Highway 8 in many ways is the main east-west thoroughfare across northern Wisconsin.

Although it is a U.S. highway, most of Highway 8's 281 miles runs through the state. A ride along it this time of the year will feature some of the best autumn color you can find in the state. You'll also be able to find some great fishing and other recreational activities and see places where lumber history was made.

Let's start our ride at Pembine, at the intersection of Highway 141 in Marinette County, and end it in Ladysmith in Rusk County. Named after the Pemebonwon River, the name Pembine means cranberry in the language of the Menominee Indians.

Pembine started as a logging community in 1887. A lumber camp owned by the huge Sawyer-Goodman Lumber Company operated there until 1942.

As you head west from Pembine, you'll head into Forest County, and skirt along the edge of the southern border of the Nicolet National Forest. This area truly offers some of the best Northwoods recreational opportunities in the state.

You'll pass through small settlements like Armstrong Creek and Cavour and eventually come to Laona. A classic company town, Laona's hospital, store, school, library, and housing were all built by the Connor lumber company.

The town's economy revolved around the company's lumber mill. During business downturns of the 19th and early 20th century, "company scrip" or privately issued company money was issued and used as currency in the town.

Laona remains a foundation of Wisconsin's lumber history. The private forestland surrounding the town has been selectively managed for the past 100 years and the town is an example of sustainable management.

The town is the site of the Lumberjack Steam Train, an operating turn-of-the-century passenger train and award-winning museum. This operates during the summer months.
In the winter, Laona is home to the 100 Mile Snow Safari or "100 miler," one of Wisconsin's oldest and most distinctive snowmobiling trails.

Continue west to Crandon, another town with a lot of lumber history. The lumber industry defined the early growth of the city. In 1891, Page and Landeck Lumber Company purchased a tract of hardwood timberlands and built a huge sawmill near Clear Lake on Crandon's north side.

The population of Crandon grew from 800 to more than 2,400 in just a few years. Settlers and loggers from Kentucky were recruited. The company's sawmill eventually was moved to Crandon from Glasgow, Ky. Modern culture lore reflects the early "Kentuck" ancestors.

From the 1980s to 2003, Crandon was the center of an environmental debate to construct a mining operation in a metallic minerals deposit discovered by the Exxon Coal and Minerals Company.

The heated discussion led to a Wisconsin Legislature mining moratorium act in 1998. Eventually, the proposed company and mine site lands were purchased by the Mole Lake Sakaogon Chippewa and Forest County Potawatomi tribes, whose reservations sat near the site. The project was withdrawn in October 2003

West of Crandon, you'll come to Rhinelander, the hub city of the region. The town offers shopping, restaurants and other services for people from miles around. It is the county seat of Oneida County.

Rhinelander is the home of the Hodag, a popular mythical creature that serves as the city's mascot. The Hodag also is the mascot for Rhinelander High School.

In Lincoln County, to the west of Oneida, about 20 percent of the area is actually water. You have some great lakes and marshes in the area, which make for fine fishing. Bradley and Tripoli are small communities along Highway 8 that offer gas and other services.

Continue west into Price County. There, you'll come to the small community of Brantwood. To the south, is a lumber "ghost town." The Knox brothers were loggers from the Stevens Point area. They built a mill and established the small community of Knox Mills a few miles south of Brantwood.

The need to transport timber and products resulted in a spur being built from Brantwood to Knox Mills. J B Engstrom owned a sawmill, planning mill, and a boarding house for the mostly immigrant bachelor workers in Knox Mills. The mill prospered in the 1920s, but the Great Depression shut it down until the late 1930s.

Knox Mills, having no post office or main line railroad, began to disappear and the area was absorbed into the Brantwood community and the spur line abandoned.

Also along 8 in Price County, Prentice offers services and recreational activities. It sits at Highway 8's intersection with Hwy. 13, a major north-south route in the region.

To the west in Rusk County is Ladysmith, our destination for this ride. The city was founded at the intersection of Soo Line rail line with the Flambeau River in 1885, as "Flambeau Falls." It went through several name changes and eventually got its current name, after the bride of Charles R. Smith, head of the Menasha Wooden Ware Co.

On Sept. 3, 2002, a tornado rated at F3 destroyed much of Ladysmith's downtown area. Overall damage was estimated at $20 million. But, the town has rebuilt much of its downtown area.

We'll end our journey here, but you can continue on Highway 8 to the beautiful St. Croix Valley and the Twin Cities area in Minnesota. From Ladysmith, you also can go south on Hwy. 27 and take a ride that has been profiled in this column before.