In this area, five rapids covering about three miles were known as Nekoosa, meaning swift water, by the Chippewa Indians, who made their campground on high Swallow Rock overlooking the rapids. At the lower end of the rapids, Wakeley’s tavern served as a rendezvous and resting place for river travelers and lumber raftsmen, and it became the nucleus of a settlement named Point Basse, meaning low point, later renamed Nekoosa. The settlement became a key town during the era when lumber was rafted down the river from the northern pineries to Mississippi River markets. In 1831 Daniel Whitney built the first sawmill on the Wisconsin River here at Whitney’s Rapids, making Nekoosa the birthplace of Wood County. From this first harnessing of the river’s power developed scores of power facilities, making the Wisconsin River the hardest-worked river in the world.