Rib Mountaineer History
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RIB MOUNTAINEER photo by Dee Schofield The Mountain and a Township 28 years of progress serving Rib Mountain Area! ~ TORNOW~ ~ ~ 1947 1953 "W!! 1959 1975 Growing Progressively with the wonderful Rib Mountain Area! RIB MOUNTAIN The Mountain and a Township We would like to express our thanks to the following for their cooperation in gathering this record of historical events for Rib Mountain and the surrounding area. "History of Marathon County" by Judge Louis Marchetti Marathon County Historical Society The Wausau Record Herald The Wausau Pilot University of Wisconsin - Marathon County Campus Wausau Public Library In addition to the above, many residents furnished pictures, records and valuable information for which we are most grateful and wish to express our sincere thanks. Published by Town of Rib Mountain Bicentennial Committee Greg Gaetzman - General Chairman Research Committee Advertising Committee Layout & Design Mildred Schaefer Greg & Pat Broukal Stewart Doty Margarete Dahlke Stuart Roeder Louise Graefe (Advertising Consultant Kinzie & Green, Inc.) Copy and Creative Writing Della Bopf Q:-V;~~O\..\JT/OJ\t~ ~ ~ <:t' 'Z- u_ . m-I ~ Z ~p. ~~ '??6-191~ 1 TOWNSHIP 28 NORTH.RANCE 7 [AST.~ ...... of the 4 tn Principal Meridian. t:5~ A . .-:~: EiChErt /20 40 \,1." I .,,;: tr: El<lle.,. , ! .!''',,~.:__!~ .s~ _ 'i' _ , :::." i , ;: .,.::~; ~ • 1I ~~ .':.,> ,,:1 ~ i:.:; , :g !i.... i ~ ::; . ~ ~ I ~ ':--/8 ~- I ,1..::~ I~? '~i~~iiH~ zno--·'h~l. I"~'K~~ ___~ __ i: ! " j __ • L I, I 6A », Si[vErllw,.,l/ .1, 1~1/9S 80 ~t... l-iJrtt·i~8·nfi?dn.I;Y· ~~ --- , , ~~~ I:: r. 16"0 80 ~~ i 80 :: e /.9 --f!'f) i " , _, ZYl-----l- ')j(- ';I( 9i9 ••II ~ '"19 .r C. S. Oil bert .:;, ~ ../j H ~~~,.'" 1:W: ~% Clark ~] 40 '" <; :;:r- :.1'10 •, ~ J ~~~l- ~ ~ I.' I ' I . 0;~ " I .: ~ ~ ~ 1-3(J~ i.s. I t. ! ~ .tI ~ ~i ~ ~ ;Q:,).," ~ . ,- "",' ,:; ·T.C I" ::: I '"~ I~lrol.E. 40 IOd ~ ! -to ~ f; 1 ~ I ,." I ~ 0 i ~I~"'I I e.o. .r c.xrst» .. , Do:;zs &~ L1'/ r-l• ' I J. T. But l E-r I U:S.lroIllCS/f'Uri. : 4-0,1 8tJ ·1'!6.25 .V;W:H,i,-,t Cki\o~JY. ,mD J:C. rlPnI1r ~{ufe n,'I:co. 40 I• 40 C". 4f) 4Q L. , 2 WEST RIB MOUNTAIN PART WESTON T 28 N.-R.7 E. ,{ 30 3/ .:.:.:.:.:.: . ~/f70 ,{'~dford ffar> /"v.6/s.,.Lr.c., 3 «:-«;~~O\"UT/OI\t~ ~ ~ <;( -z. ()_ -Im ~ <: ~p. ~ 7/'76-1916 The Origin of Rib Mountain: A Quartzite Monadnock Millions of people have seen Rib face. However, its hard quartzite formation Mountain through the years (how could you kept it from crumbling, and we see it now miss it?) and were impressed by the sight -- surrounded by rolling hills that were molded a monadnock rising 1,940 feet above sea level by glacial deposits. and averaging 650 feet above the surrounding area. The Wisconsin and Rib rivers were also formed by the movemen t of the glaciers. How did Rib Mountain, possibly There is evidence that the Wisconsin River part of a rock mass including the Mosinee was a mile wide in the city of Wausau. The Hills and Hardwood Hill but considerably flat area in the central portion surrounded larger and higher, originate? by hills is an indication of this. These hills This is what geologists tell us. extended into Schofield and Rothschild, so one can just about determine the width of It was once part of a mountain the river in that area also, and the course it range that covered most of Wisconsin took. Through alternate processes of heat and cold, wind and rain, most of the land was leveled to a plain. Then the state of Wisconsin was submerged beneath the sea. Rivers draining Rib Mountain and the Mosinee and into the sea deposited sand and clay which Hardwood hills might possibly have been later became sandstone and shale, respective- shorelines along which the river flowed. ly. Limestone deposits were formed over a As with the narrowing of the river bed, period of several hundred million years from there were also changes on the surface of animals and plants living in the sea. the mountain range. Much of the surface was pulverized by the elements into soil that The sandstone, shale and limestone made possible the growth of trees -- pine, were eventually removed by stream flow maple, white birch, oaks and basswoods. to the south. After the discovery of Rib Moun- After the area that is now Wisconsin tain, because of its superior size, it became rose from the water, glaciers came down and the best known of the remnant hills. covered it until about 6-9,000 years ago. Four separate glacial advances were made A geological description of the into the state, the fourth covering Rib mountain follows: Mountain. One would think that all those It is a Huronian quartzite mona- forces would have reduced it to a flat sur- dnock on a pre-Cambrian peneplain which is 4 ! -- WOWARO JOHnson'S ~eCPlavolQ[America EXCELLENT DINING AREA'S NICEST COCKTAIL LOUNGE INDOOR HEATED POOL AT THE BASE OF RIB MOUNTAIN SAUNA LARGE BEAUTIFUL ROOMS 'THERMO WHIRLPOOL FAMILY RATE PLAN LIVE ENTERTAINMENT , CHILDREN UNDER 18 FREE FOR RESERVATIONS ALSO: CALL TOLL FREE NOWARD EI\IJOY OUR (800) 654-2000 NEW OR WRITE: JONnSOnJ VIDEO - BEAM T.V. HOWARD JOHNSON MOTOR LODGE motor lodge 2001 N. MOUNTAIN ROAD WAUSAU (715) 842-0711 in the old-age stage of erosional development. the earth forced volcanoes to erupt which in turn brought about many changes on the It is approximately four and one- surface. half miles long and 1.6 miles wide at its widest portion. It covers an area of ap- But the hardcore of Rib Mountain proximately three to three and one-half square must have resisted even those pressures; so it miles. stands today, a monument in almost the exact center of Marathon County and the It is slightly arc-like in form which state of Wisconsin. has been likened to a human rib. Its surface material consists of bed- A plaque beneath the Van Deuser rock exposures at the summit. On the Tower, erected on top of the mountain by north and south slopes near the summit, the Wisconsin Conservation Department in and along the park road, soils on the rocky 1958, sums it up with the following words: quartzite area are usually less than one "Dense hard rock forming Rib foot in depth. Mountain is quartzite. Was originally loose The Rib Mountain quartzite is re- sand but was changed first to sandstone by markably pure (99.07 per cent silica), white, cementing of sandgrains and then to quart- vitreous and firmly cemented. Color varies zite, by earth movements and fluids which from white to pale pink due to iron stain. compressed and hardened the rock." Geologists studying the quartzite formations People living in the township are found indications that the quartzite was not only proud of the mountain, but its re-crystallized during the late Pre-Cambrian very existence determines the type of life era. The Pre-Cambrian era is the oldest style in the area. The succeeding chapters age of existence of the earth, lasting from will point out the influence of the mountain 4% to 5 billion years ago to 600 million upon residents of the township through the years ago. It was a time when heat inside years. 5 RIB MOUNTAIN, WISCONSIN'S MONADNOCK By Eleanor Pautz Backward, billions of years ago, Earth was without form, and void Covered by waters on the face thereof, Land was not yet, there was no sound, no sign from any dry place thereof, Merely darkness and mist; then a great light shone on the face of the deep. Light had no sound, but the sound of rain and the sea was an old gray sound On and around and above earth. Molten-masses of rock melted within the heart of it. From the depths this great fury caused a mighty seism, And the sound of the seism was a tremendous sound, a heaving sound Amidst and around and above it. Backward, billions of years ago, Far up, in the high arena of the winds, Land came forth, up through the face of the sea Dry land, a little lower than the crags above it, Jagged crags of white quartzite and colored granite heaved up. And the sound of the land was a settling sound, a heavy sound, On and about and amidst earth. Backward, far north, in the cold arena of the Arctic, Gigantic ice sheets and glaciers took shape at the snowline, Ice shrouded at sea-level the great north of the earth, Four times, each time many ages apart, ice moved southward, Four times, the cold waters reached not the summit of Rib Mountain. And the sound of the ice was a crashing, a thundering sound Upon the rough land as ice cirqued it. Today, many thousands of years after the last ice age, Rib Mountain, Wisconsin's Monadnock endures, endures endlessly, Atmospheric changes cannot ravish nor remove its strong resistance. Since the Pre-Cambrian Era, Rib Mountain's firm foundation rests On basal-rock strata. Bearing the marks of several sea-submersions The summit's white crown is projecting still. Perhaps once it towered higher than the Alps, ranged wider than the Rockies. Now the ancient Rib has settled tv a fraction of a mile in height. Yet even today, old, old sea-green lichen clings tenaciously to white quartzite, And even today, yellow birch and hemlock's hair-like roots bore the rock, Seeking sustenance, slowl~, slowly, augering solid rock asunder, forming soil.