FROM A 1924 ARTICLE: "The village of Minocqua is situated on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway in the town of Minocqua, 26 miles northwest of Rhinelander. The village is famed for its beauty. Surrounded by a chain of five picturesque lakes, it is built on what would be an island but for a narrow belt of land at the eastern point connecting it with the mainland.

 

When the land was surveyed by the government in 1862, the field notes located an Indian village just north and across the water thoroughfare from Gus Nolan's place, and the workmen who graded the railroad there, some 26 years later, unearthed quite a number of bodies. Not very long ago bones could be seen sticking out of the bank in the small cut at that point. It is said that at an early date the site of Minocqua, or its immediate vicinity was the scene of a fierce battle between the Chippewa and Sioux. On land of the M. C. Wetmore estate (owned in St. Louis) there are two Indian mounds. One of these is on the bank of Gunlock Lake, and was dug into some 20 years ago by Capt. S. W. Ray and two others, when two skeletons were found sitting together with a piece of pottery, like a kettle with a decorated rim, between them. This piece of pottery showed the effects of fire on the inside but not on the outside. [ed. note: disturbing the burial site is really sad and unfortunate by any standards.]

 

Some of the old settlers say that 35 years ago there were two bands of Chippewa in this neighborhood, each under its own chief. When Captain Ray arrived in the spring of 1888, he found eight wigwams and a small log hut situated where the Catholic church now stands, and all occupied by Indians, who had a chief named Noc Wib (or so his name sounded) when Captain Ray heard him pronounce it. The settlers called him Chief Minocqua, probably assuming that to be his name, and hence the village came to be so called.

 

On settling here the Indians thought they were within the limits of the Flambeau reservation, a mistake that the government rectified for a time by extending the limits of the reservation so as to take them in, though subsequently they were obliged to move. There were 387 Indians in the two bands in the spring of 1887 when Gus Nolan, one of the earliest white settlers, arrived.

 

Through Minocqua ran the Flambeau Trail, which had been cut during the Civil War period, and which connected at the head of Tomahawk Lake with the military road from Milwaukee to Ontonagon on Lake Superior. This whole region was for many years a great hunting and trapping ground, and at an early date a trading post was established here by John Jacob Astor, who obtained his pelts from the Indians in exchange for the white man's commodities. This post, which was one of a chain extending from Ashland to Green Bay, stood on ground now the property of Gus Nolan, across Lake Minocqua and about half a mile from the site of the present village.

 

It is fortunate that the shores of the lakes which surround Minocqua were logged at the time when timber was too valuable to leave to the forest fires – great trees like those which in their decay now mar the landscape of so many Wisconsin lakes. The place of the fallen giants of the forest has been taken by a new – and today, well-developed – growth of pine and birch, maple, balsam, poplar and hemlock. The soil is a rich sandy loam with clay subsoil; it yields excellent crops and some valuable farms are to be found in this territory.

 

For 30 years or more Minocqua has been the Mecca of summer tourists and lovers of nature from all parts of the middle West. The shores of five lakes are dotted with public resorts capable of accommodating hundreds of guests; all of them are filled during the summer, in addition to which there are hundreds of private summer homes. The village has a population of about 500.

 

On Friday, May 31, 1912, the main portion of the business section was swept by fire, causing a property loss of about $110,000; but a number of fine brick blocks were subsequently erected to take the places of the old frame ones built in early days; so the ultimate result was to increase the attractiveness of the place. The tide of tourist travel set in the 80's soon after the building of the railroads, and it has since kept increasing, while the automobile in recent years has added greatly to the number of visitors.

 

The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul road, the only one which runs through the village, was built in 1888; but several years previous to that the Northwestern, or that part of it then known as the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western, had been built through Woodruff, only two miles away, so after the construction of the Milwaukee railroad, the village could easily be reached by two railroads. Settlers at once began to come in, especially as there were logging camps in the vicinity which offered chances of employment.

 

Among the earliest [settlers] were Frank W. Rogers, Robert Stamp, Gus Nolan, John Briner, Frank Schilling, Deloss Daniels and Capt. W. S. Ray. Frank W. Rogers arrived it is said in 1886 and Robert Stamp, who died recently, in 1887, while Capt. Ray was one of those who came in the spring of 1888, when the St. Paul road was being completed here. Others who came about the same time, or soon after, were Mr. and Mrs. P. J. O'Malley, Mr. and Mrs. John Mann, Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Doyle and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Doyle. A. O. Dorwin came in 1891. In 1888 John Radcliffe built a small sawmill and operated it for four years subsequently. It was located a little west of the present Gus Nolan place on a strip of land which after the building of the dam became an island. Deloss Daniels started the first store in a tent on land now part of the Gus Nolan property. There were four saloons close by, two in tents and two in log buildings.

 

The first buildings put up were on the north side of the railroad track, which here has a north-east-southwest trend, and this was before the town site was platted. P. J. O'Malley had a hotel there on "Water Reserve" land, which was the first building put up in Minocqua, though not on the town site. The village was platted May 5, 1888, by Henry C. Payne, trustee, the plat being recorded on the same date, and accord-ing to Capt. S. W. Ray, the lots were not put on sale until May 27, 1889. Pat Madden bought two lots, cleared them with the help of John Manning, and put up the first building on the town site, the Lakeside Hotel, which he conducted for a number of years subsequently. It was the first regular hotel in town, though Jack Sutton had previously run a saloon and kept a few boarders.

 

The other buildings north of the track were taken down or moved later, Pat O'Malley's Hotel among them, which was moved on to the town site, where it is standing today. John Manning (above mentioned) came here with Pat Madden and is still living, being one of the best-known among the old settlers. For a long time he was in the employ of the Land, Log & Lumber Co., and is a land cruiser and timber estimator. He has a house in the village and a farm some four miles out.

 

Deloss Daniels moved his store to the location now occupied by the cannon near the station. John Briner was a type of another class, known as "drifters"; he stayed in town but a few years, working at odd jobs, and was nicknamed "The Old Sardine," because of a song by that name which he used to sing in saloons. Other pioneers who should be mentioned were Johnny Murray, John C. Fay, M. W. Lloyd, William Schlecht, Edward Briggs, Louis McBride, August Meland, Fred Tripp, Ed Walsh and Frank Roemer. M. W. Lloyd, mentioned in the foregoing list, who arrived in 1888, was superintendent for the Land, Log & Lumber Co. William Schlecht, who first arrived in Minocqua in 1887, has made the village his permanent home since 1890. William H. Fisher came in 1889." 

 

"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. Web link.

 

Also of interest by the same researchers: LUMBERING IN ONEIDA COUNTY