History of Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas Counties

"History of Lincoln, Oneida, and Vilas Counties Wisconsin"

Compiled by George O.Jones, Norman S. McVean and Others. Printed in 1924 by H.C.Cooper. Jr. & Co., Minneapoli-Winona MN. ill. 787 pages. The first two hundred pages are history of the three counties, the remainder of the book is biographies.

CHAPTER XVII THE VILLAGES, PAST AND PRESENT

Part 2 of 3
   McBride, who bought a building, moved it to the present location and enlarged it. McBride was the active manager. Briggs had previously conducted a boarding-house for a construction gang on the North-western road. The Minocqua House was The Briggs House, now known as the Kuntz House, was started later by Ed-ward Briggs and his son-in-law, Louis built and opened by Fred Tripp, who later sold out to Frank W. Rogers and Harvey Selleck. Both the latter are now living, Mr. Rogers on a farm close to the village and Mr. Selleck in Michigan. Frank Roemer, who conducted a hotel and boat livery, is now deceased; his wife remarried. and is now Mrs. Archie Loughrin of Merrill. In 1888 August Melang opened the first blacksmith's shop in Minocqua and about the same time, or soon after, Feehley & Schilling were conducting a livery stable. On July 11, 1888, F. L. Schilling started to put up a store building and about the same time Johnny Sullivan, with a partner, began similar operations. Sullivan finished first and opened his store, which was conducted under the style of Sullivan & Schwedes, and was the second in town. Mr. Schilling was not far behind Sullivan and opened the third store. Many others of various kinds have since been founded, and a number are flourishing today, of which mention may be found in the biographies of their proprietors. Ed Walsh, another early settler of the village, took up the work of a guide, at which he spent many years. He now keeps the She-she-sa-ba-ga-ma resort, the Indian name of which means "Wandering Water."

   Deloss Daniels was the first postmaster of the village, and held the office until his death. He was succeeded in it by a man named Jensen, who served for awhile, after which Mrs. Daniels had it and handled the mails in her store until she gave up business. The next postmaster was Mike Reardon and after him F. L. Schill-ing, who served as such from August, 1897 to November, 1915. He was succeeded by A. J. Bolger and the latter by Mrs. Chas. B. Carman. Then in November, 1922, Earle Schilling was appointed and is still serving. William Clausen, who came to Minocqua in December, 1890, subsequently laid out and platted the Lake View Park addition on the south shore of Lake Minocqua, by which latter name the east half of Lake Kawaquesaga is sometimes known; the two being connected by a narrow waterway. Ten years later, in 1900, Gus Nolan established his fine summer resort, "The Northern," which covers ten acres of ground and is on the narrow arm or waterway above mentioned. The numerous fine bodies of water have created a considerable demand for boats, and several firms and individuals have engaged in building them. R. C. Wassaburger builds from 40 to 50 each year, also some launches and handles outside boats; Mapes & Lampert build from 20 to 25 each winter, Mr. C. F. Mapes having been engaged in this occupation for over 20 years; and the Minocqua Lumber Company also builds them, to the extent of 50 or so each winter, so it is safe to say that from 110 to 125 boats, besides a few launches, are built here every year. The Bank of Minocqua was started as a private institution in 1891 by John Schilling, who is now president and cashier. It was incorporated as a state bank in 1903. The present building was erected a year ago. This bank attended to the financial needs of the village and vicinity up to 1921, when, on August 21, the Security State Bank of Minocqua was organized, with A. O. Dorwin, president; R. C. Wassaburger, vice president, and R. J. Collie, cashier, all of whom are still serving (April, 1923). The directors are A. O. Dorwin, Gus Nolan, Axel Ander-son, B. O. Bassett, Geo. A. Foster, C. J. Coon and R. C. Wassaburger. The capital stock is $25,000; surplus and undivided profits, $9,958. 87; deposits (April 3) $149,472.73. In 1914 the firm of Wilson & Schlecht was organized and built a sawmill and planing-mill here. They were succeeded in November, 1919, by the Minocqua Lumber Company, another local concern, with William Schlecht, presi-dent; R. E. Schlecht, vice president, and Carlisle J. Huber, secretary and treasurer. They are cutting pine, hemlock and general hardwood in the western part of Oneida County. Their manufacture of row boats has been mentioned, which was started in the winter of 1921-22. One of the earliest enterprises started in Minocqua was a weekly newspaper, the Minocqua Times, which was founded in April, 1891, by Henry C. Morrin and was conducted by him until November, 1892. This paper is still in existence and is now more than 32 years old. It has, however, passed through several hands. Its second proprietor was Charles W. Hooper, who issued it as a Republican weekly, at first on Wednesdays and later on Thursdays. After a while Mr. Hooper leased it to David Christiansen, who seems to have run it for no great while. Mr. Hooper then gave it up and left town in the summer of 1911, the Times through a mortgage coming into the legal possession of F. A. Lowell of Rhinelander. From the latter it was bought in March, 1913, for the amount of the mortgage-some $400 or more -by Theo. Bossacki, who made it a Democratic paper and owned it until Dec. 9, the same year, for the last five weeks of that time (from Nov. 1) renting it to Art Runge from Merrill. In December, 1913, William H. Fisher, Jr., bought the Times from Mr. Bossacki and conducted it till the following June, when he sold it to his brother, Enos E. Fisher, who is the present proprietor. The Wisconsin Lakes Telephone System, operating in Minocqua, is owned by Charles R.. Treat, who bought it in July, 1920, from Charles Showers. At that time it had but 60 phones, and since then Mr. Treat has tripled the number and made extensive improvements in the lines and equipment. The system takes in Hazelhurst, Woodruff and Arbor Vitae in addition to Minocqua. It does all the switching for the state lines and handles long distance through the Bell system. Two years ago a co-operative creamery was established in Minocqua and is still in full operation, Public transit between Minocqua and Woodruff is maintained by stages, which meet all Northwestern passenger trains stopping at the latter station, and there are, in addition, the usual private automobiles.

   The water supply of Minocqua is obtained from the lake, the water being treated by the chlorine process in order o purify it. It is pumped into two large tanks and piped out through the village by direct pressure. Previous to 1905 the pumps were operated by a steam engine, but in that year a gas engine was installed. The lighting plant was installed in 1911, with a crude oil engine as the motive power. The light plant now consists of three dynamos with alternating current, operated by three gas engines, two of 50-horse-power and one of 15-horse-power. The electricity thus generated sets in motion three motors which operate the water pumps and also a fire pump, so the water and light plants are now combined. The village has a voluntary fire department, and the streets and roads are well taken care of.

   The first school in Minocqua village was held in a small frame building on Front Street, which had been erected for a butcher shop by a man named Bardwell from Plainfield, Wis., who ran the store, however, for but a short time. The first teacher was Miss Mamie Murphy, who is now a resident of Tomahawk and wife of Johnny Sullivan, one of the oldest engineers on the Valley Division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, previously mentioned as having built the second store in Minocqua. After school had been held in the Bardwell building for one year, a building was erected especially for school purposes. It stood on the northeast corner of the present school grounds, or on Lot 1, Block 5 of the vil-lage plat, as laid out by Henry C. Payne. This building cost $3000 and was in use until the summer of 1893. In the following year it was sold to the Methodists, and the village erected a new schoolhouse, a two-story frame building of two apart-ments, located on Lots 2 and 3, Block 5. Later two more rooms were added to it, converting it into a four-room schoolhouse, and this answered all educational pur-poses for the village until the present large brick schoolhouse was built in 1906-07 at a cost of $20,000. It has two stories and basement and contains an assembly- room, eight class-rooms, library, gymnasium and everything desirable in a modern school building. The first high school class was graduated in 1907 and the school has since been both a grade and high school. The high school class graduated in May, 1923, consisted of 15 pupils. There are three high school teachers and four grade teachers. J. Marion Reed took charge as principal in September, 1922, but will assume the duties of county superintendent in September, 1923. Since the beginning the high school has turned out 127 graduates.Since the village was founded four religious societies have been organized-the Catholic, Baptist, Metho-dist and Lutheran. There are but three church edifices, however, and of those but two are at present in use.

   St. Patrick's Church, Minocqua, had its inception in the efforts of Mrs. Mary O'Malley and some of the pioneers, mainly of Irish descent to build a Catholic church in 1894. Up to that time there was no church of any denomination in Minocqua. After the usual disappointment and failures incidental to any venture worth while, a little Catholic church was finally erected in the year 1894. The dimensions were modern enough-50 by 25 feet-but the neat little church occu-pied a commanding site on Kawaquesaga Lake for almost 30 years. In 1891 the interior was badly damaged by fire. After some discussion the pastor and congre-gation came to the conclusion that a new church was needed and decided to build a substantial and beautiful church rather than repair the old one. Today one of the neatest and most classical Catholic churches in the state graces the village of Minocqua. On Sunday, July 8, 1923, it was dedicated by Rt. Rev. Bishop Pinten of Superior, Wis., many priests being present, together with a large crowd of Cath-olic people from among the tourists of Chicago, St. Louis and other places. There was also present a large number of non-Catholics from Minocqua and the surround-ing country. Several priests have guided the destinies of the local church since 1894, amongst them being the Rev. Father J. J. Mayre, Rev. Father M. J. Delaney, Rev. Father C. J. Dillon, Rev. Father A. R. Munro, Rev. Father Owens, Rev. Father Francis Bertram, Rev. Father P. J. O'Mahoney, and the present pastor, Rev. Father Peter C. Rice, former pastor of Sacred Heart Cathedral, Superior, "Wis. The church property fronts the beautiful lake for which Minocqua is famous, and church, rectory and grounds are valued at $45,000. The church is Minocqua's most imposing building; with its white-capped monastic Irish tower and gold -tinted cross, it is a land-mark for miles around. Beautiful stained glass windows are one of the church's most noticeable features; the fine truss work is commented upon very favorably by visitors. Tomlinson & Egan of Ashland, Wis., were the contractors and Mr. A. H. Rantz of Minocqua was the architect, designing the building as a model village church upon principles laid down by the famous Cath-olic church architects, McGinnis & Walsh of Boston, Mass. Among the trustees of St. Patrick's Church were Patrick Bolger (now dead), James Carlin and B. Stoben. The present trustees are J. E. O'Leary and Gus Nolan, both residents of Minocqua for many years. The 'present pastor, Father Rice, was born in Ire-land and was ordained priest in the church of which he is now pastor on July 27, 1907. He is one of the most prominent priests in the state of Wisconsin, is well known as a lecturer, and writer to people of several states; as an orator he ranks high in Wisconsin and takes a great interest in everything that concerns the wel-fare of the community. Amongst the Catholic settlers helping to build the church were P. Bolger, J. Loughrin, Ed. Bolger, Mrs. Lizzie Noble, Mrs. Titus H. Kuepper, A. Revnew and J. McGonigal. Two men were ordained priests from the parish, Rev. E. Bolger and Rev. J. Pilon, both now dead.

   A Baptist Society was organized in Minocqua about 1890 and a frame building erected which is still standing and in good condition. The society started with eight or ten members and for some years they prospered, having regular ministers; among the visiting pastors was the Rev. T.V. Goodspeed, now secretary of Chicago University. But in time the congregation became smaller and for the last 10 or 12 years the Baptists have had no regular pastor or services but worship with the Methodists, their own church building at present being out of use.

   The Methodist Episcopal congregation in Minocqua was organized June 30, 1893, by Rev. George Evans, Henry C. Payne of Milwaukee donating a piece of land for the church. The original lot measured 50 by 150 feet. The Methodist church building is the old schoolhouse, the Methodists having bought it in 1894 after the town had got through with it. The original trustees of the church were D. A. Schumacher, J. Mercer, W. H. Rall, J. Cottrill and W. V. LeBarron. The first pastor, Rev. George Evans, was succeeded in 1895 by Rev. Elisha .Ware. Then in 1898 Rev. E. D. Kohlstedt (now president of the Dakota Wesleyan College in South Dakota) became pastor. He was succeeded in 1912 by Rev. E. P. 2\lankolsky, who served only from April to September, that year, in the latter month the Rev. George Tennant becoming pastor. The pastors of the church since Mr. Tennant and the years in which they took charge, have been as follows: Rev. Roland Scott, 1914; Rev. Ivan H. Bean, 1915; Rev. George Kunde, 1917; Rev. Joseph Cheek, September, 1922 to the present time (May, 1923). The church has 22 members and a Sunday school enrollment of 65. It is the head of the Minocqua circuit, which includes Winegar, Winchester, Woodruff, Mercer and Minocqua. There is a union church at Winegar and also at "Woodruff, and the Minocqua pastor serves Woodruff once a month, alternating with the Lutheran pastor. There is no church edifice at Winchester but services are held there once in two weeks on a week night. The Minocqua pastor also preaches once a month to schoolhouse congregations, one in the town of Arbor Vitae, seven and a half miles north of Minocqua; and the other on Squirrel Lake, in the town of Minocqua four miles from the village. A parsonage is soon to be built on the property recently acquired.

   The Lutherans in Minocqua have no church building of their own but for local services use that of the Methodists. They also attend Lutheran services in the Union church building at Woodruff.

   A camp of Modern Woodmen of America was organized in Minocqua some 30 years ago and is still in existence, and there is also an auxiliary camp of Royal Neighbors. Quite recently, on Jan. 23, 1923, the Masons started a local organiza-tion, Minocqua Lodge, U. D., being organized with 23 charter members; by June it had over 40. The lodge occupies quarters over Dorwin's store. There is also in Minocqua a post of the American Legion, known as Carl Mattson Post No. 89.

   Monico:The village of Monico is situated on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway in the town of Monico, Oneida County. It is 14 miles southeast of Rhine-lander, the banking point. Until 1897 Monico was in Forest County, with pros-pects of being made the county seat, but the legislature in that year took Town-ships 35 to 39 north of Range 11 east from Forest and attached them to Oneida County. The village at present has a population of about 200 and is under town government, having been incorporated. The town of Monico itself has a popula-tion of but 300. In October, 1882, when the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway was building into Rhinelander, there was nothing at Monico, the junction point, but a few railway shanties. In the following year the Wisconsin Sulphite Fibre Company bought practically the whole town site and built a factory (on the ground now occupied by the box company) to remove the bark and decay from pulpwood, which was then shipped to the pulp mills at Appleton, Wis. The plat of the village was recorded the same year, April 24, 1883. In the fall of 1884..the company pulled down that factory and put up a new one, establishing a large plant having four or five rotary boilers. Their intention was to develop a paper-mill, but the project was then in its initial stages. In 1887 they platted what is known as the Wisconsin Sulphite Company's Addition to Monico. The prospects looked bright for the growth of the village, but within a year or so the pulp mill burned down, and either for that cause or some other, the company, instead of rebuilding, gave up their plans with respect to Monico, sold out their interests here and left the village. The site was bought by Ed Squier of Rhinelander, who sold it in lots to different parties. The company's store was purchased by a Mr. Roberts of Pelican Lake. This store was a large building, the upper part of which was occu-pied by the office and sleeping-rooms. The company had operated a boarding-house for their men and there was also a hotel in the village, owned and managed by Caswell & Powers, who sold out in the fall of 1887 to John Meyer.

   The first store in the village, except the company's, was that of John Graef, who first ran a saloon and afterwards was postmaster for a short time. It subse-quently passed through several hands, Graef selling to L. A. Taylor and Taylor to Nels Nelson, and while Mr. Nelson was conducting it, it was burned. John Meyer who had come to Monico in the spring of 1885, conducted his hotel until 1910, when it burned and he lost $7,000, having little insurance. He then moved to the farm on the edge of the village, where he now lives. Another hotel was built by B. F. Jilson about 1890, but that also burned some years later. The present hotel, kept by M. A. Wesolowski, is in part one of the oldest buildings now in town, but has been enlarged and improved since the original portion was built. Logging was carried on in the vicinity of Monico in 1885 by Green & Sons and by Clarke, Len-nan & Stapleton, and there were several portable sawmills here. The firm last mentioned, the members of whom were Rhinelander men, had jobbers cut their timber for them, they buying it from the Sulphite-Fibre Company. When the company's mill was in operation, George Hastig, anticipating a prosperous future for the village, established a newspaper here, which he called the Forest County Spy; but when the mill stopped operations he gave up the paper and opened a meat market. Joseph Kurtz built a flour and feed warehouse in 1904 and a store in 1905 and is still conducting them both and doing a good business. An item in the Eagle River Review, issue of June 9, 1898, referred to Monico Junction as "chiefly composed of hotels and railway offices," and added that a number of farmers had recently settled in the vicinity. Alfred K. Jillson, who came to Monico in 1899, was appointed postmaster in 1908, and is still serving in that capacity. The office is located in his drug store, which he established in 1914.

   The Monico Excelsior Company was started in 1908 as a stock company by Emil Meyer, Peter E. Kabel, Al Rollman and others. After being operated under the same style for two years, it was changed to the Monico Box & Lumber Co. and as such remained until 1915. It was then bought by Mr. Meyer and the orig-inal title resumed. At first the concern made excelsior and boxes, but now excel-sior, veneer and cheese boxes, using mostly maple, birch, cedar, spruce, balsam and white birch lumber cut in this part of the country. Mr. Meyer employs about 20 men.

   The Monico school in 1885 was a one-story frame building about 18 by 24 feet in size. Then a year later a two-story, two-room building was erected, which was later enlarged by the addition of two .rooms, making four in all. This building was burned in December, 1921, a few days before Christmas. School was then held in the Catholic church until the present building was completed just in the spring of 1923 at a cost of $24,000. It is a fine brick building containing four rooms and a gymnasium. The school is a grade school with three teachers.

   The water supply of Monico is obtained from individual wells. The village has the advantage of electric light supplied through transmission wire by the Rhine-lander Light & Power Co. There was formerly a camp of Modern Woodmen of America in Monico, organized about 1895, which held meetings for many years but no longer does so. Another lodge formerly active was that of the Equitable Fraternal Union, who had a nice hall. The latter being destroyed by fire, how-ever, the meetings ceased. Fire seems to have been the chief enemy of the village from the beginning, as it has suffered more from that cause than from any other, and more than most places of its size in this region. One fire which occurred October 8, 1920, destroyed two stores, the post office, restaurant and seven or eight residences. On the night of May 5-6, 1923, the railway depot was burned down. A much better one is said to have been planned by the company to replace it. Other disasters or tragedies have also caused excitement at various times. One of the saddest of these occurred Dec. 5, 1912, when Wallace and Ethel Taylor, the former aged 20 and the latter 16 years, children of Mr. and Mrs. L. A. Taylor, were drowned while crossing a lake near Monico to join a skating party. Miss Taylor was a student in the Oneida County Training School and was then home on a vacation. The father, Mr. L. A. Taylor, formerly one of the active citizens of the village, is now conducting a store at Kempster, Wis.

   St. James' Catholic Church was organized as a mission soon after the founding of the village and by 1898 the congregation numbered about 65 souls. It was served then as it is today by the pastor from Eagle River, but as yet the Catholics had no church building. The edifice now in use, a neat-looking, medium-sized frame building with a front central tower, was erected in 1911. Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church of Monico was organized Jan. 1, 1922, with ten voting members namely, F. C. Kahn, J. Barnowsky, Carl Barnowsky, Rudie Pederson, John Meyer, Arthur Kuehn, Alex Beaudin, Henry Perganide, Mike Erickson and August Briese. The organization was effected by Rev. F. M. Henning, who is now serving in this his first charge. He is also pastor of the Lutheran church at Enterprise, in which place he resides. The church edifice in Monico was completed in 1923, its dedication taking place June 17. There are from 120 to 125 souls in the con-gregation with 18 voting members. The Sunday school enrollment is 35 and a Ladies' Aid Society has been formed. Catechetical instruction is given twice a week.

   Newman Lake is a locality north of Harshaw, where logging operations were once carried on.

   Pelican is a village on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway in the town of Schoepke. The name of the post office is Pelican Lake. The village is situated on the east shore of the body of water known as Pelican Lake, which is one of the largest in the county and is a favorite resort of summer tourists and campers. Dr. E.C. Grosskopf, who visited the lake, and also the site of the village in 1880- 43 years ago-when all the territory was in Lincoln County, recalls three Indian villages situated on different peninsulas; one on Point Sabinois, a Chippewa settle-ment under Chief Sabinois; the next on Pottawatomie Point (later called Chicago Point), and the third on Mekenoque Point, under a self-styled chief of the same name, who was a renegade from the Sabinois camp and a brother of Chief Sabinois. The village of Pelican Lake was started when the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway (now the C. & N. W.) was built through this region in 1882, several hotels and stores being then opened up for business. The first hotel was a log structure run by Day Bros.; later a more pretentious place was operated by Byron Darling, a most genial host and sportsman. Dr. Drosskopf relates, "I remember on one occasion while stopping with him I was suddenly awakened about 2 :00 a. m. by a terrible fusillade. Throwing open the window and looking out, I saw by aid of the clear moonlight two monster black bears, dead, who had attacked the garbage barrels back of the hotel. Mine host Darling was the marksman to bag the game." At the present time the village has a hotel, rooming-house, garage, and five or six stores. The Khaki Boat Club has a good boathouse here and there is a public school of the second class with two teachers. There is also a Catholic mission served by the pastor at Eagle River. The northwestern and southern shores of the lake are well wooded.

   Pennington-See Starks.

   Pratt Junction on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway is a mile and a half south of Pelican. A large hotel was built there in 1889 by John E. Rice, who con-ducted it for 15 years. In 1898 he also put up a store there, which he conducted until 1903, when he moved to Pelican.

   Robbins, a small community center in the town of Sugar Camp, on the line between Sections 11 and 12, Township 39 of Range 9 east, was founded in the flour-ishing days of the logging industry here. The first settlement was made by Poles, who bought land of the Brown Bros.' Lumber Company and started farms. The hamlet of Robbins lies on the west shore of Sugar Camp Lake, and just a little to the north of the latter is Indian Lake, where the Indians had an old camp ground which they sold to the settlers. About 1890 Fred R. Tripp came and started a summer resort, also trading with the Indians and settlers. The Robbins narrow- gauge railroad, built for logging purposes in the town of Sugar Camp, extended up to the Tripp store and the post office was named Robbins on that account. Owing to the Polish families in the locality, a Catholic congregation was established here Aug. 10, 1893, Brown Bros. erecting the building. It is known as Ste. Cunegunda's, and Father F. J. Toplak was the first priest in attendance. The congregation is now served by the pastor of the Polish Catholic church at Rhinelander and numbers 30 or more families. Services are held. twice a month.

   Roosevelt is in Section 24, Township 37 north of Range 9 east, or the political town of Pine Lake and is on the north shore of Moen Lake, named after John Moen of the lumber firm of Nelson & Moen, who built a sawmill here and operated in the vicinity until they had finished their cut. Charles W. Swails bought the site in 1907 and subsequently laid it out in lots. In 1919 he started a store and in 1913 he was appointed postmaster, in which position he is still serving. He also conducts a summer resort, which he started soon after his arrival here.

   Satuit is a station on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway about four miles southeast of Rhinelander in the town of Pelican. Some logging was formerly done in the vicinity but there was no mill.

   Starks, A village and station on the Soo Railway in Section 26, town of Stella, was originally named Pennington and the Soo line established a division point here, with a hotel and a number of houses for the railroad men. On May 18, 1898, a tornado visited the village and destroyed nearly all of it, excepting only a part of the hotel and one dwelling house. The railroad then moved its freight division point to Rhinelander and started a division point at another Pennington west of Prentice. This killed the original Pennington as an active community center and it passed from public notice, for 14 years amounting to little more than a memory. But in 1912 the place was resurrected by L. Starks, operating under the name of the L. Starks Company, who bought 10,000 acres of land in the vicinity and began raising potatoes on an extensive scale. The company later bought 7,000 acres more, so the property now amounts to 17,000 acres, of which 4,000 acres are under cultivation. Potatoes are the principal crop and about 150,000 bushels are raised yearly. About two-thirds of the 4,000 acres are cared for by tenant farmers who hire their own help. The other third is under the direct personal charge of the company's superintendent, Ray M. Willis. The company has large potato ware-houses here, also a general store, of which William M. Fischer is superintendent. There is a post office kept in the store, and the other features of the community are a blacksmith and repair ship, a good school building, a church, and several pretty white dwellings. The old name of Pennington was not revived but the name of Starks given to the present village by its founder.

   Three Lakes is an unincorporated village on the Chicago & Northwestern Rail-way in the town of Three Lakes. I t is in Township 38 north of Range 11 east, and therefore previous to 1897 was in Forest County. It was the lumber industry that gave the place its early importance. The Three Lakes Land & Lumber Com-pany began logging here in the early 80's or before, and in December, 1886, there were seven firms logging in the pineries east of Three Lakes. In 1890 the interests of the Three Lakes Land & Lumber Co. were bought by Joseph Lave, who started a sawmill, buying the machinery of a mill in Rhinelander that had burned down, and installing it here. After conducting his mill for a few years, it met the usual fate of early-day sawmills, being destroyed by fire, and in 1900 he sold out to Woodruff & McGuire. This firm built a good mill one mile north of Three Lakes, with a capacity of 75,000 feet per day, and logged all their timber within a radius of 10 to 12 miles from the village. In 1904 they sold their outside holdings of timber land and moved their machinery to Three Lakes, Wash., where they are still located. At the present time the Thunder Lake Lumber Co. of Rhinelander are cutting some timber here, which they turn into lumber at Rhinelander. There is a forest of timber, for the most part of original growth, north and east of Three Lakes, which is now owned by J. P. Underwood of Chicago, besides some scattered timber to the south and east, also included in the Underwood interests.

   In 1900 in addition to the lumber activities here, there were several merchants and others doing an active business. F. S. Campbell, now in Utica, N. Y., was conducting a general store. Frank Steiner, now of Bellingham, Wash., also had a store here, as also James Donnelly and William J. Neu, while John Stypczynski was the village blacksmith. When the railroad came through, a box-car depot was put in and Frank Steiner was the first depot agent. The present Three Lakes Hotel, formerly the American House, was conducted in 1892 by "Stub" Fesenden and Ace Miske. Later Charlie Tuttle bought it, built on to it an addition for a saloon and ran it for five or six years. It later changed hands a number of times until in 1922 it was bought by James R. Nelson, its present proprietor. In 1892 the Lake House, now used as a fruit store, was operated by James Donnelly, who subsequently sold out to "Billy" Hall, and later a man named Vernet had it.

Chapter XVII Part 3 of 3

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