So far as has been possible, the controlling idea in compiling this ALBUM is
to show pictures of comparison with some previous time or different situation.
"BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF GRAND RAPIDS 1874"
(Page 30)
The map which the artist styles a "Bird's Eye View of Grand Rapids
1874" will be a great help to locate spots for which there is no equivalent
to-day.
The Rablin's property extended along the east bank of the Wisconsin River
between Drake Street on the south to Mill Street on the
north.
These streets hold their same position to-day as then.
RABLIN'S MILLS
"D" – Opposite Page 1
The top picture is from an original of the Rablin & Robb foundry and
machine shop. This was later sold and converted into a flour mill, which is
shown on the opposite page.
This foundry and machine shop was built by John Rablin in 1869
The picture shows the workmen and John Rablin is the middle figure shown on
the incline in the center of the foreground.
If this mill was here to-day it would set exactly on the south side of the
east end wall of the dam, as shown in lower picture on page
3.
The middle picture just below the "foundry and machine shop" shown
on this page was John Rablin's planing mill and later converted into a foundry
and machine shop.
In 1876 Patrick & Mahoney bought this and operated it for several years
and sold out to E. Roenius, who on January 2nd, 1896 incorporated the Grand
Rapids Foundry Co. with Benj. W. King and Julius King.
In 1905-06 the Grand Rapids Foundry Company joined with the American Carbonic
Co. and built a new brick plant on the west side at 610 High Street. The
American Carbonic Company was incorporated in 1907. E. Roenius was principal
stockholder.
The Grand Rapids Foundry Company owned the water power where they were
located on the east side and the Consolidated, as a part of the purchase price,
must furnish them with 30 Horsepower delivered by electricity to their plant on
west side, for all time and shall be a first demand on the power developed by
the Consolidated.
The lower picture on this page is the mill and office and yard of what was
the property of the Pioneer Wood Pulp Company. Organized by Geo. E. Hoskinson. This was originally
where the saw mill stood of John
Rablin.
It was originally built by J. J. Kruikshank of Milwaukee, heavy creditors of
John Rablin.
They sold the property to Welcome Hyde of Appleton in 1882.
Mr. Hyde, under the direction of Anson Pride, developed the power and put in
a six grinder pulp mill in this saw mill building where they made ground wood
pulp.
In October 6, 1886, the Pioneer Wood Pulp Co. was incorporated by Caroline K.
Hoskinson, Geo. E. Hoskinson, Walter F. Mackinnon, to manufacture wood pulp and
paper and paper articles.
The Pioneer became owner of this pulp mill and worked out the idea of
"skinning" the pulp off the roll in thick sheets and drying these by
air and sun outside in the mill yard. These heavy pulp sheets were sold to box
makers who would nail this onto box frames.
The idea was to make a lighter box for shipment of cotton batten in rolls,
millinery materials and such stuff as was bulky but light, and make a good
saving in freight.
About 1888-89 their superintendent Mr. Green suggested the idea of installing
a long row of steam dryers, similar to those in paper mills before the stock
reaches the calander stack.
The stock was too thick and the time spent on the hot rolls was too short. The method was not a success and soon was
abandoned. The Pioneer returned to the
original out-door drying process.
It looks very much as if these pulp board sheets were the forerunning of the
present day box board. The very great difference being, that instead of trying
to dry a solid and thick sheet of wet pulp, the makers now take paper of
different weights and run them through in a gleuing up process and the number of
sheets determining the thickness and strength of the built up stock.
These three powers all were later absorbed in the consolidation of all the
powers on the river between the bridge and Elton under the Consolidated Water
Power Co. which later became the Consolidated Water Power & Paper Co. See
their story.
"NEEVES FLOUR MILL"
Page 1
This picture represents the flour mill that was built of the original foundry
and machine shop of John Rablin.
All property of John Rablin was acquired by Landauer, Hopkins and Friend, who
sold it to Welcome Hyde of Appleton.
C. A. Podawiltz with Geo. A. Neeves and Wm. B. Neeves incorporated the Grand
Rapids Flouring Mill Co. in 1883 and bought this machine shop of Welcome Hyde.
They converted it into a flour mill as shown in the picture and operated it
until 1891 when the Thos. E. Nash and John L. Nash bought the property and it
was then known as the "Nash Mill" and was owned by them when it burned
June 11, 1889. Shown on fire in the small insert.
The lowest picture shows the "guard lock" to the Neeves Mill which
protected the Patrick & Mahoney foundry and the Pioneer Pulp rail from
accidents from ice or when necessary, could be closed and water drained cut of
the race.
The middle insert is a view across the "rapids" from the west side
looking towards these mills and shows the character of the darn then in use. It
shown in opposite direction from that view found at the top of page
2, and these
two pictures give a very good idea of character of the "rapids" before
consolidation.
This is the way the "rapids" looked all during the days of rafting. The high water in the spring and occasionally in the fall gave a sufficient
depth of water over all these rocks to permit the "running"
the rapids with fleets of lumber in shape of rafts.
"THE RAPIDS"
Page 2
This view was taken from about the location of the present swimming pool. It
is looking from the east bank straight west and would be at the junction of High
and Second Avenue North, west side. The flour mill shown in the distance is the
same mill as is shown at the top of this page and lettered "Jackson Milling
Co. "
The dams were erected on the ridges of the different elevations and one was
built on the east side by Henry Rablin under a charter Jan. 29, 1847 to John
Werner. Rablin purchased all rights granted by this charter the same year. Fair
view of this dam is shown on page 92, middle picture.
George Kline built the first dam from the west side which he began in 1839
and completed it by extending it to the island below the Green Bay bridge in
1843.
This formed the first "race" to the three locations on
the west side. The first or upper one being the flour mill site, the second or
middle one being the "Garrison" saw mill site and the
lowest one or third one being the "Lyons" saw mill site that later was
bought by Mack & Spencer and is shown in the middle picture of page
2.
"FLOUR MILL"
This power and site was originally bought from Daniel Whitney who entered it
from the government in 1841.
Orestes Garrison bought the west side power sites from Daniel Whitney in 1854. In 1866 Orestes Garrison sold this lowest mill site to Reuben
C. Lyon. In
1866 Orestes Garrison sold the upper site and the deed conveyed the use of water
"being 2000 cubic inches under 11 foot head" to George Weller and this
became the flour mill of the community for great many years. The interpretation
of what was meant by "2000 cubic inches under 11 foot head" became a
question for the courts.
A partnership consisting of "Coleman, Jackson & Co. " operated
the flour mill until 1887 when the Jackson Milling Co. was incorporated by
Gilbert J. Jackson, J. D. Witter, Frank Garrison, Edmond Rossier, Wm. W.
Rose,
Fred E. Timian and C. C. Rogers.
The facilities of this mill were enlarged and continued to operate until the
power was needed in the consolidation under the Consolidated Water Power Co.
They were given a deed to 125 electric horse power to be delivered to their
machines free of all cost for all time.
In 1901 the Grand Rapids Milling Co. was incorporated by J. D. Witter, I.
P. Witter and John P. Horton and they took over the business of the former Jackson
Milling Co. and built the brick mill shown in insert on this page. This was
discontinued as a flour mill and became a part of the Consolidated Water Power
& Paper Co. plant for the "beating" up of old papers into stock
which went into sheets for paper box manufacturing.
"SHAURETTE OR SHERMAN ROCK"
Page 3.
In the foreground of the mill picture "this rock" is shown very
distinctly. It is commonly called "Sherman Rock" but J. B.
Passineau,
who is now about the oldest native born Frenchman living here, says that he
never heard it called "Sherman Rock". "Its true name is Shaurette
rock".
This beautiful rock has caused many a raft to break up when the speed of the
swift river carried the raft too far to the side in an attempt to come down the
rapids.
"Sherman Rock" received its name from an incident in the
"running of the river" days when a man named "Shaurette" was
hung with his raft on this big rock late one afternoon and as no help could get
to him that night he stayed on the raft on this rock all night. After that it
was called "Shaurette Rock".
"CONSOLIDATED WATER POWER & PAPER
COMPANY"
Page 3.
It is not possible to tell the complete story of this achievement. It is the
culmination of the dreams of at least two men, J. D. Witter and George W.
Mead,
his son-in-law.
It was intended that Nels Johnson should share the glory with J. D. Witter in
harnessing the river at this point and Nels Johnson was to be the manager of the
new mill then projected on paper and which he hoped soon to see rise into shape
and action.
Thos. E. Nash first conceived the idea of forming a "Consolidated"
company. In 1894 the Consolidated Water Power Company was incorporated by Thos.
E. Nash, J. L. Nash, B. G. Chandos, C. A. Spencer. F. Mackinnon and
Geo. F. Hoskinson.
It was in 1891 that Thos. E. Nash and his brother John L. Nash bought the
"Neeves" flour mill power. Then it was in January 1893 that Thos. E. Nash with others incorporated his Nekoosa Paper
Company.
Mr. Nash was very deeply interested in the subject of water powers and it was
this impelling motive that suggested to him the idea of a consolidation of the
powers on the east side of the river.
The incorporators with him were his brother who with him owned the upper of
the three powers of the old original "Rablin" powers.
B. C. Chandos was the representative of the Bensley interests who owned the
middle power on the west side of the river, almost opposite the Nash Mill; then
C. A. Spencer was half owner of the Mack S. Spencer power, the lowest of the
three powers on the west side of the river and just below the "Bensley"
power; and F. Mackinnon who was son-in-law of Geo. F. Hoskinson, with Mr.
Hoskinson, owned the Pioneer Wood Pulp Co. power plant, the third and lowest
power on the east side.
The three powers on the east side of the river and the three powers on the
west side of the river were of about equal value, the river water belonged to
both, with the possible exception that because the Mack & Spencer location
was farthest down the river is should be capable of the greatest head.
The flimsy character of the construction of the dams for either side and the
great quantity of water that passed on down stream without coming to any water
wheels could not help but impress even a casual observer of the possibilities of
what could happen If all were combined into one power.
J. D. Witter was the most heavily interested man in the community in the
business of water powers and making of paper. His experience in his
"Lincoln Mill" investment and then in the building of the Centralia
Pulp & Water Power Company, only proved to him that this was evidently a
real source of endeavor.
Nels Johnson and J. D. Witter had been long associated in the mercantile
business before the purchase of the store of Frank Garrison by J. D. Witter and
the short life of the Geo. M. Hill & Co. which operated the Garrison
purchase before the joining the two concerns, the N. Johnson & Co. and the
Geo. H. Hill & Co. Mr. Witter was the "Company" in both
cases.
With the consolidation and taking in of Geo. M. Hill, Mr. Johnson had
ambitions and the time to devote to larger ventures.
In 1901 J. D. Witter and Nels Johnson acquired the whole stock of the original
Consolidated Water Power Co.
With the acquiring of this working company and the purchase of all other
"powers" not owned by the "Consolidated" the ground plan was
laid for the development of the river as one power.
In 1902 it was decided to build the mill on the west side, and Mr. Johnson was
the president and manager of the company.
March 22, 1902, J. C. Witter died, leaving Nels Johnson and Geo. W. Mead,
Mr. Witter's son-in-law to carry out the building of the Consolidated mill.
Nov. 10, 1902 the name of the Consolidated Water Power Co. was changed by
amendment of the articles of incorporation to Consolidated Water Power &
Paper Co. and this is signed by N. Johnson as President, and Geo. W. Mead as
Secretary.
Dec. 17, Nels Johnson, then president of the Consolidated died suddenly at
the hotel at Wilmington, Del. He was on a trip to buy machinery for the new
Consolidated mill. Immediately after his death F. Mackinnon was elected
president and Geo. W. Mead Vice-president, and manager of the Consolidated Water
Power & Paper Co.
One remarkable and up to then unheard of operation, was the application of
variable speed motors, to handle the paper machines. The customary method of
handling paper machines was by use of steam power controls.
Mr. Head's electrical engineer Mr. V. D. Simons prepared plans for variable
speed controlled motors and though it sounded revolutionary, Mr. Mead ordered
the steam engines and appliances to be kept housed on the unloading tracks and
the purchase of the necessary electrical equipment. This method is followed
elsewhere.
Under Mr. Mead's guidance the "Consolidated" has reached far in its place
with the other large successful paper and pulp mill manufacturing plants.
The Consolidated Water Power & Paper Co. owns the Consolidated Mill shown
on page 56; and the Stevens Point mill not shown.
"NEKOOSA PAPER COMPANY"
Page 4.
Such was the title of the company to build the first paper and pulp mill on
Section 10 T 21 R 5.
Daniel Whitney first selected this point along the river in 1834 and called
it Whitney Rapids. He built the saw mill probably on Gov. Lot 2 close to the
north line of Gov. Lot 3 and on the east side of the river.
The dam reached to Gov. Lot 1, an island in the river.
The paper company located their dam just a little below this, with the east
end of the dam on Gov. Lot 3 and the mill of to-day, located on Gov. Lot 5 on
the west bank of the Wisconsin River.
Daniel Whitney, by reason of the rights he obtained from the Chiefs of the
Menominee Indians built his saw mill on Whitney Rapids in 1831 and operated it
about twelve to fourteen years and then it was abandoned.
His interest was located in the water powers on both sides of the river at
Grand Rapids about this time.
In December 27, 1854 Whitney sold a one-half interest to Moses M. Strong, a
very prominent attorney living in the southern part of the state.
August 15, 1857 Daniel Whitney and his wife Emmeline S. Whitney gave Moses M. Strong a warranty deed to the
property, thus placing an entire interest to Strong.
It covered the Government lots in both Section 3 and 10.
Moses N. Strong proceeded to organize the Nekoosa Lumber Co. and records
indicate that for his interest he received $40,000. The lumber company built a
dam from Gov. Lot 2 to the Island but the high water after took this dam out,
and nothing further was done to develop the power and soon after the lumber
company went into bankruptcy. Moses M. Strong again acquired title to the
property in 1862-63. The property was all but abandoned until about 1887.
The developments that seemed to be in the making among the other powers
nearer the Rapids stirred interest in this power.
George N. Wood is responsible for the active interest he finally developed in
the power and succeeded in getting his brother Frank to join him buying this
property. George obtained an option from Mr. Strong and then worked on the
proposition with the final result that Moses M. Strong sold to F. J. Wood and
Geo. N. Wood, the property December 31, 1887.
Thos. F. Nash interested his personal and long time friend Col. Vilas, in the
proposition and Mr. Nash bought the Wood title November 17, 1888.
In 1893 the Nekoosa Paper Company was organized and Mr. Nash deeded the
property to his company and at once became its president and manager. Associated
with Mr. Nash was Frank Garrison and L. M. Alexander as stockholders of the
Nekoosa Paper Company.
The Village of Nekoosa was incorporated August 1893
An interesting feature relative to the machinery of this mill is the fact
that the paper machine installed was the same one as was exhibited by the Beloit
Iron Works at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1892, where it was shown to the
world as a model paper machine.
When the mill was ready at Nekoosa, this machine was taken down and brought
to Nekoosa and set in place where it may be seen to-day doing duly as an
efficient machine.
"SWALLOW ROCK"
The two pictures at the top of page 4 are copies from old stereopticons, made
of one of the last rafts that went down the Wisconsin River in 1888. John
Farrish sent a crew with lumber that went through the Rapids on down to St.
Louis. Daly S Sampson sent another fleet of lumber from the mouth of the Yellow
River on down the Wisconsin River to Points on the Mississippi. These two
pictures wherever taken are as true a representation of the walls of the River
at Nekoosa as else where. The term, "Swallow Rock" applied to the East
bank of the River at Nekoosa earned its name because of the swallows that would
drill into the soft sandstone for a nesting place.
The figure standing in the picture at the right is pilot Young well known to
the rivermen. The little shack shown on the left hand picture was all the
housing and shelter permitted to the crew. Pilot Young was known to his
intimates as Archie.
"NEKOOSA PAPER COMPANY"
A very fine set of pictures of what the Whitney Rapids looked like before the
mill was built may be seen in the scenes of "Running the rapids" in
the rafting views shown on top of page 4.
Whitney Rapids and the mill property that went with it was located on Govt. Lot 2 and the Nekoosa mill of to-day is built on
Govt. Lot 5, east end of dam
rests on the west side of Govt. Lot 3, all in Section 10 T 21 Range 5 East in
Town of Port Edwards, Wood County.
The records show that Levi Sterling entered these Govt. Lots in Nov 30, 1852
and Levi Sterling and Chas. F. Legate deeded these lots to Daniel Whitney Dec. 8,
1852.
I have no way of locating Levi Sterling and take it that these entries
suggest that Daniel Whitney had a reason for having these lands entered in the
name of another person and immediately took their deeds. Similar procedure is at
Point Bosse, though there Robert Wakely enters Lots one and two and deeds them
to Daniel Whitney.
Later the Nekoosa Paper Company became a part of the consolidation with the
Port Edwards and South Centralia properties under the title of Nekoosa-Edwards
Paper Co. June 5. 1908 of which the incorporators were Thos. E. Nash, C. F.
Steele and L. M. Alexander.
Three years later Mr. Nash retired from active management because of ill health.
His death occurred Dec. 15, 1917 thus closing the career of a very able
man whose rise was phenomenal.
"JOHN EDWARDS & COMPANY"
"NEKOOSA-EDWARDS PAPER COMPANY"
Page 5.
The first saw mill built at Port Edwards was by Sam Grignon who sold it to
Whitney & Merrill in 1836.
Evidently Samuel Merrill had acquired Daniel Whitney's interest some time
soon after they bought the site from Grignon, for in 1841, Mr. Merrill sells the
location of John Edwards Sr.
In 1859 John Edwards found that he must have some assistance in the operation
of the saw mill's rapidly increasing business, for he placed John Edwards Jr. into the harness with him and began his education in the saw mill
business.
There were several sisters and brothers besides the widow left in the family
when John Edwards Sr. died.
John Edwards Jr. then became in title John Edwards and in the final
operations he bought the interests of all the other heirs and in 1873 sold a
one-half interest to Thos. B. Scott, and started the very prosperous partnership
of John Edwards & Co.
This company operated the saw mill shown at the top of page 5 The portraits
of John Edwards and Thos. B. Scott are very true likenesses of each of these
gentlemen.
In 1889. Thos. B. Scott died and the partnership ceased and Mr. Edwards and
the two sons of Mr. Scott, with Mr. Edward's son-in-law L. M. Alexander. incorporated the John Edwards Manufacturing
Co. and continued the manufacture of lumber.
In the spring of 1891 Mr. Edwards was a member of the State Assembly and
while in Madison he died, February 23.
In the spring of 1896, Mr. Alexander was the directing Manager of the John
Edwards Mfg. Co. and began the building of the paper and pulp mill plant. The
picture of this mill is shown at the bottom of page 5.
In 1906 Mr. L. N. Alexander, Thos. E. Nash and J. B. Nash incorporated the Port
Edwards Fibre Co. Centralia Pulp and Water Power Co. at South side and the
sulphite plant was added to the Port Edwards mill. In 1908 Thos. E. Nash, G.
F. Steele and L. M. Alexander incorporated the Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Co. which
consolidated the Nekoosa Paper Co. and the John Edwards Manufacturing Co., the
Port Edwards Fibre Co. into one corporation owning the mill plants at Nekoosa,
Port Edwards and South Centralia.
August of 1934 L. M. Alexander died, but the Nekoosa Edwards Paper Co. was
under the management of his son John E. Alexander and so remains at the close of
this period.
"CENTRALIA PULP & WATER POWER CO. "
Page 6 - 7
This property was located at 'Hurleytown"; A name that has stuck because
of the fact that a man named Timothy Hurley operated a mill at that point.
To-day it is South Side, and previous to the consolidation of Centralia and
Grand Rapids it was called South Centralia.
This site on the river had falls that created some head and constituted an
easily developed water power.
A. B. Sampson and Reuben C. Lyon built the first saw mill on this location in
1848, but did not complete their application to enter this land until August 16,
1853 when they completed the entry of Govt. Lots 1 and 2 Sec. 24-22-5.
In 1854 A. B. Sampson and wife Jane conveyed their interest to Reuben C.
Lyon. In 1856, Lyon sold the property to Timothy Burley and Hugh Burnes. Evidently
Burley and Burnes struck some tough financial weather for the property was sold
by the sheriff to John Rablin in 1869. John Rablin added a pail and tub factory
in 1871. He successfully operated all his mill properties until he had financial
trouble and all his property was acquired by Landauer, Hopkins and Friend of
Milwaukee, in 1879. They sold it to Henry Mann and in 1886 Mann sold it to the
newly organized company "The Centralia Pulp & Water Power Co. "
This marked a new chapter in the use of water power on the Wisconsin River. After they built their first pulp mill in 1887, they experimented with the water
and finally decided that they could use it for making paper. Appleton mill men
had said that there was too much vegetable matter in the water, but that was
before the days of taking almost any kind of water and processing it for paper
making purposes.
In 1901 the first paper machine was installed and two years later they added
another machine.
Among the incorporators of the Centralia Pulp and Water Power Company were J.
D. Witter, Frank Garrison, E. B. Rossier, N. Johnson & Co, Jones &
Nash, Daly & Sampson, Chas. Briere, F. J. Wood and Caroline Rossier.
Feb. 16, 1886.
George Whiting from Neenah and C. F Steele from Appleton came into the company
following a stockholder meeting in 1887. George Whiting was elected President
and G. F. Steele, Secretary. G. F. Steele became the Frank Steele of the
community. Frank Steele built the mill and was it's first manager and the first
assistant in the office at South Side was Miss Callie Nason. June 20, 1890 Mr. Steele entered an executive position with the McCormick Company in Chicago and
returned here some years later and again became identified with the mills at
South Side and Port Edwards. Frank Garrison succeeded G. F. Steele as manager of
the South Side mill and the plant at Port Edwards until his death in December
1905. Callie Nason was elected manager in fact, of the Centralia Pulp &
Water Power Co. She was most successful in the management of the company until
it burned in 1912. The mill was not rebuilt. Miss Nason was reputed to be the
only woman manager of pulp and paper mill plant of any size in the United States.
Her long active career was evidence of her ability. Miss Nason died in
August 1932.
The hydro-electric plant is owned by the Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Co. and when
the Street Railway was in operation it supplied the "juice" for the
electric operation of the cars.
The picture at the bottom of page 7 is that of the dam across the river at
this point and when the water will permit, there is a very good roadway on the
dam making possible a short cut for people at Port Edwards and Nekoosa to reach
the Country Club.
"BIRON MILL"
"GRAND RAPIDS PULP & PAPER COMPANY"
"CONSOLIDATED WATER POWER & PAPER COMPANY"
Page 8.
October 5th, 1840, Gideon Truesdell, Joshua Draper, Paul Kingston and
Harrison K. Fay entered Govt. Lots 5 and 7 Sec. 34-23-6, being the land and
island whereon the "Biron Mill" was originally built as a saw mill. Tradition has it to say that "Fay & Draper" went down the river
with the first lumber sawed at Biron. If this is true then the mill was built
before the owners made an entry of the land, which is very likely.
The title of this property switched around so that when Francis X. Biron
bought it, the deed came to him from Weston, Heldon and Kingston in 1846. Widow
Fay was not the one to sell the saw mill property at "Biron" to
Francis X. Biron but the successors of the men who entered the land originally
so Biron's title came from Weston, Kinston and Heldon.
Francis Biron rebuilt the mill that is shown at the top of page 8, in the
year 1853. He successfully operated this plant for years. He died Sept. 28, 1877.
The property went into hands of executors, and about 1890 came into the
management of George Severe Biron, the youngest son. He and his sister, Laura
Biron held the property together. Severe operated the saw mill and in Dec. 14,
1892 the Grand Rapids Pulp & Paper Company was incorporated by J. D.
Witter, G. S. Biron, J. W. Cameron, Daly S Sampson and E. T.
Harmon.
They tore down the old saw till and in 1895 erected the brick pulp and paper
mill shown at the bottom of page 8.
Severe Biron continued with the new company to capacity of assistant manager
with Nels Johnson as manager.
Severe Biron died, Sept. 26. 1899. Severe Biron is one of the group shown
page 90.
The Grand Rapids Pulp & Paper Company had several different managers, and
was finally absorbed by the Consolidated Water Power & Paper Co. in the year
1911.
"RIVER VIEWS"
Page 9.
The bottom view was taken in 1932 and shows the present dam. The smaller
insert shows a picture taken about 1895 and is looking from the west shore
across towards the east side. The location would be about where Washington St. West Side would come to the river if it were extended east to its
limit. It
shows the small dams and guard lock which would turn the water to the original
Lyon Mill which later became the Mack & Spencer pulp and electric light
plant on the west side between Jackson and Roosevelt Streets on the island. Picture shown and discussed under page
4.
The view shows plainly the long drying shed of the Pioneer Mill and the
Pioneer Hill, also the foundry which is the middle building and the last to the
left is the "Neeves" Flour mill, later to become the "Nash"
Flour Mill. The Arpin residence is at the extreme right of the picture.
The top picture of the river was taken in 1933 looking from the wall just
below the south end of the swimming pool bath house.
"MAGNOLIA HOUSE"
Page 10.
This page of pictures center around the two pioneers of the early days of the
"Rapids".
George Neeves the small portrait near the top of the page came to Grand
Rapids in 1839. He located at the southern end of the town and platted a part of
it. He built the steam saw mill about 1851 at the foot of present Third street
somewhere near 1340 south Third St.
The Bird's Eye View map of 1874, found mounted on page
30, will show the
location of "Neeves Mill" about at the foot of Belle Isle at the lower
right hand corner of the map.
It was George Neeves, Thomas B. Scott, and J. D. Witter who organized the
First National Bank in 1872. The picture at the top of this page shows the old
First National Bank building. The second from the top, a reprint picture. It
was just a one story building and the street picture at bottom of page 22 shows
where J. D. Witter filled in the corner with a brick addition.
George Neeves built a good hotel that he named the Wisconsin House. It was on
the opposite side of First Street from the street running to the river where the
Eusebe Lavigne ferry landed. The Wisconsin House burned. It was built by Neeves
in 1853 and stood on what is now 210 First Street North.
George Neeves was one of the organizers of the Toll Bridge Company. He was a
very worthy citizen and an enterprising and industrious pioneer that helped to
build up the town. He died June 10, 1878.
"JOSEPH WOOD"
Page 10.
Joseph Wood is shown in the picture on the center of the page. He came to
the Rapids in 1846 and occupied that portion of the town called "Punkin
Hill". He platted a portion of that part of the town lying between Baker
Street, north, to land on Washington Avenue.
The picture at the bottom of the page titled "Magnolia House" was
built diagonally across from Mr. Wood's homestead to the southwest and on corner
of 9th and Washington Avenue, at what is now 840 Washington Avenue, east side. It was built by
Mr. Wood in 1852 and was a hotel, store and hall. The first
county court was held there and Joseph was the first county judge.
The first meeting of the board of supervisors of Wood County met in this
building.
Joseph Wood was elected to Assembly for Marathon and Portage counties in 1856
and passed a bill that set Wood County off from Portage County. His fellow
assemblymen named it "Wood" out of courtesy to Mr. Wood. He suggested
"Greenwood" as an appropriate name considering the
wonderfully fine green timber in the land described as the limits for this new
county.
Joseph Wood sold to the School District the block where the present Howe
School is now located and on this the district built a small frame school
building that was later moved to the Fair Grounds, where it burned.
The Map on page 30 shows the small school on the south side of the Howe
School in 1874.
Mr. and Mrs. Wood had a family of three boys, Franklin, George and Walter.
Joseph Wood died Feb. 5th, 1890.
[Added in pencil.] Joseph Wood also had one daughter Sarah Jeanette, who married William
Balderston.
"FRANKLIN J. WOOD"
The picture of this gentleman is shown on this page upper right hand corner. F.
J. Wood was born here Oct. 19, 1850 and died Aug. 17, 1931. He received his
schooling here and then went to Madison to the University where he stayed less
than two years, being called home because of financial reverses of his father,
like many others at that period of the new country.
Mr. Wood held county offices for several years and with his brother Walter
owned and operated a drug store, which is shown on page 29.
Mr. Wood was S. D. Witter's cashier for several years and in the year 1891
incorporated the Wood County National Bank. They first located the bank across
the street from the location of the present bank at the northwest corner of the
intersection of East Grand Avenue and Second St. south, which is now 180 2nd St.
S. The original home of the bank is shown at bottom of page 26. In 1911 the Wood
County National Bank built the new stone building they now occupy shown at
bottom of page 27.
Mr. Wood was prominent in the Congregational church from his boyhood days. He
was one of the principal donators to the fund to build the present stone
Congregational Church just one block south from his bank. Shown on page 41.
He was also very generous in his donations to the T. B. Scott Public
Library.
Mr. F. J. Wood was a very kind and courteous gentleman deeply interested in
the movements for the highest good of the community. He was a fine student of
both religious and secular affairs. He was also heavily interested in the
Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Co. , and other industries in our city.
George N. Wood whose picture also appears on this page was the second son of Mr.
and Mrs. Joseph Wood.
George was an outdoor man all his life. Real estate and title were his study. He is to be given the credit for inducing his brother Frank
J. Wood to join him
in buying the Nekoosa water power lots from Moses N Strong, which they held but
a short time. They purchased this power in 1887 and in 1888. George made the
deal whereby they sold the power to Thos. E. Nash.
George retained a forty acre tract to the south west of Nekoosa which he
platted, and was successful in selling many lots and a nice profit.
George was a great traveler and made several tours with the State's editors
association, and one or two across country trips with the Tripoli shrine of
Milwaukee of which he was a member.
George was a genial good fellow, well versed in the local history of the
community and he promised many times to compile his notes and complete from
memory the part lacking, but he did not live to carry out this plan. He died Feb.
21, 1930.
Walter L. Wood does not show on this page but his picture may be found in a
later picture in a group of young men most of whom lived at the Witter House. The picture is shown on page
90.
Seth Reeves picture is shown on this page. He was the first mayor of Grand
Rapids about April, 1869. Seth Reeves was a son-in-law of John Rablin and a
brother-in-law of Franklin J. Wood. He was a natural accountant and held many
positions in the county. He was the private secretary of John Rablin. Seth
Reeves died July 7, 1889.
"WISCONSIN RIVER SOUTH OF BRIDGE"
Page 11.
The pictures in the lower left band corner entitled "Looking West from
the Wood Block" shows the Wisconsin River south of the bridge. The bridge
shown here is the second bridge. On the river bank are the old buildings that
were removed through the efforts of the Women's Federation. In 1910 these
building were bought by the temporary purchasing board and bonded for the unpaid
portion and given to the city and assumed the indebtedness. The Women a
Federation was assisted by George W. Mead, Theo. Brazeau and many others.
Shown more clearly on the middle picture to the right on page
13.
The
building nearest the bridge was that of Jos. Le Madelin; the 2nd was a saloon;
3rd a tailor shop; 4th Saul Preston's blacksmiths shop. Beyond that was a
warehouse and livery stable. The picture to the right of this shows a view of
the west side, with the River Block cleared, but Mackinnon block in evidence,
the old Nels Johnson store across the street to the south; the Centralia
Hardware Co. next to the frame warehouse which was originally built by H.
W. Jackson and occupied by him as Postmaster for 21 years. A part of the same store
he rented to G. A. Corriveau for his mercantile store. The next is a frame saloon
building office. Setting back farther is a two story frame dwelling, located
about where Geo. Baker was born. He was the 1st white child born in the city. This was removed later by Normington
Bros. and their laundry enlarged. The last
building at the left is the Chambers livery stable as it appeared at that time. The small insert shows in addition, a good view of the commercial
House.
The composite picture at the top of the page, running clear across the page,
shows the new bridge, the "River Block", Nash Hardware Company's
enlarged store, the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, Normington's Laundry and the
Wisconsin Valley Dairy Co. Beyond the trees, one corner of the Commercial House
appears. The three pictures are a study in progress.
"THE BRIDGES"
Page 12.
The first bridge was a toll bridge built by the Wood County Bridge Co. March
22, 1865. Picture shown at top of page. This topic is discussed under the title
of "TOLL BRIDGE" on 13, Second Vol. The county by reason of one of the
provisions in the charter to the bridge company, bought it in 1873 and made it a
free bridge.
This bridge was repaired in 1874 by Purdy & Chaney at a cost of $3500. It
was this same bridge that was carried out by the spring rise in April 1888 as
shown by picture on the middle of this page.
It required nearly a year before the second bridge was opened to traffic
which was on May 24, 1889. Again the ferry was operated while the bridge was
being built.
The second bridge had heavy 12 x 12 timbers for uprights and after several
years these were taken out and replaced by steel.
In the picture shown at the bottom of page 12, you will notice a pier. This
was built with the idea that it would act as an ice breaker and take the brunt
of the shove of the ice instead of being spent on the pier of the bridge itself.
This pier was large enough on top to serve as a platform and the city bank
played many of its summer concerts there. The white post in the picture was the
electric light standard.
"NEW BRIDGE"
Page 13
The present cement bridge was designed and constructed under the supervision
of the State Highway Commission. The bridge was dedicated as "Grand Avenue
Bridge" Oct. 18, 1922.
These two views of the present bridge speak for it without much further comment.
The "end view" was taken from the roof of the River Block.
The Buildings on the East end of the bridge, shown of the picture at the
bottom of the page reading from right to left are; Elks Club, Wood County
Telephone Co., Wood Block and across the street from that, Wood Co. Realty
Block.
The two insert pictures in center of page 13; the one to the left shows the
east bank of the river before the Elks Club was built. The first building was Jim
Walsh's blacksmith shop and the further one down river was "Lane cabinet
and paint shop". The insert picture to the right are the old buildings on
the river bank at the west end and south of the bridge which came into the
discussion of the pictures on page 11.
"LINCOLN SCHOOLS -- OLD AND NEW"
Page 14
The top picture is of the Old Lincoln School that was built in 1902 and 03 at
a cost of $55,000. The prevailing type for high schools at that time, was like
this Lincoln School. It was way in advance of many other schools in the state
because of the stage effect, modeled after the Wausau High School, which was
considered a model of its kind then.
When this was nearly completed the writer of this history suggested to Mr. J.
D. Witter that he outfit the third floor as a domestic science school, at a
cost of about ten thousand dollars. His reply was that he had other ideas for
the school that he was not then ready to explain. It was not more than a month
after this interview, before his attorney Mr. B. R. Goggins called me and asked
for the legal title for the board of education. This I supplied.
Before this new school was finished, Mr. Witter died and by his will
bequeathed to the Board of Education the sum of $50,000 to be used as the board
saw fit. It took the shape of the Witter Manual Training School that was erected
in 1907.
Mr. H. S. Youker was the superintendent of the schools at the time of building
of both the Lincoln and Witter Schools. He appealed to the State Superintendent
for a copy of their outline for mechanical courses and he was told that they had
none, that our equipment was more perfect than they had at Madison and he would
have to formulate his own courses in Domestic Science and Manual Training.
The Lincoln was the first school among the high schools in the state to
graduate the first class that had had the benefit of a complete course,
beginning with the kindergarten on through the grades and through the manual
training or domestic science course, and still graduate in the proper length of
time.
Helen Taylor and Ruth Horton, at present a teacher in the city, were two such
pupils to have received this complete course.
The old Lincoln School was torn down during the summer of 1931.
"NEW LINCOLN SCHOOL"
A front view of the New Lincoln is shown at the bottom of page
14. This
School was built with the special feature of the Field House in cooperation with
the Athletic Field. It is a beautifully appointed school for high school
scholars. The gold room, for smaller stage work and musical features is highly
praised. The field house has a capacity seating of 5000 persons, second to none
other than the one at Madison.
The New Lincoln School cost $600,000 and was made possible by reason of
George W. Mead's position as mayor, in giving the movement financial support and
backing the architect, thus saving many cost items that otherwise would have run
the cost up higher. New Lincoln School and Field House dedicated by Mr. Mead,
May 29, 1931.
The handling of the State Band Tournament here would not have been possible
had we not had this fine school and large Field House to handle the several
activities.
Page 15
The top picture here shows the Witter at the left, the Old Lincoln in the
center and the New Lincoln at the right. The writer took this picture just
before the work of tearing down the old Lincoln began.
"FIELD GATEWAY"
July 4, 1934
The picture at the bottom of page 15 showing the entrance to the Athletic
Field, was taken just as Mayor Nobles accepts it in his speech of dedication. City appropriated $8500 for the building of this
gateway.
The following is a copy of the Mayor's address and as it recites the history
of the field, it is naturally appropriate to insert it here.
"Monuments, statues and permanent structure can justify their existence
upon two grounds; the nature of the subject which they commemorate, and as works
of art.
They ought, of course, possess both of the qualifications in the fullest
measure.
Theoretically, they should ever illustrate and should always have a
permanent, laudable and public purpose.
This Dedication, on the anniversary of our American Independence, of the
permanent structure at the entrance of our Athletic Field. presents to us all a
useful structure and complies in every respect with the demands of the public
and will adequately serve all of the purposes for which it was intended.
In addition thereto and in accordance with my text is commemorates an event
which dates back to a time when our Athletic Field, as the same stands partially
developed to-day, was nothing but a piece of unoccupied real estate, used by the
Wood County Agricultural and Mechanical Association as a fair grounds.
The Association which existed a number of years from 1865 or thereabouts up
to Feb. 23. 1897, had run into financial difficulties.
Two avenues of liquidating their debts were open before them; one avenue was
to have the twenty-five acre tract plotted into lots and blocks and sold for
residential purposes. This met with the demand of those who saw in such a
program an opportunity to pay off obligations of the Association, and at the
same time showing perhaps a slight profit.
Against this were those who saw in this defunct Association an opportunity
not for themselves, but to posterity, in the development of a public play
grounds or place where people might congregate to celebrate occasions such as
these.
Among those who had this thought in mind was the Secretary of the
Association, Mr. T. A. Taylor, and a plan was adopted whereby the debts of the
Association, which were mostly in the form of judgments, would be
assumed and paid by the city of Grand Rapids in turn for a deed of the premises.
He, along with his associates, in the face of strong opposition, promoted and
put through this plan and although they were forced to defend themselves in a
court action, never-the-less, they prevailed and as a result of their foresight,
we have stretched out before us to-day this beautiful Recreation Field, open to
the public and to cur friends and neighbors who associate with us and make use
of the same.
This little building in my opinion is but the beginning of what will soon
follow, and is the proper beginning, in that all structures hereafter placed
upon this Athletic Field should be permanent and of such a kind as will serve
the public best.
Many of those who were more enthusiastic when this entrance way was planned
have been called away, but they were public spirited men who thought not for
themselves, but for posterity, and I believe that this is the spirit that should
prevail in the minds of all of us when we are taking into consideration any
public building program or any structure, not that we ourselves would receive
any particular benefit, but that we will be content and gratified in the
thought that someone will share in and enjoy the fruits of our efforts.
Without this spirit of pioneering no nation, state or city could hope to
accomplish anything worth while.
The number of people who congregate here during the summer and the diverse
purposes for which the field is used is a sufficient testimonial of
gratification to the commissioners in charge and a receipt in full for any
amount of money that has heretofore been spent in its development or may in the
future be spent to continue the good work.
The commissioners therefore ask that you good people bear with them and
cooperate in their efforts to further develop and perfect the work which they
have already started
Hoping that you will all have a most enjoyable day and will come often and
enjoy the privileges and benefits and welcome which we extend to you on this
occasion, I, as the Mayor of Wisconsin Rapids. wish to thank you. "
W. T. Nobles
Mayor of Wisconsin Rapids
The Athletic Field occupies land in the NE1/4 of the
SW1/4 of Section 17,
Twp. 22 Range 6 East and is in the Fourth Ward of the City. It comprises about 25
acres, including the land where the several schools are built.
It was entered by Robert Bloomer May 1st, 1845 and his patent is found
recorded in Vol. 'E" of Deeds page 121. June. 22. 1861.
Robert Bloomer and wife Eliza N. Bloomer gave a deed to William Stewart and
Peter L. Brown, who were doing business as a partnership under title of
"Stewart & Brown". They executed mortgages to Artimus L. Holmes
and it appears that they must have lost this under sheriff sale. I find Sarah
Donnelly acting as attorney-in-fact for Mr. Holmes, gave a deed for one-half
interest in this forty to John J. Kruikshank Oct. 1, 1857. Later Mr. Holmes gave
over his own signature the deed for the balance of his title interest.
The land went back for taxes and the County sold the tax certificate and
executed a tax deed to Margaret J. Worden on the sale of Sept. 1867 and
therefore her deed bears date of Sept. 16, 1870.
Oct. 1, 1877 Margaret and A. D. Worden executed by the sheriff of Wood County,
a deed to Cornelia J. Jackson. Cornelia J. Jackson sold the property and
executed a bond for a deed Oct. 31, 1877 for $650 to the Wood County
Agricultural & Mechanical Association, with G. F. Witter as President and
R. W. Lord as secretary.
The Association evidently collected their payments for the property for on
May 9, 1880 Cornelia J. Jackson executed a Warranty Deed to the fair Association
for another $650 placing the complete title in the Association. This covered all
of the forty acres except two pieces sold previous to the grantors title and it
was one lot size 150 ft. by 24 ft. and the other was 30 ft. by 120 ft.
The previous owners had laid out a race track, circular in form and called a
half-mile track. The map on page 30 shows this circular track and marks it as
"Warden's Trotting Park".
An impression seems strongly to the idea that sometime before the
organization of the last Fair Association there existed an organization of some
kind. It evidently was not maintained.
Dr. G. F. Witter, a public spirited gentleman, succeeded in creating enough
public sentiment so that a number of local citizens and nearby farmers held a
meeting and formed an association on June 20, 1877.
They organized the Wood County Agricultural & Mechanical Association and
leased the "fair ground" for one year with the privilege of buying it.
The first fair was held October 8-9-10 of that year and such fairs were
continued each year until about the year 1896.
Same pieces have been sold off since the time the Association bought it in
1880 for the number of acres turned over to the city was 25. Some of the pieces
went to make street extensions and one or two sales were for residential lots on
the north side.
Few cities have a more desirable piece of land for an Athletic Field.
The past several winters it has been arranged so that ice skating has been
part of the field activities in addition to all the various sports of the summer
time. One of the finest activities has been sponsored by the Board of Education
and that is a play time schedule during the summer vacation for many groups of
boys and girls. This is under the intelligent direction of various teachers of
the faculty.
"LINCOLN SCHOOL OLD AND NEW"
Page 16
Picture at the top of the page shows the first few days of the razing of the
Old Lincoln.
The lower picture shows the base ball diamond on the Sunday before the Fourth
of July dedication. The local Firemen are host to the Chicago Firemen Baseball
team and Augy. Miller, local firechief, is pitching the first ball, which the
umpire courteously calls "A strike". This was taken from the roof of
the Field House.
Page 17
The Picture at the top shows a view taken during the early construction of
the New Lincoln.
The Picture on the middle of page 17 is a view that the author took from the
"lantern" of the cupola of the Old Lincoln, the day they began to tear
it down. It is a sort of a Birds Eye View in two sections. The section at the
right shows 5th St. and beyond that the dam and Consolidated mills. The picture
to the left shows East Grand Ave. the Episcopal Church and beyond that the
business portion of the West side. The picture at the bottom of the page shows
the New Lincoln with the newly completed "Field Entry".
"FLOOD OF 1880"
Page 18
The three top pictures on this page are of the flood of 1880. The picture at
the bottom of the page shows the same street in 1905 or 25 years after. On Page
19 is shown the same street 55 years afterwards.
The flood started before day light on June 13, Sunday and lasted three days. These pictures show the heaviest damage to the street from the present Library
location to the Witter and down First Street to Daly drug store where it met the
creek and went to the river, 112 S. 2nd St.
There was nothing on the river side opposite the Library location to prevent
the river from coming into the street. The land on this street was very marshy
and slabs from the Rablin and other saw mills had been piled in to fill up the
street to something of a decent level. But the character of the dirt streets
made by the wash by the current a very easy matter and the streets were washed
out from eight to fifteen feet below their normal grade.
The top picture to the right would be looking from the Witter House of to-day
east towards the present Library location. The burned ruins in the center and
distance of the picture was the Rablin House which burned on the 11th day of
June, just two days before the flood.
The barn beyond the ruins was the Rablin House barn and for many years it
served Henry Edwards & Son as a livery barn and was finally moved to the
present site of the City Fire station at 350 First Street N. where A. J. Hasbrouck operated a livery stable for a number of years until the coming of
automobiles made horse driving too slow a program.
In the foreground of logs and rubbish are several men and boys and the
sitting figure wearing a "stove-pipe" hat was J. D. Witter, whose bank
building, if it could be seen, would be directly in front of him. There was
nothing singular about the man wearing the stovepipe hats for daily use during
that period. I think they were dressed better than the women.
The second picture to the left shows the street side that would correspond
with that of the "Amusement Hall" of to-day and also called the
"Armory", at 351 1st St. N. This is just the opposite side from the
right hand view of the top picture. The building that is shown to be tumbled
down was the hardware store of Brundage & Furgeson These men were busy
bringing out their stock and Furgeson had gone into the store to get more stock
when the back end went out and he is supposed to have been carried down with the
stoves and other heavy stock into the swift current. Though a thorough search as
possible was made, under the terrific handicap, his body was never recovered. His widow refused offers of marriage the remainder of her
life.
The damage was very heavy in view of the times.
The small picture in the middle of the page is a view from the Daly location
(present St. Number 112 2nd St. S.) north towards the Witter House. The Witter
House was not then built.
The wash out condition of the street was just as bad as it could be. The
familiar figure of John A. Gaynor is easily recognized by those to whom he was
well known. He is the fourth from the left but standing back of the fourth
figure. Mr. Gaynor is without a hat.
The long panoramic picture at the bottom was taken 15 years later from the
roof of the Witter House towards the Library, both of which were then built. The
river view at the left of this picture is interesting as it shows the conditions
as they existed at that time.
"FLOOD OF 1935"
Page 19
Almost 55 years since the flood of 1880. The views on this page were taken on
the morning of the 25th and the flood broke in the city about 8 o'clock in the
evening of Sunday the 24th day of April.
The top picture shows the wall opposite from the Library and the middle
picture is looking from the second floor of the Library towards the Witter and
compares in location with the top view of the proceeding page 18. The bottom
picture is from in front of the Library. The idea being to give some picture of
the thickness of the ice and heights and swiftness that the water must have
attained to bring it in over the top of the stone wall.
One factor that contributed to the flooding of the street was the break in
the wall at the end nearest the autoparts bicycle shop shown at the left of the
picture. Had this space of about six or eight feet been filled and the wall
continued at its full height to this building, there is a probability that this
water would never have come into the street.
It evidently raised higher than the wall for a good length to bring the size
of the ice cakes into the street. The whole street had fully two feet of water
and floating cakes of ice between ten and twelve inches in thickness, all the
way from the Library down past the Witter to Daly's store and on the south side
it spread from the library into the market square and down Third St. to almost
Oak Street and down Second Street to Daly's.
The water was not as high except for this Library location as the flood of 1880.
There was not the same quantity of water. The 1880 flood came with the
June rains and lasted at least three days. The volume and current was the
greatest in recorded history.
The peculiar conditions that existed in the rise of the water in 1935 did not
exist in 1880. The river was clear in 1880, but in 1935 many things contributed
to the accumulation of ice between Biron and Stevens Point and Biron and the
bridge here. It could have been decidedly worse.
The following rates of speed were registered since 1880. The figures were
furnished by Mr. Gleason, chief engineer of the Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Co.
Year Cu. Ft. Per Second.
1880 100,000
1900 70,000
1912 70,000
1914 56,400
1922 51,700
1924 61,000
1926 53,000
1928 45,000
1929 60,300
These readings were official government figures obtained at Nekoosa. In the
last few years the high water rates were under forty thousand cubic feet per
second and has gone below thirty thousand in the dry years during the spring
break-up.
This is probably the proper place to introduce the dates that the ice has
been known to breakup and pass down the river. From the past files of the
'Reporter" and later issues of the "Tribune" this memoranda has
been compiled.
Year
Comments
1873
Ice went out on Saturday April 12. Took half million logs with it.
1874
Ice went out on Monday April 13th.
1875
Ice went out on Friday April 9th. Jones New Depot and Dr. G. F. Witter's
operating room moved out some. Gerard & Drake suffered loss of half million
feet of lumber, where it had been rafted upon the ice below Neeves old dam.
1876
Day and date not mentioned.
1877
Ice went out Thursday April 10th. Moved quietly.
1878
Ice went out on Friday March 8th.
1879
Ice went out on Wednesday April 2nd.
1880
Ice went out on Sunday April 4th. In June the big flood came and lasted
from June 10 to the 17th. Loss of one life, Mr. Ferguson. During the flood the
damage to property estimated at that time at over $200,000.
1881
Ice went out on Tuesday April 12th.
1882-4
Ice went out between the 1st and 9th of April, exact dates not known.
1885
Ice went out on Wednesday April 15th.
1886
Ice went out on Saturday April 10th.
1887
Ice went out on Saturday April 9th.
1888
Ice went out on Wednesday at about 12:30 P. M. April 11th. This was the
time that two spans of the first bridge were lifted up off of foundation and
carried down stream. One pier was pushed out. Property damage on both sides of
the river was considerable.
1889
Ice moved down Wednesday March 20th. Abutment of bridge, then under
construction was demolished by the ice jam.
1890
Ice went out Saturday April 4th.
1891
Ice went out Saturday April 11th.
1892
Ice went out Saturday April 2nd.
1893
Ice went out Monday April 3rd.
1894
Ice went out Saturday March 10th. Big jam but no damage.
1895
Ice went out between March 28th and April 4th.
1896
Ice cleared river Wednesday April 8th. Ice rotten away no jam.
1897
Ice went out Friday April 2nd.
1898
Ice went out Friday March 25th.
1899
Ice went out Thursday April 13th.
1900
Ice went out Monday April 9th.
1901
Ice went out Saturday April 4th.
1902
Ice went out Sunday March 23rd.
1903-4
No data.
1905
Ice went out March 28th.
1906
Ice went out April 6th.
1907
Ice went out March 26th.
1908
Ice went out March 24th.
1909
Ice went out April 11th.
1910
Ice went out March 30th.
1911
Ice went out March 20th.
1912
Ice went out April 5th.
1913
No data.
1914
Ice went out April 7th.
1915
Ice went out April 8th.
1916
Ice went out April 6th.
1917
Ice went out March 27th.
1918
No data.
1919
Ice went out March 22nd.
1920
Ice went out March 25th.
1921
Ice went out March 20th.
1922
Ice went out March 26th.
"RIVER BUGS OR ‘LOGGERS"
For a great many years the earliest signs of a breakup were the appearance of
what the old settlers called "river bugs or loggers". They would
appear to crawl out of the ice with the first early warm days when the ice
began to thaw in the river.
Ice formed on the river in various thicknesses. Much of it was caused by the
overflow of the river on occasioned by the thaws in the winter.
At the time of the ice jam at the bridge in 1888 the overflow from various
sources caused the ice to be estimated at twelve feet in thickness.
The sudden melting of the snows caused the river to rise and caught this ice in
a solid condition and the water simply got under it and lifted it and with it
the bridge was raised off its approaches.
Before the ice began to break in the spring bets were placed as to the exact
date that it would move out and down the river at least, pass below the bridge.
This schedule of dates will revive many recollections in the minds of those old
enough to remember these events.
With the building of the many dams and especially the high dam of the
Consolidated in 1902 and 03, it was not believed possible that ice jams could
form to any former proportions so the annual spring diversion of betting on the
break up of the ice passed out of custom and use.
From the experiences of March 1935 it is evident that damage from ice jam and
high water is still possible.