USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume I > Part 11
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SAW MILL AND WAGON WORKS
"The Willard Brothers and D. C. Barry laid claim to the water power at the head of the Baraboo rapids and crected a mill in 1843. The property changed hands several times and in 1846 Paddock & Waterman, who then owned it, crected a large furniture shop adjoining the saw mill, and in 1855 they enlarged the mill, putting in more and better machinery. Times becoming dull the business changed hands
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several times, finally becoming the property of Thomas, Claude and Thomas, who in 1868 placed a set of wagon gearing machinery, capable of turning out the wood for fifty wagons per day. This mill did the largest lumber business on the river.
"The Baraboo river has faithfully served the public in times past and, although it is still being used to some extent, it is to be hoped that the power that is going to waste will be more fully utilized in the near future.
"While Baraboo people were thus busy training natural resources to serve man's needs, the residents of other parts of the county were by no means idle.
PRESENT UTILIZATION OF POWER
"The water power the farthest down the Baraboo river was the last one constructed, the surveys being made and the dam built by George McArthur & Son about 1896 and 1897. This power has about 61/2 foot head, develops about 100 horse power and is used to operate a linen mill, towels being made.
"The Maxwell dam or City Water Works dam is now owned by the city of Baraboo and besides pumping 300,000,000 gallons of water yearly, develops power for the city owned hydro-electric plant. About 100 kilowats a day are made, the horse power developed by the dam for both plants being about 300. The hydro-electric plant was erected in 1915 and 1916.
"McArthur & Son also own the dam at the foot of Oak street, having purchased the property from the L. E. Hoyt interests and Mrs. Heury W. Wackler. This dam develops about 125 horse power, a linen mill and feed mill being operated.
"The upper power is owned by W. H. McFetridge, E. P. McFetridge and the other members of the McFetridge family, the 400 horse power being used to operate a large mill in which woolen goods are manu- factured. An electric light plant is also operated.
"The dam at Reedsburg operates a flour mill for J. G. Heaton and a branch mill of the Appleton Woolen Company. The capacity of the dam is about 125 horse power.
"At La Valle the dam is owned by Harry Thornton and others, a flour mill and electric light plant being operated.
PRAIRIE DU SAC MILLS
"Robert Bryant built a dam and erected a saw mill in 1841 at the base of a prominent bluff near the mouth of Honey Creek at Prairie du Sac. He was not successful and sold in 1842 to H. B. Steins who converted the mill into a flour mill and sold it to Mr. Mix, who
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enlarged and improved the property, then sold out to Wilson, who in turn sold to J. R. Woodruff. Henry Rowell purchased the mill but soon transferred it to Merrihew and Rowell. They enlarged and im- proved the mill so much that their flour took first prize at the state fair in 1859.
REEDSBURG INDUSTRIES
"Reed, Crosswell and Powell, erected a flour and feed mill at Reeds- burg in 1848 which burned down in 1860, but in 1861 a new five story 40x60 mill was erected by Moses Mackey. It had four run of stone and was capable of grinding 1,200 bushels of wheat per year. Mr. Staf- ford ran a saw mill and factory for making tight barrel staves, for several years doing a fine business.
"It would take too long to give even a brief account of the many mills erected in the county. Local mills were erected on most of the small streams and did good work until scarcity of large timber on modern methods caused them to be back numbers.
BRICK YARDS AND LIME KILNS
"There seems to have been a disposition to dabble in all kinds of in- dustries in early times. There were brick and lime kilns; also small breweries and distilleries scattered about the county. Some of the most important were a briek yard operated by English and Bassett not far from where the MeFetridge factory is located. John Secker, Sr., and later his son, the late Charles Secker, did an extensive brick and tile business three miles west of the city. There was also a brick kiln at one time east of the Ringling winter quarters. There were several small potteries but none of them were of any commercial value and were soon abandoned.
"The burning of lime was quite an industry in the early '60's and later. William Eikey owned a quarry of magnesian stone that furnished a fine quality of lime for many years; also employment to a number of men quarrying and burning the limestone.
"What is known as cobble limestone was found in large quantities along Jeffries Creek three miles southeast of Baraboo. L. Davies, L. Messenger, N. Shultz, George Glover, Alex Crawford and others were all in the business and at one time there were four kilns in operation. The largest output of any one kiln in one season was 2,600 barrels burned by George Glover. Fruit culture has driven out the lime industry in that neighborhood.
LARGEST KILN IN THE COUNTY
"I am indebted to Mr. Jeff Beaver for the following account of his father's lime kiln, probably the largest of the kind in the county. Peter
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Beaver came to Spring Green from Columbus, Columbia County, in 1861. He commenced to burn lime in 1862 but closed his kiln in '63 to enlist for his country's defence in Company A, 36th Regiment. He went on with the lime business on his return from the war burning from three to seven kilns a year to 1867, the great hop year when he burned ten kilns. The kilns contained seven hundred bushels each, and people came from all parts of the county, there being forty teams there at one time and taking all of one kiln in a day. Mr. Beaver kept in the line business for twenty-one years, and then turned to general farming ou the stage road leading from Spring Green to Reedsburg, on Beaver Hill.
SHORT SEASON OF COPPER MINING
"Mankind from pre-historic ages seems to have thought the royal road to wealth led to the hidden treasures of the earth, and the resi- dents of Sauk County have been no exception. D. C. Barry was one of the many prospectors and in company with Harry Perry, while looking for a suitable lumber company in Reedsburg, discovered where Big creek had washed the soil away and uncovered a deposit of copper ore on the southeast quarter of section 1. Mr. Perry died the following spring and Mr. Barry took in partnership two Mineral Point miners. They got out two tons of copper ore that sold at Mineral Point for $90.00 per ton. He was offered $1,500 for his mine, but did not sell and after prospecting all summer was obliged to abandon the mine for lack of money.
IRON INDUSTRIES AT IRONTON
"G. W. Andrews kindly furnished the following account of the Ironton iron business : It is now over half a century, since James Tower, an iron master of Crown Point, New York, became imbued with the spirit of colonization and the firm belief that great opportunities lay in the 'New West.' He arrived at Mayville, Dodge county, Wisconsin, in 1850, and entered into partnership with Captain Bean of that place for the manufacture of pig iron. Four years later he learned of iron ore owned by William Reed, founder of the city of Reedsburg, and he made a trip of investigation. He stood on the big hill southeast of the site of the present village of Ironton and looked out over the beautiful little valley which lay before him. His trained eye gauged the value of the mineral indications about him, and he resolved to create a new home in this wilderness. He purchased the mining property for $3,000 and re- turned East to make preparations for his final departure. A number of his former employes, mostly Irishmen with their families, decided to cast their fortunes with him and, together with his family and a number of relatives, among whom were Charles Keith, Putnam Fuller, Edward
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and John Tower, he turned his back upon the comforts and refinements of civilization and bravely faced the trials and hardships inseparable from frontier life.
"Logs were hewn, and rude houses erected on the flats, near the Little Baraboo river while Indians came to gaze stolidly at the new people, and the first saw mill that was soon in operation. The construc- tion of mill, foundry and blast furnace was now begun, and the in- stallation of the heavy machinery, which was hauled from Portage, thirty-five miles distant, was attended with great difficulty. But in four years the plant was in working order and its products were of a superior grade. John Shaw, afterwards of Milwaukee, was the first bookkeeper. Others came from the old home to join the little colony among whom was John F. Smith, a young man destined to bear a prominent part in the later development of the place and who, in 1862, took charge of the office work.
DEATH OF THE FOUNDERS OF IRONTON
"For six years Mr. Tower labored unceasingly for the success and upbuilding of the new project, and the welfare of those who had joined in the undertaking. But he was not to enjoy the fruits of his industry, nor to see the fulfillment of his hopes and plans :- he was fated to be a sower that others might reap. His health had been undermined by the cares and responsibilities and various burdens imposed upon him and he suceumbed after a brief sickness, October 24, 1864, at the age of 64 years. He was laid at rest in the little new cemetery within sight of the village, he had loved and founded. Two years previous Mr. Smith had became a partner in the firm and the business was continued under his management for three years when the Tower heirs sold to him their entire interest and he became sole owner of the estate. He was a man of lofty character and keen perception and recognized the value of the opportunity thus offered him. His possessions now ineluded 5,500 acres of land and furnished employment to 150 men. Prosperity was at its height and the output of his foundry yielded an immense profit. Pig iron sold in Chicago, Rockford, Milwaukee, Eau Claire, Whitewater and Beloit, Wisconsin, and in Winona and Stillwater, Minnesota, for from $60 to $90 per ton. The castings were mostly sleigh-shoes and cauldron kettles were sold from the Kickapoo Valley to Iowa at corresponding priees. A 'company store,' blacksmith and repair shops were now a part of the equipment, and the whole formed a unique scene.
"Oxen were used to haul the crude ore from the mine and to cart out the slag left as refuse.
"It was a gorgeous sight at casting time to see the white hot molten mass pour out into the beds prepared for it in the black sand. In the surrounding forest, expert charcoal burners watched their kilns by night and by day, for much depended upon the quality of the fuel.
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"Strong teams with lusty teamsters took long hauls over difficult, sometimes alinost impassable roads to the nearest shipping points- Mauston, 20 miles, and Lone Rock, 30 miles away. In 1870 the North- western railroad was extended from Madison to Sparta, and the busi- ness was brought into closer connection with the outside world.
"Mr. Smith's wealth increased rapidly, but, lonely and reserved, he was indefatigable as ever in his labor. He was stricken suddenly with the sickness that terminated in his death six weeks later, at the age of 52 years. A handsome granite shaft from the quarries of his native Vermont hills, marks his grave near that of Mr. Tower. When he real- ized his earthly career was nearly ended he sent for his sister, Mrs. Jeanette Herrick, of Vermont, who became his heiress, and her son-in- law, M. R. Doyon, who had accompanied her, assumed the management of the varied interests involved. Young in years, inexperienced in the iron business, and without previous knowledge of western conditions, his position was a difficult one. But his grasp of affairs, his ready and unerring judgment, soon proved him a captain of industry, second to neither of his predecessors. He was ably assisted by his cousin, T. E. Doyon, now of Redfield, South Dakota, who was an efficient ally and contributed greatly to the success of the regime.
"In 1881 a sale of the property was effected to D. M. Sabin, of Stillwater, Minnesota, afterwards U. S. Senator from that state, who formed a corporation known as Seymour, Sabin & Co., which later became the Iron Mountain Ore and Furnace Company. Francis Byrne, who had entered the foundry in boyhood as a moulder, and had been closely identified with it during every stage of its progress, the foreman and confidant of Mr. Smith, now became manager of the entire estate. George W. Andrews was installed as bookkeeper.
"For several years the business was successfully conducted but with the advance in value of timber, the cost of charcoal was much increased and along about 1890 there was a great slump in that price of pig iron, so that with a furnace that was not modern, the manufacture of iron became much less profitable.
"Mr. Byrne resigned from his position in 1890, but still lives in the village in the old colonial house which. Mr. Tower built for his own occupancy and upon the dissolution of the Iron Company, about 1895, Mr. Byrne purchased the original Tower lands, and he is still the owner of them."
HAULING GRAIN FROM BARABOO TO MILWAUKEE
By H. HI. Flynt
In November, 1851, father packed his household goods at Girard, Erie County, Pennsylvania, and with mother and four boys, a team of
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horses and a wagon, boarded a steamboat at Erie and went by the lakes to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and thence overland, about one hundred miles, to Sauk County, and located on a farm about four miles northwest of Baraboo, the county seat. Wisconsin was then wilderness and away out on the frontier. Father had traded some Erie County property for some land in Sauk County, where he located, thinking to better his condition, and where his four growing boys could have a chance to develop their latent talents. This country was then undeveloped, and no one knew its possibilities. Everybody was poor, and, of course, had to do the best he could. Some farmers thought the soil better adapted to wheat than anything else, and as fast as they got their land broke up, put it to wheat.
MILWAUKEE NEAREST GOOD WHEAT MARKET
This venture proved well as far as yield is concerned, for the yield was twenty, thirty, and sometimes forty bushels to the aere. But where was the market? Baraboo was a place of only about three hundred people. Madison, the capital of the state, was the next nearest place of any consequence, forty miles distant, and that not large enough to afford any market for our wheat, and there was no railroad there then. Milwaukee was the nearest place, one hundred miles, that provided a market for our wheat; therefore the only alternative was to haul our wheat to Milwaukee and sell it for thirty, forty, fifty, and sometimes as high as sixty eents per bushel. This was pioneering and making money with a vengeance. Thus farmers kept growing wheat until about 1858 or 1860, when the chinch bug put in an appearance and reduced the farmers' yields down to from three to ten bushels per acre.
In hauling the wheat to Milwaukee, both horse teams and oxen were used ; more oxen than horses. It took from two to three weeks to make a trip, depending upon the weather and the roads. Some seasons the weather would be fine and the roads goods; other seasons the weather would be rainy and the roads bad.
No settler ever indulged in the luxury of stopping at a hotel, unless compelled to do so by sickness or a bad storm. The time it took and the price of grain, forhade any luxuries. I heard one settler say that his load of wheat lacked sixty cents of buying a few groceries and incidental expenses of one trip. A settler would start out with his load of grain, a small sack of flour or corn meal, and would take a shot gun with which to get his meat on the way. Camping out was the alternative. At first the Wisconsin River was erossed by ferry at Portage. Portage had an eye single to the trade west of the river and after a few years erected a bridge. Later a ferry was established at Merrimack. I do not remember of hearing any settler say what the toll was at these places.
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As I look back over the years that have passed, these lines of Wads- worth come to my mind :
"How dear to my heart are the scenes of my childhood, When fond recollections present them to view."
FARMERS AT LAST IN THE SWIM
In the meantime, what is now known as the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad had built a railroad from Milwaukee to Prairie du Chien, and was building a line from Milwaukee to LaCrosse, and had it built as far as Kilbourn City, sixteen miles north of Baraboo. There was also built at this time a flouring mill at Baraboo. The farmers by this time began to think they were in the swim, by having a flouring mill at hand to buy their wheat and a railroad so near.
HAUL OF FOUR MILES, INSTEAD OF A HUNDRED
We well remember the first load of wheat we were sent with to that mill. The price received was eighty cents a bushel. Gee! What a contrast ; eighty cents a bushel, and only a four-mile haul from a hun- dred-mile and fifty cents a bushel. After our load of wheat was dis- posed of-boy like, we thought we would see the sights of the new mill, and on our rounds, we saw the by-products, the bran and shorts, run- ning through a spout out of the mill into the river. On returning home, we told the home folks the price we received for the load of wheat, and we all thought we had the world by the horns, and yet our yield that year was only eight bushels per acre.
How the farmers rejoiced over the erection of this mill. It would pay them ten cents a barrel to haul its flour from Baraboo to Kilbourn City, sixteen miles; they could haul ten barrels to a load, make one trip a day, thereby make one dollar a day for themselves and their team. Thus we thought we had raised one notch higher in the scale of pros- perity.
MORLEY, THE MAGICIAN
We had in our midst at that time one very progressive farmer, Mr. N. W. Morley, who is known in the state over as one of the pioneer and successful dairymen of the state. Mr. Morley came from Mentor, Lake County, Ohio, in the early '50s and located in our midst. Many farmers in Lake County had entered the dairy business and were making money. Mr. Morley was a man of large views, a thorough business man, and a successful dairyman. When he first located in Sauk County, he en- tered into wheat growing the same as the rest. It was unsatisfactory to
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him and he changed and went to growing peppermint and manufacturing it into oil. This was also too slow for him:
FROM WHEAT GROWING TO DAIRYING
The writer remembers him saying one day, "If the farmers of this section ever make their business pan out, they will have to change their tactics. I know the farmers in Lake County that have entered the dairy business have made money, and I believe we have every opportunity, every facility, and every condition just as favorable here for the dairy business as in Lake County." Thus he talked and thus he worked. He began to buy cows as fast as he could, and he kept at it until he had gathered up about forty head. He commenced by making butter, but later added the manufacture of cheese. His original quarters be- came too small for his expanding business, and he decided to build a large stone cheese factory. He had a fine stone quarry on his farm, and out of this quarry he took the rock and erected the cheese factory on the same spot. We had the pleasure of helping dig the rock and attending the masons that built this cheese factory, and also became a patron. After he had the cheese factory built and in operation, the surrounding farmers began to gather about them a few cows and took their milk to his cheese factory to be manufactured into cheese. It was but a few years until the appearance of that community was completely trans- formed. The farm mortgages were soon lifted. The old log house was replaced by a large and imposing dwelling. The old straw sheds and stables gave place to large frame barns, stables, and outbuildings. Now and then a farmer would stick to grain growing, but he remained in the same old rut-no enterprise, no improvements.
HOP DAYS IN SAUK COUNTY
By John M. True
Sauk County will probably never again be so overwhelmed by visions of general wealth as it was in the hop excitement of the '60s.
The raising of wheat for the market, that had for years been the leading pursuit of the farmers of the county, on account of the deteriora- tion of the soil and the ravages of the chinch bug, was becoming un- profitable. Live stock husbandry and dairying had not established a foothold, and farmers were in position to welcome a new departure in business, when the raising of hops to be sold at very remunerative prices-seemed to come as a veritable "Godsend."
Conditions of soil and climate were well adapted to the growing and curing of an excellent quality of hops, and soon Sauk County was among the leading counties of the West in acreage and production of the erop.
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We find, from the statistical reports in the office of the secretary of state, that in 1867 Sauk County raised approximately 2,000,000 pounds of hops, this being considerably more than one-fourth of the entire crop of the state.
Pioneers in the industry in a small way had demonstrated that hops could be raised at a profit of from 10 to 15 cents per pound, and when prices suddenly went up to twice that amount, and higher, there was a general rush into the business, until it is safe to say that in 1866 and 1867 more than 60 per cent of the farmers in the townships of Green- field, Baraboo, Fairfield, Delton, Dellona, Reedsburg, and Winfield had hop yards of very respectable dimensions, while other townships in the county were more or less extensively engaged in the work. Many who owned no land rented from two to ten acres, and started in to make a fortune.
Hop poles were in great demand, and timber lands were scoured for trees of proper size for making them; the value of such lands being reckoned upon the number of hop poles they would yield per acre. Poplar poles that would only last two or three years were extensively used, while oak poles brought as high as $15.00 to $18.00 per thousand. Tamarack, then found in large quantities upon the "Great Marslı" in Fairfield, made the most durable poles, lasting for a long time. I venture to say that some old tamarack hop poles are yet doing service as auxiliaries in fence building upon Fairfield farms.
The sale of hop roots became an important adjunct to the hop raiser's revenue, as the roots of the older plants needed trimming in, or "grub- bing" in the spring, and as seed roots were very much in demand, these sold for from $15.00 to $25.00 for roots enough to set an acre.
The most expensive part of the hopgrower's outfit was the hop-lionse, affording room for storage and the drying kiln, the heat for which was furnished by huge cast iron heaters, denominated "hop stoves."
Many of these buildings were quite elaborate, and some of them even pretentious in style and finish. These old hop-houses are yet doing service as granaries or stables, upon many Sauk County farms, though in most instances the ventilators that adorned their roofs have been removed, and the great stove and kiln are no longer a part of the inside fixtures.
At the time of gathering the erop, hop-pickers were in great demand. Young women were brought in by scores, from other parts of the state, while the local force of women and children from non-hop-growing fami- lies deserted home duties for the excitement and profit of work in the hop yard.
Hop-raisers' homes were turned into boarding houses, and to attract and hold the much desired field help, elaborate bills of fare were fur- nished. To the merry, rolicksome routine of the day's work in the field.
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was added the nightly danee or entertainment, one large grower vicing with another in this particular.
Pickers were paid by the box for hops cleanly pieked from the vines, and prices for picking were 50 cents and sometimes more, per box. In picking, hops were not pressed down in the boxes, but allowed to rest lightly as thrown in. Each stand contained four boxes.
A man, termed "pole-puller," was allowed for every two stands,- it being his duty to keep pickers supplied with vines upon the poles ready for picking, and later to strip the poles of the denuded vines and place them in large, round, upright stacks.
As boxes were filled, hops were emptied into sacks and carted to the hop-house for drying. After being cured they were pressed into large bales and covered with canvas, when the erop was ready for the market.
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