Local Features
Local Features
WXPR Public Radio
Local features from the Northwoods of Wisconsin. As reported by WXPR 91.7. Catch the entire archive in addition to daily news stories at https://www.wxpr.org/topic/local-features.
The fight continues: slimy water, dam disagreements, and politics on Dead Pike Lake
Dead Pike Lake, a sparsely-populated lake in Vilas County, has been the source of contention for years. Now, it has gotten political.
Sep 23, 2021
6 min
1894 train robbery turned tragic accident in the Northwoods
Railroad accidents were common in the late nineteenth century. Because safety was an issue, some train robbers in the Northwoods thought they could use it to their advantage.
Sep 22, 2021
3 min
Log Jam at Grandfather Falls
The Wisconsin River is a tamed river, but in the past, before the dams, the river ran wild, and loggers found Grandfather Falls near Merrill to be a difficult obstacle to overcome.
Sep 15, 2021
3 min
From Seed to Soup: What it's Like to Harvest Wild Rice
Tribal members from the Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe are getting ready to harvest wild rice from the lakes of Northern Wisconsin. But this year, there's less rice to be found.
Sep 10, 2021
4 min
P.O.W. from Rhinelander in Japanese Occupied Hong Kong
Matthew Stapleton was head of one of Rhinelander’s oldest and most distinguished families. Stapleton settled in Rhinelander in 1883 and worked as an overseer of the Brown Brothers’ boom operation. In 1904 he was elected mayor of Rhinelander and later went on to serve as postmaster. Despite all that, it was his daughter Beatrice who made history during World War II.
Sep 9, 2021
5 min
It’s ‘raining PFAS,’ even in remote areas of the Upper Peninsula
Atmospheric PFAS is falling as rain even far away from industrial sites. Plus, a nonprofit has identified 42,000 places in the U.S. as possible PFAS sites.
Sep 9, 2021
4 min
National Forest Withdraws Maintenance, Closes Some Campgrounds, Frustrating Longtime Visitors
Ambling down a path through the forest to a serene lake, Greg Krueger explains why he likes this area.
Sep 2, 2021
5 min
The Mill Strike of 1892 and the Origins of Organized Labor in Rhinelander
Organized labor’s campaign for a ten-hour workday gained momentum in the 1870s and 1880s. The often-violent response to union demands in places like Chicago and Milwaukee served to make the public more open to union ideas. The Northwoods was slow to accept the inevitable, but by 1892 the push for a ten-hour workday hit Rhinelander.
Sep 1, 2021
3 min
Powell Marsh Viewing Blind Memorializes Late Outdoors Enthusiast
A point of land, sitting on the north side of the Vista Flowage, was Zeke Jonas’ favorite spot.
Aug 26, 2021
4 min
Ole Catfish and Baby Face Nelson
Ole Catfish and his family led quiet, unassuming lives in their home at Lac du Flambeau. They were not remarkable in any way and not the type of people whose names one would expect to find splashed across national newspapers. Yet that is exactly what happened in 1934 when Catfish’s life intersected with that of one of America’s most notorious gangsters. Historian Gary Entz has more:
Aug 25, 2021
3 min
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