Text shown for this entry is all of the places near or relating to the present region of Star Lake/Vilas County.
- Bookwood Historical Collection, Star Lake
Lac Vieux Desert, (Kattakittekoin), is the name of a lake, the middle of which is the boundary line between this State and Michigan, between the northern corner of Marathon and Oconto counties. It is the source of the Wisconsin, and occupies a high level above the lakes. Upon this elevation are the sources of several large streams, the Ontonagon and Montreal of Lake Superior, the Menominee of Lake Michigan, and the Wisconsin and Chippewa of the Mississippi. This lake is about 4 miles long from north to south, and of very irregular shape. In the middle of it is an island which is made a point the boundary between Michigan and Wisconsin.
Manidowish, Lakes, are a chain of lakes in north part of Marathon county, tributary to the Chippewa river, through river of same name.
Manidowish, (Manitoish or Devil's), River, rises in the lake of same name, running southwest, empties into Chippewa river, of which it is the largest tributary.
Marathon, County, is bounded on the north and northeast by the State line, east of Waupacca and Oconto, south by Portage, and fully organized February 9, 1850. Wausau, at Big Bull Falls on the Wisconsin river, about 20 miles north from the south lone of the county, is the seat of justice. It is celebrate for its extensive regions of pine timber, and the production of pine lumber, rather than for agricultural pursuits. The mills in Adams, Portage, and Marathos, cut nearly sixty millions feet per annum. The county forms a part of the first senate and of the second congressional districts, and of the third judicial circuit, and, with Portage, sends one member of the assembly. County Officers of 1853 and 1854: Judge, Wm. H. Kennedy; Sheriff, Thos Minton; Clerk of Court, Asa Lawrence.
Trout, Lake, is near the head of the Manidowish [sic] river, in Marathon county. It is a beautiful bodyof clear water, 8 miles long and four wide, and yields a great quantity of the fine fish from which it is named.
Wausau, P.V.&C.H., on sections 25, 35, 26 and 36, of town 29 N., of range 7 E., in Marathon county, at Big Bull Falls, on the Wisconsin. It is 150 miles north from Madison. Its location is good for manufacturing and agricultural interests--combining fertility of soil, unsurpassed in the north--water power sufficient to supply the State, if properly distributed--and large quantities of pine for future use. The place is new, have had a P. O. but two years. The interest lumbering chiefly; but recently attention has been paid to the cultivation of the maple ridges, which are very numerous, and found to repay the laborer largely. It hs a migratory population of about 300; with 5 stores, 4 hotels, 4 mills with 12 run of stones, and 9 saw mills.