies, has built a modest cabin
thereon and has prospered exceedingly.
There are few such farms dotting this
vast empire today, showing what the
soil will produce.
But the chief reason that this rich
section has laid idle so long, that it had
not years ago attracted scores of settlers
| is that the great bulk of the land up to
within two or three years ago was
owned by the Dessert Lumber company
| of Mosinee, whose logging railroads
| traversed this region, and who for OBJ
| vious reasons did not desire to encour-
| age the settlement of the same. This
| company was after the timber upon the
| lands To have sold these lands to
settlers meant to it only additional ex-
| pense. Settlers meant the building of
school houses and the opening OF roads
| and higher taxes, and as the company
| owned practically all the land it would
| have meant that the company would
have had to bear the greater share
| of these additional taxes, and so
| it came that when some prospective
settler did seek home here he could
not purchase the land.
| Now the whole condition of affairs
has changed The Holway Land CON-
pany few years ago purchased from
| the Dessert Lumber company all its
holdings in this district and at once
began opening it up to settlement
| Roads were cut through, school houses
| built and a number of settlers located
on the lands. So easily is the land
cleared that these settlers as rule have
from twenty to thirty acres under culti-
Walton within two years and this clear
ing is such that they can work it with
machinery, for the stumps can easily be
removed and are not very numerous.
One of these settlers, who has been
on this land slightly over two years
now and who started in with little more
than enough to build a very modest
cabin, after making a small payment
on his land, this fall sold over 5000
worth of potatoes from his land in addi-
ton to raising all the other necessary
supplies for his family and he is now
engaged in cleaning up more land for
next year.
The unfenced lands afford the best
kind of pasture and the marshes are
covered with blue joint hay that
makes an excellent fodder for horses
and cattle and which the settler can
secure for the mere cutting or for a
nominal price. Herds of cattle are still
pasturing on these lands, late in the
season as it is, and that the grasses are
nutritious is evident from their excel
lent condition. One farmer, Fred
Huelsberg, has demonstrated what can
be done in this line. For $50 he pur-
chased fourteen calves one spring and
turned them loose on these lands. Dur
ing the first summer he put up a few
tons of marsh hay which he fed the
calves during the first winter when the
weather was too inclement to allow
them to run loose, sheltering them only
in an open shed. The following fall he
sold the bunch in Wausau for 300 in
cash. During all this time the care he
gave them was very little, not even hav-
ing to pump water for them.
Recently the town officers have
awakened to the fact that this section
was settling up rapidly and with proper
encouragement would soon become
one of the richest farming sections in