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Wagon

Today, we commonly see trucks and semis haul loads over local roads and interstate highways, but people used to rely on wagons pulled by draft animals to move raw materials and finished goods. This axle and set of wheels from a historic site in Portage County, Wisconsin, are all that remain of one such wagon. The axle and wheels are encased in iron, which has rusted to a brownish gray to bright orange color. Historical research suggests that the wagon could have been used to haul wood to and from a nearby lumberyard associated with the S. H. Karner sawmill in the mid- to late 1800s. An 1884 Sanborn fire insurance map depicts a lumberyard, as well as other buildings that were part of the mill complex.

References

Nash, G.N., and F. R. Morgan
1876    Map of Portage County, Wisconsin. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Sanborn Map Company
1884    Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Sanborn Map and Publishing Company, New York.

Stevens Point Daily Journal
1873    Stevens Point and Its Boom. 28 May. Stevens Point, Wisconsin.