Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1911-03-23

influence on the side Of the confed
eracy. Some Of the people who had
located at Green Bay early in the
'20s, including Daniel Whitney and hi:
nephew, David R. Whitney, got per
mission of the Indians in 1927 to maxi
shingles on The Wisconsin river fey
miles below the Grand Rapids loca
ton. For reasons never fully explain
ed, Maj. Twiggs ordered the Whit
neys to stop work and he also confis-
Gated portion of the large stock
of shingles made during the season.
Hence it will be seen that white men
were early on the ground in that par
of the state. Both Whitney and his
nephew looked over the Grand Rapids
situation in 1927 and, it is said, mark
ed it as one of the points where, some
time in the future, they intended to
get foothold But history makes it
plain that Daniel Whitney, who for
many years was leading character
at reen Bay, made that city his
home the balance of his life.
Without going further into the very
early history of Grand Rapids, let me
speak of it as it was, say thirty-five
years ago, and as it is now Some
lumber was manufactured there at
that time, but not a large amount
Yet the water power, one of the best
in the state, was equal to 10000 horse
power. Then it was a small town with
a population numbered by the hund-
reds instead of thousands, as now.
The first sawmill was built in 1892
Others followed, but the subtantial
growth of the city did not begin until
the Introduction of various we'll back
ed manufacturing industries Pros
perity followed without any delay
then. It is claimed that the manufac-
turing industries of Grand Rapids
at the present time are valued at
$6,000,000. There are paper mills,
FIGURING mills, box factories, sash and
door factories, iron foundries and var
ious other industries, and the number
is steadily increasing.
Thirtyfive years ago the city had
one railroad, that which started from
Green Bay and ended at Winona In
its early day it was called a road
which started from nowhere and end
ed nowhere, but it is not that kind of
a road now and has not been for many
years. Since then it has been tapped
by the Milwaukee and the Chicago
and Northwestern roads. In those
days there were two separate towns,
one on each side of the river-Grand
Rapids and Centralia. The popula-
tion of both would not exceed 1,5O0.
They are now one city with a popu-
lation exceeding 1000, and never be-
fore in it's history was it advancing
in all directions more rapidly than at
the present time.
The Wisconsin river, at this point
has always been a decidd attraction
to visitors and probably to the re-
sidents. The falls are beautiful as
well as powerful and exceedingly val
liable, fact which has been we'll de-
monstrated since the work of building
up industries began.
| wish there was some way by
which one might come to a reasonable
n10 To Of ha Of bn
pine logs and lumber that have float
ed past Grand Rapids during the last
sixty-five years. 1 am reasonably safe
in saying that the value, as lumber
sells today, would crowd $1,000,000,
600. Some estimate it higher than
that. | am conservative. One gentle
man in speaking of it said enough
pine logs and lumber have floated
down the Wisconsin river, most of
it to the Mississippi, going to half a
dozen different states, to furnish lum'
Der for every house built in the state
of Wisconsin and have enough left
over in duplicating the building in
North Dakota. But this is not talk
ing about the new Grand Rapids; Ger
tainly new, compared with the Grand
Rapids | first visited.
Wood county was organized as a
county in 1856. 1t was taken from
Portage county. 1t was given the
name in memory of the late Judge Jo
seph Wood, one of the early settlers.
One of Judge Woods sons, Franklin
J. Wood, is still a resident and presi'
dent of the Wood County National
bank