USA > Wisconsin > Columbia County > A history of Columbia County, Wisconsin : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 20
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
Toward the latter part of July, the enrolling officers having completed their work, it was found that the number of persons in Columbia county liable to military duty was 2,045 of the first class and 1,609 of the sec- ond. Under the president's call for 300,000 men in 1863, the quota to be filled in the county was about two hundred and seventy. The total number of volunteers up to August 20th of that year was 1,602, or 260 in excess of the quotas under the volunteer calls of 1861-62. As announced by the provost marshal who superintended the enumeration of Columbia County, the number to be drafted in its several towns was 353. The excess of 260 under the 1861-62 calls being deducted, there remained but ninety-three to be supplied under the call of January, 1863.
And so the balancing of debits (quotas due) and credits (volunteers) went on for twenty months or more before the draft actually was "pulled off." In July, 1864, the president issued another call for 500,000 men, and after much figuring among those interested in the prospective draw- ing it was discovered that Columbia county's quota to be furnished was 806. The 21st of September was an interesting day to those whose names went into the box at Janesville. The quota of Portage was eighty-six, and prominent among those who drew prizes were E. C. Maine, D. G. Muir, H. O. Lewis, V. Helmann, William Armstrong, J. P. Me- Gregor, F. H. Ellsworth, W. W. Corning, L. Breese, John T. Clark, James Collins, Carl Haertel, A. J. Turner, Alva Stewart and Israel Holmes. Most of those mentioned belonged to the Draft Insurance Club, and were entitled to draw $380 each from a citizens' fund to pay sub- stitutes. Supplementary drafts soon followed in a few of the towns.
Another call for 300,000 volunteers having been made on the 19th of December, 1864, it was ascertained that Columbia County's quota would amount to 423 men. The quota of Portage by wards was fifty- one. There was some lively volunteering about this time, under the patriotic influence of nearly five hundred dollars bounty, $200 wages for a year, with board and clothes and very little prospect for a fight.
A draft took place in the towns of Marcellon and Lewiston on the 27th of February, 1865, but by the time the drawing was announced nearly every man in those towns liable to be drafted had enlisted.
GUPPEY GUARD OF PORTAGE
The name of General and Judge J. J. Guppey was given to the famous militia of Portage which, since 1883, has been known as Company F, Third Regiment, Wisconsin National Guard. Prior to that time the Guppey Guard had acquired a state-wide reputation as a finely drilled organization,
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On the 6th of July, 1877, a meeting was held at the court house in Portage for the purpose of organizing a military company. A petition was then and there signed by sixty-five young men of legal military age and presented to General Guppey, requesting him to appoint someone to organize a company as provided for under the laws of the state. A. J. Turner was selected for the undertaking, and at the first meeting of the company A. H. Russell, who had served several years in the Civil war, was elected captain, Homer S. Goss first lieutenant, and George S. Race, second lieutenant. Soon afterward the company received from the state sixty Springfield rifles, with belts and cartridge boxes, and at once commenced regular drills. The citizens of Portage subscribed money for the uniforms of gray, known as West Point cadet cloth, with gold lace and dark facings.
COMPETITIVE DRILLS
The first competitive drill took place at Reedsburg, Wis., July 4, 1879, the rivals of the Guppeys being the Mauston Light Guard, then one of the best companies in the state. Honors were so evenly divided that the $100 prize was split between the two organizations. At the September competition of the same year, held at Portage, the local com- pany was second to the Mauston Light Guard, but in October it took first prize.
In January, 1880, the Guppey Guard participated in the inaugural ceremonies at Madison, and had the satisfaction of reading the following in a city paper: "The Guppey Guard, of Portage, Capt. J. D. Womer, 'went in on its muscle,' and showed the crowd something grand. Cheer after cheer went up as the company went through with some of its fancy and most difficult movements. The other companies indulged in the usual parade movements only. Portage City is assured that her company 'took the palm' in the drill business in our city, and the captain of this company may well be proud of his men."
The first executive officers of the Guppey Guard were as follows: J. J. Guppey, president ; A. J. Turner, vice president; John T. Yule, secretary ; H. S. Goss, treasurer.
CAPTAINS AND ARMORIES
Charles C. Dow followed Captain Womer in command of the com- pany, and after him came J. C. Britt. Just before the latter's commission arrived the guard was called to Eau Claire to quell the strikers in the sawmills in that city. Capt. V. E. Brewer followed Captain Britt and
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held the command until the fall of 1888. During the incumbency of the former, the Guppey Guard joined with the Masons in erecting the armory and Masonic Hall building on De Witt Street. It was completed in 1883. During the later '90s the Masons acquired the title to the entire property, renting the lower floor to the postal authorities when the new armory of Company F was completed and thrown open in the upper story of the present city hall. This was in 1901.
COMPANY F, THIRD REGIMENT, W. N. G.
After being assigned to various commands in the Wisconsin National Guard, the Portage company became at the organization of the regiment in 1883, Company F, First Battalion, Third Infantry, as it is today.
George C. Carnegie, formerly first lieutenant, succeeded Captain Brewer in 1888, and commauded the company until his promotion to the head of the Third Battalion of his regiment in 1895. Major Carnegie died two years later, while holding a temporary position as officer in the guard of the Nashville exposition.
H. S. Rockwood, who had been promoted to the captaincy of Company F upon Captain Carnegie's promotion, resigned in the summer of 1897, being succeeded by Frank T. Lee. Captain Lee held the office until January, 1899, when the Third Regiment was mustered out of the United States service, after the Spanish-American war.
COMPANY F IN SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
As a unit of the Third, Company F volunteered for service in the war. It left Portage on April 28, 1898, and as part of the command, embarked at Charleston, S. C., for Porto Rico. Both the Second and the Third regiments participated in the capture of Ponce, three months after leaving home, taking an active part in the taking of Coamo. The troops fought in various skirmishes up to the signing of the protocol of peace in August. Several members of Company F were wounded, and Corporal Frank B. Loomis and Private James Gamble subsequently died in a Coamo hospital. At the muster-out at Portage, in January, Frank T. Lee was captain, William O. Kelm, first lieutenant, and H. S. Rockwood, second lieutenant. In addition, there were eighteen officers, two musicians, an artificer and a wagoner, and seventy-three privates; three members of the company had been honorably discharged, and there had been two deaths of typhoid fever, as noted.
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THE NEW ARMORY
Since the Spanish-American war Company F has been well supported and its ranks maintained at the legal standard-sixty-five in times of peace. Its armory in the new city hall building is commodious and strictly metropolitan, with equipment to match. Guy F. Godell is captain, Samuel B. Ernsperger, first lieutenant, and Frank B. Ernsperger, second lieutenant.
The armory drill hall occupies a space of 72x73 feet on the Wisconsin street side of the second and third floors, and is reached by two wide maple stairways from the first floor. Like all the other floors in the building, the floor is of matched maple. The wainscoting and other woodwork throughout are of southern pine in natural finish. A wide balcony runs around the hall on three sides, and on a level with the hall floor at the Clark Street side are reception, dressing and smoking rooms. Above these, and level with the gallery, are the officers' quarters.
Columbia county is proud of Company F which, like other units of the Wisconsin National Guard, has always upheld the fine traditions of United States soldiers, whether members of the regular army or the volunteer service.
CHAPTER XIII
THE CITY OF PORTAGE
FIRST WHITE WOMAN AT THE PORTAGE-THE SETTLEMENT GROWS-THE CANAL BOOMS THINGS-PLATTING THE TOWN OF FORT WINNEBAGO- THE GUPPEY PLAT-INCORPORATION AS A CITY-INCREASE OF POPULA- TION-THE PRESENT CITY-CHICAGO & WISCONSIN VALLEY RAILROAD -THE FINE CITY HALL-FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF PORTAGE (MRS. J. E. JONES)-THE CITY WATER WORKS-ELECTRIC LIGHT AND TOWER- COMMISSION FORM OF GOVERNMENT ADOPTED-PROTECTION AGAINST FIRE-WISCONSIN RIVER BRIDGES-FINAL DISSOLUTION OF $119,000- NOMENCLATURE OF PORTAGE STREETS (A. J. TURNER)-EXPERIMENTS IN BANKING CITY BANK OF PORTAGE-FIRST NATIONAL BANK- PORTAGE LOAN AND TRUST COMPANY-THE EULBERG BREWING COM- PANY-EPSTEIN BROTHERS' BREWERY-THE PORTAGE HOSIERY COM- PANY-LL. BREESE.
When you weed out the inhabitants of old Fort Winnebago, and the traders, and the carriers, and the interpreters at the portage, who by no stretch of prose license could be classed as "permanent," the first real householder of the settlement which developed into Portage was Henry Carpenter. Long after, when he had become a resident of Waushara County, Wisconsin, he wrote: "I landed in Portage in July, 1837-my wife and I, and a man and his wife by the name of Hart. Henry Merrell was keeping a sutler's store when I came, in a building close by the fort. He afterward built and moved to the west side of Fox River.
FIRST WHITE WOMAN AT THE PORTAGE
"The first white woman who came to the portage and permanently settled there was Sarah Carpenter, my wife; the first white child born at the portage was George Carpenter, my son .* Silas Walsworth kept a
*Mr. Carpenter is now, and has been for years, a resident of Milwaukee.
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small grocery on the Wisconsin River near the place where I built my hotel. Gideon Low (an army officer, then living at the fort) was building the Franklin House when I came, and afterward moved into it."
Neither Carpenter nor Low came to Portage to settle there, although they finally became residents. The same may be said of Henry Merrell, who built a store on the west side of Fox River opposite the fort (and therefore within the present city limits) about the time that Carpenter erected the original United States Hotel. Silas Walsworth, whom Car- penter found living at the portage in July, 1837, was a new arrival. He afterward married the widow of Pierre Pauquette, and in 1846, at the organization of Columbia County, was chosen county judge, although he failed to qualify. He was a typical trader-here one day, and there, the next.
THE SETTLEMENT GROWS
Andrew Dunn, Hugh McFarlane, Clark Whitney, J. Garrison, Archi- bald Barker, Jonathan Cole and others came in 1838-the first three to stay, as the future was to develop. In 1839-40 immigration set in with some strength, and within the next fifteen years the "entrepot of Central Wisconsin" really stood up to the name by which its people were wont to call it.
Before the arrival of Mr. Carpenter the Portage Canal had been chartered, and in 1838 digging actually commenced at a point on the Fox River now intersected by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul line. Its course was along Bronson Avenue, about two rods north, entering the Wisconsin River near Mac Street. After about ten thousand dollars had been spent on that route work ceased.
THE CANAL BOOMS THINGS
But enough had been done to start a boom in the lowlands. "When it was finally decided that there should be a canal, before the survey had been made, great excitement prevailed among the people owning and occupying the little cluster of houses along Wisconsin Street. It was generally believed that the two rivers would be connected through Bron- son Avenue, inasmuch as the two streams approached nearest together at this point, and a demand for property along the avenue was necessarily soon manifest. But, as experience has long since taught, there is no telling where canals and railroads are going until they get there; the Portage Canal was no exception to the rule. Bronson Avenue property owners were seriously disappointed when the fiat went forth that the
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canal, with a perplexing elbow in it, should be located some distance northwest of the original survey. This announcement created confusion, and real estate values were sadly affected. Immigrants were pouring in, but very few of them chose to locate upon 'the flat ;' they preferred high ground.
"And then it was that the first settlements were made along the brow of the semi-circular hill, then so clearly discernable, in what are now the Second and Third Wards. The population of this new settle- ment was composed almost entirely of former residents of Fremont, Ohio. A very brisk rivalry soon sprang up between the old residents of Lower town and the new comers of Upper town; and when the latter became influential enough to secure the removal of the postoffice to the north side of the canal, the name Gougeville was immediately substituted for Upper town by the chagrined denizens of the Flat. The energy and industry of all classes, however, soon united in the common cause of progress. The two settlements became one, and local differences of a character to retard development were thereafter seldom indulged in."
PLATTING THE TOWN OF FORT WINNEBAGO
In the meantime progress had been made in the platting of a large portion of the present site of Portage. The canal company had come into possession of the old Grignon claim, had turned it over to its former owners, Sheldon Thompson, of Buffalo, and DeGamo Jones, of Detroit, who, in turn, shuffled off the tract upon Benjamin L. Webb and Alvin Bronson, in September, 1842.
In November, 1849, a plat of the town of Fort Winnebago, covering the Grignon claim, was made by Webb & Bronson, with John Mullet as surveyor. The boundary lines of that plat may be easily traced upon any of the modern maps of the city of Portage. The northwestern boundary, designated as "the line of public lands," as distinguishing them from the possessions of the Menominee Indians, begins at a point on the Fox River opposite old Fort Winnebago, and runs southwesterly to the corner of Adams and Conant streets; thence almost directly south across the canal to the Wisconsin River, thence southeasterly along the bank of the river to a point half a block east of Ontario Street, thence northwesterly on a direct line to the Fox River, and down that stream to the place of beginning.
THE GUPPEY PLAT
In June, 1852, J. J. Guppey, as county judge, entered various lands in Section 5, in trust for settlers; it was surveyed in the following month
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and has since been known as the Guppey Plat. The United States Land Office recognized the validity of the entry of lands only on even sections, as Congress had given to the state the odd sections as public lands. Richard F. Veeder acquired interests in both Sections 5 and 8, and further complicated the wrangle between the state and settlers who had bought land in these parts of the town. It is impossible to go into the legal details regarding the troubles of property owners, especially Mr. Veeder, but suffice it to say that after nearly a decade of state legislation and legal procedure such titles were made secure. Numerous additions have since been made, the first after Portage became a city being that of Dunn, Haskell & Tenney. In 1856 Ketchum's second addition was laid out.
INCORPORATION AS A CITY
On the 10th of March, 1854, Governor Barstow approved the legis- lative act to incorporate the city of Portage, which was to go into effect on the first Tuesday in April. Its territory was described as "all that portion of the west fractional half of Section 4 which lies south and west of the Fox River; Sections 5 and 6; all that portion of Sections 7 and 8 which lies north of the Wisconsin River; the west fractional half of Section 9, and claim No. 21, known as the claim of A. Grignon, in Township 12, north, Range 9 east." The three wards of the city were thus defined: First-all that part lying south and east of the canal; Second-lying north of the canal and east of DeWitt Street and the road leading from the same to the north line of Town 12; Third-lying north of the canal and west of De Witt Street. An amendment to the original charter passed March 30th created the Fourth Ward, and on the first Tuesday in April, the following officers were elected through the casting of 366 votes: William Sylvester, mayor; John Lodge, clerk; D. Vandercook, treasurer ; Henry Carpenter, assessor ; Alexander Christie, marshal, and W. S. M. Abbott, school superintendent.
In 1868 the boundaries of the city were extended, the Fifth Ward was created, and the limits of the boundaries changed; and these processes have gone on, from time to time.
INCREASE OF POPULATION
In 1850 the population of Portage City, as officially ascertained, was 2,062, it was still the great route between the East, the lakes and the Mississippi valley. During the summer and fall of that year it was
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estimated that ten thousand persons with their teams and stock, crossed the Wisconsin River in the neighborhood of the portage.
By 1856 the population had increased to 4,364. Three years later the assessed value of its real and personal property had reached $588,169. Its appearance and recorded prosperity well fitted it to assume the honors and responsibilities of a municipality.
THE PRESENT CITY
The present Portage of 6,000 people extends over two miles along the eastern side of the Wisconsin River, its northeastern districts extend- ing to the Fox. The business district lies along the lower lands on both sides of the canal, its substantial and attractive residences, churches and schools covering the higher and more broken area of the old "Upper town," and far beyond to the west.
The streets are well paved and lighted, electricity for both illumination and power being supplied by Southern Wisconsin Power Company, whose plant is located at Kilbourn City. Both police and fire protection are adequate. The city is under the commission form of government.
CHICAGO AND WISCONSIN VALLEY STREET RAILWAYS COMPANY AND CHICAGO AND WISCONSIN VALLEY RAILROAD COMPANY
Portage has a street car system which is a part of the-contemplated interurban system for Central Wisconsin. The Chicago & Wisconsin Valley Railroad Company was organized in September, 1909, and the object of the organization is to build an interurban electric railway from Janesville to Merrill, from Madison to Fond du Lac, from Madison to Prairie du Lac, all in Wisconsin. Work on these lines is now in progress, with headquarters of the company at Portage and Madison. The officers of the company are J. F. Huntoon, Chicago, president ; J. E. Jones, Portage, vice president and general manager; Thos. W. Potts, Chicago, secretary ; A. S. Wehrheim, treasurer.
THE FINE CITY HALL
Portage takes a great and commendable pride in its fine city hall, completed in the early part of 1902. It is a three story structure, with a body of red brick and trimmings of darker sandstone. There are entrances on two streets, that on Wisconsin being the chief, the municipal offices, the business men's room and historie portrait gallery, and Free
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Public Library occupying the first floor and the armory of Company F, the second and third stories.
The city hall was completed under the administration of Mayor J. E. Jones, the building committee consisting of himself, J. C. Britt (then captain of Company F), J. L. Hardie, F. E. Burbach, M. J. Downey (now mayor), and Guy F. Goodell. The first meeting in the new council chamber was held February 11, 1902, and at the first session in the fol- lowing month the building committee submitted its final report turning the municipal home over to the city. The total cost of the building had been $18,917.53, which is borne equally by the city and Company F. As the city spent, in addition, nearly three thousand dollars in fixtures
WISCONSIN STREET FRONT OF CITY HALL, PORTAGE
and furniture, it paid some $11, 616 for its accommodations. Company F meets its share of the cost of erection in ten annual payments, assigning to the city its receipts from the State of Wisconsin. Thus both parties to the transaction are happy.
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF PORTAGE By. Mrs. J. E. Jones .
The story of the organization and growth of the free circulating library of Portage, from its inception to its present important place in the educational and material worth of the city, is one which reflects great credit upon the women of Portage whose optimism, energy and
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zeal gave to the community the benefits of this most admirable insti- tution.
On the 29th of May, 1900, a communication from Mrs. Catharine Krech (since deceased) was read before the Do Nothing Society (a lit- erary club) in which she urged the ladies to take some step toward establishing a free circulating library in the city, as it had been the oft- expressed wish of her deceased daughter, Miss Catharine, that some such move be made and that her library be bestowed upon such an institution when assured. As Mrs. and Miss Krech had both been mem- bers of the Do Nothings, the request seemed like a personal appeal to each individual member of the society, and with Miss Catharine's small but admirably selected library as a forcible incentive, it was unanimously decided to act. It being the last meeting of the year, a committee was appointed to formulate some feasible plan of procedure, to report at the first meeting in the fall, and the society adjourned for the summer.
At the first meeting of the next society year, October 2; 1900, it was decided to call a public meeting at the city hall on October 27th, for the purpose of organizing a free publie library association, to which all the ladies of the city were invited and all of the women's clubs were asked to send representatives. The day arrived, the ladies assembled, an organization was perfected and the following officers were chosen: President, Mrs. J. E. Jones; first vice president, Mrs. J. E. O'Keefe; second viee president, Mrs. R. O. Loomis; secretary, Mrs. Maurice Good- man; treasurer, Mrs. W. G. Clough ; directors, Mesdames P. J. Bark- man, E. G. Boynton, F. Burbach, Jas. Collins, C. L. Dering, F. T. Gorton. C. G. Jaeger, J. E. McDonald, A. J. Turner and R. B. Went- worth and Misses Margaret Hanley and Emma Voertmann.
Though the projeet seemed to be well launched, the ladies were now confronted with the problem of suitable rooms for their purpose, a problem which was more serious than the casual reader might imagine, as although they had a treasurer they had no treasury and no positive assurance of ever having one. But nothing dismayed, the ladies pro- ceeded to map out a plan of work for collecting a library, determined to do their present duty and willing to let tomorrow take care of itself, secure in the firm belief that the way would be prepared for them, as such united effort in so noble a cause must perforce be crowned with success. And how soon were their hopes and supreme faith to be re- warded! for before the elose of the meeting a message was received from Mr. E. W. Moran offering two pleasant rooms above his store for the use of a library gratis for so long a time as they should be needed. This offer was accepted with thanks and the ladies took up their work with
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a will. Everything necessary for the furnishing of the rooms was quickly offered and before the adjournment of their first meeting pleas- ant library rooms were assured, containing all the requirements of an up-to-date library excepting, alas, the books.
Provided with rooms, now began the real work of accumulating the books. The members of the association did not feel that their interest and responsibility ended with the naming of the officers but remained faithful and zealous participants in every project undertaken for the good of the cause. The first money-about five hundred and sixty dol- lars-was raised by a canvass among the women of the city, for this was a woman's enterprise and only the women were asked to give. Offerings of books were also solicited and freely given, and on the 21st of January, 1901, the library was opened to the public. And surely it is a record to be proud of! In less than three months from the organization of the association the ladies had filled up a neat little library for the use of the public with nothing to build upon but the promise of Miss Krech's books "when the library shall be an assured success." And it was not until several months later that these were turned over to the association.
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