The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 1

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 840


USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 1


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اي ميلكوى


M. L.


1


GC 977.501 Sa86h 1153998 1


GENEALOGY COLLECTION


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01052 9433


Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018


https://archive.org/details/historyofsaukcou00west 0


THE


HISTORY 1


OF


SAUK COUNTY,


WISCONSIN,


1


CONTAINING


AN ACCOUNT OF ITS SETTLEMENT, GROWTH, DEVELOPMENT AND RESOURCES; AN EXTENSIVE AND MINUTE SKETCH OF ITS CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES-THEIR IMPROVEMENTS, INDUSTRIES, MANUFACTORIES, CHURCHES, SCHOOLS AND SOCIETIES; ITS WAR RECORD, BIOGRAPH- ICAL SKETCHES, PORTRAITS OF PROMINENT MEN AND EARLY SETTLERS; THE WHOLE PRECEDED BY A HISTORY OF WISCONSIN, STATISTICS OF THE STATE, AND AN ABSTRACT OF ITS LAWS AND CON- STITUTION AND OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.


ILLUSTRATED.


CHICAGO : WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY. MDCCCLXXX.


PREFACE.


TT is with no little pride that the publishers present this work to the citizens of Sauk County, knowing that, with whatever inaccuracies it may be found to contain, it will prove one of the most valuable books ever added to their libraries. It is a book wholly unlike any other ever published, being exclusively for and concerning the people of this county, and is of such size, completeness and comprehensiveness as could never have been furnished had the community been less advanced in civilization, culture and wealth than it now is.


The index shows what the book attempts to preserve. That it contains errors it would be foolish to deny ; for the very nature of all historical publications, depending as they do upon oft-repeated and oft-mangled stories, imperfect newspaper accounts, and memories weakened by the toils and sorrows of many decades, renders perfect accuracy absolutely impossible. How- ever, let the public take these prefatory remarks as a pledge that the publishers have spared no means, and the historian no labor or patience, to make every account as nearly perfect as possible. And let every reader remember, also, as he notes the contents of the hundreds of subjects the book contains, that, wherever the historian has been led in the least astray, it was due to the citizens of Sauk County, for whom the work was undertaken, and from whom he obtained the least and the greatest of the facts necessary in its compilation.


To those who have taken particular pains to aid in making this a valuable book sincere thanks are here returned ; and, as years roll on, and the work becomes more and more cherished and valuable, the thanks of the future will be still more sincere than ours ; sincere not only, but universal.


WESTERN HISTORICAL SOCIETY.


CONTENTS.


1153998


HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.


PAGE.


Antiquities


19


Educational :


Township System ..


146


Indian Tribes


21


Pre-Territorial Annals. 29


Free High Schools ... 147


School Offices


147


Hops.


204


Wisconsin Territory ..


41


Tobacco-Cranberries.


205


Liquors


205


Miscellaneous.


206


Water Powers.


206


Manufactures


208


Conclusion


208


The Public Domain. 210


Commercial Schools. 151 Health 230


Agriculture.


151


Mineral Resources


162


Physical Features.


230


Lead and Zinc .. .162 Geology 231


165


Drainage


232


Climatology


232


Rain Character


233


Brick Clays.


168


Isotherms


234


Cement Rock ..


170


Limestone-Glass Sand 171


Peat-Building Stones. 172


Railroads


173


Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul. 173


Chicago & Northwestern. 176


Wisconsin Central 178 History of Disease .. 238


Devonian Age .... 119 Western Union 179 Glacial Period 120 West Wisconsin .. 180


Climatology .121


Trees, Shrubs and Vines


Fauna ...


Fish and Fish Culture ... .134


Large Animals-Time of their Disap- pearancc.


.182


Peculiarities of the Bird Fauna. 139 North Wisconsin 183


Educational .140


Original School Code


140


Agitation for Free Schools .141


School System under State Govern-


Conclusion ..


184


Statistics


249


ment ... .141 Lumber . 185


Banking ..


.191


Population, 1875, of Townships, Alpha- betically Arranged by Counties. 249


Population by Counties.


.258


Nativity by Counties


...


.259


Valuation of Property.


260


Acreage of Principal Crops


.. 261, 262


ABSTRACT OF WISCONSIN STATE LAWS.


PAGE.


Actions .. 283


Elections and General Elections. .263


Arrest 283 Estrays 279 Attachment. .284


Exemptions. .284 Adoption of Children .. Marks and Brands 281 276 Fences. 280 Married Women. 283


Assignment of Mortgage ..


.274


Forms of Conveyanccs


273


Stay Law


284


Surveyors and Surveys. 282


Support of Poor ... .282


Bills of Exchange or Promissory Notes. .272 Borrowed Money 267


.278


Interest ...


.277


Collection of Taxes 270


Intoxicating Liquors


271


Commercial Terms


285


Judgments.


.284


Wills.


276


Jurisdiction of Courts


277


Common Schools


266


Damages for Trespass .279 Jurors 278


MISCELLANEOUS.


PAGE.


Wisconsin State Constitution 287


Vote of Wisconsin for Governor and Presi- dent ... 306-307


PAGE.


PAGK.


Population of the State


.. 348


U. S. Constitution ..


.297


PAGE.


PAGE.


Commerce and Manufactures :


Dairy Products ..


203


Pork and Beef ..


203


Wisconsin as a State.


52


State Teachers' Certificates 147


Teachers' Associations. 148


Libraries


148


State Superintendents 148


College Sketches.


Female Colleges 150


Academies and Seminaries. 151 Sixth Administration. 66


Seventh Administration. 67


War of Secession Commenced 69


Eighth Administration. 76


Ninth Administration ... 85 Statistics of Volunteers. 90 Iron.


Tenth Administration. 92


Eleventh Administration 93 Twelfth Administration .. 94


Thirteenth Administration 97


Fourteenth Administration. 99 Fifteenth Administration. .104 Sixteenth Administration. 109


Topography and Geology 110 The Archæan Age .. 112 Paleozoic Time-Silurian Agc 115


Climatological Changes from Settling


in the State


235


Influence of Nationalities


237


Occupations-Food-Education, etc.


.238


Ratio of Sickness, Ft. Howard and Win-


nebago ..


239


Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western .. .180 Education of the Blind .. 241


128 Green Bay & Minnesota 181 Institute of Deaf and Dumb. 241


134 Wisconsin Valley .. 181 Industrial School for Boys. 242


Sheboygan & Fond du Lac .. 181 State Prison 242


Mineral Point. 182


State Hospital for the Insane 242 Northern Hospital for the Insane 243 City of Milwaukee 243


Prairie du Chien & McGregor. .183 Health Resorts 244


Chippewa Falls & Western


Narrow Gauge


183


183


Change of Diseases


246


Pulmonary Diseases .248


School Fund Income. .142


Commerce and Manufactures. 198 State University .. 143


Furs 199 Agricultural College 144


Lcad and Zinc-Iron.


200


Normal Schools.


144


Lumber


201


Teachers' Institutes


146


Grain


202


Graded Schools


146


PAGE.


PAGE.


Landlord and Tenant. 281


Limitation of Actions 285


Assessment and Collection of Taxes. 267


Forms of Mortgages 274 Assessment of Taxes. 268


Garnishment. 284


Highways and Bridges .. 270


Hours of Labor


273


Suggestions to Persons Purchasing Books by Subscription. 285 Title of Real Property by Descent .. 275


Weights and Measures. 278


Wolf Scalps.


278


First Administration. 52


Second Administration. 57 59


Third Administration.


Fourth Administration. 149 62


Fifth Administration.


64


Copper ...


168


Gold and Silver


168


Geographical Position.


230


Barometrical


234


Winds


235


-


Capital Punishment


138 Madison & Portage ..


iv


CONTENTS.


HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.


PAGE.


CHAPTER I.


Indian Occupancy .. 309


The Mascoutins, Kickapoos, Miamis, Foxes, Sacs and Winnebagoes .. 310


Early Government ..


311


First White Men in Sank County.


312


Early Visits to Sank County .. 315 How Sauk County got its Name. 317 Sauk County on Early Maps. 318


The Winnebago War. 319


United States Land Surveys and Land Districts 324


CHAPTER II.


The First Permanent Settlement. 329


County Officers 1844 to 1880 331


Laying Out the Towns. 336 Territorial, State and Congressional


Baraboo Claimants' Association. 501 Representation .. 341


Territorial, District and State Circuit Court .. 504 346 Railroad and Its Beneficent Results


County Judges. 348


Political Parties in Sank County 349 Post Office. 512


CHAPTER III.


Locating the County Seat - Court Houses 350


Railroads 352 Agricultural Industries, Soil, etc. 357


Sauk County Agricultural Society 358


Blood Cattle ... 363


Stock Breeders' Association 364


Dairying.


364


Statistical


365


Hops and the Panic of 1868. 365


Nature's Provisions. 366 CHAPTER IV-WAR RECORD.


The First Notc of Alarm 368


Where They Fought and Died. 371 County Contributions. 390


The Draft.


394


The Roll of Honor. 395


What it Cost.


396


CHAPTER V-NATURE'S WONDROUS WORK. Devil's Lake .. 399 The Dells. 403 Peewit's Nest 408


Upper and Lower Narrows.


409


Parprey's Glen


409


Dorward's Gorge.


410)


Mirror Lake.


410


Manufactories.


563


Devil's Post Office. 410 Schools 565 Village Hall .. 650


Echo Rock 410 WIInrches 567


Bee Hive. 410 Fern Dell 410 Hotels 569 Post Office. 569 Downy. 651 Congress Hall. 410 Banks 570 Post Office. 652 Educational 651


JFire Department and Fire Record 571


Ellenwood's Fair Grounds 572


Orders and Societies. 573 CHAPTER XIV.


. Hovernment. 574 Town of Spring Green 655


Bridges Over the Baraboo .. 576 Town of Troy ... 664


'The National Anniversary. 576 First Criminal Trial 578 Town of Bear Creek 670 Town of Franklin. 673 Town of Honcy Creek 675


A Pen Picture.


580


Cemeteries.


581


CHAPTER XI-THE SAUK VILLAGES.


Early History. 583


PRAIRIE DU SAC, or UPPER SAUK 584


PAGE.


Early Settlement and Subsequent Growtlı .. 585 The Old Court House. 586 The First Staging .. 587


Indian Scare of 1844 462 General Notes 587 The Bridge 588


CHAPTER VIII-TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. Physical Features. 467


Elevations 472


Baraboo Quartzite Ranges 472


Wisconsin's Amazon


483


Societies


591


Flora and Fauna 486


CHAPTER IX-BARABOO.


Forty-three Years Ago .. 491


Advent of the Pioneers. 493


First Village Surveys. 496


Baraboo in 1847. 496


Substantial Improvements .. 503


The Busy Baraboo. 507


Government 513


Organized as a Village 515


Baraboo Whisky War. 517


The River. on a Rampage. 519


Origin of the Name .. 519


An Immortal Brotherhood. 525


Destructive Fircs.


Banks. 527


A President in Baraboo.


Educational 528


Secret Societies. 540


Musical


543


Temperance


54-4


ÆEsthetic and Social Life. 544


Cardiff Giant ...


547


Town and Village of Ironton. 626


Town of Excelsior and Village of


Town of Fairfield. 639


CHAPTER XIII-SPRING GREEN.


Introductory Sketch. 613


Government 644


General Development. 645


Temperance Issue


650


The Old Settlers' Society 443 County Poor 443


Ornithology


444


CHAPTER VII-REMINISCENCES.


Pionecr Days. 446


Early Visits to Sauk County 448


A Tribute to Some of the First Pio-


Town of Sumter .6804 neers 457


PORTRAITS.


PAGE.


C. C. Remingtou. 343


Samuel Ramsey 415


A. W. Sallade. 559


J. F. Smith. 433


R. M. Strong 523


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.


PAGE.


Greenfield


751


Sumter 737


Troy S12


Woodland 730


Delton


748


Lavalle 786


Excelsior


780 Merrimack 734


816 Prairie du Sac 799 Freedom 742 Reedsburg 711


Franklin 823 Spring Green 806


PAGE. The First White Woman in the Bara-


boo Valley.


459


A Tilt with Redskins. 460


Early Christian Effort in Sauk County 463


Post Office and Postmasters. 589


Schools. 590


Manufacturing. 590 Hotels 591


Churches. 593


Attorneys and Physicians 604


SAUK CITY, or LOWER SAUK. 594 Early Settlement and growth 595 Causes Celebres .. 599


The Old Military Company 600


Clippings from Old Files. 600


Government 601


Hotels 604


Manufactures


604


Post Office


605


The Bridge


605


Public Schools .. 606


Fire Company and Fires 606


Societies and Churches 607 Attorneys and Physicians. 609 SAUKVILLE, or MIDDLE SAUK 609


526 The Sauk Battle. 610


CHAPTER XII. 528


Town and Village of Lavalle. 611


Town of Washington. 614


Religious. 533 Town of Winfield. 618 538 Loganville and Town of Westfield 621


Hotels. 539 Town of Dellona .. 623


Home of the Dead. 552 Ableman. 631 Olla-Podrida 553 Village and Town of Delton-New- Lyons. 553 Manchester. 554 port ... €33 Town of Woodland 637


CHAPTER X-REEDSBURG.


VA Legend 555


vEarly Settlement 555


vShanty Row


556


CHAPTER VI.


Press 411


Illustrious Dead 422 First and Last Consus. 442


Jolın Barker 397 D. K. Noyes. 505


Charles Cowles 379


M. M. Davies 541


Philip Hoefer 487 H. Il. Potter 325


PAGE.


Baraboo ... 683


Bear Creek 821


Honey Creek 736 Dellona .... 745


Ironton. 770


Winfield. 794 Fairfield


Washington. 761


Westfield. 756


PAGE.


Thomas Baker. 469


B. F. Mills PAGE.


361


Christian Obrecht 452


Roseline Peck 309


Town of Merrimack 6771


Town of Prairie du Sac.


6794


Express Company. 652


Secular Society and Churches. 652


Town of Freedom and Village of


North Freedom. 623


Town of Greenfield 625


The Tom Painc Annivers iry


Miscellaneous and Too Lates. .825


PAGE.


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MAP OF SAUKCOUNTY WIS.


R.IVE.


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R.VI E.


.


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28


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24


HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.


BY C. W. BUTTERFIELD.


I .- WISCONSIN ANTIQUITIES.


The first explorers of the valleys of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi and its tributaries. seem not to have noticed, to any considerable extent, the existence within these vast areas of monuments of an extinct race. Gradually, however, as the tide of emigration broke through the barriers of the Alleghanies and spread in a widely extended flow over what are now the States of the Northwest, these prehistoric vestiges attracted more and more the attention of the curious and the learned, until, at the present time, almost every person is presumed to have some general knowledge, not only of their existence, but of some of their striking peculiarities. Unfortunately, these signs of a long since departed people are fast disappearing by the never ceasing operations of the elements, and the constant encroachments of civilization. The earliest notices of the animal and vegetable kingdom of this region are to be found in its rocks; but Wisconsin's earli- est records of men can only be traced in here and there a crumbling earth-work, in the fragment of a skeleton, or in a few stone and copper implements-dim and shadowy relics of their handicraft.


The ancient dwellers in these valleys, whose history is lost in the lapse of ages, are desig- nated, usually, as the Mound-Builders ; not that building mounds was probably their distinctive employment, but that such artificial elevations of the earth are, to a great extent, the only evi- dences remaining of their actual occupation of the country. As to the origin of these people, all knowledge must, possibly, continue to rest upon conjecture alone. Nor were the habitations of this race confined to the territory of which Wisconsin now forms a part. At one time, they must have been located in many ulterior regions. The earth-works, tumuli, or "mounds," as they are generally designated, are usually symmetrically raised and often inclosed in mathematical figures, such as the square, the octagon, and the circle, with long lines of circumvallation. Besides these earth-works, there are pits dug in the solid rock; rubbish heaps formed in the prosecution of mining operations ; and a variety of implements and utensils, wrought in copper or stone, or moulded in clay. Whence came the inhabitants who left these evidences to succeed- ing generations ? In other words, who were the Mound-Builders? Did they migrate from the Old World, or is their origin to be sought for elsewhere? And as to their manners and customs and civilization-what of these things? Was the race finally swept from the New World to give place to Red men, or was it the one from which the latter descended ? These momentous ques- tions are left for the ethnologist, the archæologist, and the antiquarian of the future to answer- if they can.


2


20


HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.


Inclosures and mounds of the prehistoric people, it is generally believed, constituted but parts of one system; the former being, in the main, intended for purposes of defense or religion ; the latter, for sacrifice, for temple sites, for burial places, or for observatories. In selecting sites for many of these earth-works, the Mound-Builders appear to have been influenced by motives which prompt civilized men to choose localities for their great marts; hence, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee and other cities of the West are founded on ruins of pre-existing structures. River terraces and river bottoms seem to have been the favorite places for these earth-works. In such localities, the natural advantages of the country could be made available with much less trouble than in portions of the country lying at a distance from water-courses. In Wisconsin, therefore, as in other parts, the same general idea of selecting points contiguous to the principal natural thoroughfares is found to have prevailed with the Mound-Builders ; for their works are seen in the basin of the Fox river of the Illinois, in that of Rock river and its branches, in the valley of Fox river of Green bay, in that of the Wisconsin, as well as near the waters of the Mississippi.


While a few circumvallations and immense mounds, such as are common to certain other portions of the United States, are discoverable in Wisconsin, yet by far the largest number of earthworks have one peculiarity not observable, except in a few instances, outside the State. This characteristic is a very striking one The fact is revealed that they are imitative in form- resembling beasts, reptiles, birds, fish, man. All these, for convenience, are usually classed under the general name of "animal mounds," although some are in the similitude of trees, some of war clubs, others of tobacco pipes. Generally, these figures are in groups, though sometimes they are seen alone. For what purpose these earth-works were heaped up-they rise above the surface two, four, and sometimes six feet-or what particular uses they were intended to subserve, is unknown. It is, however, safe to affirm that they had some significance. A number resemble the bear; a few, the buffalo; others, the raccoon. Lizards, turtles, and even tadpoles, are out- lined in the forms of some. The war eagle, and the war club has each its representative. All this, of course, could not have been a mere happening-the work of chance. The sizes of these mounds are as various as their forms. One near Cassville, in Grant county, very complete in its representation of an animal, supposed to be of the elephant species, was found, upon measure- ment, to have a total length of one hundred and thirty-five feet. Another in Sauk county, quite perfect in its resemblance to the form of a man, was of equal length-a veritable colossus ; prone, it is true, and soon to disappear, if it has not already been destroyed, by ravages of a superior civilization.


In portions of Wisconsin, as well as in a few places outside the State, are found earth-works of another kind, but quite as remarkable as the "animal mounds," which, from their supposed use, have been styled "garden beds " They are ridges, or beds, about six inches in height and four feet in width, ranged, with much apparent method, in parallel rows, sometimes rectangular in shape, sometimes of various but regular and symmetrical curves, and occupying fields of from ten to a hundred acres.


The Mound-Builders have left many relics, besides their earthworks, to attest their presence in Wisconsin in ages past. Scattered widely are found stone and copper axes, spear-heads, and · arrow-heads, also various other implements-evidently their handiwork. As these articles are frequently discovered many feet beneath the surface, it argues a high antiquity for the artificers. Whether they had the skill to mould their copper implements is doubtful. Such as plainly show the work of hammering, indicate an art beyond that possessed by the Red men who peopled America upon its first discovery by Europeans. In a few instances, fragments of human skulls have been found so well preserved as to enable a comparison to be drawn between the crania of


.


21


THE INDIAN TRIBES OF WISCONSIN.


this ancient race and those of modern ones; the results, however, of these comparisons throw little, if any, light upon "the dark backward and abysm " of mound-building times.


The evidences of an extinct people of superior intelligence is very strikingly exhibited in the ancient copper mines of the Lake Superior region. Here are to be found excavations in the solid rock; heaps of rubble and dirt ; copper utensils fashioned into knives, chisels, and spear and arrow-heads; stone hammers; wooden bowls and shovels; props and levers for raising and supporting the mass copper; and ladders for ascending and descending the pits. These mines were probably worked by people not only inhabiting what is now the State of Wisconsin, but - territory farther to the southward. The copper was here obtained, it is believed, which has been found in many places, even as far away as the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, wrought into various implements and utensils. But there are no traces in Wisconsin of a " copper age " succeeding a " stone age," discernible in any prehistoric relics. They all refer alike to one age-the indefinite past ; to one people-the Mound-Builders.


II .- THE INDIAN TRIBES OF WISCONSIN.


When, as early, it is believed, as 1634, civilized man first set foot upon the territory now included within the boundaries of Wisconsin, he discovered, to his surprise, that upon this wide area met and mingled clans of two distinct and wide-spread families-the Algonquins and Sioux. The tribes of the former, moving westward, checked the advance of the latter in their excursions eastward. As yet there had been no representatives of the Huron-Iroquois seen west of Lake Michigan-the members of this great family, at that date dwelling in safety in the extensive regions northward and southward of the Erie and Ontario lakes. Already had the French secured a foot-hold in the extensive valley of the St. Lawrence; and, naturally enough, the chain of the Great Lakes led their explorers to the mouth of Green bay, and up that water- course and its principal tributary, Fox river, to the Wisconsin, an affluent of the Mississippi. On the right, in ascending this bay, was seen, for the first time, a nation of Indians, lighter in complexion than neighboring tribes, and remarkably well formed, now well known as the MENOMONEES.


This nation is of Algonquin stock, but their dialect differed so much from the surrounding tribes of the same family, it having strange guttural sounds and accents, as well as peculiar inflec- tions of verbs and other parts of speech, that, for a long time, they were supposed to have a distinct language. Their traditions point to an emigration from the East at some remote period. When first visited by the French missionaries, these Indians subsisted largely upon wild rice, from which they took their name. The harvest time of this grain was in the month of September. It grew spontaneously in little streams with slimy bottoms, and in marshy places. The harvesters went in their canoes across these watery fields, shaking the ears right and left as they advanced, the grain falling easily, if ripe, into the bark receptacle beneath. To clear it from chaff and strip it of a pellicle inclosing it, they put it to dry on a wooden lattice above a small fire, which was kept up for several days. When the rice was well dried, it was placed in a skin of the form of a bag, which was then forced into a hole, made on purpose, in the ground. They then tread it out so long and so well, that the grain being freed from the chaff, was easily winnowed. After this, it was pounded to meal, or left unpounded, and boiled in water seasoned with grease. It thus became a very palatable diet. It must not be inferred that this was the only food of the Menomonees; they were adepts in fishing, and hunted with skill the game which abounded in the forests.




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