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Oconto County, Wisconsin
Mountain Memories
Pages 16 - 17
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Thirty-five votes vere c*st at the first Townand of those voters ve are able to verify the following names; Sever Anderson, Thomas Grimmer, Elias Palmer, Charles Duel, Jorgan Jensen, Frecd Green, August Petterson John Foleyr Thomas Anderson, 0. P. Hurning, Richard Kingston, Fred Culver. John Hein, Otha Statler, and H. .C. Jorgansen; along with those elected to hold office,Honey was appropriated for road construction and the placement of bridges to cross the many streams in these wgodlanda. All public work? were to be reBtCiCt-«d to tho^e owning land with a residence jn evidence within the Township^ Motions were made and carried to include; No two-year old bulls, sheep^ or swine were to tun at large, but cattle and hordes were free to pasture at will. We- liquor licenses were to te granted in the ensuing year.James Armstrong received $300, and A. .C. Frost and Hines received $?OQ each (or their vork in surveying and establishing the new borderlines for the Town of Armstrong^ New" borderlines for the school districts, now to be under supervision of the Town of Armstrong vere agreed upon to center those schools vithin four districts. Land was purchased fron Mr. H. M. Baldwin on which to build a Town Hall and nearby a Town Cemetery site was to be cleared in the coming year. The Town Hall for Mountain was to be modeled after the Town Hall built for the Town of How, calling for 3S,OQQ feet of lumber and the purchase of 150,000 shingles. Roadworfc began in the spring of 1891 with axes, picks* grub Iwes* and shovels serving as man's early construction equipment, as they laid out the new roadways. Thosa roads followed the path of least rMlntuice ac the lands dictated, but many a dynamite stick vas used in leveling the roadbeds* Swamps were crossed by laying logs crossuays and then covering then vith sail, called corduroy. Bridges certainly taxed the ingenuity of our early settlers, and neny were built with simple common sense and Imagination. A couple teams of horses, in the hands of strong men holding degrees in plain conmon senss and native resourcefulness turned this wilderness area into a land inviting growth and development In the years to come- All those owning land vithin the borders of the Town of Armstrong were to pay their share in ta*esr thus ensuring the Town with the pwaya and means' to provide these settlers with roads, schools, and continuing improvements- Jn the year 1991 Thomas McAllen was provided with two assistants to aid him In a&scs&ing all the sections of land vithin the Town so these holding* could be evaluated and taxed as deemed necessary for Town revenue. Ttat year lujnbcring was the State's leading industry and fortunes were being extracted from the forests of Wisconsin. Lcgg piled high along the branches of the Oconto Bivee in wait of the spring thaw and the rush of the river drives to sawmills in the south* Ttie Peshtigo River carried legs to Peshtigo, a rapidly growing city to the east- Thomas McAllen and his assessors vorxed long days in estimating the value of the lumber ccwF^nies1 land holdings and the logs being taken front the native forests, but the lornherirvg companies paid little heed to these men, for the confidently expected that as the forests were retrovedF the l^nds would invite new settlers to purchase these denuded acres* The trees continued to fall, and the lumber companies constantly avoided any such assessment on their holdings* State Legislature, at the tehest of the Wisconsin Tajyayers Association, theri enacted a provision for the forested lands of this state, to aid in collection of taxcsr but it proved detrimental to many local governments in the timber regions of the state. Chapter 473 allowed the owners oE timber products to have the eallen pine assess&d at the place of manufacture or where stored for shipment. This lav aleo pwvad the way for lumber ccmpanies to set the value of the saw logs at their own version of assessment * Mr. Mcmon could either choose to accept their value of th* pines' worthr vhich vaa Jl per thousandf or receive no revenue whatsoever Cor the Town, for then the lumber company vould have this timber assessed at the place of manufacture which was in Peehtigo or Oronto at the company's sawmill* The Town officials filed suit against the Wisconsin Taxpayers Association, an organisation mostly comprised of timber barons at the time* "