In 1872 the Wisconsin Central railroad commenced work at the bay, and the outlay for improvements that year amounted to $244,800. The Wisconsin Central railroad built the Hotel Chequamegon in 1877. It is built in the form of an L, 120 feet front and 80 feet deep with 400 feet of veranda, and accommodations for 100 guests. There are numerous other hotels in the city, and several boarding houses receive guests during the summer season. Ashland has vast lumber interests. The Ashland Lumber Company built the first mill, in 1872, which had a capacity of about 15,000,000 feet per annum. The Union mill, built in 1878, has a capacity of about 18,000,000 feet. Mueller & Richie's mill, built in 1881, has a capacity of about 20,000,000 feet. There is also a planing mill belonging to Geo. White. Ashland has become a railroad centre. The Wisconsin Central, St. Paul & Omaha, Milwaukee & Lake Shore and Northern Pacific concentrate a heavy freight for their elevators and lake docks. The largest dock in the world was built in Ashland in 1887. It was built almost expressly for iron ore shipments from Penoka and Gogebic ranges. ASAPH WHITTLESEY selected the site of Ashland in 1854, and in conjunction with George Kilborn built the first dwelling. He was the first postmaster. He was appointed in 1855. He represented Ashland, Burnett, Douglas, La Pointe, Polk, and St. Croix in the Wisconsin assembly in 1860. J. P. T. HASKELL was the second settler in Ashland. He came with his wife, Nov. 2, 1854, but did not long remain. S. S. VAUGHN was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, Sept. 2, 1830. He came with his brother to La Pointe in 1852, and engaged in the fishing and fur trade until 1855, when he returned to Ohio. After taking a course in a commercial college, he returned to Wisconsin in 1856, took a claim of one hundred and sixty acres at Ashland and opened a store at Bayfield. In 1856 he surveyed and platted what is known as Vaughn's addition to Ashland. In 1871 he represented Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, and Polk counties in the Wisconsin assembly. At Ashland he built docks, warehouses and a store, and in later years dealt largely in iron mines and in lumber. He was married to Miss E. Patrick, of Ohio, in 1864. He died at Ashland, February, 1886. He induced the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company to make Ashland their lake terminus. He did more for that city than any other man. EDWIN ELLIS, M.D., was born in Oxford county, Maine; was educated in Farmington Academy, Colby University and Bowdoin College, where he graduated and afterward completed a medical course at the University of New York. He came West in 1854, and located first at St. Paul, but in 1855 removed to Ashland where he made a claim, which, in part, became in 1873 Ellis' addition to Ashland. He practiced his profession at Ashland and Ontonagon, Michigan. He was married in 1850 to Martha B. Baker, of Sharon, Maine.