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Thanks to:
Joyce Laabs & The Lakeland Times
for this excerpt from:
A Collection of Northwoods Nostalgia
From the Pages of the Lakeland Times Volume I

Check out:
A Collection of Northwoods Nostalgia From the Pages of the Lakeland Times Volume II
for more stories like these!

An excerpt from
A Collection of Northwoods Nostalgia
From the Lakeland Times
Volume 1
by: Joyce Laabs
copyright 1978

Recalling Early 1900's In Minocqua

It was a typical winter in Minocqua. Frigid. So cold that the snow "squeaked" beneath your feet.

Drifts were piled high around Lake Minocqua, but even higher along the Park Avenue lakeshore...for this was the skating area for the children of Minocqua in the early 1900's. The cold winter nights never bothered them, for they would collect the boards and brush and build bonfires on the cleared area, and then skate around them until they had to go to bed. It was one of the favorite winter sports.

Two of the young men of the town who spent most of their evenings on the ice were Ferris and Joseph "Pudge" Jossart. They were born in Minocqua and have spent their entire lives in the community.

"We weren't the really fancy skaters though," they said. "Lots of our friends were really good figure skaters, and they were the ones who impressed the girls." They particularly remembered the Berg brothers and Ed Yenor. Another favorite winter sport was tobogganing...and each year they built their run from the top of Clawson's Hill down onto Lake Minocqua. (Clawson's Hill is the area west of Hwy. 51 at the south end of the bridge).

Ferris and Pudge were born in their parents' home, which was then located just across the street from where Bosacki's Boathouse now stands---Ferris in 1900 and Pudge in 1903. They were the only children of Prosper and Vernie Jossart...and it was really only through a "whim" that their father had decided to settle in Minocqua.

Prosper Jossart was born at Robinsonville in Brown County in September of 1856, the son of Joseph and Josephine Jossart. He remained at home until hew as 18 years old, then went to work as a shingle weaver in the mills at Wausau and Schofield during the summer, and logged the woods during the winter. He worked the woods as far north as Eagle River from 1877 to 1881. It wasn't easy work, for here were no railroads north of Wausau, and all their supplies had to be packed from that city.

From1881 to 1888, he graded and shipped lumber at Schofield, then turned to farming. He went to Minnesota, purchased 100 acres of railway land and farmed until 1895. That was the year he came to visit his brother and sisters in Minocqua...and, as many before him had done, once he saw the area he knew he had to stay. He homesteaded land and began working as contractor and builder.

Prosper married in 1891, but his wife died 1894. He then met Vernie Kline after settling in Minocqua, and they were married in 1899.

The first home he built was where their boys were born. Prosper also purchased land on Park Avenue, and built two homes there, and then homesteaded an island in Minocqua Lake. His first lake homestead was Fischer's Island, but he found that too far from the mainland, so he moved to one closer...and it became known as Jossart's Island.

The family lived the entire summer here to comply with the homesteading requirements, and then moved to their home in Minocqua for the winter months.

Prosper finally received title to the island from President Hoover, but the family still continued to live there during the summer months. Prosper also acquired title to a section of wooded land near Blue Lake, thinking some day he would farm it, but that never came to pass. It still remains in the Jossart family today, with the virgin timber untouched.

As the boys grew up, they felt that living on the island was something of a mixed blessing. "It seemed like we always wanted to be in town when we were on the island, and our friends from town wanted to be on the island, and there they were on the shore." Transportation back and forth from the island to the mainland was provided by their mother. Ferris and Pudge would stand on the shoreline and holler, and their mother would launch the boat to bring them home. They called it their "darn island."

Probably the biggest event in Minocqua during their young year was the fire of 1912, when most of the downtown burned. They heard fire bells, boated in from the island and watched the awesome spectacle. Fire trucks came to help from as far away as Wausau, and they still remember the big pumper truck taking water from Minocqua Lake near Hoover's Boat House.

Pudge remembers the first movie he ever saw. It was "Birth of a Nation," and it was shown at the Schulz Opera House. "My father would have probably shot me it he had known I had gone. He didn't approve of that sort of frivolity, but it sure was wonderful."

They remember the big bank robbery when the desperate gunmen held the town at bay. The constable had come to get their father who went down to see the action. He got to within one block of the bank, when the lookout for the robbers told him he had better return home. He did...post haste.

Pudge also arrived on the scene at Little Bohemia the day after the shootout with Dillinger. He and the Lumas boy traveled out. They saw Emil on the back porch talking to the FBI, and then they started picking up some of the slugs that were around. "There was a big pile of shells on the floor...the gunmen had carried them in their socks," according to Pudge. "I will never forget that smell of tear gas," he continued. "Someone wanted to take my picture pointing to some of the shells, but I couldn't take the smell and had to leave. I've always been sorry, for that picture appeared in True Detective."

While the boys were living the carefree, outdoor life so typical of the times in the north, their father had built a thriving business. He was the only contractor in town prior to the Rante operation. He built many of the large homes, most of the buildings at Camp Minocqua, and the second bridge from Clawson's Hill to Minocqua. When he first started building, he would bring his lumber in by water, as there were no roads from Lake Tomahawk.

The boys graduated from Minocqua High School, and Ferris went on to the University of Wisconsin, while Pudge went immediately to work with his father. Then, in 1921, Prosper called Feris home to take over the business. He had decided to retire. Prosper then began the years of doing what he liked best---hunting and fishing. He and his wife also began yearly treks to Florida.

Pudge drove them to Fort Lauderdale many times, sometimes spending the winter in the area, and one year he and Ted Bosacki fished for the market in Fort Lauderdale.

Both of the boys married. Ferris married Gertrude Anderson of Woodruff, and she became known as "big Gert." Pudge married Gertrude Goff of Woodruff, who became known as "little Gert." Ferris and Gert had two daughters, and Pudge and Gert had no children.

Both Pudge and Ferris loved every moment of Minocqua's "heyday"...and they were never dull.

They tell the story of the time Pete Clawson robbed the Woodruff bank with a shotgun. He didn't bother to conceal his face. They gave him the money, and nothing more was said. Pete went on to become sheriff of Forest County.

Another story concerns Potato Joe, who lived on Baker Lake. Joe made moonshine out in the Hazelhurst area just beyond the Lake Katherine Bridge, and the boys used to travel out to watch his operation. Joe came to a tragic end--not from the "feds" but from a train. Ferris and Pudge had been bowling with him at the Belle Isle and they were walking home along the tracks. They never knew if Joe had partaken of some of his moonshine, or just what happened, but as the train came roaring down the tracks they jumped. Joe hesitated a second too long and the train caught his packsack and he was pulled under the wheels.

Another one of the stills of the day was located west of Minocqua on Sutton Road. One day word came down that the "feds" were going to raid Sutton's still. Not wanting to miss any of the action, Ferris and Pudge hurried out. They arrived in time to see the "feds" destroying the great redwood and cypress vats, then watched as they poured the "white lightning" that had been stored in square gallon cans. It was exciting.

One of the local men then purchased everything that was left of the still, stored it in his garage, and within several short weeks another still was operating in St. Germain.

They watched the town put in gambling, and then saw it go out when it became illegal. They watched the growth of tourism, the increase in both the summer and winter population.

"It had to come, but we aren't bothered by it---and indeed the area along Park Avenue has remained much the same. The shoreline is narrow, so that no homes can be built to mar the view across the lake.

Ferris and Pudge both lost their wives and now live together in one of the family homes. They lost their mother in 1935 and their father in 1939. They retired from the business in 1975, and are now able to travel more extensively. They still go to Florida, but two years ago visited Alaska, and this year will go west.

Both Ferris and Pudge have reached the age where they would rather spend their winters in the warmed climate, than skate around the bonfires on Minocqua Lake.