Railroads

Introduction

The vintage of this map concerns a time when railroads had penetrated far into the north woods, but not far in Lincoln County yet. However these railroads did come to the very edges of the county on the east and the west, as well as to Merrill in the south. The roads (wagon/sleigh roads) on this map should be thought of as branches of these main trunk lines. George Ripley ran a regular stage and mail service from Merrill to King's timed to connect to the trains at Merrill.

Wisconsin Central

On the west side of our map, and skirting the border within a mile for the length of the map, was the Wisconsin Central. It was land grant railroad whose mission was to connect the railroads of south central Wisconsin to Ashland. It was completed to Worcester in 1873. A last gap completing the line to Ashland was closed in 1877.

The land grant gave the Wisconsin Central the right to claim (with certain stipulations) lands 20 miles on either side of the constructed line, a distance that penetrated well into the west edge of modern Lincoln County. This is only one of several ways this railroad had an affect on the development of the county. Another is represented in our map of a road the starts at the west edge in Section Worcester now is an unmarked locality between Prentice and Phillips, but for four years it was the railroad terminus and supply point for farmers and loggers. The road starts at the railroad but crosses the Little Rice and the Tomahawk, and follows Rocky Run Creek. These were all prime logging areas where the log drives took the logs through modern Tomahawk. However the loggers, equipment and supplies could be shipped around the "back side" much more easily

Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul

The most important railroad to Tomahawk was the CM&StP. The CM&StP was a 51% shareholder of the Tomahawk Land and Boom Company. The other 49% was owned by the Bradleys and a few other partners. The centrality of the railroad is less appreciated today, but not so then. The CM&StP was headed by Alexander Mitchell, who died in 1887, and when Mitchell's protege William Bradley built a state-of-the-art hotel in 1890, he named it for Mitchell.

On this map the CM&StP is shown only as far as Merrill. The line that came as far as Merrill originated in Tomah and was completed to Wausau by way of Junction City in 1874. When it was extended five years later, the village was still called Jenny. The railroad named the station Merrill Station, after S.S. Merrill, the general manager, and the town eventually adopted the station name as the name of the city.

Several branch wagon roads are shown in all direction out of Merrill on our map, an indication of lively commerce. The most important was the road following the Wisconsin River via grandfather, which will is discussed in further detail elsewhere in this document.

Milwaukee Lake Shore and Western

On the east side of our map is the Milwaukee Lake Shore and Western, which loops onto our map in a couple of places. Refer T33 and T34 on the east side of the map. This rail road reached Summit Lake in 1881 and Three Lakes in 1882. Like the Wisconsin Central, the principal market was the mining region on the south shore of Lake Superior. In the case of the MLS&W the goals were Ontonagon and Marquette.

Also in 1882, a branch was built from Monico to Rhinelander. The purpose was obvious: a short branch line to the Wisconsin River and the prime pineries near by would add important revenue and help justify the overall investment. Of course Rhinelander did prosper within a few years, a boom town much like Tomahawk, if different in important respects. Like Merrill the rail road station was named for a company official, in this case MLS&W manager F. W. Rhinelander. Thus like Merrill the traditional name of Pelican was eventually officially adopted in favor of the industrialist.

Although it came a few years after the era of our map it is worth mentioning that the MLS&W was the railroad that built a branch to Harrison in 1889. The Marinette, Tomahawk and Western branch to Harrison was not built until 1895.

The MLS&W was sold to the Chicago and North Western in 1893.