USA > Wisconsin > Fond du Lac County > Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume I > Part 7
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
For many years maps of the northwest contained what purported to be the boundaries of a grant from the natives of Jonathan Carver, covering a tract nearly one hundred miles square and extending over portions of northern Wis- consin and Minnesota. The history of this grant forms one of the most noted pages in annals of congressional legislation. In the face of the proclamation of 1763, and within three years after its promulgation, Jonathan Carver made claim to ownership of this immense tract, through purchase or voluntary grant of the aborigines. He solicited a confirmation of his title at the hands of the king and his council. This was of course denied. After the establishment of American independence the representatives of Carver made application to congress for approval of the claim. This has been repeatedly denied.
The terms of peace between France and England provided for the security of the French settlers then upon the soil. Subsequent Indian outbreaks occurred in the eastern and more southerly sections of the new territory but Wisconsin was not involved in any of those bloody massacres. The expedition of Colonel George Rogers Clark to the Illinois country, in 1778-79, opened the way for the tide of Anglo-American emigration to the Mississippi. At the termination of the Revo- lutionary war, Great Britain renounced all claim to the lands lying east of the Mississippi river. As Clark's expedition was undertaken under the auspices of Virginia, that commonwealth laid claim to the so-called "Illinois country." It is a popular statement with some writers that Wisconsin was included in this general term and was therefore once under the government of Virginia, but bet- ter authorities maintain that such is not the fact. There were but two settle- ments then existing in Wisconsin-Green Bay and Prairie du Chien. These places were in the hands of French residents, and, being undisturbed, were really under the authority of Great Britain. They so remained, with the territory now com- posing this state, under the terms of the definite treaty of peace of 1783, between the English government and the United States, until 1796, at which date Great Britain yielded her domination over the western posts. The several claiming states of the American Union ceded their individual rights to the general gov- ernment at different periods, ranging from 1783 to 1785, thereby vesting com- plete title in the United States, as far as they could.
A period is now reached where the public domain is held by the United States save only those claims possessed by right of occupation by the Indians, and which could not be gainsaid or ignored by any nominal assumption of rights by the government.
First after the Revolutionary war came the Indian war, wherein General Wayne distinguished himself. Then followed the treaty of August 3, 1795. One of the terms of this treaty was the relinquishment of title by the government to all Indian lands northward of the Ohio river, eastward of the Mississippi, west- ward and southward of the Great Lakes and the waters united by them, except- ing certain reservations. The title to the whole of what is now Wisconsin, sub-
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
ject to certain restrictions, became absolute in the Indian tribes inhabiting it. The Indians acknowledged themselves under the dominion of the United States, and pledged themselves to sell their lands only to the United States. Settlement on their lands was prohibited white men.
The several treaties with the Indians, by which the domain of Wisconsin was transferred to the government are cited here: The treaty made at St. Louis, November 3, 1804, between the Sacs and Foxes and the United States, William Henry Harrison, commissioner, ceded a large tract both east and west of the Mississippi, and included the lead region of Wisconsin. The validity of this treaty was questioned by certain Sac bands and became the cause of the Black Hawk war in 1832. The treaty at Portage des Sioux, now St. Charles, Missouri, between certain Sacs and the government, September 13, 1815, that of Septem- ber 14, 1815, by certain Foxes, and that of May 13, 1816, at St. Louis, were pledges of peace, not affecting land titles, excepting those involved in the treaty of 1804. The Winnebagoes of the Wisconsin river signed a treaty at St. Louis, June 3, 1816, confirming all previous Indian cessions, and affirming their own in- dependence. This act was followed by the Menomonees, March 30, 1817. Au- gust 19, 1825, the several tribes in Wisconsin defined the boundaries of their re- spective lands, by council at Prairie du Chien. The Chippewas held a meeting on the St. Louis river, Minnesota, August 5, 1826, and specified their boundaries and also ratified previous treaties. The Chippewas, Menomonees and Winneba- goes again defined their boundaries by council at Butte des Morts, August I, 1827. The treaties of August 25, 1828, at Green Bay, and July 29, 1829, at Prairie du Chien, determined disputed points in the lead mine cession.
An important treaty was made at Green Bay, February 8, 1831, between the Menomonees and the United States. The vast territory, the eastern division of which was bounded by the Milwaukee river, the shore of Lake Michigan, Green Bay, Fox river and Lake Winnebago; the western division by the Wisconsin and Chippeway rivers on the west, on the north by the Fox river, on the east by Green Bay, and on the north by the highlands through which flow the streams into Lake Superior, all came within the range of this treaty. The eastern di- vision, estimated at two and a half millions of acres, was ceded to the United States. The tribe was to occupy a large tract lying north of Fox river and east of Wolf river. Their territory further west was reserved for their hunting grounds, until such time as the government should desire to purchase it. Another portion, amounting to four millions of acres, lying between Green Bay on the east and Wolf river on the west, was also ceded to the United States, besides a strip of country three miles wide, from near the portage of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers north, on each side of the Wisconsin river, and forty-eight miles long, still leaving the tribe in possession of a country about one hundred and twenty miles long and eighty broad. The treaty provided for two New York tribes, granting them two townships on the east side of Lake Winnebago. The treaty of September 15, 1832, at Fort Armstrong, ceded all the Winnebago territory lying south and east of the Wisconsin, and Fox river of Green Bay. The In- dians were excluded from that tract after June 1, 1833. The treaty of October 27, 1832, at Green Bay, ceded to the New York Indians certain lands on Fox river. The treaty at Chicago, September 26, 1833, by the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawatomies, completed the United States' title to the lands in southern Wisconsin.
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
On the 3d of September, 1836, the Menomonees ceded lands lying west of Green Bay, and a strip on the Upper Wisconsin, the quantity being estimated at four millions of acres in the Green Bay tract, and nearly one hundred and eighty- five thousand acres on the Wisconsin. July 29, 1837, at Fort Snelling, the Chip- pewas ceded all their lands lying south of the divide between the waters of Lake Superior and those of the Mississippi. The Sioux nation of the Mississippi re- linquished their claim to all their lands cast of the Mississippi and the islands in that river, while on a visit to Washington, September 29, 1837. The Winne- bagoes gave up their rights, November 1, 1837, at Washington, and agreed to leave the lands east of the Mississippi within eight months, retiring to their reser- vation west of the great river. The Oneidas, or New York Indians, at Green Bay, ceded their lands granted them in 1831 and 1832, excepting sixty-two thou- sand acres, February 3. 1838, at Washington. The Stockbridge and Munsee tribes of New York Indians ceded the cast half of the tract of forty thousand and eighty acres which had been laid off for their use on the cast side of Lake Winnebago, September 3, 1839. The Chippewas, by treaty at La Pointe, Octo- ber 4. 1842, ceded all their lands in northern and northwestern Wisconsin. The Menomonees ceded all lands in the state, wherever situated, October 18, 1848. A supplementary treaty was made, November 24, 1848, with the Stockbridges, the tribe to sell the town of land on the east side of Lake Winnebago'; another sup- plementary treaty, May 12, 1854, the tribe receiving a tract lying on Wolf river, being townships 28, 29 and 30, of ranges 13, 14, 15 and 16. The Chippewas of Lake Superior ceded their joint interest with the Chippewas of the Mississippi in lands lying in Wisconsin and Minnesota, September 30, 1854. On the 5th of February, 1856, certain small grants were made by the Stockbridge and Munsee tribes, at Stockbridge, for which they received a tract near the southern boundary of the Menomonee river, the Menomonees ceding two townships for them. Thus ended the Indian title to all lands in Wisconsin, excepting some minor local grants, and the title to the vast domain became vested in the general government.
The original settlements of Green Bay and Prairie du Chien were made on lands, part of which were granted by the paternal governments to the first set- tlers. The question of title based on these claims came before congress, in 1820, by the revival of a similar case raised to cover claims at Detroit, in 1805, and re- sulted in the establishment of some seventy-five titles at Prairie du Chien and Green Bay.
The ordinance of 1787 provided that congress might establish one or two states of that territory lying north of a line drawn east and west through the southerly bend of Lake Michigan. In spite of this plain fact, Illinois was defined in its present northern line, and the Lake Superior region was added to Michigan, as the "Upper Peninsula." Efforts were made by Wisconsin at an early date to . recover what was justly her right, but those efforts proved unavailing.
CHAPTER II
STORY OF THE ROCKS AND FIELDS
VARIOUS PERIODS OF FORMATION-KETTLE RANGE OF HILLS AND RIDGES-RICH AND ENDURING SOIL-COMMERCIAL CLAY AND LIMESTONE-ALMOST IMPENE- TRABLE FORESTS OF VALUABLE TIMBER-A VERITABLE PARADISE FOR WILD BEASTS AND BIRDS-TOPOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTY-DRAINAGE AND RECLAMATION OF WASTE LANDS.
The lowest accessible rocks in Wisconsin consist of an immense series of granites gneisses, syenites and hornblendic, micaceous, chloritic chists and allied, crystalline rocks. These rocks bear within themselves decisive evidence that they were once sediments derived from the wear of earlier rocks. Nowhere are these earlier rocks exposed to the surface. These lowest accessible rocks are called "fundamental gneiss" and upon them are piled layer upon layer of rock formations of the state. First were deposited the St. Peter's sandstone. all to- gether called the Potsdam period of the lower silurian age (age of mollusks). Then in succession came the Trenton limestone, Galeria limestone and Hudson river shales of the Trenton period of the lower silurian age of the Paleozoic era. Then came the following strata :
Helderberg
Oriskany Lower Helderberg Salina
Upper Silurian
Niagara
Niagara Clinton Medina Oneida
All of the above strata were formed under the internal sea before any land in the present Wisconsin was above water except the famous "Isle Wisconsin," the only section of the state that was never under water. During the upper silu- rian age mollusks in enormous numbers flourished; their casts are found in the rocks of the county. Among them are crinoids, corals, protozans, bryozoans, brachipods, cephalopods, crustaceans and others. At the close of the upper silurian age what is now Fond du Lac county rose above the sea and was never afterward submerged; but another agency deposited a vast amount of soil upon the upper silurian rocks of this county, namely, the quarternary age, or glacial period of epochs, thus :
45
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
Terrace or Fluviatile
Champlain or Lacustrine
Quarternary Age
Second Glacial
(Glacial Period)
Interglacial
First Glacial
The glacial period was remarkable in many particulars. That immense fields of ice should be pushed down from the north shearing off the soil and rocks of the older periods and carrying large portions southward to be dropped upon the surface of this county and elsewhere as the sun gradually melted the ice, seems an extraordinary event, but is well authenticated by indubitable testi- mony. The evidence is also clear that the tertiary age was warm to such an ex- tent that animals and plants flourished almost to the north pole and certainly in Alaska and other sections even farther north. But this age was succeeded by the quarternary age, which presented marked contrasts. It was intensely cold in northern latitudes and even in this section the heat of summer not being sufficient to melt the vast accumulations of snow and ice which thus formed immense glaciers which were forced slowly southward carrying the surface rocks with them and depositing them where the ice melted. What is now Fond du Lac county was thus covered with an immense glacier which flowed south- ward, digging out Lake Michigan and topping over until united with the glacier which likewise scooped out Green Bay and Fox river valley. These glaciers or others extended as far south as southern Illinois and southern Indiana. Of the material carried along there were thrown off at the sides great ridges now called terminal moraines which form many of the hills and elevations of this county. The material thus deposited is called "drift," and no doubt considerable de- posited here was brought from Canada, the Lake Superior basin and the north- ern part of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. No doubt all of the present Fond du Lac county was swept by the ice of the first glacial epoch and subsequent glacial fields removed many evidences of the first glacial visitation. The sec- ond glacial epoch is represented by a wide band of drift and moraines stretch- ing across the county northeast and southwest, a little east of north and west of south. This band was the area where the Lake Michigan and the Green Bay glaciers joined and where in the meeting and the grinding of the two together there were deposited the drift and moraines of the second glacial band above described. Thus the direction of glaciation is as follows: In nearly the eastern half of the county the markings show movement from the Lake Michigan glacier in almost exactly a slightly southwest direction. In the west third of the county they show that the Green Bay glacier crowded in a southeast direction until ar- rested by the edge of the Lake Michigan glacier; and there the hills of drift ' and the moraines were deposited in the band already described. The western margin of the Lake Michigan glacier is now marked by what is called the Ket- tle Range which in this county is about co-extensive with the second glacial area. This range is thus described by the state geologist :
"The most striking result of the second glacial advance was the production along the margin of the ice sheet of a great moraine, the most gigantic and most remarkable yet known to characterize glacial action. It consists of a great ridged belt of drift disposed in grand loops along what was the glacier's mar-
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
gin. Its re-entrant angles penetrated deeply between the adjoining lobes mark- ing their line of contact. That portion of the moraine which lay between and was formed by the joint action of the Green Bay and Lake Michigan glaciers constitutes a succession of irregular hills and ridges, locally known as the Ket- tle Range from the peculiar depressions by which it is characterized. This ridged belt of drift is a true terminal moraine formed of the heterogeneous ma- terial accumulated as the margin of the ice and plowed up before it at the time of its greatest advance * The intermediate portions of the Kettle Mo- raine lie along the face of two approaching ice sheets which may have met and antagonized each other to some extent, but did not coalesce; and further- more they lie transverse to the glacial motion and are strictly marginal and are in real nature terminal moraines, differing from other portions simply in being formed by two glaciers pushing from opposite directions. * * * The char- acteristics of the Kettle Moraine are striking. It is not merely a simple ridge plowed up by the smooth edge of the ice, but consists of an irregular assem- blage of drift hills and ridges, forming a belt usually several miles in width. * The superficial aspect of the formation is that of an irregular intri- cate series of drift ridges and hills of rapidly, but often very gracefully undu- lating contour, consisting of rounded domes, conical peaks, winding and occa- sionally genticulated ridges, short, sharp spurs, mounds, knolls and hummocks promiscuously arranged, accompanied by corresponding depressions that are even more striking in character. These depressions give rise to the various local names of potash kettles, pot holes, pots and kettles, sinks, etc. Those that have most arrested popular attention are circular in outline and symmetrical in form, not unlike the homely utensils that have given them names. However, some are irregular and shaped like a funnel, inverted bell, saucer, trough or even winding hollows. They vary in depth from a mere indentation to bowls sixty or more feet in depth. The kettles proper seldom exceed 500 feet in diam- eter. As a natural consequence of their forms many of the depressions are small lakes without inlet or outlet. Where there are depressions there also are hills and here they are the counterpart of the depressions, being inverted kettles, or sharp ridges, along trough-like hollows. As to material, clay, sand, gravel and boulders enter largely into the constitution of the Kettle Range, gravel being the most conspicuous element exposed to observation. The great core of the range consists of a confused commingling of clay, sand, gravel and boulders of the most pronounced type. Thus the range is essentially unstratified. * It is undeniable that the agency which produced the range gathered its material all along its course for at least three hundred miles to the northward and its largest accumulations were in the immediate vicinity of the deposit. Thus the material of the range changes along its whole course and is quite often more or less stratified."
The glacial period was succeeded by an epoch when the southward flow of the water was checked and much of this northern country was submerged be- neath the lakes and it was at this time that the red clays, beach deposits and other soils were left upon a considerable portion of the surface. The forest trees so often found buried no doubt grew between the glacial periods when warm weather prevailed, the change from heat to cold occurring every 10,500 years, due to the precession of the equinoxes.
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
"The retreat of the glaciers left spread over the surface subjected to their action a sheet of confused and commingled earthy and rocky material scraped from the surface of the areas lying northward and partaking of the diverse natures of the parent sources. This contained ingredients from a large variety of rocks of various mineral composition and therefore furnishing a sub-stratum remarkably well fitted to yield a soil rich in all requisite mineral constituents. Since then the sun, rain, air and frost have developed therefrom a deep, rich and enduring soil, to which vegetation has added humic products." (Geology of Wisconsin, Vol. I.)
At the close of the second glacial epoch elephants, mastadons, mammoths and other giant animals roamed over Wisconsin; among them were buffaloes, deer, wolves, raccoon or species closely related to these animals.
RIVERS AND SPRINGS
The wealth and beauty of Fond du Lac and its surroundings are rarely under- stood and appreciated by its citizens. There is no place in the state of Wiscon- sin that is surrounded by a more fruitful and beautiful region than is the city of Fond du Lac. The city itself lies at the extreme northern point of the valley of several small streams that flow into the Fond du Lac river. This valley is sur- rounded on the east by the abrupt rise of ground known as "The Ledge," which also extends on the southern side through Byron and Oakfield, and on the west the height is nearly equal to that on the east, but the ascent from the valley is very gradual, even as far as the city of Ripon. We have never appreciated what Lake Winnebago might be, and largely because of the unrestored marsh that in- tervenes between the city and the lake. When this is filled, as it will be, the favorite shaft of ridicule used by the neighboring city of Oshkosh, to-wit: "web- footers," will be heard no more. Lake Winnebago, extending as it does, thirty or more miles to the north, with an extreme width of twelve miles, is a lake of no small importance. In fact, the great Salt Lake of Utah is the only lake wholly within the bounds of a state, that is larger than Winnebago. This lake forms a reservoir for furnishing power for thirty miles of industries, extending from Neenah to Depere. On the eastern side there are no inlets of any special importance, but commencing with the valley and extending the entire western side, the amount of water running into this reservoir is very great, including the drainage of the valley and the Fox river at Oshkosh, with all of its branches. The lake is 172 feet above Lake Michigan, and some of the hills to the east are as high as 350 feet above Lake Winnebago. The Northwestern road in reach- ing the high point a mile beyond Eden, climbs 288 feet from this valley, and the Wisconsin Central in getting to Hamilton even exceeds that height, and the St. Paul does its share of climbing also, but not to so great a height. The highest point on the Chicago & Northwestern between Winnebago and Michigan is one mile north of Campbellsport, the height being 498 feet above Lake Michigan and 326 feet above Winnebago. Ripon is 252 feet above this lake. The height of the surrounding country accounts in part for the facility with which this valley becomes furnished with its wealth of springs and fountains, and which has rendered the city famous as one of the healthiest, if not the healthiest, city of its size in the United States.
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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY
What is known as "The Ledge" furnishes a large number of the most beau- tiful springs, the water of which is unexecelled in purity and healthfulness. Most of these springs are very even in their flow, and never entirely cease. Oc- casionally one ceases during the long dry seasons, showing that the head which furnishes the water is small and easily evaporated.
Commencing on the north, in the town of Taycheedah, is the spring of Ed- ward Fisher, nine miles from the city, which formerly furnished power for a small feed mill, with a 30 foot breast wheel. Its flow is about 109 gallons per minute.
Next to the south is the largest spring in this region, which furnishes power for the Prehn mill, which old settlers will remember as the "Allen mill." This spring is 225 feet above Lake Winnebago and is a most beautiful spring of pure water. It is nearly uniform in its flow but at the lowest output is not far from 150 gallons per minute. Next to the south is a spring which breaks out in a romantic gorge by the side of the Sheboygan railroad, but it is not uniform in its flow. The Braun spring is constant and the flow is about 60 gallons per min- ute, as is also the Duffy spring next south. Several smaller springs in the town of Empire flow into the valley, until the farm of Hon. O. A. Wells is reached, where is another useful and beautiful spring. Many years ago there was a con- test between Oshkosh and Fond du Lac as to the location of the State Hospital, and a part of what was then known as the Lyman Phelps farm was offered as a site for it. It was then estimated that the output of this spring could be piped into the top of the building and supply the same for all time. That estimate was not incorrect.
Next south from this farm is the stream that runs the Leonard mill. Its ยท source is three beautiful springs on the farm of F. M. Phelps in Empire. For- merly the stream was constant but in later years the trees and shrubbery have been removed largely from its banks in the three miles that it travels before reach- ing the mill, and when the sun shines a large portion of it is used for watering that greedy orb, much to the detriment of the mill pond.
For the next three miles south there are sundry springs, including a beautiful one at Rienzi cemetery and another at the former home of the ex-Governor Tall- madge, when Lake de Neveu is reached. This beautiful sheet of water is 125 feet above Lake Winnebago. The attractive summer resort of de Neveu is about 225 feet above Lake Winnebago. The extreme southern end of this lake is sup- posed to be a body of springs, but a specially large one on the east shore furnishes the summer resorters with their drinking water, and 50 feet above the lake on the de Neveu farm is a most beautiful spring, which by means of a hydraulic ram furnishes the home of the de Neveus and their buildings that are occupied by their guests with an abundance of water, and also supplies a beautiful lakelet in their grounds, in addition to a large flow that also goes to the lake. The out- let of this little sheet of water flows into what is known as de Neveu creek. The Twin lakes, a short distance from Eden station, is the source of this creek and furnishes the Williams mill with no mean water power. A few rods below the junction of the outlet of the lake and this creek, another stream joins it, the source of which is some beautiful springs in the town of Byron. This stream suffers as does the Leonard mill stream, from the fact that the shores have been denuded of their natural growth, and in the warm weather the full sun sometimes Vol. I-4
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