Chapter 8

INTO THE DEEP WOODS

Phillips & Colby brought the Wisconsin Central into Stevens Point with a flourish, having built a good piece of railroad. That section of country between Menasha and Stevens Point was already settled; towns and counties along the line had been generous in voting financial aid to the road.

However, the route from Stevens Point to Ashland presented a different picture. The right-of-way northward led through an unbroken forest wilderness entirely devoid of towns, settlements, or organized society.

Elijah B. Phillips' experience had been wholly in the operation of well-established lines and did not include the rough, grueling labors in building a new road through a wild, raw country, such as northern Wisconsin was in 1870. However, he ultimately learned the wide difference between building a railroad and operating one already built. Early in 1872 Phillips & Colby awarded a contract to the Hooper, Boyle & Seymour Construction Company specifying the construction of 140 miles of road west and northward from Stevens Point; a tough assignment, full of physical and financial uncertainty for the builders.

On March 18, 1872, construction work began at Stevens Point, moving westward, and by September of that year had reached Section 53, with 51 miles of "ready track" to their credit. Section 53 was on the site of the present town of Colby, where the main construction camp remained for two years. This end of track was named Colby, in honor of Charles L. Colby. In addition, the contractors completed the work of clearing, grubbing, and grading the right-of-way to Mile Post 101, about 50 miles directly north of Colby. Mile Post 101 was later named Worcester.

In October 1872, the road was ready for inspection between Menasha and Colby, and a special train, gaily decorated, was run. Governor Taylor, state officers, newsmen, and prominent business men were loud in their praises of the splendid work done, and pronounced the new road one of the finest in the west.

During the year 1872, the project began to take on the appearance of an orderly railroad. Trains were running regularly between Stevens Point and Menasha, and all equipment was taxed to capacity in handling the traffic at Stevens Point, and construction of a roundhouse and larger repair shops was begun at that point. The original roundhouse was built entirely of native stone, with an iron roof and iron service doors.

The house was built to accommodate six locomotives; six stalls, each with a pit and stack hood. The backshops group of buildings constructed of Milwaukee brick, were modern, commodious, and completely equipped with machinery required for rebuilding and repairing locomotives, passenger and freight cars. Due to the isolated location of Stevens Point at this time, and the distance from large industrial centers, the Wisconsin Central was of necessity compelled to be self-sufficient in the maintenance of its equipment.

On the east, north, and west borders of the property a nine foot high board fence broke the winter blasts for the car repair gang, and gave the night watchman a sense of reasonable security. A hundred and fifty foot smokestack of brick with stone base stood at the corner of the boiler room and spread a mantle of rich, black unburned carbon over the town as an industrial blessing and benediction. Stevens Point was proud of the shops and claimed the Wisconsin Central as its own.

During the period 1872 to 1887, the shops were the main attraction, and on every Sunday, designated as Visitor’s Day, great crowds of town and country people joined the parade to new seventh wonder of the railroad world.

In 1936 the larger shop buildings were razed, and the old the brick used in the construction of the Stevens Point High School stadium -- a long jump from locomotives to the advancement of education.