USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People > Part 1
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Barbard College Library
VEL TRI
TAS
BRIGHT LEGACY
One half the income from this Legacy, which was re- ceived in 1880 under the will of
JONATHAN BROWN BRIGHT of Waltham, Massachusetts, is to be expanded for books for the College Library. The other half of the income is devoted to scholarships in Harvard University for the benefit of descendants of
HENRY BRIGHT, JR., who died at Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1686. In the absence of such descendants, other persons are eligible to the scholarships. The will requires that this announce- meat shall be made in every book added to the Library under its provisions.
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Prititus Sariyer
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HISTORY WINNEBAGO COUNTY WISCONSIN 1) ITS CITIES, TOWNS, RESOURCES, PEOPLE
BY PUBLIUS V. LAWSON, LL. B. EDITOR IN CHIEF AND ASSOCIATE EDITORS HON. CHARLES BARBER, JUDGE GEO. W. BURNELL, GEN. CHARLES R. BOARDMAN, MR. EDWARD BALCH BARR, DR. WIL- LIAM A. GORDON, PROF. LEWIS ATHERTON, CAPT.ROBERT BRAND, MR. J. HOW- ARD JENKINS, MR. THOMAS ROCHE, MR. CHAS. H. FORWARD
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME I
PUBLISHED BY
C. F. COOPER AND COMPANY
CHICAGO
1908
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HARVARD COLLEGE JUL 14 1937 LIBRARY Knight fund (2 ,C) .
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Why long to visit lands remote Whose beauties charm the eye? Where could we find a fairer spot Beneath a clearer sky! Aye, here's a place to live and die. Without a wish to roam; . Our natal spot, a long good-bye. We've found another home. Then cheerily we'll raise the cry We never wish to roam. For there's no place like Wisconsin. Our wild Wisconsin home.
The pathless woods have disappeared. The prairies wave with grain. And sounds of industry are heard, Throughout our wide domain. Now taste and wealth united reign. Religion rears her dome. While busy commerce flows amain And learning finds a home. Then raise again the blythe refrain. Fond ring the welkin dome. Oh! there's no place like Wisconsin, Our wild Wisconsin home. -By Robert Shields, Neenah, 1850.
() there's nothing like Wisconsin When snow is on the ground. The merry sleighbells ringing Through all the country round ; When boys and girls are full of glee And dance around the Christmas tree.
CHORUS- () there's nothing like Wisconsin, My wild Wisconsin home. -By W. W. Wright, Oshkosh.
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INTRODUCTION.
Winnebago county leads in population all others with one ex- ception in the state and thereby becomes a most important factor in the civic, educational, religious, moral and business activity of the commonwealth. Its historic rivers and lakes, the most in- portant in the state for water power and navigation, has ever made it the central figure in early and later events. In the earliest days its position on the great route leading from the fur trading marts of Canada to the Mississippi river has brought the region into all the history of the West. This system of rivers and lakes made it the earliest home of the Winnebago Tribe, the first of the savages to locate in the state, and the occasion of the visit of Nicolet. the first white man to visit the region and hold a great council with this tribe.
The river and lakes, with its game and soil, was the factor that held the Fox tribes within its borders so many years, and their presence and independence brought about a half century of bloody war, said to have so weakened the resources and finances of France in Canada as to have lost that rich territory to England. The westward march of the white man led these tribes to seek the chase farther west. and the Menominee moved along their trail and claimed a large share of its rich lands on the eve of settler days. With them came the trading post and the government mission of Neenah, which became the nucleus of the oldest and most beautiful city in the county.
The great black forest of pine stretching through the north region of the county along Rat river, a slow moving. glittering ribbon in a wealth of wild rice covered with a myriad of ducks. and way north along the Wolf river, where towered untold mil- lions of feet of clear cork pine. the most splendid forest in the world, never ending until trailing into spruce it died away in the perpetual arctic circle. The little mill with its lazy up-and- down saw at the mission in Neenah commenced to cut away at this vast range of towering timber way back in 1835. Then a mill over at Omro and at Algoma took up the task. and at the same period sixty years ago a little mill at Oshkosh was slash-
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INTRODUCTION.
ing into that towering forest. Year after year the trees were cut and run down the river, first in logs, then in rafts, then in fleets, then millions on millions of feet came down the streams with each spring flood. Mills were built, then more mills and improved mills; then sash and door factories, then furniture fac- tories, and Oshkosh grew each year, always in the lead, the sec- ond city in the state. The romance of the forest of wood still goes on-men got rich, people got prosperity, great cities grew up. It made senators, congressmen, governors. The front of the great forest receded northward. The great county and cities remain, and thus was hewn from a saw log the wealth of 60,000 people. The rich soil and vigorous climate which in older days had charmed the savage now became the inspiration of the set- tler. The lands once bought from the Indian tribes for 1 cent an acre, sold by the government for $1.25 an acre, now everywhere thrifty with growing crops or milch cows and improved with happy homes, is worth $125 an acre. The pioneer was a wheat raiser; but the invention of John Stevens, of Neenah, of the roller mill brought into economic use the hard wheat that could not be raised in our climate, changing the method of farming and the great industry now is the dairy and creamery.
A half century past a single red frame paper mill at Neenah had been leased for one year at the first cost of the mill. Then was begun in this county the great paper-making industry that, spreading from here over all the state, has become one of its most important industries.
In enterprise, wealth, energy and literature, splendid men and women, the county-both country and city-has no equal in the history of any time or place.
In gathering the immense amount of material required in the preparation of this important work, the authors have been em- barrassed to arrange, sort out and select such as had historic value and could be regarded as correct, and may have left out subjects or inserted some matter others would have used or dis- carded; but they have endeavored to cover every representative subject and relate the story of all the various interests im- partially. As there has been no history published of the county for thirty years, and no history ever published of the important cities of Oshkosh. Menasha and Neenah, it will be seen that this story covers the period of all its success and prosperity and re- quired us to seek original sources for its details. P. V. L.
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER.
PAGE.
I.
Natural Phenomenon
13
II. Primitive People 20
III. Winnebago Tribe 35
IV. Winnebago Chiefs
57
V. The Coming of Nicolet
69
VI. The Fox Tribes and the Battleground of the French and Outagamie. 73
VII. The Menominee Tribe and Chief Oshkosh.
120
VIII. Col. Robert Dickson, Icebound. 137
IX. John Lawe's Thrilling Plunge Through the Fox River Rapids Astride a Chest Containing $9,000 in Silver. 140
X. When Winnebago County Was Alive With Wild Animals 144
XI. The Beauty of the Virgin Scenery as Described by Travelers 148
XII. The Trading Post
161
XIII. Treaties Made With the Aboriginal Tribes
With the Winnebago; With the Menominee .. 173
XIV. Building a County-Its Civic Administration,
Courts, Schools, Buildings and Institutions .. 186
XV.
Recollections of William W. Wright, Father of
Oshkosh and Mary Elizabeth Wright, Mother
of Oshkosh
200
XVI. National and Legislative Representation 227
XVII. Organization of Towns 230
XVIII. Steam and Sail Boat on the Lake and Rivers in Earlier Days 232
XIX. Origin and Meaning of Place Names. 235
XX. Population, Wealth and Products of the County 241
XXI. Literature. Art, Music and the Stage. 262
XXII. Township History 272
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CONTENTS.
8 CHAPTER. PAGE.
XXIII. Making the Menominee Treaty Under Which the Mission of Winnebago Rapids Was Founded 356
XXIV. Founding the Mission of Winnebago Rapids ... 363 XXV. Sale of Winnebago Rapids to Harrison Reed- Named Neenah 374
XXVI.
Coming of Governor Doty-A Character Sketch 380
XXVII. Col. Harvey Jones Buys the Village of Neenah. 385
XXVIII. Town of Neenah Organized. 390
XXIX. Pioneering-Beginnings of Mercantile, Civic, School and Church Activity 394
XXX.
The Lock, the Canal, the Dam 398
XXXI.
When Neenah Was the Flour City 408
XXXII.
Invention of the Roller Flour Mill. 415
XXXIII.
Why Neenah Is Called the Paper City 428
XXXIV.
Various Manufacturing, Mercantile and Public Enterprises-The Lawyer and Doctor 440
XXXV.
Banks, Bankers and Bank Buildings. 452
XXXVI. Newspapers in Neenah. 454
XXXVII. Growth of the Civic Organization and Public Improvements 457
XXXVIII. The Public Schools 468
XXXIX. Gas, Electric Light, Water Works, Population. Library, City Hall, Fire Company, Parks and Cook Armory 472
XL. Churches in Neenah. 477
XLI. History of Oshkosh, by Charles Barber, LL. B .. 501
XLII. Manufacturing in Oshkosh, by Edward Balch Barr 518
XLIII. Banks and Banking, by J. Howard Jenkins. 535
XLIV. Early Judicial History and Organization of the County, by Charles H. Forward. 538
XLV. Bench and Bar, by Judge George W. Burnell .. 543 XLVI. The Schools of Oshkosh, by Lewis Atherton. A. M. 549
XLVII. The Church. Manse and Pastor in Oshkosh. 554
XLVIII. Oshkosh in the Wars, by Gen. Charles R. Board- man 574
XLIX. Steamboating. Past and Present. by Capt. Thomas Roche 588
'L. Yachting Records, by Commodore Robert Brand 610
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER.
PAGE.
LI. Gov. Coles Bashford and the Celebrated Elec- tion, by P. V. Lawson. 336
LII. City of Menasha
644
LIII. The Pioneer Hamlet-The Mills of the Past and Flush Days Along the River 658
LIV.
The Extensive Manufacturing
Industry
of
Menasha
677
LV. Mills of the Past. 699
LVI.
Civic Organization of Menasha
720
LVII. Coming of the Railroad. 742
LVIII.
Church Organizations in Menasha.
747
LIX.
City Schools. Menasha
773
LX. The Old Lighthouse TTX
LXI. Banks, Bankers and Banking 780
LXII.
The U. S. Land Office and the Jenny Linders
785
LXIII. The Press. Old and New 790
LXIV.
The Lawyer and Doctor
793
LXV. The Old Cannon 794
LXVI. The Mails, Postmaster and Postoffice 796
LXVII.
The Coming of the German to Menasha
798
LXVIII. Menasha and Neenah in the Wars 802 LXIX The Medical Fraternity. by William A. Gordon. M. D. 84ta
LXX Biography 848
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LIST OF PORTRAITS
VOL. 1.
Allen. T. S. 124
Bartlett. Albert HI 40.1
Bray. J. M 236
Buckstaff. John.
320
Choate. Leander
Clark. C. B. 96
Clark. J. I. 348
Cook. S. 1
152
Gillingham. Francis 544
Hewitt. W. P.
292
Himebaugh. J. W 208
Ihbe. August. 580
Kiel. J. N.
Kimberly. D. I.
180
Koplitz. Albert 516
Paine. George M
Richmond. E. S
630
Sawyer. Philetus
Frontispiece
Tritt. William. 376 Van Ostrand. D. C 264
Walker. William M. 132
Webster. Hiram W
460
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THE HISTORY
OF
WINNEBAGO COUNTY
I.
NATURAL PHENOMENON.
The county of Winnebago is in eastern Wisconsin, in the middle Fox river valley. about forty miles west of Lake Michi- gan, thirty-five miles south of Green Bay and eighty miles north of Milwaukee. It is within fifteen miles of the center of popu- lation of the state. Lake Winnebago lies along nearly the whole of its eastern boundary, except three miles of its northeast line in town Menasha. where it joins Calumet county on the east. The counties of Waupaca and Outagamie join it north, Waushara and Green Lake counties west. Fond du Lac county south.
The surface is undulating or rolling. but on a general level of about fifty feet above Lake Winnebago, which is 170 feet above the surface of Lake Michigan. The soil is glacial till, and the boulders frequently met with, especially in the rivers and lakes, give the best evidence of the presence of the glacier. The soil is rich agricultural land. and was carly selected by the pioneer for desirable farm sites.
Beautiful Lake Winnebago, the largest lake in the state. con- tains 350 square miles. The lower Fox as it leaves this lake breaks into two channels surrounding Doty Island. which is about three-quarters of a mile wide and one and a half miles long, a beautiful island covered with giant oaks and elins. The waters of these two channels descend over rapids with a fall of about ten feet into Little Lake Butte des Morts, making the
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
water power of the cities of Menasha and Neenah, located on either channel. The upper Fox river enters the county near its southwest corner and traverses the central part of the county, entering Lake Winnebago. midway of its north and south range, at the city of Oshkosh, having passed the villages of Eureka, Omro and Butte des Morts; and by a wide broadening of this river above Oshkosh, it has formed Great Lake Butte des Morts. The Wolf river, rising near the north boundary of the state. enters the county at its northwest corner and joins the Fox below Winneconne, near the center of the county. Lakes Winne- conne and Poygan in the northwest corner of the county are drained by the Wolf. Rush lake, a small rice lake in the south- west corner of the county, is drained by Waukau creek into the Fox river. Thus the county, with its six lakes and two great river systems, not only has splendid drainage and no marsh or poor land, but drains the watershed of a quarter of the state. The annual rainfall is thirty inches. The numerous lakes and rivers are extensively enjoyed by the citizens and strangers in yacht- ing, fishing and hunting. The waters of Lake Winnebago are used by the waterworks at Oshkosh and Menasha, both for public, domestic, drinking and culinary purposes.
Originally the land area of the county was mostly covered with hardwood trees, such as oak, elm, basswood, ash and hickory. The wild fruits were plums, cherries, crabapples, and strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, while the streams and lakes abounded in fish, wild fowls, beaver and martens, and the woods with the deer. bear, wolf and rabbits.
The geological formations of the county do not have a wide range, as they are among the oldest of the sedimentary rock which remain, the later formations of several hundred feet in depth having been eroded or worn away many ages ago. Begin- ning at the very base or bottom rock, there is the granite or primordial rock which is found at 700 feet deep in the eastern border and about 200 feet in the western. The granite does not outerop in the county. On this granite there is a formation of about 400 feet of Potsdam sandstone. Above this there lies a rock layer of varying depths of Lower Magnesian limestone, the surface of which is rolling, and there- fore often protrudes through the layer of St. Peter's sandstone laid down over it. It is for this reason that wells sunk to reach the St. Peter's sandstone frequently do not find it. as they strike the top of a knob of this limestone measure. Above the St.
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NATURAL PHENOMENON.
Peter's sandstone there is a layer of possibly 200 feet of Trenton limestone, and the lower part of the Galena limestone.
The sedimentary rock layers generally dip toward the east under Lake Winnebago at the approximate angle of twenty-three feet to a mile. This brings their broken edges to the surface where exposed on the western side. The upper rock is all removed from the Potsdam in the western border of the county. The upper Fox and the Wolf rivers as well as Lakes Poygan and Winneconne have their beds mostly on this sandstone. Their eastern flood planes have sharp escarpments or bluffs and out- crops of the Lower Magnesian limestone. Other local outerops of Lower Magnesian limestone noticed are west of Rice lake, where the rock is observed, and in Nepeuskun; also northwest of Winneconne, where the rock becomes billowy, the hills rising to forty feet. In the outerops in town Winneconne the phe- nomenon of mud cracks and ripple marks is found in the rock layers and fossil casts of Ophileta. At Eureka there are ledges of the Lower Magnesian limestone, where it contains a great quantity of flesh colored chert, which was possibly utilized by the savages for arrow points. In these Lower Magnesian layers are found opalescent quartz crystals and the rock is punctured with almond shaped cavities which once contained chert or crystals. The rock is used for foundations and was used in the construction of the lock in the Fox river canal at Eureka. In the town of Poygan, the western line of the Lower Magnesian limestone in the county, it forms a line of bluffs. A quarry has been opened in this layer and a kiln for burning lime erected.
The spouting artesian wells along the upper Fox river have their force and source from the Potsdam sandstones. the water from which is highly prized as being quite free from lime.
The St. Peter's sandstone has very few exposures in the county, because of the mass of glacial drift obscuring its out- lines, although it may always be found just below the Trenton limestone, and found along its edge. The St. Peter's is not a compact stone, and weathers to sand on exposure, which makes its edge appear more like a sand bank than a rock measure. The sand of this measure is a clear crystal white sand and sought for use in the manufacture of glassware and window glass. A factory was established in 1876, at Omro, for the man- ufacture of window glass and shades from St. Peter's sandstone, obtained near Waukau. A six-pot furnace was erected, having a capacity of 800 boxes per month, and the results were highly
16 HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
satisfactory, though the operation of the works was discon- tinued.
The St. Peter's is highly regarded as a drinking water zone and all well drillers attempt to sink their drills to it, assured of a supply of good water. At the Gilbert Paper Company's mill at Menasha the St. Peter's was found at 500 feet. It will be found at constantly decreasing depth toward the west.
The Trenton limestone is the sub-rock of all the county ex- cepting that part described above, and is the rock found beneath the earth covering of most of the county east of the Fox and Wolf rivers. It does not outcrop at many points because of the mass of glacial till covering the surface. It is found at the surface or near the surface in a wide circle around the cities of Menasha and Neenah, where it is quarried for building and architectural purposes, and used for rubble stone, and crushed for macadam roads and streets, and for grouting in laying cement walks. On Doty Island the rock surface is eleven feet below the surface. A ledge extends across the north and south outlets of the lake at the mouth, or entrance to Lake Winnebago, and for a space of several acres on both sides of the channel at Menasha. The rock is blue and hard. Captain George Stein built his house of this rock on Broad street in Menasha. The layers of rock all dip to the east.
There is a notable elevation of the Trenton limestone into a ridge about two hundred feet high. north and south, through central Clayton and western Vinland to the village of Butte des Morts. As the high winds always come from the west, it has been suggested that this Clayton ridge has thus far modified the severity of the winds and protected the cities of Menasha and Neenah.
The quarries one mile south of Neenah and . Hunt's quarry north of Menasha. and the quarries two miles south of Oshkosh, are the very first layers of the Galena limestone period. Both the Trenton and Galena have small pockets of lead, but it is not found in any quantity. Calcite crystals are common. and in the form often of dog tooth spar. Zinc blend is quite common, but not in economical quantity. The combination of these minerals makes handsome hand specimens. Iron pyrites, filling vertical fissures, traverses the quarries.
Artesian water can be obtained by sinking wells into all the rock layers under the county down to the granite, which con- tains no water. At the asylum north of Oshkosh a well was
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NATURAL PHENOMENON.
drilled 961 feet in depth. The drill first cut through clay, gravel, sand and loose material for sixty feet to the surface of the solid rock; then through a layer of 240 feet of the Trenton and Lower Magnesian limestone; then through 414 feet of sandstone; then into the primordial granite or original frame- work of the earth, 248 feet. The drilling into granite for water is a waste of time, as it contains no water. This well had reached its water limit at 714 feet, the surface of the granite. On Algoma street in Oshkosh a well was drilled in 1876, of which Mr. K. M. Hutchins kept the readings. The drill reached solid rock at ninety-two feet, and cut through 208 feet of lime- stone, 380 feet of sandstone and fifteen feet into the granite, making a depth of 695 feet. It seems in these wells that the St. Peter's sandstone is entirely wanting, and the limestone area is the Lower Magnesian and Trenton combined, and the sandstone area is the Potsdam, which is credited at places with 1,000 feet in depth. The well at the asylum discharges 22,000 gallons per day, and the water is of the best.
The IIudson river shale and Niagara limestone to the extent of 700 feet in depth once covered the county and the site of Lake Winnebago, but was many years since worn away, and is now represented in the cliffs east of the lake seventeen miles away.
The glacier once covered the county; its main body, known as the Green Bay lobe, followed the ancient course of the Fox and Rock rivers, directed by the bluffs on the opposite side of the lake. The striae on the rock surfaces in the county show a westward and southwest direction. Whenever a rock surface is exposed in the county it is found to have been scraped and polished by the glacier. The loose earth of the county is nearly all rock rubbish rasped from older rock to the north, trans- ported and deposited here by the glacier. The gravel beds, sand beds and yellow clay deposits found in the rolling hills are the natural sorting of subglacial rivers made by the melting ice and confined between its walls in crevices. There are some fine examples of eskers or fossil glacial river beds, in ridges, met with at intervals. A notable instance is the one along the ridge road from Oshkosh to Blair's springs, in town Menasha.
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