Way Back When

 The Thorp Courier  --   May 15, 2006
 

Recent Photo:

We had a wonderful telephone conversation with former Thorp area resident Donald Urbas, now of Lake Hallie, on Tuesday, listening to information he has about out logging camp photograph from two weeks ago.

Mr. Urbas says he knows the site well, as it used to be the property of his uncle, Joseph Urbas, and was adjacent to property owned by his father, Stanley Urbas. Donald played at the old logging camp site as a young child in the mid-1930’s finding old axe heads, busted saw blades, and even the log foundation of the building in the far left of the photograph, which he says was the bunk house and possibly the kitchen. The long building in the photo’s foreground was the horse barn, and the tiny building behind it was the outhouse. A spring fed stream originated right on the site. The Urbases purchased their land from the Northwest Lumber Company of Stanley. Donald used to draw fresh water from the stream for his mother and collected old coal from the abandoned railroad bed.

Donald says that a railroad line originated in Stanley and traveled through Junction, Mitterhofer, and Bellinger, then north along STH 73. From just west of Mitterhofer, a sideline went straight north to Mud Lake and the east end of an 80-acre farm. The line stopped immediately south of what is pictured in the photograph. Donald describes the site as being in the NW1/4-NW1/4 of Section 28 in the Town of Taft, Taylor County. We hope that Mr. Urbas will bring us in some of his old photographs for future “Way Back When” features.

For more information on this week's photo (above), check the March 29th column.