USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume I > Part 32
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"Article 8. An annual summer pienie shall be held.
BY-LAWS
"1-The executive committee shall prepare programs for the annual meetings, annual picnic and other meetings which may be held, and have general management of the affairs of the association.
"2-The President shall preside over all meetings when present and be the executive officer of the executive committee. He shall fill vacancies of offices when such oceur between times of annual meetings, and deliver an address at the annual meeting.
"3-The Vice President shall act in place of the President during his absence or at his request.
"4-The Secretary shall keep records of all meetings, and with the President sign all orders and attend to the correspondence of the asso- ciation.
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"5-The Treasurer shall have charge of the funds of the association, pay bills on orders from the President and the Secretary, and make a report to each annual meeting.
"6-It shall be the duty of the Secretary of the association to assist those desiring to organize societies by furnishing names of suitable per- sons to help in such organization work. The actual expenses of speaker or organizer shall be paid by those who accept the service.
"7-Honorary life members may be added to the roll of membership in the following manner : All names of candidates must be submitted to a committee of five to be appointed by the President. The name, if reported favorably, shall be subject to the indorsement of the association. Not more than two life members shall be chosen at any one annual meeting.
"8-The officers of this association shall assume the duties of their respective offices immediately upon the elose of each annual meeting.
"9-This constitution or accompanying by-laws may be amended at any annual meeting of the association by a two-thirds vote of the members present and voting."
SCHOOLS AND SCHOLARS OF LONG AGO
Mrs. Fannie .J. Hackett, an old-time teacher, read a paper before an old settlers' meeting held at North Freedom, several years ago, but she dealt with school matters so long past that her pictures are just as timely now as they were then. She said: "By request of the committee I will try to give some idea of what we 'old settlers' proper had to con- tend with, compared to what you of to-day have. One thing I am sure of, and that is, instead of autos we rode behind oxen hitched to some conveyance by just a yoke consisting of a bow of hickory wood put through holes in a large stiek of wood; take out the bow, get the yoke over the head of the ox, then put it through the two holes in the yoke, put in the bow key, and then 'Haw, Bright,' 'gee, Buck!' Without a thing to restrain them in any way if they took a notion to run away, as they did with Tim Hackett once upon a time when he was trying to get a load of wheat to market, Baraboo being our nearest in those days. They went straight for the river-wheat, man and all-and having no box on, as we often went in those days, the wheat slid into the river and he fished with boat and boat-hook until the next day to get it on terra firma again.
"And our buildings of that day were just like the buildings of to-day, with a little variation. I well remember the school house that I taught my first school in. It was situated about where Conrad Egerer's barn stands to-day, surrounded by such heavy timber that the sun never reached us. It had been built for a resident of some pioneer, and had a large fireplace on the inside and the chimney on the outside. No road
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to get to it-just a path through the heavy woods, and more than once in my travels to and from have I had to stand and wait while a monster rattler crossed my path before proceeding on my way, for I was too cowardly to attack him, not knowing which would come out victorious; and in those days, fifty years ago, they were plenty, as well as many kinds of wild animals which are to-day extinct in this locality. At that time I had to make a trip across the river to a man who lived on what is known as the Pfaff farm, to get my certificate; thence to 'Big John' Dickie's, on the grounds near where the Egerer Brothers' mansion now stands (Dickie lived in one just like it, only a little different) to get my contract ; and then when my work was done, go up to the farm now
PLUM VALLEY SCHOOL, WOODLAND Ex-County Superintendent Snyder was a pupil at this school
known as the Rick farm and draw the immense sum of $12.00 per month. Little Jimmie Dickie, of Baraboo, and brother, David, were two of my pupils. Jim Carpenter and brother. Will, and six little Harseims wended their way to my school room.
"But the poser of the whole business was when William and Parshall Hackett first came to school. The scholars would say, 'When is Sam com- ing?' 'Oh, when he gets the erops in,' they would answer. It would run along a day or two, then 'When is Frank coming?' 'Oh, when they get the corn planted.' And again someone would be inquiring, 'When is Curb coming?' Oh well, I thought, after a time I will have three more scholars, a little older, and it will give me something to do. But lo and behold, when the mystery was solved they were all merged under one
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cognomen-Samuel Franklin Curbu Hackett-and he never came at all. So I think he never got through his work, but I have always thought that if he had, he would have been a better scholar and a better man; but he is so well known, we will let that go, as it is too late to remodel him.
"But in those days there was no serambling for prominence of one above the other, or one trying to outdo the other. We were seemingly all more on equal terms, and all friendly and neighborly; ever ready to land a helping hand whenever needed, without stopping to ask Is there a couple of dollars in it for me? I was getting $3.00 per week and paying $1.50 for board at Mary Carpenter's and it would doubly discount any $4.00 board of the present day in my estimation. When I think of those freshly picked wild red raspberries, covered with thick sweet cream and sugar, and then a plate of those cream biscuits, such as she knew how to make, I can taste them yet.
"My next school was in a building near the old Schram mill bridge, with a row of windows on one side, of 7 by 9 glass, a desk built against the wall and a seat made out of a slab with legs driven in-much nieer and handier than you have it now. Such little boys as Sammy McCoy, James and John Sproul were among the number of scholars. At this time horesback riding was it; reason why, no roads. I well remember riding up the Hill settlement road while in construction. A gang of men were opening a road just wide enough for teams to pass, huge trees lying in every conceivable position, but with a horse I could pick my way between. Methinks I hear some of you say 'quite a difference.' But as the world moves we must move with it, until we move off the stage. And I do think that if it were not for these old settlers' meetings, such as we are holding here today, we would soon forget many familiar faces that we meet here every year, and I hope this will continue as long as one of the old-timers are left to come together. And then, fifty years hence, whoever meets will say of to-day, How much more comfort we took in our day than at the present!"
A VETERAN SCHOOLHOUSE
A primitive log schoolhouse was erected in 1861, in Distriet No. 8, Town of Winfield, about eight miles north of Reedsburg near the county line. The first teacher in the building was Miss Kate Kivel of Winfield, and Miss Emma Isenberg, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Isenberg of Bar- . aboo, was in charge when this article was written. The names of the first pupils who attended the school are Michael, Timothy and Ellen Foley ; James, Kate and Ellen Fitzgerald; Vincent, Ellen, Tinney, and John Casey; Tim Kelly ; Mary A. Byrne, Margaret Scannell, Patrick Scan- nell, Daniel and Kate Casey.
Mary Collins, who became county superintendent of schools in Che- halis County, Washington, was once a pupil there. Dr. Francis Kelly
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of Merrill, Wisconsin, also attended there. Among those who became teachers are Ellen Fitzgerald, Mary Casey, Johanna Casey and John Stearns. The one who kindly furnished the information for this article says that the building in all its simplicity never turned out a criminal.
There are three log schoolhouses in Sauk County of which this one is the oldest. It has become so dilapidated that one who has visited the
LAST LOG SCHOOL HOUSE IN SAUK COUNTY, JOINT DISTRICT NO. 5, TOWN OF TROY
building several times says that the woodchucks are in the habit of poking their noses through the crevices in the floor much to the amusement of the observers. The old landmark will soon be replaced by a new building.
The present school officers are Timothy Kelly, clerk ; John Conway, treasurer; and Lucus Kupsie, director. The pupils in the school at the present time are Joseph, Hester, Mercedes and Rush Kelly, Frank Byrnes, John Kupsie, August Riskie, Dave Conway and Ernest Mills.
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CHAPTER XII WATER WAYS AND LAND WAYS
EARLY IMPROVEMENTS ON THE BARABOO-THE MAXWELL WATER POWER -THE MIDDLE WATER POWER-THE UPPER POWER-THE REEDSBURG WATER POWER-THE GREAT MODERN POWER NEAR PRAIRIE DU SAC- MEASURED HIS STRENGTH AGAINST THE OLD WISCONSIN-STEPS IN THE GREAT CONSTRUCTION-UNITS OF A GREAT SYSTEM-PASSING OF THE OLD STAGE LINES-TAVERNS AND STAGES-NO RESPECTERS OF OLD AGE-MADISON TO BARABOO LINE- JAMES COWLES AND HIS ROUTE- THE OLD MATT FERRY-INCIDENTS ALONG THE WAY-JIM ALWAYS "GOT THERE"-JAMES CURRY, LAST OF THE OLD STAGE DRIVERS- LEADING STATE LINES-CAZENOVIA, IRONTON AND LA VALLE STAGE TAKEN OFF-NOTED STAGE HORSES AND DRIVERS-FAREWELL TO THE OLD STAGE COACH-AN AUTO STAGE LINE-PRESENT SAUK COUNTY STAGES-THE GOOD ROADS MOVEMENT-THE RAILROADS IN SAUK COUNTY-THE ST. PAUL REACHES SPRING GREEN-PROPOSED CHI- CAGO, ST. PAUL & FOND DU LAC-NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE CHICAGO & NORTH WESTERN-THE LA CROSSE & MILWAUKEE AND NEWPORT- OTHER ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS-BARABOO VALLEYITES "GETTING SET" -THE CHICAGO & NORTH WESTERN BUILT THROUGH THE VALLEY.
The history of the development of Sauk County, dependent upon its waterways and its landways, is the universal American story of a return to the viewpoint of the pioneer, transformed by the all-pervading influ- ence of new and broader conditions. He saw the manifold advantages of being near a running stream, which could furnish him with both transportation and the power necessary to operate the sawmills and the gristmills to accommodate the oncoming settlers. As he commenced to raise his erops, and his cattle and hogs increased beyond his own necessi- ties and those of his immediate neighbors, he also began to cut his way through the surrounding woods, and improve the neighboring roads so that different communities could be brought into communication and co-operation. Then came a time when stream and the railroads over- shadowed the powers of the waterways and the advantages to be derived from passable and well-constructed highways over the land. The coun- try, as a whole, became careless as to the fine, practical usefulness of the streams and the common roads which had played such a great part in bringing comforts and prosperity.
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A notable reaction has occurred within the past twenty years. With the development of electricity the wonderful powers of hydraulics have continually grown upon the minds of seientists and engineers, and, although the growth of the railway systems and appliances has been as remarkable as anything in the domain of hydraulics, vehicles of land transportation, such as automobiles, have also been so perfected that there has come an insistent demand for the best of roads, built not of iron and steel, but of gravel and concrete. The result of the modern good roads movement has been to bring the agricultural communities of the country and of the county into close social, business and political co-operation. The details of these developments are to be brought out in this chapter.
EARLY IMPROVEMENTS ON THE BARABOO
The improvement of the interior streams of Sauk County necessarily preceded that of the Wisconsin River, as it involved the lesser expense and labor; the improvement of the Wisconsin was reserved for a later, more wealthy and more scientifie generation of capitalists and engineers. Note has already been made of the commencement of a little dam, in the winter of 1839-40, by Wood & Rowan, a short distance above the site of the factory subsequently erected by the Baraboo Manufacturing Com- pany. Draper & Post were the mechanics who built the mill, the former having an interest in it. In 1843 Captain Levi Moore bought out Rowan, and other changes were made in the management even before a flood washed out a portion of the dam and wrecked the sawmill completely. It is said that the first drive of logs which came from the Baraboo pinery were eut and brought to the river by Archibald Barker and James Christie. Their boom broke away and the logs in going over the dam caused the first breach in it, which probably led to the final break. A man was drowned on the raft at the time and the incident naturally caused some excitement.
In the fall of 1844 Messrs. Wood & Moore resolved to put in a new dam further up stream, at the head of the bend, and to carry the water across in a race. In the following winter the race was laid out and dug and in the summer of 1845 the new sawmill was completed. J. Clement bought out Wood soon after the mill was completed, and Moore & Clement operated it for about two years. Subsequently the enterprise developed into the widely known Island Woolen Mill, more particularly noted in the history of Baraboo.
THE MAXWELL WATER POWER
The Lower, or Maxwell Water Power, was the first one selected at the Rapids. Three or four blocks away the depot and the shops of the
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North Western Railway were constructed more than thirty years later. The circumstances attending the location of this power are thus given in one of the Canfield papers: "In the summer of 1839 James Alban, the first white settler on Sauk Prairie, while on a visit to Eben Peck at Madison (whose was the first white family there) related that while he was one day reconnoitering the bluffs bordering Sauk Prairie upon the north he came in sight of a most remarkable looking lake ensconsed most majestically among the wild rocks and precipices, and that through its opening he saw what seemed like a fertile valley beyond. He said he intended, in a short time, an exploration of the Valley of the Baraboo. Peek at onee proposed to go with him, and to go immediately, which was agreed to, and they started the next day and went as far as Alban's, and thence to the Baraboo River, intersecting it at a point near where the lower dam now stands. Crossing the river they found two Indian villages. The Indians were indisposed and told them to 'pucherehee.' Peck selected the ox-bow, or great bend of the river, as his elaim, and marked it, but they were obliged to start on their way home that night, for another chief had been sent for, who now eame and with a quivering chin told them 'Krunkshun.' They recrossed the river but stayed that night on Peck's elaim. Returning to Madison, Peck gave a glowing description of the Baraboo and his claim. In the fall Eben Peck and Rosaline, his wife, and Luther, his brother, made a visit to his claim upon the Baraboo River. They crossed the Baraboo on horseback, Mrs. Peck riding a man's saddle borrowed of John Hoover on Sauk Prairie. In riding towards Portage City upon what is now called Peck's Prairie, they met, to their great surprise, Wallace Rowan and Abraham Wood, who were on their way to look at the Baraboo River. Wood and Rowan at that titne made a claim on the Upper Ox-bow.
In about a month after this last expedition of the Pecks, Chester Matson and James Van Slyke visited the Baraboo Rapids in search of a mill power, attempted to jump Peck's claim and had progressed to some extent in building a tree dam when Peck served papers upon them. The suit went in Peck's favor, and as the floods of the next spring carried away all the improvements, and Peek moved his family on his claim to hold it down, the lower mill site became a dead letter for several years.
There were no capital and searcely any provisions in the settlement. Each family operated its own eoffee mill, pounded its own hominy, and had no use for a power plant. When the land came into the market in 1846, however, Van Slyke obtained the money from James A. Maxwell, of Walworth County, to enter a half interest in the old mill site. With his father and others, Mr. Maxwell also obtained control of an adjacent forty acres necessary to cover the entire power, and superintended the building of a sawmill. They moved to Baraboo in the spring of 1848 and, in association with some Milwaukee people, erected a $10,000 flour mill.
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The mill interests were afterward divided, and other establishments developed, but in view of Mr. Maxwell's leadership in the early estab- lishment of the water power, it long retained his name.
THE MIDDLE WATER POWER
What is known as the Middle Water Power was claimed and surveyed by George W. Brown, of Whitewater, in June, 1844. In July he was joined by his brother, William Brown, and by. December the dam was completed and a sawmill in operation, on the south side of the river. The next season he built a gristmill on the other shore, the first industry of that kind of any size on the Baraboo. He was killed by a falling timber while making an addition to it in the following season. The first sale of any portion of this water power was to Orlano Pratt and Lewis and Josiah Hayes-200 inches of water and a strip of land-in the year 1846. By fall they had erected shops for turning lathes, a shingle ma- chine, chair factory machinery, etc., and for about two years, as long as the firm lasted, the industries at the Middle Power were quite alive. In 1847-49 Philarmon Pratt, Daniel Schermerhorn (his father-in-law) and the Seaburn brothers erected and operated various factories at that point, which continued for years to be an industrial center. But. the Upper and the Lower powers drew from its strength finally, and the property gradually decreased in advantages and manufacturing value. Finally, in the spring of 1907, the property was bid in under sheriff's sale by Grotophorst, Evans & Thomas, in behalf of the First National Bank of Baraboo, for $5,000. The property comprised the dam under the high bridge, the race north of the river, the building site formerly occupied by the old Hoyt mill (burned July 5, 1902), and a claim for property on the south bank of the river.
THE UPPER POWER
A claim was made to the water power at the head of the Rapids in the summer of 1843, and in the following winter timber eut for the first sawmill at the Upper Power .. The firm which developed the original improvement was that composed of the Willard brothers (Edward and George) and Don Carlos Barry. The frame of the mill was raised about the last of September, 1844, and commenced sawing in about six weeks. Barry soon sold out, although the first season's business is said to have been good, the supply of raw material having been obtained from Peck's Pinery. In the following year the Baraboo Pinery was drawn upon, and there was soon quite a settlement around the mills. For many years Messrs. John Metcalf, Nathan Paddock and Martin Waterman, with Captain Levi Moore, were perhaps the most influential personal forces at work in the development of the manufacturing interests at the Upper Water Power.
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THE REEDSBURG WATER POWER
The improvement of the water power of the Baraboo River at Reeds- burg was of a later day than that at Baraboo, and also of less magni- tude David C. Reed, the founder of the village, commenced the dam at that point in the summer of 1847, and in the following year a sawmill was completed and a gristmill commenced. The latter was, however, delayed for some time, as Mr. Reed's ambitions had outrun his capital, and several years afterward the Mackey brothers, of New York, came into the field, bought pine lands further up the river, and erected several mills, both saw and grist, and made the water power at Reedsburg and the place itself of consequence.
THE GREAT MODERN POWER NEAR PRAIRIE DU SAC
In the meantime, and up to very recent years, the Wisconsin River, in its relations to Sauk County, had simply been used as a frontier waterway for the sending of lumber rafts toward the manufacturing districts of the Fox and Wisconsin valleys, or to carry pleasure seekers back and forth; but, as to harnessing it for purposes of utility, nothing was done until about twelve years ago. All residents of Sauk County, and many without its boundaries, will know that special reference is made to the development of the great water power near the Village of Prairie du Sac.
The history of this work which is of so much benefit to Sauk County, and a far broader scope of territory, was thoroughly and graphically given in "The Multitude" for August, 1914, by Henry Walter Young. Its salient points are reproduced, as follows: "Untold centuries ago Na- ture laid out in the state of Wisconsin a vast hydro-electrie scheme, await- ing the engincers of the twentieth century who were to utilize it in place of the coal which she had not seen fit to provide. For the ages this power has been poured forth unutilized, carries us back very far in the world's history, to the beginning of things-the days of 'Chaos and Old Night.'
"Geologists tell us that what are now the wide central plains of Wisconsin were once mountains which pierced the sky, the first land to appear on the American continent. Worn down by erosion and beaten back by the waves of a limitless ocean, after centuries of centuries they became the prey of the great glacier of the north. The glacier planed off what remained of the mountains in the northern part of the state into a vast, flat tableland, one thousand to nineteen hundred feet in elevation. Proceeding farther south the glacier plowed the beginning of river beds, depositing debris in hills and bluffs far into the south center part of the state, to the beginning of the great 'driftless area.'
"Up in the high tableland are hundreds of lakes in a wooded country. From this large reservoir radiate large and rapid rivers to the south and west, which flow in grooved valleys suitable for damming. Vol. 1-20
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"The state of Wisconsin owes its prosperity in no small degree to these river systems. At first they were used to transport its timber wealth to the market, and later they were the direct cause of the devel- opment of the paper mill and other industries of the state. This power places Wisconsin seventeenth among the states in its water power resources. The development at present represents about two hundred and twenty-five thousand horsepower. Professor I. C. Smith of the University of Wisconsin, who has done much valuable work in the inves- tigation of the water powers, places the undeveloped resources of the state at three hundred and fifty thousand horsepower (1908).
"The Wisconsin is the largest of these rivers. It is approximately three hundred miles long and drains an area of twelve thousand two
POWER HOUSE AND DAM NEAR PRAIRIE DU SAC
hundred and eighty square miles. Its upper and swifter stretches have already been utilized to a great extent for power purposes, but in the lower reaches, where it broadens out, the throttling process was reserved for these days of larger undertakings and more experienced engineering. When it is realized that these developments are improvements in prac- tically a four-dollar-per-ton coal state, and that recent engineering has brought the efficiency of turbines up to eighty-six per cent the future economical efficiency of these plans is well established.
"Just above the village of Prairie du Sac the largest power develop- ment on the Wisconsin river, is at this time practically completed. Its ultimate capacity will be twenty-five thousand horsepower. Much of this power will be sold in the city of Milwaukee, over a hundred miles away. Now that the river has been subdued and its waters are pouring
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through the conerete structure of the power house, even the experienced can have little conception of the difficulties which had to be overcome in confining a river a third of a mile wide, flowing over a bed of shifting sand to which there seemed to be no bottom.
"Outside of the Mississippi development at Keokuk, Iowa, the devel- opment at Prairie du Sae is the largest in the Middle West and is also one of the most interesting from an engineering standpoint. Three and one-half years of unyielding effort were required for its construction, and an expenditure of approximately two million dollars on the plant alone, aside from the flowage rights. The Wisconsin is not a 'flashy' river; that is, its bed is more or less winding and obstructed by shoals and bars. For this reason it is less apt to be first overfed and then starved in its water supply than some whose watersheds are more steeply converging. It is among the big rivers in a country of big rivers, grim and powerful.
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