USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume I > Part 12
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Competition in buying was usually sharp, and buyers drove through the county from farm to farm, bidding upon holdings of farmers, prices varying more or less according to the quality or extent of the product, . but usually ranging from 40 cents per pound upward.
When a man had "sold his hops" he was supposed to be in funds and ready to pay the bills that for months had been accumulating upon the expectation of the sale now made.
During the years of good erops and high prices he easily met these obligations, though they ran into large figures, and had money left for the purchase of additional conveniences or luxuries, though he seldom deemed it necessary to "lay by" any present surplus against future needs, as he did not question the stability of his present source of wealth.
Few farmers were really enriched by the cultivation of hops, except as through the work, they had crected buildings for hop-houses, that, though not well calculated for the use to which they were later put, served as stables or granaries in later years, or in the possession of what had been considered luxuries, which bought, had remained as reminders of the days when they were rich, or thought themselves so.
HOP INDUSTRY IN DETAIL By John Rooney
We came to Sauk County in October, 1857, and in the summer of 1859 I worked on the farm of Hopkins Locke in the Town of Westfield, Sauk County. Being then fourteen years old, and having a natural love of the soil, my mind was easily attracted to all subjects pertaining to the farm. Having occasion to visit the farm of John Donovan 11% miles northeast of the Village of Loganville, I made a call at the village store, then kept by Elciser and Elihu Newell and while in the store I heard some parties mention the name of Tom Port in connection with hops. Whether he had a hop yard or was going to set one I do not
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remember, but I know the question was under discussion at the time. The next year I went to work on Sauk Prairie and heard nothing more of hops until September, 1863, when home on a furlough.
I had at that time two sisters picking hops for Samuel Bliven, two miles southeast of the Village of Loganville who were getting 16 cents a box for picking. Mr. Bliven had contracted his hops for 17 eents per pound. A box of hops made a trifle more than ten pounds of dried hops. We also visited the yard of Andrew Kyle and Lyman Twist, south of Loganville, and while many of the pickers had husbands, brothers and friends then in the south, they were a jolly lot of women and girls and the hop dance was quite frequent. I got home from the war on the 12th of. July, 1865, and immediately after getting home, James Kyle, a son of Andrew Kyle, ealled on me and engaged me to pull hop poles for them when the hops were ripe. Each pole puller was supposed to pull the poles for eight piekers and lay them earefully on the ridge pole so as not to jar the hops in the box. In addition the pole puller stripped the vines off the poles and then stacked the poles and piled up the vines. He then picked up all lose hops and placed them in the picker's box. This was a eritical transaction for the box tender, because if he happened to forget and put a few more hops in one box than he did in another he was sure of either a tear or a frown. The box tender also emptied the boxes into the burlap sacks that held two boxes of the hops and, if a careful man, he would place them on a bunch of vines so they would not heat and color.
For the erop of 1865 the pickers got 40 eents a box for picking and Mr. Kyle got 42 cents a pound for his hops. He had four acres and the yard averaged 2,200 pounds to the acre. Mr. Kyle gave me $2.50 a day. That was $1 more than he paid the other pole pullers. I did not expeet but $1.50, as that was the going price, but I helped until the hops were at the kiln and he said he got 2 eents extra on account of the good sample of his hops. Many samples of hops were injured by the piekers sitting on the sacks. I advised the piekers to sit on the piles of vines instead of on the sacks of hops. Then I advised them to get up as soon as it was light and I soon had a very active lot of pickers, which meant much to the grower as well as the piekers. I men- tion these matters because pickers soon got from one and a half to four boxes a day and a few experts picked five boxes a day. I had three sisters and my present wife who picked five boxes a day, during the season of 1866, and got 50 eents a box for picking.
In the fall of 1865 a man by the name of Ashbel Post hired me to work on a shingle machine to make oak and basswood shingles, as they were being much used on hop house roofs and there were many houses being built. The oak shingles sold for $2.50 per thousand and the bass- wood at $2.00. The first week much time was given to the hop question, and he finally asked me to enter into partnership with him, he furnish- Vol. 1-7
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ing the land and fitting it for the plants. But as I was only twenty- two years old I did not feel qualified to enter into any partnership. Then he asked me if I would work outside the shop to help him set out four acres. I said surely I would. The usual way to set out a yard of hops was to lay it out in eight foot squares and place a stake where the hill was to be; then take a pointed stick and make a hole about four inches deep; and insert the plants, usually about four plants being used. The plants were pieces of roots cut so there were four eyes or buds on each plant. But instead of using a line with eight foot spaces, I took a pole ten feet long and bored six holes in it, two for handles, two for shafts and two eight feet apart to make the marks. By marking both ways it left a cross where each hill was to be set. After platting this yard I was called on to plat many others.
In 1866 I learned the art of drying hops from John Palmer, father of Mrs. Jasper Odell of this city, and that fall entered into the excite- ment of growing hops in Sauk County.
In the year 1867 my stepfather asked me to go into the business with him. I did not like the idea, but when my mother asked me to do so, I could not say "No" and went in. I soon found I had made a mistake, but I am no kicker until attacked; then look out for breakers. Well, my stepfather proved himself a full-fledged obstructionist. I was de- termined to do the best I could in my poor condition of health. In 1867 we made $1,100 over expenses. In 1868 we lost $3,000. We picked 198 bales of hops and got $172 less than the sacking cost us. We had fifteen acres of hops on shares, the yard being owned by O. Phelps, who was usually known at the time as Professor Phelps. Thus you will see I knew something of the rise and fall of hops in Sauk County. I sold hops in 1867 for 56 cents per pound and paid freight charges on some in 1868. I sold roots from $5 an acre in 1867 to $10 an aere in 1868. I sent roots to Ohio and Maryland. Many of the hop growers who paid a large income tax in 1866 lost not only their hops, in 1868, but lost their homes.
So I met the kissing bow and lucky branch of 1865, as well as the collapse of the hop trade in 1868. I also met some of the kindliest of people of those times to the most disreputable of any time. Most of the hop growers had to pay $1 a head premiums for pickers and transportation from Milwaukee, Janesville and Monroe, as well as inter- mediate towns. We did not pay any bounties and got many of our pickers in the Village of Loganville, Reedsburg and Sauk City. In 1868 we paid $154 for tying hops. They usually had to be tied three times; first, from the ground ; next, from a step ladder, and last from a horse's back. The food for the help was much the same at all meals, such as you would expect at any pienie dinner of the present day. We paid $1 a day to young ladies for tying them to the pole.
In the fall of 1867 I rode three nights with A. L. Harris buying hops.
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I got $10 a night for myself and horse. One night we bought ten lots of hops. All but two of the growers we had to wake up to show their hops. The last lot we bought of John Hackett, of Hackett's Corners, now North Freedom. The reason for doing so was to keep the growers from getting excited. In 1867 many of the hop buyers tried to violate their contracts at delivering time and much annoyance resulted from this.
WONDERFUL HOP PICKING MACHINE
By Hugh Kelley
Several years previous to the "hop boom" John Dean was running the Dean woolen mill, located on the lower water power, where the city pumping station now stands. Being of an inventive turn of mind and seeing the straits the growers were subjected to in procuring pickers, Mr. Dean began evolving a picking machine and inside of a year had it revolving. The writer may experience a little difficulty in conveying a clear description of the machine after a lapse of so many years, although I was the engineer on the first completed machine and operated it during its initial trip. The motive power was steam, gasoline being then prac- tically unknown. The steam was utilized through two cylinders, much after the pattern of our traction engines, only much smaller and about one-third the weight. On top of this carriage was mounted a crane-like arrangement much resembling a steam shovel, with a hood carrying eighty-four steel fingers working just the opposite from a hay tedder, gathering instead of scattering. This hood went up one side of the stand- ing pole and down the other raking in all the hops and leaves. These dropped down through a pipe in which was working a cylindrical fan that sent the leaves scurrying across the field. At the lower end of this pipe was a heated drum into which the hops fell and where they were par- tially dried. Under this was another drum filled with the fumes of burn- ing sulphur, and here the drying process was completed and the proper coloring given to the hops. They were then pressed by machinery into a burlap sack and when it attained about 200 pounds weight it was dropped from the machine. The boiler consumed a few barrels of water and one cord of four foot wood every twelve hours, and all the help required was two women to sew up the bales as they were dropped from the machine and two men with fish poles to push in the arms, or laterals, that stood out so far from the parent vine that the fingers could not reach them. Of course, after the hops were picked the poles were still to pull, strip and stack, but when you remember that it did away with the costly hop house, kiln, drier, press, pickers and boarding house, you can imagine what a boon it was to the growers. Unfortunately, it did not make its advent until the year that brought the erash and for this reason many who had been in the hop business never saw it. We
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were to make the test in the yards of M. E. Spring, on the farm now owned by L. D. Burtch; and one morning in the early fall of 1868 we started from the woolen mills. On leaving the Lake Road at the late George Capener's home, we had to climb a sharp incline and in hitting the engine unusually hard I broke a link lifter. This let the forward end of the blade drop to the ground, breaking the eccentric strap into several pieces. We hurriedly took down the main rod on that slide, covered the steam ports and blocked the side valve. After several at- tempts we found the one engine unable to move the machine. Just tlren Abe Johnson came along with a yoke of oxen and helped us over the hill, when we made our way to the yards. Here we found that although we could do all the other work we did not have power to do the pressing. The nearest machine shop was at Mauston. Mr. Spring borrowed Wm. HI. Canfield's buck-board, the lightest rig in the country, and hitching up the fastest horse in his barn, started the hired man for Mauston. At the shops of Benjamin Boorman he secured a machinist by the name of H. H. Hulbert, afterwards sheriff of Sauk County. They fastened their tool box onto the platform belrind the seat, drove all night and next forenoon arrived here. Mr. Hulbert took the wheel out of the well- house, knocked the spokes out and made an eccentric strap out of the rim. The link lifter bothered him sorely for it was so thick we could not get a welding heat on the inside before the outside would burn. He finally took some soft solder and "sweat" the ends together and then shrunk a band of iron around it. At 4.20 P. M. we started up and as it was a bright moonlight night we worked until 11.00 o'clock. The next day at 6.30 P. M. we finished the yard of six acres.
These machines were shipped from the factory in Kenosha, Wis- consin, in a knocked down condition. The next morning, after finish- ing Mr. Spring's picking, Dick Suthcliffe took this pieker over into Peter Buck's neighborhood and I returned to the mills to assemble the parts of another machine that had arrived. Here the bottom fell out of the whole hop business and the second machine never went into service.
After cold weather came Mr. Whitlock, a friend of Harry Slye's, took this picker down on the river bank, back of Isaac Gano's farm, now owned by Harley Langdon, and used it to rake bull heads and carp out of the mud. A brother of Mr. Dean's became so despondent over the turn in affairs that he attempted suicide in the basement under Tom Oats' wagon shop, where the late Arthur Briscoe had a blacksmith shop.
Now for my references. Some of the following named saw the picker working and all of them stand ready to testify that I would not make a statement that was not reliable: T. W. English, First National Bank : Charles Burrington, speculator ; all members high school faculty; George Tinkham, farmer; William Fox, fruit. grower; all of Baraboo; C. E.
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Sherwood, engineer on Northwestern Railroad; Wm. St. George, engineer. on D. & R. G. Railroad; H. E. Paddock, merchant, La Valle; W. O. Cannon, ex-sheriff, Valton; Fred Le May, engineer on Omaha Railroad, and Mack Williams, bookkeeper.
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CHAPTER V
STORY OF ANIMATED NATURE
THE RETIRING AND RETIRED MOOSE-FRENCH HUNTERS IN THE BARABOO VALLEY-MOOSE KILLED IN SAUK COUNTY-VANISHING OF THE ELK- CANADIAN LYNX OF WISCONSIN-HUNTING THE LYNX IN SAUK COUNTY-CHUMMY WITH THE DOMESTIC CAT-DEER ITS FAVORITE PREY-LAST LYNX IN SAUK COUNTY-THE DEER, RARE, BUT WEL- COME VISITOR-BRUIN, THE ROLLICKING FAVORITE-THE LAST BEAR HUNT IN THE BARABOO HILLS-WHEN COURT ADJOURNED TO HUNT A BEAR-ABRAHAM WOOD AND THE BEAR-A BEAR AND SOME BEANS- THE BEAR THAT ROLLED DOWN HILL LIKE A CART WHEEL-STATUS OF THE SMALLER ANIMALS-SAUK COUNTY BIRDS-THE FINNY KIND -REPTILES BEING STAMPED AND DRIVEN OUT.
With the development of Sauk County, as with every other section of the civilized world, bringing with it the denuding of wooded tracts and their transformation into cultivated fields, the draining of swamps and bottom lands, the building of houses and villages, the founding of cities and the general invasion of man, with all his noisy and smoky inventions-such agencies have driven away the wild animals and many of the birds and reptiles, which were native to this section of the state and flourished when the first settlers came upon the scene.
Lonely, wandering buffaloes, doubtless broken from the immense herds which covered the country further west, were occasionally seen by the early French voyageurs in Wisconsin and doubtless in Sauk County. A few moose were drifting down from the northern forests into the county, and as late as 1845 one was shot by the Indians in the present town of Dellona.
THE RETIRING AND RETIRED MOOSE
"According to Hornaday," says Dr. Frank D. Hulburt, one of our advisory editors who has thoroughly investigated the subject, "the former southern limit or range of the moose in Wisconsin is about latitude 43 degrees. This places Sauk county safely within the range, but near its southern border.
"Although moose meat was often bought of the Indians by the fur
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traders here, the writer has no authentic knowledge of moose having been killed or seen by the early settlers of our county. As the moose is of a retiring nature, preferring the deep solitudes and usually retreating in advance of civilization, it is probable that this animal shifted its range northward before our county was settled by whites to any considerable extent.
FRENCH HUNTERS IN THE BARABOO VALLEY
"It should be remembered in this connection that explorations in what is now Wisconsin, were begun by the French only fourteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims upon the wild shore of New England and that what is now Sauk County, was visited by white men more than one hundred years before the Revolutionary war began, At a very early date the French Canadians established a line of trading posts extending from Green Bay up the Fox River, across the Portage and down the Wisconsin River to the present location of Prairie du Chien; thus sub- jecting the whole southern border of Sauk County to the early invasions of white hunters and trappers.
"A map of this region, with tributary streams and Indian villages, made by Jerome Carver in 1768 has upon it a fairly correct delineation of the Baraboo river. This shows that the hardy whites had trapped and hunted in the Baraboo valley-including the town of Reedsburg-for at least seventy years prior to the first permanent white settlement in our county, at Prairie du Sac in 1838. This region was described by an early fur trader as 'affording excellent hunting grounds, abounding in deer, elk and moose and very rich in bears and beavers.'
MOOSE KILLED IN SAUK COUNTY
"Although many moose may have been killed here in the early days; the writer knows of but one authentic record of moose having been killed within the present limits of Sauk County. Theodore Conkey-govern- ment surveyor-recorded the killing of a bull moose in what is now the town of Dellona, by a party of three Indians in 1845. The moose was followed by the Indians, from some point near the Wisconsin river, up Dell Creek valley where the animal was finally shot. Mr. Conkey and his surveying party at the time were at work in the township, sub- dividing it and saw the moose after it was killed.
"Moose are yet fairly plentiful in Northern Minnesota and occa- sionally a single individual .may be found in Northwestern Wisconsin; but excepting an occasional straggler, moose, have now disappeared from our state.
"The moose is a solitary creature and not gregarious like the wapiti or elk.
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VANISHING OF THE ELK
"From the number of dilapidated elk antlers found in the woods by early settlers in various parts of our county this animal was doubt- less formerly quite numerous here. The disappearance of moose and for the most part elk from Sauk County, appears practically to have been contemporaneous with the ending of the long reign of the French Canadian fur traders, trappers and hunters, the white-tailed deer being still present in our county, although in greatly diminished numbers.
"Sauk County lay along the main line of active operations of the early fur traders, on the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, between Green Bay and the Mississippi River. This is an important factor in the early disappearance of wild animals from this region; for the fur traders kept the Indians well supplied with guns and ammunition, thus affording them the most effective weapons for the killing of all kinds of game. The valley of the Baraboo River and adjacent tracts appear to have been excellent hunting grounds which were easy of access to the early trappers and hunters. As a result the large deer were mostly killed off, or driven northwards into more impenetrable forests. As stated, the last moose killed in our county was shot by Indians in the town of Dellona in 1845. Elk continued to be occasionally seen here for a few years longer. In 1850 an elk was killed about five miles west of Loganville by a party of Winnebago Indians, A-ha-cho-ka being one of their number. This incident led to a three days' feast and no little ceremony on the part of the Indians.
"The last elk taken in Sauk County, was shot by John Cooper in the town of Franklin in 1854. He killed it near the home of Hamilton Wells. Its weight was estimated at 600 pounds; the antlers measuring about four feet in length. Mrs. Wells was requested to fry some of the steak, which she did and all present partook of elk venison. It is very probable that this is the last elk seen in our county. Thus vanished from Sauk County the last wapiti.
CANADIAN LYNX OF WISCONSIN
"There are four varieties of lynx common to the North American Continent, South America having none. These are known as the Canada lynx, the wildcat, catamount and the redcat. The catamount and red- cat are common in the Rocky Mountains; only the two varieties first mentioned, being found in Wisconsin, where the term lynx as generally used, refers to the Canada lynx.
"The lynx is much the largest and most ferocious of its species; is over three feet in length and weighs from 30 to 60 pounds. It is distinguished from its feline relatives by its erect, sharply pointed, tufted and penciled ears and abbreviated tail usually not more than six inches
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in length. The legs and feet are large; its claws are white and the neck has a pointed ruff on each side which gives the animal the appearance of wearing side whiskers.
"The lynx makes its den or home among rocks, in caves and hollow tree trunks, where it brings forth from one to four kittens at a litter, usually in the month of April. The color of the lynx varies somewhat with the locality where it is found. In Wisconsin, its color is usually dark gray, tinged with chestnut, the limbs being darker than the body. The back and elbow-joints are mottled with large indistinct blotches of a darker color, most of the hairs being white at their extremities.
"When leaping over the ground, which it does in a series of suc- eessful bounds with back arched, the lynx presents a quaint and weird appearance, which hunters describe as being peculiar and ungainly. The principal food of the lynx is the rabbit and small birds and animals of all kinds. It is fond of grouse and small deer is a much cherished dainty.
HUNTING THE LYNX IN SAUK COUNTY
"The early settlers of Sauk County had their proportionate share of trouble caused by the nocturnal visits of the lynx to their poultry yards, where it made occasional destructive raids among the chickens and turkeys usually taking, however, only one fowl at a visit. Although a powerful brute, which no dog, however large or fierce can match, the lynx is cowardly and will generally run from even a small dog and take to a tree when closely pressed.
"The settlers, who usually hunted the lynx with dogs, occasionally found an exception to its usually cowardly nature, for when chased, it would sometimes turn upon the dog or dogs and wage fierce battle. Burt Inman, who resided five miles west of Loganville, was fond of hunting the lynx and one winter killed five of them. He tracked the animals with a large hunting dog, which would rapidly follow the trail, until the lynx finally took to a tree, where the dog would remain and keep it treed until his master came upon the scene. At the last chase with this faithful dog, however the lynx suddenly turned upon the dog and killed it, then made good its escape before the hunter arrived. When Inman reached his dog, he found him terribly torn and lifeless. The dog was a good fighter and probably stood his ground and refused to retreat when the lynx turned upon him. But no dog, however courageous, can match a full grown lynx, which in combat, uses its sharp claws, with lightning speed and deadly effect.
"In the early sixties, a German farmer residing in the town of Honey Creek, killed a good sized female lynx only a few rods from his barn yard. His attention was attracted by the barking of his dog which had' chased it up a tree. He went to the spot where the dog was located and looking
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up into the tree, discovered the huge cat flattened out on a limb, in such a manner as to almost conceal itself. The farmer returned to the house and obtaining his shot gun, aimed at its head and brought the strange animal to the ground by shooting it. The man then took the lynx carcass to Loganville for exhibition and to learn its name, as he did not himself know what species of animal he had killed.
"When hunted, the lynx does not circle like many other animals, such as the fox, but will usually take an irregular course, traveling several or many miles away from the place it was started. J. A. Richards of Reedsburg once chased a lynx with a dog, about six miles before it took to a tree. On a cold December night, a disturbance was heard among a small flock of turkeys which roosted in a tree near the barn. As soon as daylight came Richards went out to learn the cause of the confusion. At the foot of the tree, in which the turkeys were roosting, were seen feathers and fresh blood and in the snow could be seen the tracks of a lynx, which from the signs present, had stolen a turkey and carried it away. Richards obtained a hunting dog from a neighbor and with rifle in hand, started out in pursuit of the marauder. The dog readily took the scent and was soon out of hearing but the snow on the ground enabled the hunter to follow on the trail. He soon came to the remains of the turkey which the lynx had partially devoured and which the animal had probably deserted on hearing the dog. The trail led through thickets, wooded ravines and over hills, the general course being in a southwest direction. Animated by the chase, Richards followed on the trail as fast as he could travel, using for his guide, the dog and lynx tracks in the snow. After much travel Richards finally thought he heard the barking of the dog in the distance. He stopped to listen. Yes, it was the voice of the dog; so he ceased to follow the tracks and with renewed energy made haste in the direction from which the sounds came. In due time he arrived near the place where the dog was barking and looking up into a tree, he saw the lynx sprawled out upon a limb about 40 feet above the ground, from which position the animal was hissing and snarl- ing, with its eyes looking at the dog below. A well aimed shot from the rifle sent the brute tumbling from the tree and Richards was soon home- ward bound, with the dead lynx swung over his shoulder. The animal had given him a merry chase, but he felt well paid for his efforts. This lynx was a full grown male and weighed 61 pounds.
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