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71-591: Wisconsin Rapids is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, Wisconsin , United States, along the Wisconsin River . The population was 18,877 at the 2020 census . It is a principal city of the Marshfield –Wisconsin Rapids micropolitan statistical area , which includes all of Wood County and had a population of 74,207 in 2020. The city was established in the late 1830s as the series of rapids along

142-531: A Superior Court and Sheriff (as an officer of the court ), both located in a designated "shire town". Bennington County, Vermont has two shire towns; the court for "North Shire" is in the shire town Manchester , and the Sheriff for the county and court for "South Shire" are in the shire town Bennington. In 2024, Connecticut , which had not defined their counties for anything but statistical, historical and weather warning purposes since 1960, along with ending

213-426: A 30-bed brick facility. Parks along the river began development with Lyon Park in 1909. The same year, a private "street railroad" company was organized, which ran a street car line eight miles from the west side of Rapids down to Port Edwards and Nekoosa . To lure riders, it built a dance pavilion north of Nekoosa. A municipal pool was built in 1913, pushed by John Arpin in response to regular drownings of swimmers in

284-498: A Catholic church, two public schools, a drug store, five general stores, six variety stores, five taverns (probably meaning inns), two saloons, two lawyers, three blacksmiths, two carpenter shops, two shoe shops, a wagonmakers' shop, two tailors, a cabinet maker, a bakery, two lawyers and two doctors. In 1857 the first newspaper began publication - the Wood County Reporter . Mrs. Clarice Arpin later gave her impression of

355-464: A conventional dam , only extends partway into a river . These structures force water into a fast-moving center channel which reduces the rate of sediment accumulation, while slowing water flow near the riverbanks. The Mississippi River in North America has thousands of wing dams which were originally constructed to reduce the amount of dredging required when the main navigation channel

426-410: A county seat may be an independent city surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example, Fairfax City is both the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia and completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county. When the county seat is in the independent city, government offices such as the courthouse may be in

497-426: A donation from one of the city's pioneers. In 1890 John Arpin installed an electric dynamo in his home - the first electric service in Rapids. In 1894 Mack and Spencer added a generator at their dam which offered electricity to the public. The Wood County Telephone Company was a member-owned cooperative started in 1895. In 1900 the cities of Grand Rapids and Centralia merged into one city named Grand Rapids. Prior to

568-476: A primary school in a log cabin in the early 1840s. The first hotel came in 1843 and the first blacksmith shop in 1844. A post office named Grand Rapids opened in 1845, with mail carried in once a week. Pioneer J.L. Cotey later wrote an account of the early sawmill town as it stood in 1846. He described a community of "130 males and 17 females," with businesses along a slough crossed by a temporary slab bridge, frame homes and log houses and barns, picturesque pine trees,

639-509: A sawmill with two up-and-down saws, boarding houses and saloons for the workers at the mills, and a stopping place for loggers headed upstream. Across the river on the west side was another sawmill, three frame houses for the men who worked in the sawmill, two shingle shanties, and a block house. At that time supplies were hauled overland to Rapids by ox and wagon from Galena , which took three weeks. (The Jones reference gives Cotey's full account.) The business of this ramshackle wilderness outpost

710-649: A tennis court, pickleball courts, an adventure playground, ice-skating rink, and splash pad. There is a municipal zoo which is free to enter and operated during the summer only. The Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings are a hockey team that is a member of the United States Premier Hockey League and won the Midwest Elite Championship in the 2016–2017 season. The Riverkings currently play their home games at

781-452: A threat to boaters. Many wing dams are often underwater and may be difficult to see, and can easily be struck by vessels. On the other hand, fishermen intentionally fish the quieter waters downstream of wing dams. The action of wing dams is complex. Where they are installed, sediment is removed from the center of the river, but sediment is also carried further down the river where it has secondary effects. Some researchers believe that flooding

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852-656: Is a private Catholic high school. River Cities High School is an alternative to the local high schools. The city has two middle schools, Wisconsin Rapids Area Middle School (grades 6–8) and Central Oaks (Virtual) Academy (6–8). East Junior High was a junior high school for grades 8–9 before it closed after the 2017–2018 school year. Immanuel Lutheran School (4K-8th grade) is a Missouri Synod lutheran school that has won multiple national education awards. Good Shepherd Lutheran School (1–8th grade) and St. Paul's Lutheran School (3K–8th grade) are two grade schools of

923-435: Is a public use airport located one nautical mile (1.85 km) south of the central business district of Wisconsin Rapids. Dial-a-ride transit services are provided by River City Cab. County seat In Canada , the provinces of Ontario , Quebec , New Brunswick , Prince Edward Island , and Nova Scotia have counties as an administrative division of government below the provincial level, and thus county seats. In

994-675: Is also a skate park. The state water-skiing championships are held at Lake Wazeecha every year and the national BMX Bandit cycling championships are held at the Central Wisconsin BMX velodrome . The state cross country running championships are held in Wisconsin Rapids annually. The Wisconsin Rapids Aquatic Center opened in July 2020 and features several pools and other recreational facilities including

1065-409: Is known as the seat of its county. Generally, the county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records, jail and correctional facility are located in the county seat, though some functions (such as highway maintenance, which usually requires a large garage for vehicles, along with asphalt and salt storage facilities) may also be located or conducted in other parts of

1136-488: Is located at 44°23′12″N 89°49′23″W  /  44.38667°N 89.82306°W  / 44.38667; -89.82306 (44.386805, −89.823078). According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 14.77 square miles (38.3 km), of which 13.88 square miles (35.9 km) is land and 0.89 square miles (2.3 km) is water. As of the census of 2020 , the population

1207-586: The Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune , a daily newspaper founded in 1920, and the Wisconsin Rapids City-Times , a daily online newspaper launched in 2013, serve the community. WRCM is a public, educational, and government access (PEG) broadcast on cable TV . Radio stations based in Wisconsin Rapids include: The South Wood County Airport (IATA: ISW, ICAO: KISW, FAA LID: ISW), also known as Alexander Field,

1278-476: The Union Army . A bad flood in 1864 and a fire in the business district in 1865 were other setbacks. In 1869 Grand Rapids incorporated as a city. Its first order of business was to require a license to sell liquor. Shortly after, city officials were elected, including Dr. G.F. Witter to "doctor city poor for the sum of $ 75 per year." A ban on selling liquor on Sunday was passed, and a ban on running hogs loose in

1349-491: The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod in Wisconsin Rapids. Mid-State Technical College , which has a campus in the city, offers vocational diplomas, and Lakeland University offers qualifications in academic subjects. McMillan Memorial Library serves Wisconsin Rapids and southern Wood County. McMillan was a Finalist for the 2019 National Medal for Museum and Library Service . Both

1420-477: The cranberry industry. Wisconsin Rapids is the corporate home of the international educational software company, Renaissance Learning . From its founding in 1894, Wisconsin Rapids was home to the corporate headquarters of Consolidated Papers, Inc , which was acquired by the Finnish company Stora Enso in early-2000. In 2007, NewPage acquired the paper production facility. In 2015, Verso Corporation acquired

1491-486: The 2010 census , there were 18,367 people, 8,296 households, and 4,626 families living in the city. The population density was 1,329.0 inhabitants per square mile (513.1/km). There were 8,972 housing units at an average density of 649.2 per square mile (250.7/km). The racial makeup of the city was 92.2% White , 0.7% African American , 1.0% Native American , 3.7% Asian , 0.9% from other races , and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.9% of

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1562-628: The Fox River valley for decades, but not on the Wisconsin River. Around 1885 some of the mills at Rapids - formerly sawmills and gristmills - began converting to pulp-grinding and paper-making. By 1902, after many acquisitions, J.D. Witter and Nels Johnson had organized the many mills and water rights under one corporation - Consolidated Water Power Company . They decided to focus their resources on paper-making. The founders both died shortly after, leaving Witter's son-in-law George Mead to manage

1633-670: The Prairie Chicken Festival is held. The Souper Snow Sculpture Spectacular that takes place every February is one of the largest snow sculpture competitions in the country by numbers of sculptures. The FRM Music Festival happens every June, as does the Cranberry Blossom Festival. The Grand Affair Arts Festival takes place in September of each year. Wisconsin Rapids has several local parks, including Robinson Park, Gaynor Park, and Lyon Park. There

1704-741: The South Wood County Recreation Center. The Wisconsin Rapids Rafters are a collegiate summer baseball team formed in 2010 who are a member of the Northwoods League . The Rafters won the league championship in 2016. They currently play their home games at Witter Field . Wisconsin Rapids is served by Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools. Lincoln High School is the local public high school, serving grades 9 through 12. Assumption High School

1775-947: The United States, followed by Towson , the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland . Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey , though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township , an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the original Thirteen Colonies , county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such as Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia . Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Alabama , Arkansas , Georgia , Iowa , Kentucky , Massachusetts , Mississippi , Missouri , New Hampshire , New York , and Vermont have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of

1846-407: The Wisconsin River provided good sites for water-driven sawmills, and nearby forests held pine lumber to be sawed and floated down the river. After the lumber dwindled, the water power drove electric generators and various other enterprises–particularly paper mills. The Menominee claimed the big rapids in the forest prior to European settlement, with Ojibwe and Ho-Chunk lands nearby. They called

1917-403: The average family size was 2.93. In the city, the population was spread out, with 24.7% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 19.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.2 males. The median income for a household in the city

1988-616: The bank. The rafts that succeeded in passing the rapids regrouped at Point Basse and joined three of the rapids-piece rafts side by side into a "Wisconsin raft" for the rest of the Wisconsin River, which was less turbulent. Then at the Mississippi the Wisconsin rafts were joined into huge "Mississippi rafts" for the final leg to Dubuque or St. Louis. In 1848 another treaty with Indians opened most of northern Wisconsin to loggers and settlers, which allowed access to much more timber outside

2059-428: The big ones were Robb's machine shops, Mackinnon & Griffith's hub and spoke factory, Wharton Brothers' planing mill , Haertel's chair factory, Bremmer's machine shop and foundry , a flouring mill, Moore's wagon works, and Lyon Bros. shingle works. In 1887 the first pulp mill was built, which would develop into Centralia Pulp and Paper. Paper-making was a big new industry for Rapids. Paper had been made over in

2130-400: The city. Centralia, a somewhat separate community on the west side of the river, had been developing too. George Kline Sr. had built a sawmill there around 1839. By 1855 Centralia had two sawmills, a gristmill , a general store, a tavern, and houses and shacks. In the 1850s a ferry carried people across the river between Centralia and Grand Rapids. In the 1860s a wooden bridge was added across

2201-420: The city. The population density was 1,390 people per square mile (536.8/km). There were 8,426 housing units at an average density of 635.3 per square mile (245.3/km). The racial makeup of the city was 94.04% White , 0.34% African American , 0.80% Native American , 3.46% Asian , 0.02% Pacific Islander , 0.37% from other races , and 0.97% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.31% of

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2272-526: The counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the Eastern Han dynasty , the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when the Sui dynasty abolished the commandery level (郡 jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties. In Imperial China, the county was a significant administrative unit because it marked the lowest level of

2343-418: The county, especially if it is geographically large. A county seat is usually an incorporated municipality . The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia , where the county seat is the entire county. Ellicott City , the county seat of Howard County, Maryland , is the largest unincorporated county seat in

2414-420: The county. Examples include Harrison County, Mississippi , which has both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats, and Hinds County, Mississippi , which has both Raymond and the state capital of Jackson . The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of civic pride for

2485-478: The future site of Wausau . The U.S. negotiators pressed the Menominee for this strip before the surrounding lands because it held prime pine timber and was within easy reach of the river. In 1832, Daniel Whitney had built a sawmill 10 miles (16 km) downstream, across from modern Nekoosa . Whitney's operation demonstrated the feasibility of rafting lumber to markets downstream. When the treaty of 1836 made

2556-731: The history of the South Wood County area. The building is the former Witter family home, Shadowlawn. The Alexander House is a museum to the history of the Nekoosa Edwards Paper Company (NEPCO) and also hosts art exhibitions. The building is the former home of the Alexander Family, which ran the Nekoosa Edwards Paper Company. There is a prairie chicken sanctuary at the Buena Vista Wildlife Reservation, and every year

2627-424: The imperial bureaucratic structure; in other words, it was the lowest level that the government reached. Government below the county level was often undertaken through informal non-bureaucratic means, varying between dynasties. The head of a county was the magistrate , who oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the county as well as civil and criminal cases. The current number of counties mostly resembled that of

2698-585: The increase of Han Chinese population in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan. Protestant missionaries in China first romanized the term as hien . When Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, the hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into the Japanese system in the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. By September 1945, Taiwan

2769-625: The independent city under an agreement, such as in Albemarle , or may in be enclaves of the county surrounded by the independent city, such as in Fairfax . Others, such as Prince William , have the courthouse in an enclave surrounded by the independent city and have the county government, the Board of Supervisors, in a different part of the county, far from the county seat. The following counties have their county seat in an independent city: Bedford

2840-758: The later years of the Qing dynasty . Changes of location and names of counties in Chinese history have been a major field of research in Chinese historical geography, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s. There are 1,355 counties in Mainland China out of a total of 2,851 county-level divisions. In Taiwan , the first counties were first established in 1661 by the Kingdom of Tungning . The later ruler Qing empire inherited this type of administrative divisions. With

2911-440: The logs in and sawed them into boards. Some of the boards went into drying piles for local use, but the majority were destined for distant markets like Portage , Dubuque , and St. Louis . These were stacked along the river, then bound into 16 by 16-foot "cribs" of boards. When the river was running well (generally spring) six or seven of these cribs were joined into a "rapids piece" - a 100-foot long, flexible raft suited to running

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2982-469: The merger, Grand Rapids had a population of 1,702 and Centralia 1,425. The name of the merged city was changed in 1920 to Wisconsin Rapids , after years of mail and other goods being misdirected to the much better known Grand Rapids, Michigan . In 1904 a small purpose-built hospital opened, to take over from the previous location over the Otto drug store; it was replaced in 1916 by the first Riverside Hospital -

3053-399: The mill. Verso continues its presence in the area with a paper mill that houses two paper machines and a kraft pulp mill . In June 2020, Verso announced the closing of their paper mill for at least two months, with the resulting loss of 900 jobs. After being closed for 2 years, Billerud (also known as BillerudKorsnäs) acquired with Verso in 2022. Since the closing in 2020, the only use of

3124-809: The new enterprise. The main plant began with 14 pulp-grinders and two papermaking machines, producing 50 tons of paper per day. Other diversification of the industrial base away from lumber occurred from 1880 to 1920, including the Grand Rapids Brick Company, the Grand Rapids Foundry Co., Wisconsin Ice Machine Co., Prentiss-Wabers Stove Co., Oberback Brothers furniture company, Badger Box & Lumber, Grand Rapids Brewing, Samson Canning, Citizens Factory Company (a pickling co-op ), Blommer Ice Cream, and Chambers Creamery . These last four resulted from farmers settling in

3195-522: The place "Ah-dah-wah-gam" meaning "Two-sided Rapids" because the rapids were split by a large chunk of rock. In 1836, the Menominee ceded this land, along with more land to the east, to the U.S. in the Treaty of the Cedars . This particular land cession was a strip spanning three miles on either side of the Wisconsin River, starting at Point Basse and reaching 48 miles (77 km) upstream to Big Bull Falls –

3266-409: The population. There were 7,970 households, out of which 28.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.0% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.0% were non-families. 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and

3337-442: The population. There were 8,296 households, of which 27.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.1% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.8% had a male householder with no wife present, and 44.2% were non-families. 38.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size

3408-672: The property has been a lease with Sonoco, another paper manufacturer, which operates in a secondary building of the plant. There are three museums, the South Wood County Historical Corporation Museum, the Alexander House, and the Wisconsin River Paper Making Museum, all of which are housed in historical family homes. The South Wood County Historical Corporation Museum houses multiple exhibits covering

3479-727: The provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat. County seats in China are the administrative centers of the counties in the People's Republic of China . Xian have existed since the Warring States period and were set up nationwide by the Qin dynasty . The number of counties in China proper gradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. As Qin Shi Huang reorganized

3550-478: The river forced many businesses to evacuate their stock to higher ground, and in some cases tie buildings down with ropes. Nevertheless, several buildings were swept into the river and one hardware store partner drowned while trying to save his goods. By that year Grand Rapids had 1,367 people and Centralia 800. As pine timber ran out in the vicinity of Grand Rapids, manufacturers took root in Centralia. Around 1880,

3621-532: The river. The city added an airport in 1928. During the Great Depression , Consolidated Papers reduced its work week to four days to share existing work across more workers and avoid layoffs. Consolidated also began producing coated papers more efficiently, with their output used to print Life Magazine . During World War II , many locals volunteered to fight overseas, and some died. Back in Rapids, people grew victory gardens , collected scrap metal for

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3692-678: The river. A "town of Centralia" was formalized in 1856, perhaps to avoid annexation by Grand Rapids. In 1874 Centralia was incorporated as a city. The railroad boom burst upon Rapids in the 1870s. In 1870 the nearest railroad was at New Lisbon , with mail carried from there daily by evening stage. In 1872 the Green Bay and Lake Pepin Railroad reached Rapids itself, heading west. In 1873 the Wisconsin Valley Railway arrived from Tomah . The Port Edwards, Centralia & Northern

3763-499: The rocky rapids of the upper Wisconsin River. Of those rapids, Grand Rapids was one of the most dangerous. Remember: before today's placid, flat reservoir, the river surged through a series of rapids a mile long, and rafts had to run when the water was high. In early years that passage was aided by wing dams to focus the current; in later years dams across the river provided chutes for the rafts to plunge down, with spectators watching from

3834-777: The state's area, has no borough government or borough seat. One borough, the Lake and Peninsula Borough , has its borough seat located in another borough, namely King Salmon in Bristol Bay Borough . In Louisiana , which is divided into parishes rather than counties, county seats are referred to as "parish seats". In New England , counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. Rhode Island has no county level of government and thus no county seats, and Massachusetts has dissolved many but not all of its county governments. In Vermont , Massachusetts , and Maine county government consists only of

3905-544: The strip along the Wisconsin River available, lumbermen rushed in exploring for mill sites, and by 1839 (when Wisconsin was still a territory ) two water-powered sawmills were running at the future Wisconsin Rapids, when a surveyor described the site as a "succession of rapids & chutes called the Grand Rapids", with two "extensive lumbering establishments thereon owned by Bloomer, Chamberlain, Adams, Strong, Hill & others, now in operation." The first house in Rapids

3976-406: The surrounding cut-over lands, which were also transitioning from the logging era. Modern public services began to take shape around the turn of the century. Fire departments were formalized in Centralia in 1887 and in Rapids the following year. At this time that meant a hook-and-ladder, a chemical fire suppression apparatus, and a steam pumping engine. The T.B. Scott Library was started in 1889 with

4047-490: The three-mile strip along the river. In 1856 Grand Rapids became the county seat of the new Wood County when it was split out of Portage County . The town was growing. A promotional booklet in 1857 reported Grand Rapids' population at about 1,000. It reported eight sawmills from Grand Rapids down to Point Basse, plus six steam-powered mills - all producing 19 million board feet of lumber per year, plus around 42 million shingles. Rapids consisted of 187 buildings including homes and

4118-472: The town when she arrived about 1859: "a rough lumbering town, filled with lumberjacks who engaged in many drunken brawls, and Indians, who when they had an over-supply of firewater yelled and danced in the middle of the streets." The first plat of part of the Rapids had been made in 1847, with others following. Growth slowed during the American Civil War , when some of the workers left to fight in

4189-416: The towns involved, along with providing employment opportunities. There are 33 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states: Alaska is divided into boroughs rather than counties; the county seat in these case is referred to as the "borough seat"; this includes six consolidated city-borough governments (one of which is styled as a "municipality"). The Unorganized Borough, Alaska , which covers 49% of

4260-544: The use of county seats in particular, will fully transition with the permission of the United States Census Bureau to a system of councils of government for the purposes of boundary definition and as county equivalents. Two counties in South Dakota , Oglala Lakota and Todd , have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county. Their county-level services are provided by Fall River County and Tripp County , respectively. In Virginia ,

4331-400: The war effort, and rationed coffee and petroleum. Consolidated adapted to manufacture plastic aircraft materials, and Harvard Clothing made coats for the army. In the 1970s corner groceries were disappearing, replaced by supermarkets. A number of old properties on the west side were torn down and replaced with the new Rapids Mall. The Riverview Expressway was built. In the 1980s, Consolidated

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4402-418: Was $ 34,956, and the median income for a family was $ 43,594. Males had a median income of $ 36,098 versus $ 22,466 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 17,723. About 7.0% of families and 9.1% of the population were below the poverty line , including 12.5% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over. Known for its papermaking history, Wisconsin Rapids is also an important location for

4473-439: Was 18,877. The population density was 1,360.2 inhabitants per square mile (525.2/km). There were 9,265 housing units at an average density of 667.6 per square mile (257.8/km). The racial makeup of the city was 87.4% White , 3.5% Asian , 1.4% Black or African American , 0.9% Native American , 1.5% from other races , and 5.3% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 4.6% Hispanic or Latino of any race. As of

4544-436: Was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.87. The median age in the city was 41.1 years. 22.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 8.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 23.3% were from 25 to 44; 25.5% were from 45 to 64; and 19.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.8% male and 52.2% female. As of the census of 2000, there were 18,435 people, 7,970 households, and 4,782 families living in

4615-445: Was a small log cabin built by H. McCutcheon, a cook for Strong and Bloomer's mill. The second came soon after when Nelson Strong built a frame house for himself with boards sawed at his mill - the first frame house in Rapids, built in 1838. Rapids' first church services were conducted by visiting Catholic priests in 1837. In 1842 a Methodist missionary J.S. Hurlburt began ministering too, visiting homes by foot or horseback. He also started

4686-399: Was an independent city from 1968 to 2013, while also being the county seat of Bedford County . Bedford reverted to an incorporated town, and remains the county seat, though is now part of the county. The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, and the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3. Wing dam A wing dam or wing dike is a man-made barrier that, unlike

4757-536: Was built by local interests in 1890, and the Chicago & Northwestern line to Marshfield in 1901. With the arrival of the railroads, the transport of lumber from the area began to shift from the unpredictable and dangerous river to more reliable railcars, which could carry the lumber in more directions than downstream. The last rafts of lumber passed through in 1888, from the sawmill at Biron heading downriver for St. Louis. In June of 1880 an unusually high flood of

4828-635: Was divided into 8 prefectures ( 州 and 廳 ), which remained after the Republic of China took over. There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which function as county-administered cities , urban townships , or rural townships . In most of the United States , a county is an administrative or political subdivision of a state that consists of a geographic area with specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government

4899-443: Was lumber. In the 6-mile strip along the river, lumberjacks working from winter logging camps felled the prized pine trees. They limbed the trees and cut them into 12 to 18-foot logs, then skidded the logs with oxen and horses to rivers and stream banks where they were stored until spring. During spring floods the logs were driven downstream, and, if all went well, captured in booms of the sawmills at Grand Rapids. The sawmills pulled

4970-400: Was maintained to at least 4 + 1 ⁄ 2 feet (1.4 m). Since that time, additional conventional dams have been built to increase the water level in the river, doubling the depth of the navigation channel to 9 feet (2.7 m). The wing dams still serve their purpose, but to a lesser extent than before. While wing dams assist in assuring that rivers are navigable, they can also pose

5041-451: Was the largest producer of enamel papers in the world and a Fortune 500 company. But after those glory years, paper use dropped as TV and computer screens replaced magazines and newspapers. Starting in 2000, Consolidated was bought and then sold by outside companies that eventually filed for bankruptcy, leading to closure of the mill in Rapids in 2020. Remaining large employers are Riverview Hospital and Renaissance Learning . Wisconsin Rapids

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