Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Time Machine Trip to March 1883

 

Kaukauna Times - March 1883

By Lyle Hansen

March 2, 1883

Last week the Appleton Crescent completed the thirtieth year of its existence. The Crescent is one of the best weekly papers in the state. The Post Co. of Appleton announced that they will commence the publication of a daily in that city about the first of April. The new daily will be twelve cents per week.

The Wisconsin Telephone Company has decided to install a telephone exchange in Kaukauna, and with the instruments having already arrived and about seventeen subscribers secured, all is now in readiness. The Lake Shore and Northwestern depots, it is understood, are on the list, which will make it very convenient for travelers who don't wish to sit around the station waiting for delayed trains. The central office will be located at the drug store of T.M. Kellogg.

 

March 9, 1883

The hotel business in this village is booming.  Landlord Schmitz of the Kaukauna House on the corner of Desnoyer Street and Wisconsin Ave., reports a house full of boarders and an increasing business every day.


The electric light is pleasant to look at but perfectly shocking when the wires are grabbed.


Some of the newspapers seem to think it wonderful that many of our millionaires were once poor boys. Success in life does not depend upon the starting point but the direction of the start and the vigor and endurance and good judgment that are brought into play that bring results.

Chihuahua, Mexico – A party of ranchmen swooped down on an Indian camp several days ago and cleaned things out. Ten Indians were killed, and twenty-five squaws captured.


March 16, 1883

A bus is again running between the railroad stations and hotels. This will be of great convenience to traveling men who have theretofore had to "hoof" it after arriving at our village. We hope Mr. Beaulieu will continue this new enterprise. It certainly "fills a long felt want" and is deserving of success.


March 23, 1883

The workmen in the stone quarries are busily engaged at present blasting out stone to be used in the railroad paint shop. In some respects, this building will be superior to any of the structures the company has yet erected. Like the other buildings belonging to the Lake Shore Company, it will be made almost entirely of stone, but the stones for this building are being cut to fit some particular place almost as brickwork.

 

M. Barholdi’s gigantic statue of Liberty is so nearly completed that much of it is ready for shipment to America. The whole of the figure probably will have reached New York before the end of the year. Only $80,000 of the $250,000 has been raised so far for the pedestal fund.     

 

March 30, 1883

The streets are now beginning to get very muddy, and people feel the need more than ever of sidewalks.

 

At no place along the river are there manufacturing advantages equal to those that Kaukauna and Ledyard possess. The waterpower which is formed by the enormous fall in the river at this point can be utilized to a much greater extent than any other power on the Fox. The fall is about sixty-two feet within a mile. There are three waterpower canals, those being the Governments, the Kaukauna Waterpower Company and the Meade and Edwards. The first two named get their power from the government dam. The Gov't canals is situated on the north side of the river and already there are built the following manufactories: Router Bros. Spoke and Hub factory, Hewitt Bros. and Jansen Sash, Door and Blind factory and sawmill, W.A. Doane Pulp Mill, Eagle Paper and Pulp Mill, and the Franklin Flour Mill. There is room for many more factories. The canal of the Kaukauna Waterpower Company is situated in Ledyard on the south side. It was built in the years 1880-81 from plans furnished by Jos. M. Barker, engineer in charge. Mr. E. C. Morrison is the present engineer and Superintendent in charge of the work. On this canal are the following manufactories: The Bradner Smith Company pulp mill, the Casad Machine Shop and the shops of M.L.S.  and W.R.R. Company. This is considered the finest waterpower canal in the west. The Meade & Edward's canal is located between islands No. 3 and 4 and is formed by joining the two with a substantial stone dam and has a capacity of 2500 horsepower. On this canal are erected, Geo. Kelso's pulp mill, the Union pulp mill, which has a greater capacity than any other pulp mill in the country, and the Fox River Pulp Company mill.

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