USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People > Part 26
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Before the footlights, Francis Fisher Powers, of Oshkosh, has a national reputation as a singer. He makes his home in New York, and was once taken in a special car to sing at the White House before President Mckinley. Arthur Shattuck, of Neenah, gave two concerts in May at the Salle des Agriculteurs in Paris, with the assistance of Edward Colonne and his orchestra. Piano recitals : Clarence E. Shepard, of Oshkosh, together with Char-
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lotte Lund, the opera singer, gave a concert April 29 at the Salle Gaveau, Paris. In the histrionic art Mr. Edward Clifford, of Oshkosh, has obtained national fame, and is well known to play- goers everywhere. IIe is also a playwright, and has produced some interesting work, one of which was his play of "Lazare." Miss Alice Washburn, native of Oshkosh, studied her favorite expression and reading with some of the best teachers in New York and Chicago, and has given her studies in many places. She has also taken character parts with great success in real life drama, traveling with the theater party to all the large cities in the country. Mr. Edward Balch Barr has taken up the work of travalogue lectures, making canoe journeys to out of the way places with camera and note book, and returning to give lectures through the winter with stereopticon views. His present marked success bids fair for his future in the chosen profession.
In the art of the painter we may mention Miss Adele Heckel, of Menasha, who has painted many subjects in still life from copy, and is now engaged as art teacher in the schools at Hancock, Michigan. Mrs. John P. Shiells, nee Blanch Cummings, of Neenah, has made some creditable work for her own amusement. One of her best pieces is a painting sketched from life in Mexico of the typical peon. Mr. William A. Knapp, of Oshkosh, has taken up painting as a business, having a natural talent for the art. His copy work is excellent, and his original work correct and real- istic. One of his best pieces is a still life sketch of an old barn door, hung with violin and old letters nailed to the weather-beaten boards. His painting of the historical incident of the Jesuit Fathers throwing the Indian idol into Grand Chute falls, now owned by Mr. J. W. Priest, of Appleton, is a fancy sketch of his- torical value. Mr. Edward Osthous was an oil painter of consid- prable note. His special genius included depicting the animal and dog in art. Mr. Frank Waldo obtained something more than local fame as a painter of broad scenes "in westward the star of . empire takes its way" pictures. Leo Gruenhagen, of Gruenhagen Point, studied painting in Paris, where his "White Lady" was exhibited with favor. He is doing portrait oil painting. Mr. Robert Jasperson, of Neenah, as cartoonist and illustrator of cur: rent events, has been employed for a number of years on the "Evening Wisconsin."
XXII.
TOWNSHIP HISTORY.
Town of Algoma.
Town of Algoma lies on Big Lake Butte des Morts, and around the city of Oshkosh, with its east mile section on the shore of Lake Winnebago. It is the rural portion of the town not yet ab- sorbed by the extension of the great city of Oshkosh. In the coming years its fertile fields will be platted into city lots. It is composed of rolling rich agricultural and stock lands. Algoma creek crosses the town. The Fond du Lac Interurban crosses the east mile of the town, and the C., M. & St. P. railway runs through the town, with the station in the city. There are four school houses, but easy access to the city schools gives the ad- vantage of city life.
Algoma contains a population of 876, of whom 609 were born in this state, fifteen in Canada, fifteen in Denmark, eighteen in England, seventy-two in Germany and ten in Wales. There are 10,175 acres in the town, of which 9,000 acres are improved, valued at over one million dollars. The sales in the region show the value per acre of $82. There was raised, by the census of 1905, 54,000 bushels oats, 14,000 barley, 17,000 corn, 8,000 pota- toes, 7,600 apples; and the people possess 540 horses and 1,700 cattle. Their 1,092 milch cows produce 49,000 pounds of butter, and 5,000 fowls produce 20,000 dozen eggs.
This town was one of the very earliest localities settled by the real pioneer. Webster Stanley located on Coon's Point when he came into the river from Winnebago Rapids by flatboat with his family in 1836. This location is now in the Fifth ward of the city of Oshkosh. Stanley put up his shanty and resided there during the summer, engaging in the ferry and hotel business. Coon's Point is formed by the river and Big Lake Butte des Morts. In the fall Stanley left this site and carried the wreck of his shanty over onto the location selected by him east of the pres- ent Main street in the city of Oshkosh, and became the founder of the original location of Oshkosh. Mr. Chester Ford, father of
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Milan Ford, built a log house on the shore of Lake Winnebago on Ford's Point, later known as Wright's Point, in the winter of 1837, where he resided several years, and became the first set- tler of the town of Algoma. Next came Mr. William A. Boyd, a son-in-law of Mr. Chester Ford, who located on the farm after- ward owned by Mr. J. P. Roe, who devoted it to small fruits and fancy stock. He was a brother of E. P. Roe, the author and writer of fiction. When Mr. Boyd came in June, 1840, he brought with him twenty-one sheep, the first introduced to the county. They were brought by boat from Cleveland to Green Bay, and driven over land from there on the Tomahawk trail. He brought with him a stock of leather and was the first shoemaker in the county. Afterwards he was a pioneer mail carrier, making the journey over the Tomahawk trail every two weeks from Saukeer to Green Bay. Hon. Joseph H. Osborn made a claim in the spring of 1846, and built a house. Mr. Osborn was an active pioneer, enterprising and progressive. By 1847 the land in the town was mostly taken up and was nearly all settled. Mr. John Stroud, an early settler, helped build the first saw mill. Mr. H. C. Jewell came into Algoma in 1848, engaging first in mercantile lines, and then in lumber and manufacturing. He was the first chairman of the town of Algoma at the first election held April 5, 1850.
The old village of Algoma, now absorbed into the Fifth ward of Oshkosh, was in pioneer days a flourishing village, with all the prospects of future prosperity. It was the site of Webster Stan- ley's first shanty, and the landing for Knaggs and Stanley's ferry, above Sawyer creek. In 1839, Mr. C. J. Coon arrived and purchased land from Robert Grignon, and commenced at once the erection of improvements. He was an energetic and enterprising man, and his location was soon occupied by Mr. D. W. Forman, Wm. Daggett, James Whittemore and Thomas C. Baker. Together they started a village. They constructed a saw mill, the first one in Oshkosh. Stores went up and the Eagle hotel was built, me- chanic shops were established and a number of dwellings erected, making a promising show of a lively place. The Algoma post- office was established. Weed, Gumaer and Coon built a bridge over the Fox river at this point. The first grist mill in this region was erected at Algoma. The ancient village is now a phantom town, with all its flush days having served to raise the glory of other places, and it has left only a name.
Over on the shore of Big Lake Butte des Morts there are many country homes lining the high banks of the lake in a cluster,
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named by the citizens of the delightful place Oakwood. Near by is Waldwic, the handsome summer home of Hon. Edgar P. Saw- yer. Over on the shore of Lake Winnebago the whole shore line of the town is occupied by summer homes and places, principal among them being the location named Stony Beach.
The town is rich in archeological monuments and relics. There was before the plow had destroyed them several aboriginal mounds on the farm of Mr. William W. Wright, at the present site of Stony Beach, in section 35. One of the best monuments remaining in the county of the aboriginal clay sculptured hiero- glyphics, or effigy mounds, is the campus in the foreground in front of the summer cottages at Oakwood. It has been illustrated in "the Archeology of Winnebago County," 1903, by P. V. Law- son. The group consists of a panel made up with a single ring at one end and a double ring at the other end, with a line of three bird effigies and three panther mounds intermediate. The birds seem in a race with the panthers. The residents have been re- quested to preserve these beautiful and last works of a lost art, and a lost people, for the inspection of the future student. In former years there was an aboriginal cornfield near this place. On section seven, about two miles west of Oakwood, on the place formerly owned by James Hammer, there were four conical mounds, each about thirty feet in diameter and two feet high, all of which have been plowed down. There was an aboriginal cemetery on the same tract of land.
Town of Black Wolf.
Town of Black Wolf was named for the old chief of the Winne- bago, who had his village on the banks of Lake Winnebago, seven miles south of Oshkosh, and in the territory of the town on a point of land known as Black Wolf Point. The history of Black Wolf is given in another place in this work. His Indian name was Shounk Tshunksiap. Mr. J. O. Lewis painted his portrait in 1827. to which he gives the name of Shounk Chunk. This picture is also found in "The Winnebago Tribe," by P. V. Lawson, 1907, and it certainly portrays Mrs. Kinzie's description of the fierce old chief. "whose lowering, surly face was described by his name," the fieree expression of his face was "greatly heightened by masses of heavy black hair." Dandy, the Beau Brummell of the Winnebago, was his son, and he was born at his father's vil- lage in this town about 1793. Black Wolf left this village before
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1840, and Dandy before 1836, as he had a village at Baraboo by that date. Black Wolf died in Portage in 1847; and Dandy re- sisted deportation and died at Petenwell Bluff on the Wisconsin river in June, 1870, aged seventy-seven years. The corn hills and other evidence of Indian occupation can still be seen along the shore in the town. The village site was in section 21, about seven miles south of Oshkosh.
On Long Point bay, on Lake Winnebago, close to the southern line of the town, on a tract of land about 500 feet from the lake, there is about five acres of corn hills still visible which were left by the Indians. Grooved stone axes, celts, arrow points and spear points have been gathered from a neighboring field. An Indian burial place is nearby these fields.
A huge granite boulder, the largest glacial boulder in the county, is located on section 33, the property of Mr. Adolph Frie- berg, at the water's edge on the shore of Long Point bay. It is a prominent landmark in a district where there are no large boulders ; it is angular in shape, measures eight feet across, stands five feet above ground, and is known to extend much farther be- low the surface. On the top there are two artificial basin-shaped depressions three inches deep, and highly polished, which were used as Indian corn mills or mortars for pounding grain. It has been called the Manitou rock. There are circular pits eight feet in diameter excavated in the ground three feet deep on La Belle Point, section 16, formerly Randall's Point, now owned by E. II. Farnly. Mr. George A. Randall says they were used as dining pits by the aboriginals. There were formerly numerous Indian corn hills all over the surface at this place.
The town of Black Wolf is bordered on the east by the broken shore line of Lake Winnebago. It is drained by several small creeks and all its waters flow into the big lake. The rich farm lands were formerly covered with an open growth of hardwood timber known to the pioneer as openings. When wheat was the staple crop the grain of the town was noted for its excellent qual- ity, and took first prize at the exposition in Paris in 1875. Bank gravel is found in quantity for making good roads in the town.
There are 699 people in the town, of whom 546 were born in Wisconsin, ninety-six in Germany and twelve in Switzerland. The town comprises 7,984 acres, with 6,430 acres improved and valued at $750,000. The sales made show an average value of $108 per acre. There is raised 3,000 bushels wheat, 44,000 oats. 26,000 barley, 16,000 corn, 7,000 potatoes, 2,800 apples and 6,000
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
tons hay. There are 329 horses, 1,200 cattle, 8,700 sheep on the farms, and 12,000 pounds of butter is made from 900 milch cows, while 4,000 fowls produce 15,000 dozen eggs. The town supports one creamery and four cheese factories.
The people of Oshkosh resort to the shore of the lake in the town for summer homes and cottages. A number of the places, such as Paukatuck in the town, and Stony Beach, Knapp's Place, and Roe's Point, adjoining in the town of Algoma, are thickly populated in the summer time.
The first to settle in the town was Mr. Clark Dickinson, who moved onto a tract of land in the north part of the town in the spring of 1841. He was a pioneer of the county, coming to Winnebago Rapids in 1834 as a government employee at the establishment of the mission. Then moving to Oshkosh, he helped to found that city, and later took up this land. A photograph, taken in 1866, showed him still a vigorous man. His name was given to Dickinson's creek. He was followed by Mr. C. R. Luce, Ira Aiken, William and Thomas Armstrong, Charles Gay and T. and H. Hicks. Later there came Dr. Carey, a graduate of Edin- burg college, with his wife, the daughter of a baronet; Mr. John Harney and William Greenwood. Francis Weyerhorst and a number of other Hollanders settled in 1847, and later. The Bangs family came in 1848. Mr. Milton Cleveland came from New York state. Mr. Henry C. Morgan moved to this town in 1851 and erected a saw mill on Murphy's creek, and a hamlet, which he called Perryburg, sprang up around it, with a steamboat land- ing. Mr. Warren Morley came in 1849 and constructed a steam- boat landing, from which cordwood was taken away by steam- boats. He sent seven sons into the civil war. Mr. Charles Mor- gan came in 1857, and at first engaged with his brother in the saw mill at their village of Perryburg, but finally bought lands and maintained a fine stock farm. George A. Randall, city en- gineer of Oshkosh, formerly lived on the John Harney place. Mr. W. B. Knapp's farm is in the most northerly part of the town, on the shore. The Howletts moved on their lands in 1849, when the town was known as Brighton. The Swiss settlement was begun in the woods as early as 1845, and from their first log cabins have grown large handsome homes, and the forest has dis- appeared from broad rich farms.
The Northwestern railway runs through the town, with a sta- tion at Vandyne. Rural mail delivery service reaches all parts of the town. There are now in the town five school houses, a
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number of churches and a town hall. The first log school was built in 1850 on the site of the present frame, and was taught by Mr. Warren Crosby, at a salary of twelve dollars per month.
Town of Clayton.
The town of Clayton lies on a plain made by the gradual rise of the lands from Little Lake Butte des Morts to an elevation of about 150 feet. The waters in the town shed west through Rat river into the Wolf river and east through Duck creek into Lit- tle Lake Butte des Morts. The elevated lands of this region are supposed to protect the cities of Menasha and Neenah from the full force of the gales that sometimes blow from the west. The land is a rich loam. Originally it was covered with oak openings, and the northern part was a hardwood forest. The population of Clayton is 1,143, of whom 933 were born in America, and 844 of these were born in this state. Of foreign birth there were 152 born in Germany, thirty in Denmark and twenty-three in Nor- way. The total acerage is 23,700, of which 16,500 aeres are im- proved and valued at $1,700,000. There is raised 1,400 bushels wheat, 141,000 oats, 55,000 barley, 47,000 corn, 33,000 potatoes, 3,700 apples and 6,000 tons of hay. The live stock listed shows 800 horses, 2,300 hogs, 1,000 sheep, and 2,200 milch cows, which yield 27,000 pounds butter. There are 8,700 fowls, which produce 76,000 dozen eggs. The town contains two creameries, whose sales amount to $60,000, and three cheese factories, whose sales amount to $30,000.
Mr. D. C. Darrow and William Berry were the first pioneers to come in the fall of 1846. About the same time came Mr. Alex- ander Murray and John Axtell, followed soon after by Benjamin George, William Robinson and Benjamin Strong. In June, 1847, Mr. L. H. Brown purchased a large tract of land. Mr. Geo. W. Giddings, W. II. Scott, J. S. Roblee and Truman Thompson all made settlements during that year. In the year 1847 Mr. Gid- dings and Mr. Roblee erected a private school house, and Miss Elizabeth McLean was employed as teacher. The public school was erected in 1850, with Miss Amanda Ilicks as teacher. In 1877 there were ten schools and 523 children of school age. The Wisconsin Central railroad crosses the town, with a station at Norwegian Island, or Medina. The postoffice at this place is named Crete. The Northwestern railroad also crosses the town, forming a junction at Medina with the other railway. Thomp-
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
son's Corners was a well-known landmark for many years along the main highway to the woods and lumber camps. Mikesville now has a general store, blacksmith shop and cheese factory.
Town of Menasha.
The town of Menasha lies in the northeast corner of the county, cut through in the center by Little Lake Butte des Morts, so that nearly an equal area of the town lies on either side of the lake. The opposite parts cannot be reached except by a drive through the cities of Menasha and Neenah. It is for this reason that the voting place is located by law in the city of Neenah. The lands of the town are very fertile and large crops are raised.
The town of Menasha was originally covered with a dense for- est of hardwood timber, oak, ash, hickory, basswood, soft and sugar maple. Along the banks of Little Lake Butte des Morts there are red clay banks clear from gravel, which is excellent material for brickmaking, and which has been used for that pur- pose since 1834. The brick burn to a cream color. The limestone quarries mentioned can be used for lime burning, the product be- ing the strongest plaster lime obtainable in these parts. Mr. James Ladd, of West Menasha, was the first in the town to adopt the Trenton to lime burning; but before that lime had been burned in the village of Neenah near the site of the present library from stone gathered from the bed of the river. The ex- periment was made by Mr. Ladd in 1849 on his farm in the town, and from his lime kiln he supplied the whole surrounding coun- try with lime. The wreck of the old kiln can still be seen on the farm site. The lime for Lawrence University was burned in this old kiln, being hauled to Appleton and delivered at the building for fifteen cents a bushel. From the Galena and Trenton lime- stone quarries on the Jens Jorgensen farm, formerly the O. J. Hall farm, large quantities of rubble stone for foundations are obtained, and a stone crusher is kept constantly at work prepar- ing crushed limestone for macadam roads and cement sidewalks in the adjacent cities of Menasha, Neenah and Appleton. There are also some fine quarries in the town west of the lake. Duck creek, often called Little river, as the name given it by Father Crespel in 1728, or Snell's creek, as he lived on its banks so long. runs through the west town and enters Little Lake Butte des Morts near the upper end of Stroebe island. The eastern half of
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the town is flat, but the west part of the town gradually rises to a height of possibly 100 feet elevation above the lake.
The Fox River Valley Interurban from Menasha to Appleton crosses the east town, running along the shore of Lake Winne- bago, where numerous summer cottages and some hotels have been constructed, and during the summer harbor a large popu- lation from neighboring cities. The town is also crossed by the C., M. & St. P. railway from the city of Menasha, east to Milwau- kees north to Appleton. The Wisconsin Central crosses east from the city of Menasha to Fond du Lac, and north from Neenah to Minneapolis. The Northwestern railway crosses north to Mar- quette; but none of these railways maintain depots in the town.
There are a number of never failing springs. The Blair's spring in the glen on the old homestead on the lake shore road is quite notable. The old Tomahawk trail along the west bank of the Fox river ran to this spring and passed up onto the ridge or eskar toward the southwest to the ford above Big Butte des Morts, thirteen miles away. The trail can still be traced in two places near Blair's Springs. The celebrated hill of the dead, named by the French Butte des Morts, was located in West Menasha on the high bank of Little Lake Butte des Morts, from which it takes its name. The hill was destroyed in 1863, when the Northwestern railway bridge was built across the lake. The Tomahawk trail passed the site of the hill and nearly one thou- sand feet of the ancient trail can still be traced north of the site. The Tomahawk trail ran along the west bank of the Fox river from Green Bay to just beyond the Hill of the Dead, when it ran inland to Blair's Spring, as mentioned above.
The historic monument, Little Butte des Morts, known as the Hill of the Dead, was visited by Wisconsin's pioneer archeologist, Dr. Increase A. Lapham, on June 14, 1851, and as described and figured by him in his "Antiquities of Wisconsin." He says of it: "The first one (mound) in ascending the river (Fox), being on the west side of Little Lake Butte des Morts, a name indicating the existence of the mound, and the purpose for which it was erected. This tumulus is about eight feet high and fifty feet in diameter. It is to be hoped that a monument so conspicuous and so beautifully situated may be forever preserved as a memento of, the past. It is a picturesque and striking object in passing along this fine lake and may have been the cause of serious reflec- tions and high resolves to many a passing savage. It is well cal- culated to affect not less the bosoms of more enlightened men.
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There is neither necessity nor excuse for its destruction; and we cannot but again express the hope that it will be preserved for the benefit of all who may pass along that celebrated stream. The summit of the mound is about fifty feet above the lake, af- fording a very pleasing view, embracing the lake and the en- trance to the north channel of the river. Among the articles discovered in the field nearby was some burnt clay in irregular fragments with impressions of the leaves and stems of grass, precisely like those found at Aztalan. This has been a place of burial and, perhaps, of well-contested battles; for the plough constantly turns up fragments of human bones and teeth, much broken and decayed. Arrow points of flint and pipes of red pipe- stone and other materials have also been brought to light." The tradition of the origin of the "Hill of the Dead" is well known, having been included in nearly every important work on Wiscon- sin history. According to this tradition the tumulus was erected by the Indians as a repository for the bones of warriors and others who fell in a terrible battle which took place here at some period not definitely known, probably during the early part of the eighteenth century, during the long war of extermination waged against the Fox Indians by the French. The direct cause of the attack upon the village is said to have been due to a custom of the Fox Indians of exacting tribute from all voyagers who passed this point. This levying of a tax on goods becoming a nuisance, one Capt. Perriere Marin, or Morand, received the per- mission of the authorities at Quebec to undertake the chastise- ment of the offenders. Repairing to Michilimackinac, he pro- ceeded to organize his expedition, which is said to have consisted of a number of strongly-built batteux covered with canvas and manned by soldiers, boatmen and Indian allies. With this force he proceeded to Green Bay and thence up the Fox river to near the Indian village. Here he divided his forces, one detachment making a detour by land to the rear and the remainder continu- ing to the village in the boats, the soldiers being well secreted behind the canvas coverings. In response to the customary hail from the shore the steersmen turned their boats toward the land. and at the proper moment, at a command from the supposed peaceable trader, Marin, the canvas coverings were raised by the soldiers and a deadly volley poured into the assembled horde of unsuspecting savages. In the meantime the detachment which had been sent to the rear of the village had set fire to the wig- wams and cut off the means of retreat. The battle which ensued
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