Lumber Era.

From 1904 Fosterville to 1933 Winegar.

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.

J. J. Foster

1904

¿1906?

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.