USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People > Part 30
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shore of the lake, which is here high and steep, though all the adjacent shores are low and marshy. The mounds are in what is now a wheat field, formerly covered with timber, an oak tree, some sixty years old, having been cut from the summit of one of them. All of these mounds are circular in form, varying from 15 to 30 feet in diameter, and from 21/2 to 51/2 feet in height, though not much can be said with certainty about this latter dimension, the land having been cultivated for a number of years, and the mounds plowed down as much as possible every year. We selected the largest and most conspicuous mound we could find, the fourth or fifth from the eastern end of the line, and sank a trench into it. Each shovelful of soil thrown out was carefully examined, but was found to present no difference in appearance from that of the surrounding field, until we reached a depth of 18 inches, when a few pieces of coarse-grained charcoal were found. The earth now began to show the action of heat, it being harder and of a reddish hue, until at a depth of 2 feet and 6 inches layers of ashes mixed with earth began to present themselves. These appearances were the same all through the trench on the same level, being only seen near the ends of it as if separate fires had been built. These appearances continued until we reached the depth of 3 feet and 9 inches, the ashes meanwhile growing more plentiful, when we found the charred bones, evidently those of human beings, mixed with earth and ashes. A few inches more of calcined earth was passed and then we struck bones in earnest. Within the space of 3 feet square we uncovered seven skulls, mingled with the various long, short and flat bones of the human body. These, unlike those in the upper stratum, did not show the action of fire in the least, but were so badly decayed that we could get none of them out entire. The bones were not arranged in any order whatever; no single skeleton even could be traced through the mass. We did not uncover all of the bones within the mound, but finding that none of them could be taken out entire, contented ourselves with digging through the layer of bones and earth, which was 4 inches thick. to the hard subsoil underneath, which we found so compact that we concluded it had never been disturbed, and so did not go deeper. A careful search failed to bring to light any orna- ments or implements of any kind. We now abandoned this mound and, selecting two nearer the eastern end of the line. which in size were most unlike the first and unlike each other.
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proceeded to sink trenches into them. In the larger of these at the depth of 4 feet, human bones were found, which were much better preserved than those in the first mound opened, though they showed the same lack of arrangement and dearth of ornaments and implements. Fewer ashes were found in this mound and no charcoal or burnt bone. In the third mound, at the depth of 21/2 feet, a skeleton was found, lying with its head toward the west. This was in so good a state of preservation that many of the more heavy and solid bones could be taken out; this skull, like all the others, could not be gotten out ex- cept in small pieces. This was the only mound of the three into which we dug, in which a skeleton could be traced, and even in this the bones were somewhat crowded together, the skeletons not lying extended at full length, and also some- what mixed up with others, though I think fewer bones had been buried in this mound than in any of the others. I would mention that the second and third mounds were much smaller than the first. We were inclined to think that the dry bones were gathered together-those in the larger mounds first and in the smaller ones afterward, and placed in loose piles on the ground and the earth heaped over them until the mounds were formed. It also seemed from the ashes and charred bones near the surface that the larger mounds had been used for sacrifices or feasts.
Professor (A. H.) Sabin, Mr. (Everett) Martin and I after- ward made an investigation of another of these Gleason mounds. This one was situated near the center of the group; is 30 feet in diameter and 31/2 feet high. Like the others, it contained nothing but bones, was built of the same material and, had its full share of ashes and charcoal. But, unlike the others, an oval pit 18 inches deep, 8 feet long and five feet wide, its major axis lying in a general northwest and southeast direc- tion. In this case some arrangement was apparent. the bones of the lower extremities being, as a rule, near the center of the pit, and those of the trunk and upper extremities ranged around the sides.
In a letter directed to Mr. Charles E. Brown, dated March 2, 1903, Mr. Jas. G. Pickett, who first visited these mounds in the fall of 1846, gives the following additional information in regard to them: "If I remember correctly, there were some twelve or fifteen mounds in the group located in a direct line nearly parallel to and about twenty rods distant from the lake
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shore. The land was then overgrown with white and burr oak timber. The mounds were elevated about 12 feet above the lake level, and were about 20 feet in diameter and from 4 to 6 feet high. In 1894, with the assistance of my hired man, I investigated one of the largest of these mounds. This is prob- ably the one referred to by Mr. W. C. Mills in his communica- tion in the Archeologist of February, 1895. I do not know from what paper his extract was taken. It is in some respects inaccurate. In excavating this mound we; found at a depth of about a foot below its base the skeletons of seven persons, lying upon their faces with arms extended above the head, the bodies radiating from the center in a circle like the spokes · of a wagon wheel. All of the bones were in a fair state of preservation. No implements other than a couple of arrow points were found. Evidently the burials were made at one time and the mound erected over them." Two of the crania secured were sent to Prof. F. W. Putnam at the Peabody In- stitute at Cambridge, Mass., at his request. One of them was retained by Mr. Pickett. At the request of Mr. C. E. Brown. Mr. Pickett again visited this locality in April, 1903, and found that all but five of them had been entirely obliterated. He concluded that a village of considerable proportions must have been at one time located here and in the vicinity, since prob- ably but few similar sections of land in the state have pro- duced such a large number of stone and copper instruments. All of the mounds have been found to contain human remains.
The mounds which were described by Mr. Thomas Arm- strong, of Ripon, Wis., in an article entitled "Mounds in Winnebago County," appearing in the United States Smithso- nian Report of 1879 (pp. 335-35) were located on the property of a Mr. M. Ilintz in the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 34. The following are extracts from his description : "They are situated about ten rods from the shore of Rush lake, 60 feet back from the edge of a steep bank, which undoubtedly at one time formed the shore of the lake, but the waters have since receded, and is every year becoming more and more shallow, and giving place to marsh. These mounds were originally covered with a heavy growth of oaks, which have been cleared off within the last ten years, and the land cultivated. Some stumps of trees remained on them until last summer. The mounds are in a group, of which No. 1 is isolated. and Nos. 2. 3 and 4 are in line. the nearest about 100 feet from
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No. 1. Nos. 1 and 4 are about 15 feet in diameter, and 21/2 feet high; No. 2, 56 by 42 feet and 31/2 feet high; No. 3, 30 by 40 feet and 31/2 feet high; Nos. 2 and 3 are 75 feet apart. A quad- rilateral ridge, indistinct in some places but quite prominent enough to be easily recognized, and having on its several small mounds at regular intervals, passes through Nos. 1 and 2. The mounds 2, 3 and 4 are the only ones which are distinct and striking. The shape of all was once circular, or nearly so, but it has long since been changed to oval by long cultivation. All except No. 2 are composed of the same sort of material as the ordinary surface soil of the surrounding fields, and these fields are undoubtedly the source whence it was derived. No ditches or hollows from which such a quantity of earth could have been taken are now to be seen in the vicinity, and it must therefore have been scraped uniformly from the surface. No. 2, however, is of a different material, having in its center a stone heap covered with the same sort of earth as the others. This is the largest mound on Rush lake and is peculiar in this regard, for in most other mounds not even a pebble could be found, and in none were there rocks of any size; but here was a conical pile of boulders such as the farmer today hauls off his fields, built in the exact center of the mound, and reaching to within a few inches of the surface. We explored the four mounds. In Nos. 1 and 4 we found nothing, but in 2 and 3 human remains were plentiful enough, and a quantity of these in a tolerably good state of preservation we were able to ob- tain. No. 2, as I have said, is a conical stone pile, built of boulders weighing from 5 to 100 pounds and perhaps fifty in number. Underneath this stone pile and somewhat mingled with its lower layer, was a large quantity of ashes and char- coal, and also human remains; most distinct among them was the skeleton of a full grown man of ordinary size, his thigh bone measuring 17 inches, lying in a doubled up position, with his head toward the west, and near it the remains of three or more other human beings. The bones were in a poor condition, but by care two skulls and several long bones were saved. These were all found at a depth of 3 feet and 6 inches." Mr. Armstrong also examined mound No. 3 and at a depth of 2 feet a few small and much broken pieces of pottery, made of a red- dish clay mixed with fine particles of broken stone, a small flint chip, and a piece of red chalk or soft chalk like stone. At a depth of 3 feet were found a confused mass of human
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bones, of which a number in tolerably good condition, includ- ing several skulls, were saved. In no case did a skeleton seem to have been placed in the mound entire. The bones of twenty- five to thirty-five individuals had evidently been gathered in a heap on the original turf and the mound raised over them. It is evident that no pit had been dug to receive them. That these were not the remains of warriors slain in battle is evi- dent from the number of bones of children found in the mounds. No other bones than those of human beings were found, nor did any of them bear marks of fire, though ashes and charcoal oc- curred in a layer about 6 inches above the remains. Mr. Arm- strong was accompanied on this expedition by Prof. A. H. Sabin and Mr. Everett Martin, both of Ripon, Wis. Mr. James G. Pickett, who visited this locality in April, 1902, for the pur- pose of collecting additional data, states that these mounds are now entirely obliterated. According to his report Mr. Hintz corroborates the early description of Mr. Thomas Armstrong, of Ripon, and states that when his father purchased the land these mounds were from 2 to 6 feet in height. Human remains have been found in all of them, and many implements have been collected from the surrounding fields.
Town of Omro.
Town of Omro is one of the finest agricultural regions in the state. It lays high, with rolling rich soil. Originally it contained oak openings and hardwoods, now all cleared ex- cept a few wood lots. The Fox river runs through the town, bringing it into direct steamboat connections with the whole of this historic valley. The few gravel beds afford good roads material. There is a belt of artesian fountain or flowing wells strata through the town, reached by boring fifteen to thirty feet. Stephen Johnson in 1847 had excavated a well on sec- tion thirty-six, some thirty feet without getting water. During the night the water broke through, and in the morning the well was flowing over, and had flooded the garden all about the house. Mr. Nelson Olin, in January, 1848, was excavating a well on his place, when at thirty-three feet down the pick broke through the containing water wall, when the air and water burst through with great force, compelling a hasty retreat of operators. The water raised over the surface has been running ever since. Many other artesian wells have been
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sunk. The fountain belt is said to be about two miles wide.
The C., M. & St. P. Railway runs through the town with station at the village of Omro. The town contains eleven school houses and a number of churches. The post office is at the vil- lage of Omro, and there is rural mail delivery.
The town of Omro contains a population of 1,111, of whom 811 were born in this state, 101 in Germany, 15 in Canada and 17 in England. There is a total of 20,000 acres of land with 15,500 acres improved, valued at $1,265,000. The sales show the average value per acre of $90. The productions include 91,000 bushels oats, 3,000 barley, 33,000 corn, 14,000 potatoes, 7,000 apples, 8,000 pounds honey. There are 754 horses, 2,600 cattle and 3,400 hogs. The 1,800 milch cows produce 34,000 pounds of butter and 10,000 fowls lay 50,000 dozen eggs.
The town was settled at the site of the future village of Omro, some years before the real settlement of the town by the location of the trading posts of Mr. Charles Omro, Charles Carron, Jed Smalley and Captain William Powell, who at dif- ferent times maintained trading posts at this point for traffic with the Menominee Indians and at a very early day the place was known as Smalley's Landing, or trading post. Mr. Ed- ward West made the first permanent settlement in the town, by the purchase of 500 acres and erection of log cabins, in the spring of 1845, near section 23. Before he could move his fam- ily, he marked out and cut, where it was necessary, a wagon road from Rosendale in Fond du Lac county, to this land in Omro, then known as the town of Butte des Morts. His near- est neighbors was Oshkosh and Ceresco. He says: "There was an old block house a short distance above the site of the vil- lage of Omro, and a few families were trading with the Indians and farming a little on the site of Oshkosh. The balance of the surrounding country was uninhabited, except by Indians. · Mr. Stanley offered to sell his claim for a small sum. Neither Oshkosh nor Omro were inviting places. Game was scarce be- cause of the Indians. Wolves and prairie hens were abundant, as the Indians, because of superstitious belief, did not molest them. Prairie hens were so numerous I was obliged to shoot them to save my grain, and fed them to the hogs. Strangers calling were feasted on the birds." Mr. West was a pioneer in Wisconsin, arriving in 1836. The first year in Winnebago county he put in a large crop of fall wheat, which sold for $1 a bushel on the farm, to new settlers, as soon as threshed.
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After seven years' farming on this land, he leased it in 1852, and moved to Appleton, where he became a prominent citizen and constructed the West canal for power purposes. Other settlers came in at once any very soon they were thickly scat- stered throughout the town. At the town of Butte des Morts an election was held at the house of Edward West on April 6, 1847, and he was made chairman. There were seven votes in favor of the state constitution, and fourteen against it. Five votes to give colored persons the right to vote, and sixteen against it. Eleven votes cast against the sale of liquor, which was all the votes cast on the subject. After many changes of territory and name, the name was finally changed to Omro by · the county board in 1852. Nelson Olin moved into the town . in 1846, and Mr. Gilman Lowd came the same year. About the same time Mr. Myron Howe moved in and built a log shanty on his land. Mr. Milo C. Bushnell came from Vermont into the town in 1846, and the next year erected a log shanty in company with Mr. A. H. Pease. He was a prominent man in the county for many years, and a member of the assembly. Mr. Richard Reed settled in the town with his family in 1848, and Mr. Frank Pew in 1847.
The first school was established in 1848, in the house of Mr. Myron Howe, by Mrs. Abram Quick, the first teacher. The same year Mrs. George Beckwith taught school in her own house, and a private school was taught the same year by Han- nah Olin in the Gilman Lowd neighborhood, in a school house built by subscription. Rev. Sampson held services in the grove near the West home in the summer of 1847. In the winter meetings were held in a shanty on section 27. In 1848 meet- ings were held in the house of Mr. Richard Reed.
The fur trader has been mentioned as stopping at various locations along the river, and this much of a letter from Mr. Hiram H. G. Bradt, of Eureka, will be of interest on the sub- ject : "In 1885 I was in Green Bay, sick, and one day there came into my brother's office a lady patient, to whom I was intro- duced as a Miss Grignon. of Depere, and learning where I resided, she asked about the La Bordes, Le Fevre's, Dousmans and Louis Beauprey. The latter, a brother-in-law of Luke La Borde, and stated that when she was a girl, he paddled her in a canoe to St. Paul to bring down furs gathered at the different stations on the rivers, and that she had in her possession a map upon which all the trading stations were marked. Well,
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in our town there was one situated between Delhi and Omro, which was still doing business when I reached town in 1849, though it was operated by "an alien crowd" of lawless crea- tures, the principal of whom was George Roberts, of White- water, Wis. His den, which was eliminated through prosecu- tion by David Le Fevre, was on a piece of land owned by a Mr. Pesan, who lived in a log house near the river, which house was on the site of another, the ruins of which he found under- ground. Miss Grignon informed me that Robert Grignon, a pensioner of the Black Hawk war, and then living below Omro, above the mouth of the Wolf, likewise handled furs, though she did not speak of his having a station."
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Village of Omro.
The main part of the village of Omro is located on the south . side of the Fox river, connected by a swing bridge with the opposite bank. It is a handsome village, and noted for its thrift and general air of prosperity and neatness. It contains a population of 1,358, of whom 783 were born in this state, 23 in Canada, 34 in England, 23 in Germany, and 13 in Ireland. There are a large number of well stocked stores of the usual classes of merchandise carried for a lively country traffic, also livery stables and grain and produce warehouses. The First National Bank has a capital stock of $30,000. The place has the advantage of electric lights. The Union Felt Company manufacture felt goods, and there are wagon and blacksmith shops. Mr. C. H. Larabee condutts a large grocery store. The village has a two-story brick public hall for its fire engines, and meetings of the village board. The village library is located in the building, under the care of the village clerk.
The public schools, which have long been under the intelli- gent care of Mr. E. E. Sheldon, are the pride of the place. A recent article in the Oshkosh "Northwestern" has this to say of her schools: "Principal E. E. Sheldon has received the re- port of the inspection of the High School by the university in- spector, and among other things the inspector reports that the committee recommends that the Omro High School be con- tinued on the accredited list. The equipment of the library and the laboratory was reported good. The manual training build- ing impressed the inspector most favorably in all respects. It was well arranged and well equipped. The organization, man-
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agement and general condition of the schools were found to be very creditable indeed. Some time ago the state inspector re- ported as follows on the library of the High School: 'The library is excellent. Probably there is no better school library in any town of the size of Omro in the state, and there are few better in any place, regardless of size.' The library has been care- fully card-catalogued by Miss Lucy Thatcher, of the English department, and is in constant use by the students. The teach- ers have made every effort to enlarge the library, as reference books right at hand are very valuable. The library has over 500 volumes of magazines, including complete sets of the World's Work, the Review of Reviews, McClure's and Scrib- ner's, and nearly complete sets of The Forum, Harper's, Cen- tury, St. Nicholas, Technical World and other standard maga- zines. Poole's Index and the Reader's Guide make easy refer- ence to magazine articles. There are special libraries in the department of domestic science and in the department of man- ual training. The girls in the first year Iligh School class in domestic science are preparing meals to which their parents are invited. The girls, in groups of four, serve dinner. They are required to prepare and serve a meal for ten people at an expense not to exceed $1.25. There are forty girls in the class, and each section strives to make the best record. The members of the second year German class recently finished reading a short play, and were then required by the teacher, Miss Abel, to translate the play into English, after which four members of the class presented it before the Iligh School literary so- ciety."
The manual training school was the gift of Mr. H. W. Web- ster, a pioneer, and for many years one of the leading business men. His sawmill formerly cut 5,000,000 feet of lumber each season. Hon. Hiram Wheat Webster was a native of New York State, of New England parents, and a graduate of Troy Acad- emy in Vermont. He entered his lands in the town of Omro in 1848, where he lived until he moved into the village and commenced the manufacture of lumber. Mr. Webster died May 14, 1884.
The earliest occupation of the site of the village of Omro was by Charles Omro, Charles Carron, Jed Smalley and Cap- tain William Powell, all of whom at times before 1845 main- tained temporary or jacknife trading posts at this point for traffic with the Menominee Indians. The site was occupied by
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them possibly as early as 1836. It was known in the early set- tlement day as Smalley's Landing, or trading post, Mr. Ed- ward West had moved into the town of Omro in 1845; but the first to locate on the site of the future village was Mr. David Humes.
He embarked in a skiff on Fox river at Marquette, in the spring of 1848, and paddled down the willow lined river to the present site of Omro, where he landed and located for a resi- dence a part of section sixteen. This place was afterward known as "Beckwith Town." Here he erected a log cabin. It was Mr. Hume's ambition to build up a thriving town. He settled here for this purpose, and laid plans to accomplish this end. He supposed if he could devise means to tow logs up the Fox river that the sawmills would be built and their operation attract people to the place for trade and commerce and a town would grow up about the mills. To accomplish this he devised the grouser boat. This was a great invention, which for many years afterward was successfully operated in handling the great fleets across Lakes Winneconne, Butte des Morts and Winnebago. It made the handling of the millions of feet of pine timber that was run down the Wolf river comparatively easy and safe over the wide expanse of inland seas, and much of the success of the great lumber industry of Fond du Lac, Menasha, Neenah and Oshkosh was and is due to the grouser tow boat, invented by Mr. David Hume, the first settler of Omro. The grouser boat consists now of a strong steam tow boat, just large enough to contain powerful boiler and engines. It has near its bow end, through a tight housing, a tall, power- ful oak timber which is raised up or let down by a ratchet and pinion. When let down and forced into the bottom of the river, it acts as a grouser or powerful anchor, to hold the boat fast to the spot. A windlass on the stern of the boat run by steam then draws the fleet of logs up to the boat. The grouser is raised and the boat runs out, a distance ahead and downs grouser again, and the fleet of logs is windlassed up to the boat again. The boat alone could draw behind only a few thou- sand feet of logs; but by the grouser device the boat is able to draw over the water several million feet of logs in one fleet. Thus it will be understood that this invention was worth a great deal to the lumber interests, and has been in use ever since it was first devised, not only on the waters of the Fox and Wolf rivers, but in other parts of the world.
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