Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1922-08-04
MY IMPRESSION is OF "A BIT OF
OLD WISCONSIN"
BY R, S. Lillibridge


Bred, born and raised in Old Wis
consin, ] thought l knew, my native
state. Three years a travelling man.
making from 10 to 80 towns a week
and for week after week, and for
eleven years ferreting out the thrifty
to harness up his resources with a big
powerful life insurance company sure
" should qualify me to know pretty
well this beautiful state of Wisconsin.
Two weeks ago in the course of my
business with the Lillibridge Scenic
Motor Tours, / personally conducted
party through Wisconsin, Northern
Michigan and Eastern Minnesota. To
say that my knowledge of Wisconsin
before this trip was a blank would not
be the fact, but to say that my eyes
We're opered as never before to the
| richness, the beautiful, and to the fu-
ture possibilities of "old Wisconsin"
is ! believe the truth.
| Mr.. Benoy has asked me to write
these impressions, iotted down at ran
/ dom, hoping that others who feel
themselves well versed in the gran
deur of the old state, may still have
| time and desire to see a further "Bit
of Old Wisconsin"
Wisconsin, the state of pines and
heavy timber, is almost thing Of the
past. Here and there in spots are
small areas of real virgin standing
timber Small, yes, but to us they
appear as large tracts. In fact, some
of the party | conducted upon this
trip felt that Wisconsin could supply
the world with lumber for the next
30 years. But what if that were the
fact, and | don't believe it is, and |
have that upon knowledge gained from
some of our oldest lumbermen, fifty
years as recorded by time is ais of
| yesterday. True, some of the finest
of farms have taken the place of once
the camping ground of the tall tins
Der, but there are in northern and
western Wisconsin thousands, yes,
hundreds Of thousands of acres Of cut
over land, that formerly was the home
of the stately pine, the white ash, and
the oak, that now lies idle, not for
want of willing hands, but because
as yet man has not devised anything
that viii grow upon it. With the cut
4 ting Of the timber the rainfall is un-
controlled. Formerly the leaves and
roots of the trees would take up the
water and gradually feed the sur
rounding vegetation, but with the cut
ting of the trees, that natural function
of nature, the control of the rains, has
been dispensed with.
! Every true lover of naiSre and every
true son and daughter of Wisconsin,
who really and truly loves his or her
state, should voluntarily cooperate
with the Wisconsin Lakes and Park
/ Association, of which Judge Asa p.
Owens of Phillips, is president, and
| Hon. Frank Cannon of Madison, is
secretary. This association is the one
outstanding organization which gives
the people of Wisconsin opportunity
to hand down to future generations
wee, wee, small "Bit Of Old Wiscon-
sim"
Although only a young man my
self, / thank heaven that | lived long
enough to take my two children
| through W1at IS lefJ or "Oid W1Scon-
SIM" with all its grandeur, its bsauti-
full lakes, rivers, trout streams, water
falls, foot hills, roads that are a mar
vel, and the "Bits of Old Wisconsin"
still to be seen, still a feeling of sad
ness dampens my senses when see
the "New Wisconsin" pushing on and
on and on. What will be left for my
/ children's children bat farms and
farms and farms? Here and there
what was once a %ell stocked inland
lake, here the d,ied up bottom of
/ once famous trout stream and there
the ugly protru ling rocks Of once
thrilling water lall The wilderness
1 can be turned into wealth producing
farms, but farms cannot be turned
into real wilderness.
Mr.. Lillibridge will relate his ex-
periences of the places visited, roads,
lakes, etc, next week for the benefit
of the readers of the Wauwatosa
News Other contributions will be
thankfully received an1 published.