RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY DAYS

all hours of the night. La Crosse being only six miles from Onalaska,
with no street car or other facilities of transportation, made the livery
stables the connecting link between the two cities. Sundays were also
busy days for the livery stables. It was a common occurrence that every
available horse in town was engaged, .days ahead, for the following
Sunday.
    We had six saloons for the accommodation of the public, so it was
not necessary for anyone to suffer with dryness if he possessed the re-
quired nickle.
     There were two large sawmills in Onalaska employing in the neigh-
borhood of 500 men, also a large crew of log-sorters and drivers. The
combined payrolls of these institutions kept all lines of business hum-
ming during the summer months; but from the time the mills shut
down in the fall until they started the next season there was a long per-
iod of stagnation. In addition, the men who worked in the sawmills left
for the lumber camps in the north woods as soon as freezing weather
came in the fall, adding further limitations to the purchasing power
of the community.


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