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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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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