USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > Madison > A history of Madison, the capital of Wisconsin : including the Four Lake country : to July, 1874, with an appendix of notes on Dane County and its towns > Part 3
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"On the second day of October, Gov. DOTY and myself started from Green Bay on horseback, he with his green blanket and shot gun, that had been his companions on many and a member of the Legislative Council of Michigan, which assembled at Green Bay in the winter of 1835, and was the author of the memorial to Congress praying to disconnect the territory lying west of Lake Michigan from the State of Michigan, and to be organized into a new Territory to be called Wisconsin.
He resigned the office of Register in 1841. In May, 1837, he came to the " City of the Four Lakes," a plat of which was laid out and put on record July 7, 1836, by M. L. Martin, W. B. Slaughter and J. D. Doty, proprietors. Mr. Slaughter opened up a farm and made it his residence until 1845, when he removed to his old home in Virginia; but at the be- ginning of the late war (1861) he returned to Wisconsin, and located in ·the town of Middleton, Dane county.
In 1862 he was appointed Commissary of Subsistence and Quartermas- ter by President Lincoln, and served one year, when he retired, and re- turned to Wisconsin, where he still resides at his home in sight of the City of Madison. Although in his 77th year, he is strong and active as most persons one half his age. He has delivered a number of lectures on moral, philosophical and political subjects, which have been greatly ad- mired for their genius, learning and eloquence.
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many a trip through the almost trackless wilds of Wisconsin, and I with my compass and chain. We were both provided for camping out wherever night should overtake us; and for the more solid part of our forage, we were to depend upon the Gov- ernor's gun. On our way we stopped at various places, among which were Cliffton, at the north end of Winnebago Lake, where we laid out the village bearing that name, out of respect to an extensive ledge of rock that crops out at that point; and at Duck creek, on the east bank of the Wisconsin river, about eight or ten miles below Portage City, where we laid out the town of Wisconsinapolis.
"Finally, after about eight days from the time of leaving home, we reached what was then called 'Four Lakes.' We came by the trail that led around by the north side and west end of Fourth Lake, and found near what might be called the northwest corner, and perhaps two miles from where the University buildings now stand, a small log house, occu- pied by a man whose name I have forgotten,* who entertained our horses and ourselves nights, and assisted us day times in making such meanders and surveys of the shores of the Third and Fourth Lakes, and other points, as were necessary for mak- ing the plat of the future city. This took us, I think, three days. The precise time in which the survey and original plat of the city were made, was during the second and third weeks of October, while the Legislature was in session at Belmont.
" While standing at the section corner, on that beautiful spot between the Lakes, then the central point of a wilderness, with no civilization nearer than Fort Winnebago on the north, and Blue Mounds on the west, and but very little there; and over which now stands the principal entrance to one of the finest cap- itol structures in the west - I have no doubt Gov. DOTY saw in his far-reaching mind, just what we now see actually ac- complished, a splendid city surrounding the capitol of Wiscon- sin at Four Lakes, as he remarked to me then, that I need not be surprised to learn that the seat of government of Wiscon- sin was located on that spot before the Legislature had adjourned. And sure enough, it so happened.
* MICHEL ST. CYR.
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" We went directly to Belmont, where the Legislature was in session. On arriving there, I immediately set about draw- ing the plat of Madison, the Governor, in the mean time, giv- ing me minute directions as to its whole plan, every item of which having originated with him while on the ground as being the most suitable, and best calculated, to develop the peculiar topography of the place.
" As soon as the plats were completed, I returned home alone, leaving the Governor behind to carry out his object. On the adjournment of the Legislature, quite a number of gentlemen, I never learned how many, belonging to that body, went to their homes the owners of sundry corner lots in a new town, and the seat of government of Wisconsin was permanently lo- cated at Madison, while the temporary locality was to be at Burlington, on the west side of the Mississippi, until the capi- tol buildings were erected and got ready for occupancy.
" Gov. DOTY had the honor of naming the county of Dane after some notable person and circumstance connected with the passage of the Ordinance of 1787, for the government of the territory northwest of the Ohio, which he wished might be preserved in this imperishable way; and the name was given to the city by him in honor of President MADISON, whose mem- ory he held in very high esteem."
Mr. SUYDAM certifies, October 27, 1836, that he had carefully meandered and measured the exterior lines of the plat of the town of Madison; and Judge DOTY certifies to its correctness November 4, 1836, at Belmont.
It may be desirable at this point to give a brief account of the place selected for the seat of Government, as a matter of his- toric interest. The village (now city) of Madison, is situated in latitude 43 degrees 4 minutes and 20 seconds north, and lon- gitude 89 degrees 20 minutes west from Greenwich, or 12 de- grees 20 minutes west from Washington; another authority makes it nine minutes further west, or ten and one-third miles. The grounds occupy under the city charter, the greater por- tion of sections 13, 14, 23 and 24 of town 7 north from the base line or southern boundary of the state, and range 9 east from the fourth principal meridian: these sections have their corner
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under the western doorway of the rotunda of the capitol. This point is about seventy-five miles in an air line from Lake Mich- igan, about ninety miles from the Mississippi river, thirty- nine miles from the southern, and two hundred and forty miles from the northern boundary of the state, at its nearest point on Lake Superior, and two hundred and sixty-four from the ex- treme northern limit of the state. It is therefore very near the centre of the state of which it is the capitol on an east and west line but far from the center of a north and south line. It is twenty-three miles from the western and nineteen miles from the eastern boundary of Dane county, of which it is the capital seat, and midway between the northern and southern boundaries being fifteen miles from each.
The site of Madison is a i undulating isthmus between Lake Mendota (Fourth Lake) on the northwest, and Lake Monona (Third Lake) on the southeast. These lakes are 788 feet above the Atlantic Ocean and 210 feet above Lake Michigan.
The most elevated ground within the present city limits, is " University Hill," the summit of which is about 125 feet above the surrounding lakes. The ground upon which the capitol stands is about 75 feet, and the ridge that skirts Lake Mendota, about 80 feet above the level of the water. Northeast of the capitol, each of the lakes is skirted by a ridge perhaps thirty or forty feet high. Between these ridges the ground is flat, and was formerly a wet marsh. The efforts to reclaim this tract by draining and by lowering Lake Monona have been successful, and a number of dwellings and shops have been erected upon it; also the works of the Madison Gas Light and Coke Com- pany. The site of the city, with this exception, is abundantly high and so rolling as to afford perfect drainage and beautiful building sites. Much has been said of its beauty. HORACE GREELEY, BAYARD TAYLOR and other distinguished visitors have described the charming lake scenery by which we are sur- rounded in such glowing terms as to give Madison a national reputation. The visitor has only to survey the city from the dome of the State Capitol, the State University, the Park Ho- tel or Vilas House, to satisfy himself that the world affords few more delightful prospects.
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Hon. JOHN CATLIN,* now of Elizabeth, N. J., one of the earliest of our pioneers, and who was the first Clerk of the Supreme Court of the Territory, the first attorney and District Attorney of Dane county, and the first postmaster of Madison, has given the following account of the early years of his resi- dence:
" The territorial government of Wisconsin was organized and took effect on the 4th of July, 1836. The legislature was convened by proclamation of Gov. HENRY DODGE to meet at Belmont in November of that year. I was at Belmont during the session when the Capital was established by law at Madi-
* Hon. John Catlin was born in Orwell, Vt., on the 13th day of Octo- ber, 1803. He was the son of John B. Catlin, and a descendant of the 6th generation of Thomas Catlin who was a resident of Hartford, Conn., 1645, 6, and from whom a large part of the persons of that name in this country are supposed to have descended. His mother's name was Rosa Ormsbee, daughter of John Ormsbee of Shoreham, Vt. Both of his grandparents served through the Revolutionary War, and died in Ver- mont at an advanced age. His grandfather on his fathers side, was one of seven brothers all engaged in the Revolution, and were all stalwart men, remarkable for size, being all six feet in height and well propor- tioned. His grandfather Ormsbee was a Lieutenant and was honorably discharged at the close of the war, receiving $1,400 in continental money for his services, and when he returned to his family in Massachusetts paid $60-of it for a bushel of corn, so great was its depreciation.
Mr. Catlin's father was a merchant, but when the war of 1812, broke out, retired to a farm on Lake Champlain in the town of Bridport, Addison Co., Vt., where Mr. Catlin was raised, receiving only a common school education with the exception of a year at Newton Academy in Shoreham, and a few months study of French in Canada. When eighteen years of age he took a school and continued to teach for nine winters, during which time he educated himself, studied law with Hon. Augustus C. Hand of Elizabethtown New York, and was admitted to the Bar in 1833. In the spring of 1836 he removed to the west, and settled at Mineral Point, in May of that year, entering into partnership with Hon. Moses M. Strong.
When the seat of government was located at Madison, Mr. Catlin was appointed Postmaster and established the office in May, 1837, and remov- ed to Madison permanently in the spring of 1838. On the election of Gen. Harrison to the Presidency, Mr. Catlin was removed on political
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son, then in the wilderness, with only three white men residing in what is now Dane county. These were EBENEZER BRIG- HAM, EBEN PECK residing with him at the East Blue Mound, and ABEL RASDALL residing at the First Lake. MICHEL ST. CYR, a half breed, residing at the head of Fourth Lake. The legislature formed the plan of organizing a territorial govern- ment west of the Mississippi river, and to divide the territory by that river, which was subsequently accomplished, and the territorial government of Iowa organized, and this was the main reason for locating the seat of government at Madison,
grounds, and restored by Mr. Wickliff who was appointed Postmaster General under President Tyler. Mr. Catlin continued to hold the office until his election to the council in 1844 when he resigned, as he could not by law hold both offices. On the organization of the Supreme Court in the fall of 1836, Mr. Catlin received the appointment of clerk, and was chief clerk of the House of Representatives of the Territory from 1838 until 1845 when L. F. Kellogg succeeded him to that office. On the organization of Dane County for county and Judicial purposes, Mr. Catlin was appointed District Attorney.
In 1846 Mr. George R. C. Floyd being in default to the United States Government as Secretary of the Territory, was removed and Mr. Catlin was appointed to that office by President Polk which he held until the admission of the Territory as a State in 1848.
The State of Wisconsin was admitted into the Union, with its western boundary by the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers, leaving out a full organ- ized county with a sheriff, clerk of court, judge of probate and justices of the peace which had formerly been included within the limits of the Territory and under its government and laws. A bill had been intro- duced at a previous session Congress by Hon. Morgan L. Martin the delegate from Wisconsin, to organize a territorial government for Min- nesota, including the district left out on the admission of Wisconsin, but which failed to become a law on account of the slavery question. The citizens of what is now Minnesota, were very anxious to obtain a terri- toral government and two public meetings were held, one at St. Paul, and the other at Stillwater, advising and soliciting Mr. Catlin, who was Secretary of Wisconsin, to issue a proclamation, as the acting Governor for the election of a delegate.
On consultation with Governor Dodge who had been elected to the Senate for the new State (and consequently had vacated the office of Governor), and on the resignation of Hon. John H. Tweedy of the office
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which would be in about the center of the territory, between the east and the west, if the territory (now the state of Iowa) should be set off. They had, however, another reason, which was the settlement of the interior, and the opening up of the country at a time when population was greatly to be desired. Provision was made for building a capitol to be commenced in the spring of 1837, and by the advice of members of the legis- lature I agreed to locate at Madison, was recommended for and appointed postmaster, having been previously appointed Clerk
of Delegate, Mr. Catlin repaired to Stillwater and issued a proclamation for the election of Delegate. Hon. H. H. Sibley was elected, and nearly four hundred votes were polled at the election. Gen. Sibley presented his certificate of election to Congress which was referred to a committee which reported in favor of the admission of the Delegate; the committee taking the same view Mr. Catlin had taken, and Gen. Sibley was admitt- ed to his seat on the floor of congress by a vote of two to one, most of the southern members opposing, contending that the Territoral Govern- ment fell on the admission of Wisconsin. The admission of Gen. Sibley facilitated and hastened the passage of a bill for the organization of a Territorial Government for Minnesota which Gen. Sibley was enable to get passed notwithstanding the opposition of the southern members. Mr. Catlin subsequently was elected to the office of County Judge of Dane county, which he resigned on being appointed President of the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad Company, when he removed to Milwaukee when the principal office of the company was kept. Mr. Catlin rendered efficient service in the building of the Milwaukee & Mississippi road. He was mainly instrumental in procuring in the banking law a provision making first mortgage bonds of railroads to the amount of fifty per cent, the basis of banking, under certain restrictions, a provis- ion which enabled him to sell and issue of $600,000 of bonds on the said road, which breathed into the corporation the breath of life, and gave it a grand start towards the Mississippi.
Mr. Catlin declined a re-election as president in 1856, and on the 11th of February the Board of Directors tendered him their thanks for the able and efficient manner in which for the past five years he had discharged the arduous and responsible dnties of that office.
After the failure of the company in the revulsion of 1857, Mr. Catlin was again elected President, and re-organized the company under the name of the Milwaukee & Prairie du Chien Railway, and was Vice President until the consolidation of the company with the Milwaukee & St. Paul.
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of the Supreme Court at its first session held at Belmont in 1836.
" My first visit to Madison was in company with MOSES M. STRONG, Esq., JOSIAH A. NOONAN and GEO. MESSERSMITH, early in the year 1837 (or in December, 1836) to survey out and find the lines of Mr. NOONAN's* lands lying just west and adjoining Madison. We found the snow very deep, and after a hard day's work, wading in the snow, we camped at night between the Third Lake (Monona) and Dead Lake (Wingra), where we found some thick timber and a sheltered spot. With a good deal of difficulty we made a log heap fire and eat our snack, and after the fire had thawed the snow, and warmed the ground, we removed the fire to a little distance and made our bed on the ashes where the fire had warmed the ground. The weather was extremely cold, but we slept warm, and the next morning Mr. NOONAN left us on horseback for Milwaukee. The snow being too deep to survey out and find the corners of lots and blocks in Madison, and the weather extremely cold, we returned to Mineral Point to wait for milder weather.
"In February, 1837, I again visited Madison with Mr. STRONG, who had been employed by Judge JAMES D. DOTY (who platted the town from the township plats without a survey) to survey out some lots and blocks around the public square according to the plat he furnished, so that those persons who intended to build, could find their lots. We found that the snow still covered the ground, and we stuck the stakes in the snow, the ground being too deeply frozen in most places to receive the stakes. We camped in the timber in the low grounds under the hill of the Fourth Lake, and were compelled to abandon our work by a severe snow storm, that so blinded us, that it was with great difficulty we found our way across the Fourth Lake to the cabin of ST. CYR, where we stayed two days, until the storm was over. While here I made a contract with him to erect the body of a log house on lot 3, in block 90, where
* These lands were what is generally known as the " Darwin Meadow Lawn Farm," now the property of DANIEL CAMPBELL.
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the postoffice now stands, which he put up in that month, but the house was not finished and completed until spring.
"In the spring I drew the pine lumber to finish the house from Helena, on the Wisconsin river, at a cost of over $90 per thousand feet, and was so unfortunate, after its completion in very good style, as to have the inside burnt out before any one lived in it. I again visited Madison in March, where I found Mr. EBEN PECK drawing logs to erect a house which was partially completed in April, and in May he removed into it, which was the first house built in Madison that any one lived in. Mr. PECK kept on adding to it until it was capacious enough to entertain comfortably, the travelers and first settlers who visited Madison and it was then a great accommodation. On the 27th day of May, 1837, I established the postoffice by appointing LUTHER PECK as deputy, and the first mails were opened and the office kept in Mr. E. PECK's house, his being the only family in Madison.
" In June, 1837, Mr. AUGUSTUS A. BIRD, one of the commis- sioners of public buildings, arrived from Milwaukee with quite a large number of mechanics, and commenced building a board- ing house, office, steam mill, store and hotel, preparatory to the erection of the capitol, and very soon the excavation for the foundation of the capitol building was commenced. JAMES MORRISON was the contractor and Mr. BIRD was the acting commissioner and superintendent, and had the general man- agement. A mail route was established between Milwaukee and Mineral Point, carried on horseback, which first supplied Madison, but afterwards the mail route from Galena, Illinois, to Fort Winnebago, carried in a two horse stage, was changed to go via Madison.
"On the 4th of July, 1837, Mr. SIMEON MILLS was sworn in as deputy postmaster, and kept the office in a one story log building on lot 8 in block 108 during that year, and the sum- mer of 1838, until he became a mail contractor on the route between Milwaukee and Madison.
" The second session of the legislature was held at Burlington (now Iowa) in the fall of 1837 and winter of 1838, where I
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spent the winter, and was not therefore at Madison, but I have been told of the high prices and short supplies that prevailed among the few residents of the town. Flour was $20 per barrel, salt $30, but other articles were more reasonable. Salt and flour had to be hauled from Galena through the timbers and across the prairies, with scarcely any roads for the first forty miles west of Madison. In the spring of 1838 there was some relief to the high prices, but the times were what men called "hard " as there was no money except " wild cat " and " shin plasters," which soon ceased to be of value. Judge. DOTY issued his own notes, handsomely engraved, which passed current at Madison and in other places and were all redeemed. The wild cat banks of Michigan flooded the new territory, and after being put in circulation soon became of no value, and made the times harder than ever to the new settlers. What gave rise to the " wild cat " and " shin plasters " was the speculation of 1836-7, caused by the removal of the deposits of the govern- ment from the United States Bank to the state banks, which induced the latter to discount freely and greatly to expand the paper circulation of the country, and in the spring of 1837, President JACKSON issued the "specie circular " which arrested the speculation, and a general suspension and failure of the banks was the consequence.
" The third session of the legislature was held in Madison in the winter of 1838. Two hotels called the " American " and "Madison " having been erected, together with several private houses for the accommodation of the members. Mr. J. A. NOONAN published the first paper printed at Madison, called the "Wisconsin Enquirer," and was the public printer of the legislature.
" The 'American Hotel ' was kept by Messrs. FAKE & COT- TON, and the " Madison " by Mr. CHAS. H. BIRD, and the fare was quite passable. There was a number of private houses that boarded members and officers of the legisature. I heard but few complaints of short-commons at that session.
"On the Fourth of July, 1837, we had an impromptu cele- bration at PECK's Mansion house. There were present JAMES D.
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DOTY, THOS. W. SUTHERLAND, E. P. DEACON, two of the Messrs. SCHERMERHORNS of New York, JOHN MESSERSMITH, Senior, JOHN D. ANSLEY, SIMEON MILLS, myself and many others nearly all accidentally met on the occasion. We had refreshments with champagne, lemonade, punch, toasts and some conver- sational speeches. It was quite enjoyable, the more so from the absence of clap-trap and parade, and the noise of gunpow- der usual upon such occasions. The day was fine and the coun- try about the four lakes to me, at least never looked more beau- tiful. A more enthusiastic company with " great expectations " could rarely be found.
" In the spring of 1839, the county of Dane was organized for judicial purposes, and the " District Court " opened and estab- lished by the appointment of SIMEON MILLS clerk, Judge DAVID IRWIN presiding. There was no business to be done, the legis- lature having previously passed a "stay law " which for the time being prevented the collection of debts. There was no criminal business for the courts of the Territory for a long time after its organization, and this fact is greatly to the credit of the early " pioneers " or first settlers, nor was there much liti- gation. Almost the first business for the courts and lawyers, grew out of the passage of the bankrupt act of 1841, which was passed to relieve the unfortunate debtors of the consequen- ces of the speculation of 1836, and the revulsion of 1837. " Hard times " prevailed for many years afterwards and until BENTON'S " mint drops " came into general circulation. Dur- ing several years of general prostration of the country, gold flowed into the country from Europe to fill the vacuum, caused by the failure of the banks. Opposition to banks and corpora- tions generally, was one of the cardinal principles of the Dem- ocratic party in those days, and the great mass of the western people were in favor of the doctrine. The hard times continued until 1848, when gold was discovered in California, and soon after the times began to change, and property began to rise in value. The settlement of Madison and the interior of the state was very slow, until the building of the Milwaukee and Missis- sippi Railroad, and that caused a great accession of population
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and rise in the value of real estate. The state census of 1855 showed the population of the state to be a little over 300,000, and that of 1860 gave 777,000, thus more than doubling the population in five years.
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