Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1907-12-10

that took first priEsto hardness at the
worlds fair. They point TO the two
columns at the main entrance 70 the
courthouse, to the soldiers monument
in the courthouse square, to the solid
granite front of the Coin block, as an
evidence of what can be done with this
beautiful stone. There are large num-
bers of polished shafts of red, brown,
gray and white granite at the factory of
the Marathon Granite company, for
they ship in rough stone from all the
leading quarries of the country. as well
as from the five quarries owned By
themselves, and they even import stone
from Europe and Scotland, but the
Parcher granite, as the green stone has
been named. has no rivals among them.
With all its warmth and richness of
coloring, the polished Parcher granite
is neither gaudy nor immodestly OBJ
trusive. 1t is dignifed, aristocratic
stone, as becomes its age, one that can
be admitted to any home on terms of
closest Intimacy without fear of disas-
trous consequences.
1t may be said that tastes differ when
it comes to passing upon the merits of
stones, as in other things, but, if this be
true, the fact remains that tastes appear
to run strangely in the same channel in
this particular case. The Marathon
Granite company has made no effort to
sell the Parcher granite, but all they
have been able to quarry and finish at
their works has been taken by their
customers practically as soon as it is
regular customers but twenty have so
tar secured any of this stone, these
dealers taking it as fast as it came from
the polishing rooms. Visiting custom
ers who have used the red granite for
years and apparently were welded to
il have. of their own motion, placed
orders for the Parcher stone in car load
lots and then ordered more
more difficult to work even than the red
granite, but improved machinery and
methods and the introduction of COM
pressed air devices for operating the
chisels are overcoming the difficulties
encountered in this department 1t
takes more time and better tools to form
and polish these blocks of stone than it
does when softer material is worked,
but modern machinery is performing
wonders in the stone business as well as
in other lines of industry, and the
Parcher granite, the hardest known to
the trade, is TO-DAY commercial pro-
duct.
Naturally, as this quarry has been
opened but eighteen months, the hole
made in the deposit is not a large one,
the quarrymen not having penetrated
below the first stlatum of rock, but sur
face indications show that the supply of
stone is practically inexhaustable. One
who sees the outcroppings along the
hillside can well imagine that when this
civilization shall have passed away-as
some people believe it willard the
imam from New Zealand shall Journey
from London, after his inspection of
ruins of that great city, to the western
continent where he will ponder upon
the traces left by our race, then extinct,
he will find an abundance of Parcher
granite to supply the demands of his
times.
Centuries must come and go before
this quarry can be worked out. The
lands of Wisconsin will be denuded of
their forests, aud reforested; the iron
mines, the lead and copper mines still
to be discovered near Lake Superior,
will be exhausted, but even then the
quarrymer will have merely t;ckled the
surface of the Parcher quarry. If the
name of this man, small of stature, del
icate of frame, kind of heart, but with
keen eye that can read character like
the plainest print, business judgment
that is almost as accurate as mechan-
ical device, and courage that has
placed him in class by himself--if his
| name shall be associated with that stone
until the supply fails, Robert E. Parcher
will have the most enduring monument
of all the men of this time and race"
Every person has some sport, some
recreation or some work in which he
takes more than ordinary interest
They prefer the enjoyment it affords to
y other. Their mind is ever on it
sid it becomes a second nature with
them to follow it. With r. E. Parcher
that enjoyment was afforded in farm
ing. He followed it not for gain, but
because it gave him pleasure. 1t
proved mind-ease after wrestling
with business problems. He was en-
gagged in farming almost ever since
coming to the county in 1858. He
owned farms on both sides of the river
| In the northern section of the city.
The one on the west side was years ago
cleared of all timber. The one on the
east side was partly cleared and the
balance stands today as it has ever
stood-a virgin forest and one of the
beauty spots to be found in this local
ity. He began farming at time when
| grains were threshed with fail and
| farming methods were in crude state.
Before his death his farms were the best
stocked in the county, in point of up to
| date machinery. In addition to
machinery in general use he bad
threshing machine, engine and hay
press.
He was a progressive farmer ever