USA > Wisconsin > Portage County > Stevens Point > History of Portage county, Wisconsin read at the centennial celebration, held at the city of Stevens Point, July 4th, 1876 > Part 1
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History of Portage County, Wisconsin, written by A. G. ELLIS, and read at the Centennial celebration, held at the city of Stevens Point, July 4th, 1876.
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1876
WASH
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STEVENS POINT. WIS. STEVENS POINT JOURNAL JOB PRINT.
1876.
587
HISTORY. ....
MR. PRESIDENT, FELLOW CITIZENS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- The government of the United States having existed for a century, on the 4th of July, this year of our Lord, 1876, by common consent a celebration suitable to the Centennial is being made throughout the length and breadth of the land. Congress, on the 13th of March last, passed a joint resolu- tion of the two houses, recommending the people of the State to assemble in their sever- al counties or towns, on this Centennial an- niversary of our national independence, and cause to have delivered an historical sketch of said county or town from its foundation ; and that a copy of said sketch be filed in the Clerk's office of said county, and an addition al copy, in print or manuscript, be tiled in the office of the Librarian of Congress : and the same having been further recommended by the President of the United States in his pro- clamation of the 25th of May last, this paper is respectfully submitted responsive to such resolution and proclamation, as for Portage county and the city of Stevens Pomt, State of Wisconsin, to-wit :
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Portage County is nearly central of the State, having Adams and Waushara on the south, Marathon on the north, Waupaca on the east and Wood on the west. It was set off from Brown county in 1836, comprising what is now Columbia county ; Wisconsin Portage (from which the name is derived) be- ing the center. In 184] the boundaries were much enlarged by the addition of all the ter- ritory north of Suk and Portage, being ranges 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, east of the meridian, to the north line of the State; it was attached to Dane county for judicial purposes. In Jan- uary, 1844, by act of the legislature, Portage
county was fully organized and the inhabi- tants at the same time authorized to make choice by a vote of the people of a seat of jus- tiee. This vote was had on the 18th of April of that year. Fort Winnebago, at the Wis- consin Portage, and Plover, were the contest- ing points The vote of Bull Falls was un- derstood to have turned the scale, and decid- ed the question in favor of Plover, which thenceforward became the county seat.
The first house built here was by Houghton and Batten. The County Commis- sioners on the day of 187 granted a tavern license to Luther Houghton at Rush- ville. The house stood a little southwest of the present village of Plover, then called Rushville.
The election of officers succeeded in the fall, when the following named persons were chosen, to-wit : County Commissioners, Math- ias Mitchell, Benjamin F. Berry and Luther Houghton ; Sheriff, Nelson Strong, who ap. pointed Geo. W. Mitchell his deputy ; George Wyatt, Clerk of Court, Clerk of County Board and Register of Deeds; John Batten, Treasurer. The first Court was held at Plov- er, (in a house or store belonging to Keith & Miles) on the 1st Monday of April, 1845, Hon. David Irwin, Jr., presiding. The first case on the docket was that of Abraham Brawley ve. Andrew Dunn and Henry Carpenter.
In 1846 Columbia county was set off with limits almost identical with those of Portage, as taken from Brown county in 1836. Adams county was set off in 1848, Marathon in 1850, and Wood in 1856, leaving Portage with its present constitutional limits. It is about 30 miles square, would be exactly so, but that three townships were nieked off on the south-
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
west, to be put into Wood county. It now contains, according to public survey, towns 24 and 25, north, in range 6 east, and towns 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25, north, in ranges 7, 8, 9 and 10 east; twenty-two townships in all, having an area of 506,850 acres. The Wisconsin River enters it in town 25 north, range 9 cast, and leaves it in town 23 north, range ( east. The southeasterly part is openings, with scatter- ing bur oak timber: the northeasterly part (but thinly settled as yet) is closely timbered, white pine prevailing. The face of the coun- try is slightly undulating ; it is beautifully watered. The streams, besides the Wiscon- sin, are the Big and Little Plover, Mill Creek, Eau Pleine and Buena Vista Creek. The soil in the openings is sandy alluvion, favorable to agriculture ; that in the timbered part is generally heavier, inclining to gravel and clay. Portage county, as indeed Wood and Mara- thon, was first sought out for its pine tim- ber, and lumbering has been the leading busi- ness from the first, though the opening's are now well settled and covered with Good farms, that branch of industry being found quite re- munerative.
Forty years ago this county, with the whole Upper Wisconsin, was an unbroken wilder- ness ; possessed by the Indian tribes, who held the right of soil, Dubay's trading post having the only house in the whole region. As early as 1831 Daniel Whitney of Green bay, having obtained a permit for that pur- pose from the War Department, commenced the building of a saw mill at Whitney Rapids, below Point Bas. Other parties, Messrs. Grignon & Merrill, soon followed, going fur- ther op ; and soon land lookers, searchers for pine, were filling the country. This alarmed the Indians, who began to complain to the government agents. In 1536, Gov. Dodge, supt. of Indian Affairs, negotiated a treaty at Cedar Point, on Fox River, with the Me- nomonees for a cession of a strip of land three miles in width on each side of the Wisconsin, from Point Bas, 40 miles up the River to Big Bull Falls. This was specially to cover the operations of the lumbermen. In 1833 this cession was ordered surveyed by the Survey- or General at Dubuque, which was done forthwith, Joshua Hatheway, Esq., of Mil- wauky being the Deputy Surveyor. This tract was , ffered at public sale at Mineral Point in 1840, which fairly opened the coun- try to the extent of this strip, at least, to oc- cupation and settlement Settlers in the pro- per sense of the term, were at this time ( 1840) but few. The following named persons are recollected as being in the county at that date : Abraham Brawley, Horace Judd, John G. Hebard, Thomas MeDill, Richard Veeder, E. H. Metcalf, Solomon Leach, John Bouch- er, Antoine Pricourt, Gilbert Conant, Vafen- tine Brown, Charles Maddy, Peter Cane, JJohn Raish, JJohn Eekels, Thomas Harper, James Harper, James Sitherwood, A. M. MeCauley, II. W. Kingsbury, Conrad Rotherman, Orrin Mayoce, Hugh MeGreer, Daniel Campbell, Sol- inon Story, Peter Barnard.
There is no data whereby to fix the number
of inhabitants at that time in what is now Portage county. It is believed it could not have been more than one hundred. But the opening of the land-the six mile strip-to market, was heralded far and near, and peo- ple began to pour in from the southern part of Wisconsin and northern Illinois; and in a few years thereafter the population of the Pinery, including Portage county, might have been numbered by thousands. The water powers, eligible sites for mills, were rapidly taken np; Conant Rapids and Mill Creek were among the first in this county. The first house was that at Dubay's trading post, on the cast branch of the Wisconsin River, town 25; but the first saw mill built in the county was that upon Mill Creek, by Abraham Braw- ley, in 1839. Perry & Vecder occupied a site on this stream about the same time. Camp- bell & Conant built one on the Conant Rapids of the Wisconsin, the same year. Bloomer & Harper built the following year at MeGreer's Rapids, (now Jordon) on Big Plover. In fact the lumbering business took long strides in 1840, 1841 and 1842, mills going up at all ad- vantageous points on the Wisconsin and its tributaries. The commencement of this busi- ness of reducing the huge pines to boards and shingles and delivering them at Galena, Du- buque or st. Louis, was a serious undertak - ing, involving great ontlay of capital and labor as well as risk of money, life and limb, Not- wi hstanding all. it was embarked in by thou- sands of men, with their teams and outfits, so that in three or four years the wood> were alive with choppers, Joggers and teams, and the rivers with rafts of logs and lumber, As the bu-mess increased, men began to cast about for means of obtaining supplies at less cost than wagoning them all the way from southern Wisconsin or northern Ilinoi , which brought about a trial of the soil. Some of the lumbermen eyen, began raising farm pro- duets, and not a few private adventurers risked breaking on the openings and planting both roots and small grain, such experiments proy . ing successful: many of those who had come up into the Pinery with their teams to ad- vance their fortunes in the Jogging business, changed off their bobsleds for wagons and plonghs and settled down quietly to farming, selling their potatoes, corn, oats, wheat, &e., to the lummbermen. Notwithstanding all, the lumbering business took the lead, engross- ing the chiet outlays of capital and employ- ment of laber. It is somewhat dithicuit to furnish an estimate of it as for Portage conn. ty at this time, as it was running in con- stant connection with the whole Wisconsin Pinery from Point Bas to Eagle River, In 1857 the business of the river was estimated to give constant employment to nearly 3,000 men, and the yearly prodnet to be not less than one hundred and twenty million feet, valued here in the Imery at the sum of one million, four hundred and twenty eight thousand. dollars. What proportion of the whole it would be right to put dow i to Portage coun- ty at that time, is somewhat uncertain; surv- ly not less than one sixth, which would give 20,000,000 feet, at a valuation of two hundred
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
and thirty-six thousand dollars per annum ! This in 1857
The market for this lumber at that day was all along down the waters from Portage City to St. Louis, and the only mode of egress was by the rivers. All that is changed now ; that i-, we are no longer confined to the rivers for means of getting lumber to market. The cars have reached us; we have 3 railroads passing through the county, all of which are used more or less in sending off the lumber, though not all of it goes by ears ; a large por- tion is still committed to the water.
The sending it by cars, however, is working a great change in the business. Formerly there was much uncertainty as to time when returns could be had. It was, is still, but sel- dom that a fleet leaving here could be got out on the same rise of water. Frequently it re- quired two and sometimes even three floods to carry a fleet to St. Lonis; indeed many years the drouth and low waters prevailed to that degree that scarce a fleet of lumber could he got out in course of the season. Ratts lay in the water, tilling with sand, the grubs decaying, so that it became necessary to hanl and re rait it, all which caused serions delay an | great damage. This is avoided by send- ing by cars. Now an operator going into the woods can calculate with reasonable certain- ty (by shipping by rail) how long he will have : to hold his investment, that is, provided he , quite through to Lake Superior. Capitalists can make sales-a ri-k he has to encounter in either case, whether shipping by cars or food.
In 1848, at the treaty of Lake Poygan, the Menominces ceded all their land on the Wis- consin, castwardly to the Fox River. The surveys followed soon after. The Stevens Point land office was opened in 1853; land sales were rapid ; speculation overrun the country ; immense tracts of pine and other lands were entered, all which quickened the lumber trade, as also, in a good degree, the farming in Portage county.
In the year 1855-6 certain parties represent. ing the Milwaukie & Horicon Railroad Com- pany, (which road was built and in operation from Horicon northwesterly as far as Berlin) appeared in this county, at Plover and Stev- ens Point, soliciting aid for the purpose of extending said railroad from Berlin to Plover and Stevens Point. Their negotiations and solicitations were continued here for more than a year, resulting in their obtaining bonds, mortgages and deeds of land in exchange for their stock, as is believed to be an amount little short of 600,000 dollars. All this time nothing had been done but on paper ; not a shovel full of earth had been moved, no sur. vey and location of the road, no right of way obtained, nothing, whatever towards con struction. The money crisis of 1857 came on, when, presto, the whole thing colapsed, van- ished into thin air. But the operators had secured the bonds and mortgages and the deeds of land, and some years afterwards it was found these securities had gone into cir- culation, as commercial paper! Some of our citizens have since been shed on them and judgments obtained against them. Such was our first experience in getting the blessings of railroads.
The Congress of the United States in IS64 passed an act making a liberal grant of land to aid in building a railroad from Portage City, or from Fond du Lac, Berlin or Men- esha, rin Stevens Point to Lake Superior. Af- ter some most unaccountable delav, the Leg- islature accepted the grant and passed an act chartering two companies, one to build from Portage Cry and the other from Men- asha or Berlin or Fond du Lac, via Stevens Point to Lake Superior, and turning over the bonds to them on condition of fultl ment of terms of the charters. Hon. Geo. Reed, of Manitowoc, after many difficulties succeeded in getting the companies organized-the two consolidated into one and moved towards con- s'ruetion of a railroad. On his first appear- ance here in 1860, he could get no audience of the people, the "raw head and bloody bones" of the old Horicon fraud met him at every turn. With the exercise, however, of a commenda ble patience and perseverance, he was able, finally to be heard ; which being done, the proposition met with favor. It was at once found that Judge Reed, unlike the Horricon gentlemen, meant business: people of the county, especially at Stevens Pomt, gave mos; assured countenance and support to the meas- ure: sunvey and location of the road from ! Menasha co Stevens Point was made forth- with, and very soon a preliminary survey
to take hold of the enterprise were found in Boston: a construction company with Mr. Colby of Boston and a gentleman from Chi cago, E. B Phillips, Esq., was organized, con- tracts for building the road from Menasha to Stevens Point soon followed, the road was built and equipped, and the first train of cars arrived in Stevens Point on the 20th day of November, 1872. This was a new era for Por- t.ge county; a great impetus to business im- mediately followed, the city of Stevens Point being chiefly affected by it. That winter and the following summer the work was prosecut- ed northwesterly, not only through the conn- ty, but 100 miles towards Lake Superior. This railroad en ers Portage county in town 23, north, range 10 east, and passing through the south part leaves it in town 25 north, range 6 cast.
A year after this the Green Bay & Minneso- ta railroad was built from Winoca, on the Mississippi. This road enters the county in town 25 north, range 10 cast, forms a junction with the Wisconsm Central about a mile west of Amherst, and passing through Plover, leaves the county in town 23 north, range ? cast.
Besides its main line from Milwaukee to Lake Superior, the Wisconsin Central has a branch railroad known as the "Portage Branch," from Stevens Point in a direct line to Portage City. It is now nearly completed.
The Wisconsin Valley railroad, from Tomah to Wausau, going north, enters Portage coun- ty in town 24 north, range 6 cast, forms a junction with the Wisconsin Central nearly on the line between towns 24 and 25 north, and leaves the county in town 25 north, range 7 cast,
These four railroads, all now built, equipped
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
with trains running daily, have greatly in- creased the population and quickoned the business of Portage county." The amount of indebtedness incurred by the county in rail- road behalf, is 100,000 dollars in bonds, vot- ed, issued and delivered to the Central in aid of their direct line. A like amount was voted in aid of the Portage Branch ; the company, however, through delays, failing to construct the road in stipulated time, the County Board repudiated the bonds; the matter is in lit- igation. These two parcels ot bonds for 100,- 000 dollars cach, constitute the entire indebt- edness ot Portage county.
For several years previous, uneasiness had existed in regard to the location of the seat of justice at Plover, the plea being that it should be at the business center of the coun- ty, which was Stevens Point. Frequent dis- cussions and agitations of the matter ensued; tinally it was referred to the Legislature, which in 1867 passed an act requiring a vote of the people to settle the question. The vote was had, and carried in favor of Stevens Point, and the county seat was removed in 1869. The county buildings, a court house and jail of beautiful stone, were erected in 1868-9, at a cost of 32,000 dollars.
To return once more to the lumber trade : We have before estimated the product for Portage county in 1857 at 20,000,000 feet per annum, with a valuation of $236,000. That was nearly 20 years ago ; the business has in- creased vastly since that day ; nearly ten times the capital is now invested in the trade; the logging part of it has been comparative- ly increased, and the number and especially the capacity of the mills greatly enlarged. At that day only the old style of up and down saws was nsed; these are all now laid aside- made to give place to the rotary. Tre best of sash saws would ent from 10 to 15 thou sasd per day; the rotarys now cut from 20 to 30 thousand, and many of them more than that. Besides which very great improvements have been made in the streams for handling logs, such as booms, roll-ways and slides. There are now in actual operation within the bounds of Portage county 25 saw mills, and 16 shingle mills. An experienced, practical lumberman, estimates the quantity manufac- tured within the county for the year past, from 25 saw mills, at seventy-nine million, nine hundred thousand, and of shingles, from 16 mills, at thirty-two millions. The quanti- ties will be somewhat increased the current year, say not less than 80 million feet of lum- ber and 40 million of shingles. And all this from pine alone. the immense forests of hard- wood being comparatively untouched. This much for the lumber.
*.- Old Portage county, before Colum- bia was set off, had a railroad defacto in early times. It was in what is now Wood county. In 1839, Gideon Truesdale, operating Kings- ton's, Fay's and Draper's mills, at what was then known as Draper's, now Biron's Rapids. built a wooden railroad a mile and a half east to a small grove of pine, and on which he got out his logs, hauling the car with oxen, yoked tandemi.
Besides the city of Stevens Point, there are several villages in the county : as Plover, Bue- na Vista, Amherst, Jordan, Ean Pleine, Almond, McDillville and Springville.
Plover, six miles south of Stevens Point, has a population of some five hundred ; the two railroads, the Stevens Point and Portage, and the Green Bay & Minnesota, form a junction here, having on each, both freight and pas- senger trains running daily ; it is quite a mart of trade for farmers ; has several good public buildings-as a large public school house, two nice churches, a fine grist and flouring mill, and several hotels, smith's shops and stores, with a live newspaper-the Plover Times ; it is one of the most pleasant places in the county for private residences, with good society.
Amherst, 14 miles east of Plover and some 15 from Stevens Point, is perhaps the most flourishing village in the county; it is directly on the Wisconsin Central Railroad, the Green Bay & Minnesota forming a junction with the Central about a mile west of it; here dwell some of the most enterprising men of the county ; there is a population of about six hundred ; one church, an excellent public school house, several taverns and stores, and two first class flouring mills. Surrounded by the best farming lands, in the hands of well- to-do, astute pushing operators, Amherst un- doubtedly has a most encouraging and hope- ful future.
A glance at the farm products for 1875, shows under cultivation :
In wheat 12,128 acres
" oats. 5,066%
" corI.
" barley 8,82716
30516
" hops. 379
" rye. 4,143
" all other crops, including grass, 15, 45
Total aeres under cultivation, .. 46,295,
at an estimated value of 516,655 dollars.
The assessed value of personal property in the county, consisting of horses, cattle, sheep. swine, farming utensils, manufacturer stock, and other personal property is, $577,516.95, divided as follows:
Horses $ 99,902
Cattle 109,022
Mures 4,407
Sheep. 9,930
Swine 7,958
Wagons 35,275
Watches 4,235
Pianos and organs. 12,035
Shares bank stock .. 5,590
Merchants and manufacturers stock .. 164,326
All other personal property. 130,915
Total assessed valuation for 1876 of
all property, both personal and real, is set down at. $2,491,003
13 should be added for current value 830,331
Making a total valuation of both
personal and real property of ... $3,321,334
A majority of the population of the county engage in agriculture: they have organized a spirited Agricultural Society, which has existed
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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.
ten years; has a large li-t of members; Wm. V. Flemming Esq. is President, H. S. Rood Vice President, Win. Loing Treasurer, and A. J. Smith Secretary. Fairs are held annually, always well attended, and the exhibitions highly eredible; the fair grounds are at Am- herst.
OF MANUFACTURES,
There are but few aside from the lumber trade : chiefly confined to grinding of wheat and other grains ; there has been put up, as they were required from time to time 8 teed and flouring mills ; the data is not quite per- fect, but it is estimated that they have ground, Initherto one year with another, 30,000 barrels of flour and 1,500,000 pounds of course grain -all the product of the county.
The manufacture of flour will doubtless b ? considerably increased this year, a new mill of large capacity, 5 runs of stone, having just been completed in Stevens Point.
At Stockton there is a very credible estab- lishment for the manufacture of cheese.
Population of the county for 1876 is 14,876.
Portage county as at present organized is divided into 16 towns, besides the city of Stevens Point, 17 in all, to-wit :
Plover, Sharon, Stockton, Stevens Point, Linwood, Pine Grove, New Hope. Lanark, Hull, Grant, Ean Pleine, Buena Vista, Bel- mont, Amherst, Almond, city of Stevens Point.
The county officers are, John Stumpf, Coun- ty Judge. J. B. Carpenter, County Clerk, John Eekels, Sheriff, Win. Albertie, County Treas- urer, Ole O. Wogsland, Register of Deeds, Wm. H. Packard, Dist. Attorney, Jas. E. Rogers, Clerk Circuit Court. N. G. Hmmnan, County Surveyor, J. O. Morrison, Superinten- dent Schools.
The County Board consists of C. E. Webster, of Almond, chairman ; A. H. Bancraft, of Amherst; S. F. Devoin, Belmont; Geo. P. Nu- gent, Buena Vista; R. B. Whitehouse, Eau Pleine; Adolph Panter, Grant: Robert Maine, Hull; Ira Whipple, Lanark; Gunder O. Wem. me, New Hope; Geo. W. Franklin, Plover; A. M. Harris, Pine Grove; Jas. Meehan, Linwood, John Landers, Stevens Point; Henry Cate, Stockton; Jos. Oesterle, Sharon; Stevens Point city : Mathew Wadleigh, Ist Ward; N. H. Emmons, 2d Ward; E. D. Brown, 3d Ward.
There are 80 publie and several private schools organized in the county, all in a sound flourishing condition; these schools employed in 1874, according to County Superintendent's report, from time to tune during the year, no less than 144 teachers; and it required that year, to keep the schools properly going, 91 teachers continually; the number of scholars in attendance was 3,221; whole number of
children in the county of suitable age to at- tend school, 4,930.
Amount of money appropriated for all school purposes during the year, ... $30,560.25 Amount disbursed " . . 24,568 15
paid to male teachers. . . 5,789.35
.. female .. 12.291.62
There are 82 sehool houses, built in the county, all in good order-some of them quite expensive: these houses are generally fur- nished in the most approved, modern style, and are calculated to accommodate comforta- bly at all seasons no less than 4,300 pupils; the 150 teachers are not only duly qualitied ac- cording to requirements of the statute, but they are understood to be an emulative corps of educators, equal to any other in the state, and under the direction of cur excellent Conn- ty Superintendent, J. O. Morrison, Esq., are establishing for themselves most enviable rep- utations, and laying the youth as well as the older ones, under lasting obligations.
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