River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1925-07-23
AN INTERESTING HISTORY
OF THE BADGER STATE
CONTINUED from page one)

chair manufacturing center and
claims that the entire population of
Wisconsin could be seated in the
chairs made in that city every year.
A Model for the Country
Kohler, suburb of Sheboygan,
has attracted nationwide attention
as model manufacturing city, hav-
ing been planned and laid out by city
planning experts. Knowing the type
of the average manufacturing city, a
visit to Kohler is a revelation. In
stead of slovenly looking, smoke-be-
! gllmed homes, We find the homes of
Kohler artistic and attractive. There
is a community club house for the
working men, great stadium where
band concerts are given and other
festive occasions staged, and every
| effort has been made to develop a
happy community life amidst sur
roundings of beauty and comfort.
Manitowoc has aluminium plants
and ship yards. Ashland has inn
mense ore docks and Superior, in ad-
dition to her ore docks, has huge coal
decks and is an important grain
7hipping port. In the southern part
of the state, Beloit and GAINESVILLE
are the home of a number of large
manufacturing plants.
La Crosse Has the Buttons
The state has some unique and I'M
usual industries, among which may
be mentioned the pearl button in
dustry on the Mississippi River, cen
tralized at La Crosse. The buttons
made from the mussel shecls secured
from the Mississippi and tributary
streams. The pearl button output is
valued at $9,000,000 year and in
1918 a single factory produced
100000 gross of buttons.
In Oshkosh are two large grass
rug manufacturing establishments
using the tough wire grass from the
marshes. The supply of the local
marshes is not sufficient and grasses
are shipped in from as far as north
ern Minnesota.
The only factory in America de-
voted to the large scale manufacture
ing of artificial flies for fishing pur-
poses is located ct Stevens Point. In
single year 100000 peacock feath-
ers, tons of hackles Chickens neck
feathers) the entire output of certain
Spanish gut factories as we'll as
quantities of the feathers of wild
geese, are used in this factory 1t
has an annual production of 30,000,-
900 flies and 50,O00,OO0 steel hooks,
in the manufacture of which over
800 girls are employed.
Wisconsin Power Best
One of the great factors in the re-
cent development of manufacturing
in Wisconsin has been the availability
of waterpower. The city of Milwau-
kee receives large part of its cleo
trio current from plants on the Wis
consin River hundreds miles away,
and numerous smaller cities near by
share with it in this privilege. The
great Wisstoa dam at Chippewa
Falls supplies power to st. Paul and
Minneapolis and other large cities.
At this dam and a group of associ-
ated dams $1,000 horse power is de-
veloped with prospective develop
ment in that section of $4,000 horse
power. 1t has concrete spillway
$40 feet long and the average output
of the station is 100000 kilowatt
! hours of electric energy per year, the
current being distributed over $50
miles of transmission wire. Wiscon-
sin has great future in her water
powers. 1t is estimated that her
rivers are capable of developing over
100000 hon sepower, of which only
275,000 is being used. Only three
states in the Union have developed.
more waterpower than Wisconsin.
''If you ask any informed man in
| Wisconsin what single force has had
the largest Influence for betterment
IN the Badger state, he will without
doubt answer the--.----
This is the first sentence of the
tenth section Of the Wisconsin story.
What is the force? Think it over
and then see next weeks issue of
The Journal.
Sheriff E. S. Jacobson of Barron
county, umpiring ball game be-
tween Athena and Cumberland the
Fourth, was struck by battcd ball
and knocked unconscious in the ninth
inning. In the resulting excitement
which followed, fans and players
forgot about the game, and it was