USA > Wisconsin > An illustrated history of the state of Wisconsin : being a complete civil, political, and military history of the state, from its first exploration down to 1875 > Part 55
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In matters pertaining to horticulture, the inhabitants of this county are not behind those of other counties of this State. Considerable progress has been made in the past few years in these pur- suits; and an improved taste is being manifested by the people generally in beautifying and adorning their home- steads, by the liberal planting of fruit and ornamental trees, vines, and shrubs. Time and experience have demonstrated, that, with care and attention, certain varieties of apples, as well as pears and plums, can be successfully and profita- bly grown. The time has arrived when many of the "country-seats " take pride and pleasure in fine grounds and taste- ful gardens; and in the cities, nearly every house has its garden-spot, taste- fully arranged with choice flowers, vines, and evergreens, and kept in the neatest order. In addition to the flower-garden, many have conservatories stocked with choice winter- flowering plants: while others, with less conveniences, keep them in the parlor; and the effect is a wide diffusion of a taste for flowers, and a corresponding taste and order through- out the whole household, making home more pleasant and attractive.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
is in process of erection. The various | fertile, producing all kinds of cere- religious denominations have church als. edifices. The public schools have fine buildings; and the city is in the centre of a fine agricultural country, comprising some of the best-cultivated farms in Wisconsin.
Population, 1875, 10,115.
Beloit is beautifully situated on both sides of Rock River, about twelve miles south of Janesville, on the State- line; and is a thriving place of business, having excellent manufacturing facili- ties. Its first settlement was made in 1835. It is the seat of Beloit College, an educational institution of high rank, of which Rev. A. L. Chapin, LL.D., is president. The water-power at Beloit has been much improved. Among the manufactories are the Beloit Reaper and Sickle Works; the Merrill & Hous- ton Iron Works having one hundred men in their employ, and manufacturing water-wheels and other machinery; the Rock River Paper Company, manufac- turing wrapping and building paper, - the latter a specialty, employing seven- ty-five hands, and using about three thousand tons of rye-straw yearly, pro- ducing three thousand tons of paper. Their building-paper is marketed to Mexico, the Canadas, and most all the Northern States. The Eclipse Windmill Company has a factory, -a four-story brick building, forty by ninety-six feet, -and can make fifteen hundred mills annually. D. W. Dake's Creamnery, by a patented process, prepares butter for the market, of superior quality, and is doing a large business. O. B. Olmstead & Com- pany, manufacturers of windmills, tur- bine water-wheels. Beloit Plough and Wagon Works, of J. Thompson & Com- pany, manufacture the Norwegian plough, which is extensively used in the North - west. Beloit has some eight churches, a large number of mercantile establishments, as well as many me- chanical shops and trades. Its prospects as a place of business are superior; and it has many advantages as a place of residence, and is beautifully situated. Beloit is on the Chicago and North-west- ern Railroad; it has a communication with Chicago, Milwaukee, and Green Bay, and the intermediate points.
Beloit College is situated in a large and pleasant grove, on an elevated and undulating plat of ground in the north- eastern part of the city. It has a large and competent faculty; and the insti- tution has a high reputation, and is well sustained, and liberally supported.
Population, 1875, 4,605.
Water - facilities are excellent. The Willow River is a splendid stream of water, capable of running heavy ma- chinery at numerous points; and other streams traverse the county, on which are many good mill-sites. Oak, ash, elm, birch, and basswood are the principal varieties of timber. Several brickyards are in successful operation. Limestone and stone-quarries, of good quality, are found in many parts of the county. The West Wisconsin Railway, now com- pleted to St. Paul, runs across the coun- ty nearly in an east and west line, near the centre of the county.
In breeding of cattle, some of the farm- ers are fast improving their herds by crossing the natives, or what they call scrubs, with the Durhams and Devons. In horses, they are doing something with the Black Hawk, Morgans, and Brig- nolias. Sheep-husbandry has not proved remunerative, probably because they started with the small Merinos. The Southdowns, Leicestershires, and Cots- wolds do finely. Pork - production is steadily on the increase. A cross of the White Chester and Suffolk makes ex- cellent hogs.
Manufactures are confined principally to lumber, flour, farming-implements, tin and sheet-iron ware, wagons, &c.
The West Wisconsin Railway runs across the county nearly in an east and west line, near the centre of the county, which gives direct connection with Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, and the East, saving a distance of nearly ninety miles over the Minnesota railways, making an excellent outlet for the products.
SAUK COUNTY. - This county has the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien Rail- road running through the southern por- tion; the Milwaukee and La Crosse, or St. Paul Railroad, running through the northern portion; and the Chicago and North-western Railroad, which is the main trunk, or most direct route from Chicago to the Northern Pacific Rail- road, running through its central por- tion. Hence, notwithstanding its inte- rior positions as regards the Great Lakes and the great Mississippi River, its com- merce has wholesome checks for extrav- agant rates of transportation by the nearness of the three railroad lines to each other; the middle representing Chicago interests, while the outside oney represent Milwaukee interests.
There is another wholesome check that might otherwise be demanded for high rates of transportation, which is the natural competition that exists be- tween water and rail transportation, which a large portion of the people of Sank County enjoy. Steamboat-naviga-
ST. CROIX COUNTY. - St. Croix County contains 466,007 acres of land, about one-fourth under cultivation. The gen- eral topography of the county is rolling, though, in many places, swampy and billy. The soil is of a clay-loam, very I tion can, with a trifling expense, be
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
brought into the centre of the county |is fertile, yielding good crops of all via the Barraboo River, which is a slug- kinds. Good mill-privileges are found gish and deep stream as far up as the rapids at the village of Barraboo, where the stream falls forty-six feet within two miles and a half. It is now improved with four dams; it can be again datumed, making over fifty feet within three miles and a half. This is one of the best water-powers in the State. There is not one-fourth of this Barraboo water-power yet used. At the present time, about five hundred thousand dollars' value of goods and grains are manufactured here. Here yet is opened a field for the em- ployment of capital. There can be read- ily thirty water - powers enumerated within Sauk County.
The western Ihnit of glacial drift makes its line through the north-eastern part of Sauk County, taking a strip of the county ten or twelve uniles wide in its widest place. The land upon this strip is chopped up into drift-hills; in places is sandy and poor; in other places, alluvial and rich, with inarshes, ponds, and lake- lets. The glacial forces are here more strongly marked than the country fur- ther east.
In the driftless portion of the county, where the valleys and ravines are truly and systematiclly washed out, the land is all a strong clay-loam, and inost of it rich, and well watered. Sauk County is all well watered. In the western and northern portions, the small streams are filled with speckled trout: at one place they are cultivated as a farmi product. Farmers are latterly turning their atten- tion to dairying.
There Is one fron mine and one blast- furnace in the county that has run six- teen years, and has, probably, made two hundred thousand tous of iron. At this time, there are several other points in the county that are being "pros- pected;" and it is believed that there may be quite an extensive region of banks of iron ore opened.
Speaklug in a general way, we can say that Sank County has au excellent soil, is well watered, aud abundantly timbered, with abundance of water- power, and large mineral resources and navigable streams, Certainly, it has all the advantages a people need ask for; and they are being rapidly taken advan- tage of.
SHAWANO COUNTY. - Shawano County is situated in the north-eastern portion of the State. The general topography of the county is rolling. Quality of soil along the banks of streams is a sandy loam; while on the uplands it is a black loam, with a clay subsoll. County con- tains six hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, with forty thousand un- der cultivation; of the balance, five hun- dred and seventy-five thousand acres are capable of cultivation. The county
on nearly all streains. Good clay, for brick and other purposes, is abundant; and brick are manufactured at reasona- ble prices. The prevailing timber of the forests is oak, ash, pine, maple, beech, hickory, basswood, and heunlock. Of the streams that traverse the county, the Wolf is the largest, being navigable up as far as Shawano Village. The riv- ers and lakes are filled with fish of all kinds. This county has good water- power, and is well adapted to the raising of winter wheat. The winters are unf- form; and the snow covers the ground, and protects the grain; the result being a yield of from twenty-five to thirty-five bushels per acre of very plump, bright wheat, that produces the very best brand of flour. Oats, barley, and rye grow well, and produce heavy crops.
SHEBOYGAN COUNTY. - Twenty - five years ago, this county was a vast wil- derness, with its forests of pine and hard wood, broken only by the lumber- man, who was employed in mannfactur- Ing lumber, and exporting It to a distant market; and the pioneer farmer was occupied in cutting down the timber, and burning it on the ground, to make room for a farm. To-day imore than half its surface is a cleared field; and its remain- ing timber is valuable, and all needed within its own limits.
At that time, and for years after, the pioneer suffered all the inconveniences of settling in the woods. Now he enjoys the benefits of living In a timbered re- glon. Then, with his own hand, he scattered the seed among the roots in the spring, and could be seen swinging his cradle among the stumps in harvest. Now the seeder sows his seed upon the smooth field; and the most approved reaper cuts, and gathers into bundles, the ripened grain.
Fruit, though not as easily raised as in somne counties, is found to repay judi- cious culture; and from twenty-five thou- sand to seventy-five thousand busheis of apples is the yearly product. It is agreed, among the pioneers, that the clitnate is somewhat modified, as far as agriculture is concerned, since the first settlement of the county, as but little difficulty is now experienced in maturing corn and vegetables, and some varieties of grapes. This Is, in part, due to enlarging the clearings, by which the air circulates more freely; in part, to ploughing and cultivating the soil, by which the heat of the sun by day is retained in the earth to temper the cold air of night.
The manufacture of cheese is advan- cing. A large portion of the first settlers are of foreign birth, who, having passed nearly half their lives in Europe, were able to land upon these shores with little more than the value of an eighty-acre lot
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
at government prices, and yet have suc- | clhnate. The river here describes an ceeded In placing themselves in cirenin- immense curve, there being nearly two mulles of navigable stream within the city lhuits. On both sides of the river is a bold platenn, with a gentle undulat- Ing surface, extending on the north and east to the lake, and westward back into the country for several miles. This table-land is beautifully dotted with little groves of second-growth pine, to which circumstance is attributed the designation of the "Evergreen City." No finer sites for residences can be found in the West than at and around this city. stances of independence, and often of wealth, being possessed of valuable farms, with cominodions buildings, and all the improved and approved machin- ery so highly prized by the American farmer. Their success inay be owing, in part, to habits of industry and economy, transported from the Old Country, and the stimulus afforded by free Institutions, yet much to the capacity of the soll for returning a reward for labor, together with a near and ready market for the products. Labor - saving machines of all kinds become more nummerons every year. The present season, there has been sold to the farmers of the county nearly three hundred reapers and mow- ers alone, and innumerable implements of less value.
The mannfactures of the county about equal the products of the farin, and have advanced considerably since the late census, particularly brick, of which about five million are annually inade, chiefly at the city of Sheboygan, finding a market at home and at varions points ou Lake Michigan; leather, of which large quantities of unfinished are year- ly sent to the Boston market; chairs, which find a market in the cities of the West; and steel, which is a new enter- prise, carried on at Sheboygan; while other articles-such as flour, lumber, wagons, steam - engines, farm - huple- ments, cloth, pottery, &c. - are mann- factured with enterprise and success.
The facilities for commerce have great- ly increased; and the business of the port of Sheboygan has nearly doubled in the last three years. Six years ago, no railroad extended beyond the limits of the county. Now the Sheboygan and Foud du Lac Railroad extends to Fox River, and the Milwaukee and Northern to Menasha, crossing each other at Plym- outh, near the centre of the county. The Lake - shore Road extends from Mil- wantkee to Manitowoc, and will soon reach out to Green Bay. These, to- gether with a good harbor and lake- commerce, ought to serve all the re- quirements of business and travel need- ed for the full development of the in- dustrial interests of this county.
Sheboygan, the capital of Sheboygan County, is situated on Lake Michigan, at the mouth of a river of its own name, sixty-two miles north of Milwaukee, and a hundred and ten miles north-east of Madison. It was settled in 1836, abandoned in 1840; and in 1845 It had a hundred and fifty inhabitants. There is no city on the lakes more pleasantly lo- cated. The land, at this point, juts ont into Lake Michigan; so that, during the suinmer months, it is swept by delightful The Sheboygan Manufacturing Com- pany established its works in 1869, and lake-breezes, adding greatly to the pu- rity of the air and the salubrity of the | is now, with one exception, the largest
The business establishments on the river, consisting of grist-mills, saw-mills, factorles, machlue-shop, planing-mill, tanneries, elevators, and ship-yards, with their munerous operatives, and the constant hum of machinery, give aunple evidence of the thrift, business energy, and enterprise of the inhabitants; while uorth and east of the river is the central mart of trade, with its wide, clean, bean- tiful streets, its huposing brick struc- tures, its banks, stores, hotels, and churches.
Sheboygan has a goodly number of church organizations; and nearly all of them have neat and tasty places of wor- ship. There Is the Methodist, Congre- gational, Lutheran, German-Methodist, Catholic, German-Reform, Evangelical, Episcopal. and Unitarian. They all have large congregations, and usually a full attendance.
Sheboygan County has one of the fin- est court-honses in the State, which was built in 1868, and cost sixty-five thou- sand dollars. Its foundation covers an area of a hundred and five by a hundred and ten feet, facing on Centre Street. It Is built of a cream-colored brick : the whole is surmounted by a dome, whose apex is a hundred and twenty feet above the earth, and a hundred and fifty above the surface of the lake.
The first mau that is known to have visited the present site of Sheboygan was William Farnsworth. He was an Indian fur-trader, having a post at Green Bay. At one time, when he was coasting along the westeru shore of the lake in a canoe, between Green Bay and Chicago, he Innded at this point. This was in the year 1818. He subsequently settled near the present city. During the same year, a Frenchinan, by the name of Andrew Vieux, bullt a hut on the east side of the river, In which he lived, and had born to him the first white child that saw the light of day in the territory which is now the City of Slie- boygan. From that day, it has con- tinned to grow and increase in popula- tion and wealth.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
chair-manufactory in the United States. The chartered capital of this establish- ment is two hundred thousand dollars, giving employment to two hundred and fifty workmen. The president, S. M. Barrett, is a man well versed in the business, and of large experience. The building is three stories high, covering a large area of ground, built of Milwau- kee brick, and heated with steam. This company ships their goods to nearly all parts of the United States: the largest portion, however, is kept in the North- west. There are a hundred and fifty different kinds of chairs manufactured, from the plainest up to the finest.
Sheboygan has two good local papers, "The Herald " and "The Times." They also have a good German paper, "The Demokrat," well printed and edited.
The educational facilities of Sheboy- gan are of a high order, and speak well for the intelligence of its citizens. It has an excellent system of graded schools, a large and magnificently furnished brick schoolhonse, and a State Normal School. The best of teachers are em- ployed; and the citizens of Sheboygan speak of their schools with cominenda- ble affection and pride.
Population, 1875, 3,459.
TAYLOR COUNTY. - This county was recently organized by the legislature: it is composed of parts of Clark, Chippewa, Marathon, and Lincoln Counties, con- sisting of twenty-seven townships. The land is generally undulating, and cov- ered with valuable timber, principally beech, maple, oak, pine, hemlock, and basswood. In some parts of the county there are fine cranberry-marshes, from which are realized yearly handsome profits.
A large part of the county is govern- ment land; and excellent opportunities are afforded for those who wish to make a settlement. The soil consists princi- pally of clay interspersed with yellow loamn. All kinds of products adapted to the State can be grown here, and most of them with profit. Corn, in an ordi- nary season, does well; and potatoes grow to an unusual size, - some twelve Inches in cirenutference.
The principal places in the county are Medford, Chelsea, and Westborough, situated on the line of the Wisconsin Central Railroad. The most important village is Medford, the county-seat. The site is a beautiful one. The village is of meteoric growth. The first building erected was abont a year ago: there are at present not less than sixty. The most important buildings are the large saw-mill and planing-mill of Robert and Whelan, which are of great value to the place. The saw-mill is the largest in Northern Wisconsin. There are, also, many large mills in other parts of the county.
TREMPEALEAU COUNTY. - There are not more than seventy-five thousand acres of Improved land in this county.
The soll is quite varied In its character: in some places, along the river-bottom lands, there are patches where sand pre- dominates; but much the greater portion of these lands is susceptible of cultiva- tion, and vields good crops. With this exception, the soil is a rich vegetable- loam, underlaid with a clay subsoil. All the vegetables and cereals common to our State are easily raised here. Wheat, both winter and spring, is largely grown, and does well.
The surface of the county is some- what broken. Along the courses of the rivers is generally a strip of level bot- tom-land, varying in width, which usu- ally terminates in sharp ridges, or bluffs, with an undulating or rolling surface at the summit. These bluffs are composed of Potsdam sandstone at the base, capped with magnesian limestone and vegetable-loain. The sandstone is nsu- ally from two linndred to four hundred and fifty feet thick; while the limestone is from twenty to fifty feet.
The county is well watered. The Mis- sissippi forms a part of its southern boundary; and the Black, Buffalo, and Trempealean Rivers, with their tributa- ries, pass through different sections of the county. Besides these, we have the Beaver and Tamarack Creeks, with trout-brooks and innumerable springs of soft water.
Most of the streams are lined with belts of hard-wood timber, consisting mainly of oak, maple, ash, and bass- wood. On some of the small creeks there are belts of tamarack. The bal- ance of the timber is principally white and burr oak. In the northern portion of the county, the timber is not abun- dant: in the southern and western part, there is a good supply. The climate is dry and healthy.
VERNON COUNTY.1- Vernon County is situated in the western part of the State, between the forty-third and forty- fourth degrees of latitude; its western border, of twenty-two miles, being wa- tered by the Mississippi River. The soil is good, and covered with a heavy growth of hard-wood timber, such as is nsnally found in timbered countries. The product of small grain is equal, per acre, to any part of the State; and in vegetables it excels the prairie. The surface of the county is rolling, and in some places hilly, but all valnable for timber on such portions as cannot be cultivated. It is well watered hy springs and brooks, and well adapted for grazing-purposes, for which it will
1 We are indebted to G. W. Nuzum and John R. Carson of Varoqua for this sketch. - C. R. T.
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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.
soon become noted. Like all timbered | Of the varieties of crops raised in the land, it is natural for grass; and, having abundance of water, it will soon become the dairying portion of the State. With an abundance of water-power furnished by the Barraboo and Kickapoo Rivers, and a superior quality of timber that could be used for the manufacture of furniture and agricultural impiements, this part of Vernon County offers in- ducements equal to any part of the State.
The county contains five hundred and thirty-four thousand and forty acres of land, one-third under cultivation. Of the balauce, about one-half is capable of being worked.
The raising of stock has become a prominent feature with the husband- inan, producing the best quality of grass- fed stock that finds its way to the Mil- waukee or Chicago markets. The first attempt to raise fruit was attended with little success. Many were disheartened, and gave up: others persevered, and have met with success. We have a few "iron clad " varieties of pears that do well. The first is the Haas; next, Tetofsky and Duchess of Oldenburg. Some others have proved valuable. Of grapes, the Concord and Delaware have done nobly.
The principal kinds of timber are ma- ple, oak, basswood, and elm. Plenty of game and fish is found in the forests and streams.
Among the principal - settlements is Varoqua, a thriving village, and the county-seat. It has three churches, aud one union school with three departments, which is well supported, both as regards attendance and the interest manifested by the inhabitants De Soto, Victory, and Geneva, on the Mississippi River, are the principal markets for the western portion of the county, and are also well supplied with schools and churches.
There are about a hundred and twenty schoolhouses in the county, mostly of wood, but some built of stone or brick, which are very fine structures. The one at Varoqua cost fourteen thonsand dol- lars. The average wages paid to male teachers is thirty-five dollars, and female teachers twenty-five dollars, per month.
The population is about one-third Norwegians, one-half Americans, and the balance German. The county is In- creasing fast In wealth and population. It is estimated that two million bushels of wheat were raised In the county in 1873.
county, there has been but littie change in the past ten years Wheat, corn, and oats continue to be the leading crops, Broom-corn is raised to a far greater ex- tent than formerly. Not less than five hundred tons of brush were raised in 1870. Hops have been raised to a con- siderable extent during the past three years. No new varieties of grain have come into popuiar favor in the past ten years, though a considerabie effort has been made by Interested partles to intro- duce the Norway or Ramsdale oat, at fabulous prices; but the only profit se- cured, so far, has been bagged by the parties selling the seed.
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