WAUSAU  , a

city and the county-seat of Marathon county, Wisconsin, U.S.A., on both banks of the Wisconsin river, about 185 M . N.W. of Milwaukee . Pop . (i89o) 9253; (1900) 12,354, of whom 3747 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 16,56o . There is a large German element in the population, and two German semi-weekly newspapers are published here . Wausau is served by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul and the Chicago & North-Western railways . The city is built for the most part on a level plateau above the river and extends to the top of high bluffs on either side . It has a fine city hall, a Carnegie library, the Marathon County Court House, a hospital, built by the Sisters of the Divine Saviour, and a Federal Building . In Wausau are a U.S. land office, the Marathon County Training School for Teachers, the Marathon County School of Agriculture and Domestic Science, and a County Asylum for the Chronic Insane . Valuable water-power furnished by the Big Bull Falls of the Wisconsin (in the city) is utilized for manufacturing, and in 1910 water-power sites were being developed on the Wisconsin river immediately above and below the city . In 1905 the factory products were valued at $4,644,457 . Wausau had its origin in a logging-camp, established about 1838 .

In 1840 a saw-

mill was built here, and in 1858 the village was incorporated under its present name . After ,88o, when Wausau was chartered as a city, its growth was rapid .