Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1922-02-16
EARLY history Of
NFK0OSA AND VICINITY


Croswell, November "A, 1852. Gov
lot /, section 10, where the old Whit
ney mill was, was entered by Caleb
Croswell on November %, 1852. The
Nekoosa Paper Mill is on CIV. lot 5,
section 10 and Market Street is on
Gov. lot 6 and in the southeast of the
northwest quarter of section TO-
Mr.. and Mrs. Robert Wakeley came
to Pointe Bosse in June 1887 from the,
state of New York. They came down
the Susquehanna river on a raft of
lumber. Wakeley sold his lumber at
Cincinnati, o. They went from Gin
cinnati by steamboat to Prairie du
Chen, thence to Portage, Wisconsin by
boat They poled up the Wisconsin
from Portage to Pointe Bosse in a
keel boat owned by Daniel Whitney
Mr.. Wakeley told me that the Whitney
mill at Pointe Bosse was built four or
five years before he arrived. In the
winter of 1889 he went to Wausau with
Geo. Kline and Mr. Drawer and he
moved back to Pointe Bosse in 1910
or II and lived there ever since.
Robert Wakeley was born April Is,
1903 and died February IS, 1898. His
wife, Mary, was born April 4, 1872 and
died December "a, 1887.
The Government plat by Hathaway,
the first survey, shows the Wakeley
Tavern near the center of Section Is,
just above where the lower ferry lands
on the left bank or east side. The
plat also shows the town marked
Pointe Bosse.
The only means Of crossing the river
at Pointe Bosse by team was on the
ice or fording the river at low water,
presume many residents of Mexico
sa are not aware that Pointe Bosse was
in a very early date rendezvous of
many Indians.
IN those early days deer were very
plentiful There were many fur bear
ing animals such as mink, martin,
beaver. muskrat, bear, skunk, rae
coon and wolves. Fish were very
plentiful, especially on the rapids.
Bass, pike, pickerel, surge; n and
'muskies" were in abundance. Along
the banks grew large quantities of
blueberries, wintergreen and cram
berries.
In 1870 during my stay at Whitney
Rapids picking cranberries in what is
inow the Village of Nekoosa, | first
inspected the Indian line of earth
breast works, extending from the
Wood road as far as the MANI farm.
At that time the works We're from two
to three feet high Of earth and were
about a mile in length and back from
the river from seventy to eighty rods.
Moses NJ Strong, now deceased, was
a well-known lawyer of Mineral Point,
Wis, and in an early day was inter
ested in numerous water powers alcng
the Wisconsin river. Mr.. Strong be
came interested in the Whitney Rapids
water power in section 10, just above
Pointe Bosse about 1853. In December
1854 he purchased one-half interest
in the Whitney Rapids power from
Daniel Whitney and in August 1857 he
bought the other half from Whitney
On January %, 1858 Strong sold the
power for forty thousand dollars to
the Nekoosa LAUNDERING Company, a
corporation created by an act of the
| legislature of Wisconsin and approved
| March %. 1858, entitled can act to
incorporate the Nekoosa LAUNDERING
Company" This lumber company was
capitalized at five hundred thousand
dollars ($500,00000). The company
| built dam across the river short
distance above where the present dam
lis located. Shortly after the dam was
built and before the mill was built,
| high water took out part of the dam.
! This was about 1860 or 81 and soon
, thereafter the company became bank
rupt and nothing more was ever done
with this valuable water power until
| in March 1893. After the company
failed Strong secured control of the
property and at that time refused to
sell the power for $4,000 and held it
for thirty years and only received a
few barrels of cranberries each year
as dividends from the marshes that
were in what is now the village of
Nekoosa.
On June %, 1887, Strong gave me a
six months option on the power and
the 1000 acres of land for $780, On
December 81, 1887, | bought the whole
property for $4,000 in the name of my
brother, Frank, and myself. On No
yenlber II, 1888 we sold the property
to the Hon. Thos. E. Nash for $1,000
and or March 8, 1898 Nash transferred
the property to the S35O,000 Nekoosa
Paper Company, for $4,000 worth of
capital stock of the said company.
An exceptionally good map or plat
of town site marked Nekoosa is on
file in the office of the Register of
Deeds of Wood County, Wis. The plat
covers the land on the east side from
Swallow Rock south and east in Gov.