by Kerry Thomas
July 7, 2006
Every couple months someone writes a letter to the editor,
complaining about the changing Northwoods.
Bigger businesses, condos, subdivisions, seaplanes, personal watercraft,
ATV’s, snowmobiles, billboards, logging…the list goes on.
In one form or another, these complaints have been echoed
over and over again for a hundred years.
The complaints usually come from people who first came here
as visitors, who now call the Northwoods home.
Their historical perspectives seldom exceed their time here. They came, they stayed, and they want the
Northwoods to stay just the way it was when they first arrived.
My historical view comes from a different perspective.
I am the fifth generation of my family to live in the
Northwoods. My ancestors were part of
the settlers who founded and built my hometown. The roots of my family shrub run deep through the fabric of the
Northwoods, and I have a great appreciation for the local history.
Like everything else in life, change is inevitable. Consider these changes:
For you golfers who’ve played the Plum Lake Golf Club, can you
imagine the historic lakeside clubhouse sitting where the 2nd tee is
now? Recall when the irrigation pond
was just a grove of trees, and the pump house was along the shore of Plum
Lake? Or when the old wooden toolshed
behind the 8th tee was the caddy shack on the west side of the
parking lot?
For anyone who’s been to the tiny town of Star Lake
(population 61), imagine it as a bustling town of 10,000. Imagine the entire hillside and field on top
overlooking the lake covered with buildings.
Imagine a railroad connecting Star Lake to the world.
For our winter enthusiasts, imagine winter sans
snowmobiles. If Sayner’s Carl Eliason
had been blessed with two good feet, he might never have invented, out of
necessity, the machine we use mostly for recreational transportation today.
For more Northwoods transportation history, stop at the
North Trout Lake boat landing along Highway M and read the historical marker
there. You’ll find out just how
valuable seaplanes have been to the Northwoods. And speaking of seaplanes, how do you suppose the sport of water
skiing was invented?
For anyone who owns property in a subdivision, especially in
St. Germain, you might want to thank the Eliason brothers for having the
foresight to lay out so many residential properties. Without these subdivisions, how many of you would have your
Northwoods property today?
At one time, nearly every acre of the Northwoods has been
logged. These mature forests we see all
around us are the result of reforestation efforts years ago. Many of the first settlers in the area were
sold homestead property as farms. Only
they weren’t told these “farms” were covered with trees that had to be cut
before any homes could be built.
Is the Northwoods changing?
Yes. But it’s been changing ever
since the first logging settlements were built here. The Northwoods will continue to change, to grow, to develop. Simply by choosing to live here, we bring
about these changes.
The only way to avoid it is to leave.