Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-11-26
A TALE OF THE LONG AGO.

threatened visitation of a panic upon
this country, with its attendant blight
ing consequences. This scare is
caused, they say, by q scarcity OF
money. 1t has been hidden away ia
old socks and cannot be lured from
its hiding places. Millions of dollars
have been shipped to this country from
Europe, and to relieve the situation the
president has suggested issuing bonds,
to bring money into circulation again
While the eyes of the nation are glued
on our financial iugglers the PLoT
suggests that some other commodity
besides gold be adopted temporarily
for instance something which is in
demand in certain localities, something
which is worth more to the people chan
gold. The suggestion comes to us
through reading an article recently, of
historical interest to Marathon county
of the early day doings in this county
when lumber was RATED down the
river. At the time mentioned in the
above referred to article money was a
very scarce commodity in this section,
much scarcer than it is today-but that
fact did not worry the people of that
time and the most valuable and most
needed thing in this part of the country
was made the mediumof exchange. That
thing was raftsman's GRUB" In
making up RATS of lumber wooden pins.
or grubs as they were commonly
known, were used to hold the lumber
together. These grubs were made of
young saplings cut at least four feet
long, with the knob of the roots at
tached, so as to form bolt head, as it
were. They were trimmed so as to fit
an auger hole two inches in diameter
Quoting from the article referred to
we will show our readers the value in
which they were held:
'Tne rafting grub was considered a
legal tender for any kind of indebted
ness, either public or private. They
were even a better medium of ex-
change than gold coin. A settler
coming into town with load of grubs
on his OK sled commanded the i'm
mediate attention and respect of every
business man at once, and all were
very desirous to secure his very
valuable article of commerce, and it
was very fortunate for the early settler
that the grub held such an important
relation in the Industrial affairs of the
county at that early date, for the
reason that very little money was in
circulation, and it was very hard to
get hold of, especially for those who
were hewing out homes from the dense
wilderness, in which the most of them
were located. 1t was well for them
that the wild forests surrounding
furnished them with the means to
provide for their pressing needs.
Often during the season whole family,
that were large enough, were employed
with their father in gathering the small
saplings and carrying them to place
near their log shanty. where the small
trees were converted into the coin of
the realm. The children were a great
help to their hard working father, in
their ever readiness to take hold of this
enterprising work. But it was fun for
them to ramble in the woods and
gather up the grubs as their father dug
them; they were helping and they en-
joyed it to the fullest extent, and when
the father took their joint product 10
town, stick of candy or some other
dainty for them was never forgotten,
and they were enthusiastically happy"
The rafting days are over. They
passed when the iron horse came to
haul the products of the mills to
southern markets, and the grub would
make mighty poor medium of ex-
change today. 1t would be as valueless
as mosquito without bill. But if a
pinch comes in local financial circles,
mayhap some bright minded person
can think of some other commodity
which will serve present needs, as did.
the grub of forty years ago. In sum-
mer we might exchange grass hop
pers with Milwaukee people--their
brewers could extract the hops.