The following are a fraction of the collection; they illustrate the type of material and information available:

A. REPRESENTATIVE IMAGES:

           Image #12800 – Photograph of Rib Lake Lumber Company Camp #22, c. 1935.  Seven wood-frame camp buildings line the adjacent railroad track.  A McGiffert log loader stands ready in the rear.  Camp location: NE-NE, Section 16, Town 32 North, Range 4 East, Town of Corning, Lincoln County, Wisconsin.  See Image #11778 for map of this and adjacent camps.   

            Image #12801 – Photograph of 1914 Rib Lake Lumber Company mill fire, which destroyed the mill complex in the Village of Rib Lake.  Tannery buildings stand in the rear.  On the right is a Rib Lake Lumber Company logging locomotive and combination freight and passenger car on the Rib Lake Lumber Company private main line.  At the near right logs float in the hot pond.  In the back is St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church structure.  Nota bene:  The church was then facing south prior to its eventual rotation 180°.

            Image #12802 – Photograph, c. 1910, “McComb Avenue.”  Photograph of the Village of Rib Lake’s main commercial district.  Pictured buildings include:  left “George Braun, Dealer in Timbered and Improved Lands,” Upjohn Drug Store, and “Furniture” store; the last site in 2009 is the location of Mid-Wisconsin Bank.  Right:  “Wisconsin” hotel; in 2009 a vacant lot.

             Image #12811 – See c. 1925 aerial photograph of Rib Lake Lumber Company dry yard in the central portion of the Village of Rib Lake.  Rear: Central Hotel and Ward School.  View to the south. 

            Image #12812 – Advertisements published in November 10, 1955, The Rib Lake Herald, including Lakeview Resort – Marty and Inez Vanucha, proprietors, on Big Spirit Lake; John Dolezalek, Sr., electrician; Jeanette’s Beauty Shop located in National Hotel.

            Image #12815 – Advertisement published in 1955 in The Rib Lake Herald by The Herald management entitled “BORROWING IS A NASTY HABIT! STEALING IS A SIN!”

            Image #12818 – Ads and notices published in June 1955 in The Rib Lake Herald.  The “Weed Notice” provides:  “Notice is hereby given to each and every person…to cut or destroy marijuana that is not grown or cultivated for lawful purposes…” signed Wessly Stiel, Weed Commissioner. 

            Image #12820 – “Steam Loader” “Rib Lake, Wis.” c. 1930.  A McGiffert steam loader, manufactured in Duluth, Minnesota, in the midst of hoisting hardwood logs onto a partially loaded flat car.  Seven unidentified men.  Smoke rises from smokestack; note the empty railroad flat car beneath the loader.  This ingenious mechanical behemoth was self-propelled and ran on railroad tracks; after its crew loaded a flat car with logs, a fresh, empty railroad flat car would be pulled from the rear of the loader; the new flat car would move beneath the loader to a position underneath the boom where log-loading could resume.

            In 2009, an original McGiffert steam loader is open for public inspection at the Minnesota Transportation Museum in Duluth, Minnesota; visitors are allowed to climb into its cab. 

            Image #12821 – “In the Woods Near Rib Lake” “Photo by Brown” c. 1910.  The photo depicts a Rib Lake Lumber Company Shay locomotive pulling 8 loaded log cars through a cedar swamp.  Three unidentified men are pictured.  While this location is unknown, the RLLC had extensive railroad operations in Taylor, Price and Lincoln County, Wisconsin, between 1897 and 1948.  The RLLC had the distinction of being the very last Wisconsin sawmill hauling logs to its mill on its own railroad.  The last such log train load arrived in the Village of Rib Lake on May 21, 1948; see that date in the Annotated Chronology of The Rib Lake Herald for contemporaneous newspaper coverage.  For example, “The last train of logs from the woods of the Rib Lake Lumber Company, east of town, will arrive in Rib Lake today over the company’s tracks that have carried thousands of loads in the past.  Chester Curran, engineer; Randolph Wagner, fireman; and John Herrem, brakeman, who have been employed on the railroad for many years, will deliver the last train load to the sawmill….”

            Image #12822 – c. 1910 “Depot Scene, Rib Lake, Wis.”  A combination baggage-passenger car is shown at the Wisconsin Central Railway Company line at the Rib Lake village depot.  This line connected Rib Lake to the main line and five miles to the west – at Chelsea – between 1883 and 1951. 

            The view is to the southwest – towards Chelsea.  In the foreground five rolls of material lay on the walkway; at the right the Rib Lake Lumber Company dry yard and lumber piles surround an elevated chute used to load cattle onto railroad cars.  In the rear at the far left is the Stephen A. Konz sawmill. 

            In 2009, the location is occupied by Good Shepard Catholic Church and the Little Rib Trailer Court. 

            Image #12,822A – This is a postcard, the back side, of Item #12,822.  It bears a 1 cent, cancelled stamp and the postmark “Rib Lake 5/31/1912.” 

            The postcard is addressed to “Mr. & Mrs. J.C. Pfister and family, Route 1, New Holstein, Wis.”  The text is written, longhand, in German shrift. 

            Image #12,822B – Sets forth the German text in modern German with the English translation:  “The Rib Lake train has just left. (I am) conveying my best wishes for the Maybell [a spring flower?] to Charlestown [in 2009, the site of Charlestown is known as Whittlesey, Wisconsin]. 

            “Hopefully, next Monday I can spend a half hour with you to personally thank you for your great hospitality.  I will arrive about 9:30 at the little house.  With friendly greetings!  Signed P.R.W.”

            Image #12,831 – Altar cloth showing initials “RNA.”  This photo depicts a part of the altar cloth for the Royal Neighbors of America.  The original, in 2009, is in the possession of Mrs. Lillian Thums of the Village of Rib Lake.  Mrs. Thums served as the last secretary for Hemlock Camp #704, Rib Lake, Wisconsin, Royal Neighbors of America.  Extensive information regarding this organization is covered in documents 12,828-12,835, including secret passwords, detailed instructions for conducting rituals, and camp members.  As of June 25, 2009, Camp #704 is inactive. 

            Image #12,840 – Photograph taken by Robert P. Rusch in January, 1984.  The center of the photo shows the iced-over, hand-dug, water hole constructed about 1908 to serve as a water source for the Rib Lake Lumber Company crew maintaining an approximately 10-mile-long ice road from the Rib Lake Lumber Company mill to Rib Lake Lumber Company Camp #2.  The water hole was/is located 100 feet west of Peche Drive, NE-SE, Section 6, Town 32 North, Range 3 East, Town of Rib Lake, Taylor County, Wisconsin.  Additional photographs of the ice road route include Item #12,837-839. 

            Up to 12 loaded sleighs were pulled at one time on this ice road by a steam-powered “steam hauler” manufactured by the Phoenix Iron Works of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  The Rib Lake Lumber Company operated a steam hauler on this and other ice roads between 1906 and 1923. 

            Image #12,843 – 1984 photograph of the former Westboro High School wood-frame building at Westboro, Wisconsin.  By 1984, this school area had been absorbed into the nearby Rib Lake School District.  The Rib Lake school bus is pictured after delivering students to the adjacent elementary school building.

            In 2009, the former elementary school building stands vacant; the old Westboro High School was razed. 

            Image #12,847 – Photograph taken in 1984 of view west along STH 102.  On the right of the highway is the former Rib Lake Town Hall, razed c. 1986.  On the south side (left) of the highway is Zondlo’s Tavern & Ballroom (a metal, WWII Quonset hut); on June 25, 2009, the Zondlo building still stands in the southeast corner of CTH C and STH 102, Town of Rib Lake.

            Image #12,851 – Photograph taken 12/1986.  “Rib Lake Town Hall.”  Photo shows former town hall building – razed c. 1986, facing south onto STH 102.  Sign on the left proudly proclaims “Township of Rib Lake – Home of Wisconsin’s Rustic Road #1.”

            A skinny flag pole stands in the foreground.  The location is the southwest tip of SW-SW, Township 33 North, Range 3 East.

            Image #12,862 – Photograph showing 11 farm women holding beer glasses, probably celebrating a barn raising.  Photo c. 1940 in the vicinity of St. Ann’s Church, Town of Greenwood, Wisconsin, Section 9, Township 32 North, Range 2 East.  People shown, left to right – back row: Emma Dums, Mrs. Roder, Mrs. Joseph Ulczycki, Lillian Thums, nee Wenzel, and Margaret Dums; front row: Mrs. Graumann, Elsie Schwoch, Gertie Graumann, Anna Kraemer, little girl: Dorothy Obenhoffer, nee Thums. 

            Image #12,872 – Photograph dated June 20, 1941 of the Corpus Christi procession approaching St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church, Town of Greenwood, Taylor County, Wisconsin.  View northwest showing – in rear – Carl Thums farm and general store/“Brehm” post office. 

            Priest leads procession holding cross and flanked by parishioners bearing American and papal (yellow/white) flags. 

            St. Ann’s Church was de-consecrated c. 1990; in June, 2009, it is lovingly preserved and maintain by the Historic St. Ann’s Society; the structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Location: northwest tip, NW-NW, Section 9, Town 32 North, Range 2 East. 

            Image #12,887 – A temporary driver’s license issued by the State of Wisconsin for Dorothy Marie Thums on April 6, 1946.  Dorothy obtained her permanent driver’s license by successfully passing a road test conducted by Rib Lake Village Police Chief Wessly Stiel while operating her father’s milk truck.  See photo #12,891. 

            Image #12,891 – Photograph taken c. 1934 of Carl Thums’ milk truck: “P.S.C.W.C.M.C: LC 7511” [Public Service Commission of Wisconsin identification numbers].  For many years, Carl Thums hauled his and his neighbors’ milk from the Town of Greenwood on this milk/cream route to the Medford Creamery; the cream was made into butter there.  Note the 8 gallon, unrefrigerated, cream cans on the bed of the truck.  The Carl and Lillian Thums dairy farm and store were located in the S ½ - SW ¼, Section 4, Town 32 North, Range 2 East, Town of Greenwood, Taylor County, Wisconsin. 

            Image #12,900 – Photo c. 1946 of Dorothy Thums, n/k/a Obenhoffer, wearing her Rib Lake High School band uniform and holding her clarinet.  In the rear is a portion of the St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church cemetery and former Highland grade school – NW – NW, Section 9, Town 32 North, Range 2 East. 

            Image #12,911 – Map dated 7/21/1862 showing Congressional Township 33 North, Range 2 East.  This is the original government survey of the 36 square miles depicted.  The map contains many errors and omissions.  Note, for example, the failure to show 50-acre South Harper Lake in Section 11.  The map-maker set forth his “Meander of Lakes” in Item #12,911A. 

            Image #12,919 – A partial abstract of real estate title to Government Lots 1, 2 and 10, Section 26, Town 33 North, Range 2 East.  This document shows the date and identification of landowners, including the founder of Rib Lake, J.J. Kennedy.  These government lots are within the boundaries of the Village of Rib Lake.  The location of the government lots are shown on document #12,920. 

            Image #12,920 – Portion of a map created by government surveyors, July 21, 1892, including Section 26, Town 33 North, Range 2 East.  [Within boundaries of modern Village of Rib Lake.]  The map shows, inter alia, the government lots surrounding Rib Lake and the acreage, “A,” in each parcel.  The map contains some wild distortions; note, for example, the purported size of “Muddy Rib Lake.”  In reality, that lake, now known as “Kennedy Lake,” is much smaller and totally within Section 22, Town 33 North, Range 2 East. 

            Image #12,921 – A deed dated 8/18/1893 between Curtis Bros. & Company to John J. Kennedy.  By this document, the founder of Rib Lake, J.J. Kennedy, obtained ownership of Lot 10, Section 26, Town 33 North, Range 2 East, including the mill complex site on the west shore of Rib Lake.  While J.J. Kennedy had the mill sawing in December, 1881, and while J.J. Kennedy was an active, energetic and successful manager of the mill for over a decade, he did not become the owner of the mill until this conveyance.  Kennedy, in 1906, sold his interest in the Rib Lake Lumber Company and moved to the state of Idaho.