With a name like Morehouse, you might expect that a prosperous future is in store, or at least in sight. And yet the fickleness of history has all but erased this community once near Gilman from contemporary Wisconsin maps, a fate in which it is far from alone. So where was, or else is, the place called Morehouse located today? To try and find this out, it might pay to remember the lesson from on-screen master archaeologist Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade, and more specifically his observations that most archeology is done in the library, and that x “never, ever, marks the spot,”—until it does of course. In ordinary times the local library could furnish us with a good starting point for this eminently local mystery. But what to do if the libraries are closed?

Improvise, or else go online, for a start. Pending library reopening for general information searches then, let us consult the online sources for possible insight. First though, a recap of last week’s clues.

Starting last week on page 11 and referencing a long-ago fight for residents and commerce, the story of Morehouse originally from November 4, 1908 has a few important location clues contained in it, as follows:

• Morehouse was “at and near” the junction of the (now defunct) S. M. & P. (Stanley Merrill and Phillips) Railroad with another railroad stationed close by, the two being established along roughly parallel lines.

• Morehouse was a rail crossing adjacent to Gilman from which it was “about a mile apart.”

• Farmers and settlers at the time were said to favor Morehouse as their highway system had been constructed “with the expectation that an important railway station would be located at the junction of the two roads.” Whether that was two highways or a highway and the railroad, is not known at present.

• The struggle between Gilman and Morehouse to win railroad patronage had even instituted a court case, in which the residents of Morehouse reportedly sought to “compel” two separate railroad entities (the S. M. & P. and the Wisconsin Central) to establish rail stations on the crossing site so named, and this after “Messrs. Nye, Lusk, & Hudson decided to erect a large sawmill” at or near the site of Morehouse.

Such are the chief clues contained within the initial article from 112 years ago. So what else is there, pending a more general opening of libraries? A search for “Morehouse” at the internet archive of BadgerLink can’t hurt. If your location is in cyberspace, you aren’t affected by COVID-19 regulations with regards to content already posted. Got a library card number and internet access of some sort? Then a search is potentially revealing.

Using “Morehouse” as our search term and starting from November 13, 1909, and even as it was reported from Thorp that every man who owned a gun or could borrow one was “out scaring the deer” while the women reportedly contemplated widowhood, a sentence or two from the locals was of specific interest to the present online hunt. From over at Prosperous Ridge (South of Edson along present County V), it was reported that, “Arthur Sturdevant of Morehouse was a Ridge caller Sunday,” thus providing a potential touchpoint on property or census records if Mr. Sturdevant can be matched to or else correlated with resident data archived from that time (1909). Meanwhile, over at Eidsvold (then platted north of the tracks on present Hart Avenue of X as related by a map at the Thorp town hall), it was shared that “Mr. and Mrs. S. S. Warner were visitors in Reseberg on Sunday,” and also that “Willis Boardman has purchased the lots known as the Fear place,” the last being a reference that was apparently understood by long ago newspaper readers even if requiring some searching today—and then there was Polley. The now much diminished site in Taylor County on Highway B at Polley Lane had a brand new post office that had just been built and was growing fast—but that wasn’t the whole story. “Jas. Polley was a business visitor at the county seat this week,” the Stanley Republican reported in its “Polley” locals updates from November 13, 1909. Polley, and Jas. Polley—suppose there was some sort of name conjunction in the dual entry from thereabouts, way back then?

Time may tell—just don’t go traipsing on any private property in your search for the lost community of Morehouse. Criminal trespass is not something to be generally encouraged, nor is it something you will find sympathy for from this writer or others. Do that sort of thing, and you’re on your own at the court. In the meantime, happy searching!