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Lumber Era.

From 1904 Fosterville to 1933 Winegar.

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History of the Vilas County Lumber Co.

1904 • Vilas County Lumber Co. (VCLCo) incorporated with $2,000,000 investment capital from William Winegar, Sr. and his son William Smith Winegar, of Grand Rapids, MI.
           •    Small portable saw and planning mill built by John J. Foster. 
1905  •  A permanent Sawmill and Planning Mill under construction. 
             •    Logging began.
1906     •    The permanent Sawmill completed in Fosterville.
1907     •   VCLCo purchased, 42 ton, 2-truck Lima Shay logging locomotive steam engine. 
1909    •    VCLCo had over 13,000 acres of land in northern WI.
1910    •    W. S. Winegar of Grand Rapids, MI, elected president of the VCLCo.
          •    Size of Sawmill increased 50%. Eventually the VCLCo was one of the largest Sawmills in Wisconsin at the time, with a: double band saw with a capacity of 80,000 board feet - a Planning Mill - a Shingle Mill - a Lathe Mill - and a large Engine House that generated electricity for the Sawmill complex and the village.
           •     Twelve logging camps along VCLCo logging Railroad.

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J. J. Foster
1904
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¿1906?
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1933

1910    •    William S. Winegar of Grand Rapids, MI, elected president of the VCLCo.
           •     Size of Sawmill increased 50%. Eventually the VCLCo was one of the largest Sawmills in Wisconsin at the time, with a: double band saw with a capacity of 80,000 board feet - a Planning Mill - a Shingle Mill - a Lathe Mill - and a large Engine House that generated

electricity for the Sawmill complex and the village.
           •    Twelve logging camps along VCLCo logging Railroad.
1916    •    Oxen still used within the VCLCo logging operation.
           •    VCLCo selling off land in northern WI and southern MI

varying around a $1 per acre depending on location and if any trees remain.
1917    •    VCLCo purchased another 42 ton, 2-truck Lima Shay logging locomotive steam engine.
1925    •    350 men employed by VCLCo.
           •     80 Company Homes initially painted a red-brown than green & white. Colors changed when the Sawmill ownership changed.
            •    Three lumber camps from 3 to 8 miles along the VCLCo logging Railroad. 
            •    2000 residents in Winegar which was unusually large for a Wisconsin logging town, which rarely exceeded a few hundred residents.
           •     Winegar-Gorman Lumber Company (wholesale lumber) located in Chicago, IL.
1926    •    W. S. Winegar sold VCLCo to William Bonifas and Joseph Gorman.
1929    •    Bonifas-Gorman Lumber Co.
1930     •    Bonifas-Gorman Lumber Co. purchased 50 ton, 2-truck Lima

Shay logging locomotive steam engine. 
1933     •    Bonifas-Gorman Lumber Co. sold, mills dismantled and moved to Marenisco, (Gogebic County) MI now the Wm. Bonifas Lumber Co.
1934     •    Logging Railroad stopped operation.
1935     •    Wm. Bonifas Lumber Co., Marenisco, (Gogebic County) MI

bought out by Kinberly Clark, dismantled and moved to Copper County,

eventually ending up in a western state.
1936    •    Elmore & Howard real-estate developers of Chicago sold off all the holdings of the VCLCo.

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