USA > Wisconsin > Brown County > History of Brown County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume I > Part 20
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Outside the stockade, and some fifty feet to the south stood the square stone magazine, with metal doors and roof, nothing of which remains but the heavy iron key and bolt, which have been placed in the Kellogg Public Library for safe keeping. South of the magazine was the hospital, a broad roomy building with deep porch running the entire length, supported by eight stout pillars. There was a long sweep of roof to the top of the first story, broken in the front by three deep dormer windows, and in the rear by dormer windows and chimney. This building has been removed to the northeast corner of Chestnut avenue and Kel- logg street and is occupied as a residence. The ward room which ran back of the main building has also been moved on an adjoining lot.
The hospital building was it is said much used for festivities during the old days of the fort's occupancy. Here the officers held dancing parties for the entertainment of the townspeople, who would return these civilities in like manner and at the same place. South of the hospital stood the surgeon's quarters, one of the prettiest of the fort buildings, but which has been entirely remodeled and is now located at 410 Maple avenue. At the southeast corner of Chestnut avenne and Mather street, is the old kitchen of the commanding officer's quarters, the only building now in existence which stood inside the fort stockade.
In the yards of the Chicago and Northwestern road close to Main street bridge is a huge rough boulder and attached to it a beautiful tablet of bronze bearing at the top a picture in relief of old Fort Howard as it was in 1851. It also bears this inscription: 1718-1909. Erected by the Green Bay Historical Society- 1909. 853 north, 45 degrees 7 minutes west from this tablet stands a flag pole marking the southeast corner of the stockade of Fort Howard occupied by the
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United States troops August, 1816, and almost continuously until 1852. On this site also stood the French fort St. Francis, built prior to 1718, and rebuilt by the British in 1761 as Fort Edward Augustus.
The later history of the fort belongs to the Civil war period, and is in many ways quite as interesting and historic as was that of other days; but conditions had changed throughout the whole northwest, and the sixties were a time of storm and stress; hard, poverty-stricken years, with none of the glamour gilding an carlier age. There is no gay music and light-footed dance, only the sombre tread of armed men, and the creak of the draft wheel which named the soldiers who were to fill out Wisconsin's great quota of troops ordered to the front, while the girls of that period picked lint and rolled bandages to be sent to the wounded, instead of spending long days on the river, or embarking with gallant officers in the government barge for a frolic at Old Fort Howard.
(References for Chap. XIV : American State Papers, Wis. Hist. Colls. Vols. 7. 8, 13, 19; Ms. Letters; Schoolcraft's Journal; W. L. Evans, Mil. Hist. of G. B .; W. H. Proc., 1899 : Curtis R. Merrill, Ms. Papers. )
CHAPTER XV
BROWN COUNTY'S PART IN THE MAKING OF WISCONSIN-TER. RITORY AND STATE
Through all this gay, free and easy life of 1824, and for the ten years ensuing, ran the strong and earnest efforts of able men intent on bringing to the front commercially and politically the county of Brown. To the men of Brown county. the center of settlement at that time, more than to those of any other part of Wis- consin, is due the early organization of the state. Thoroughly imbued with a belief in its commercial importance and resources, pioneers such as Doty. Baird, Martin, Ellis, Robert and Alexander J. Irwin, Ebenezer Childs and others, as they became identified with its life began to urge that this area west of Lake Michigan be set apart as an independent commonwealth. In this strife for state- hood James Duane Doty was prime mover and supporter. As early as 1824, he drew up a bill for organizing "Chippewau Territory," which was to include all that country lying between the northern boundary of the United States on the north, and the state line of Illinois and Missouri on the south. Its eastern limit was defined by a line running from Sault Ste. Marie due south ; the western by the Missouri river. Congress failed to act upon this proposition, but three years later Doty was again at work in behalf of his project. This time he sug- gested instead of "Chippewau" the name "Wiskonsin," a form of spelling the word always persisted in by him. In January, 1830, Doty succeeded in inducing. the Committee on Territories to introduce a "Bill establishing the Territory of lluron," and it is possible that this scheme might have been adopted had there not now developed a somewhat bitter and wordy rivalry between the two centres of population in the would-be territory ; the rapidly developing industrial region of the lead mines, and the commercially important centre of political life, the valley of the Fox. In this same year Daniel Whitney built the shot tower at Helena, on the Wisconsin river, an ambitious but practical attempt to utilize the large quantities of ore taken from the mines only a few miles away.
In connection with the establishment of the shot tower Whitney also built a large general store which soon rivaled similar supply stations at the Portage, goods being purchased there for Galena and other towns in the vicinity. A lumber yard was added later, for Daniel Whitney owned a number of the first mills throughout Wisconsin. A letter of that period states that "this establish- ment would do honor to any old settlement in the east ; the public spirit of the proprietors deserves remuneration in the profits of their business. Five thou- sand weight of shot is the usual quantity made per diem by one set, that is six hands-twice the quantity can be made by doubling the hands." In Judge Doty's estimate of the commerce upon the upper lakes and the exports from this por- tion of Michigan Territory as early as 1829 he places the amount of lead shipped
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at 10,000,000 pounds, which shows the importance of this industry for the lower Fox as well as the lead-mining district.
The "Inhabitants of the County of Brown in the Territory of Michigan" con- tinued to respectfully solicit the attention of Congress to their remote situation. For all purposes of government they say they might as well be annexed to New York or Pennsylvania as to Michigan Territory. That their claims for recog- nition are constantly ignored, and with the growing needs of this section of the country serious evils are the result of the great distance at which they are placed from the governing power. All civil officers for counties and towns must receive their appointment from the governor of Michigan Territory before they are empowered to act, and the most important offices remain vacant for months before the appointing and removing power at Detroit can give the matter atten- tion, that the petitioners inhabit a district of country which has at all times been considered of the greatest importance politically to the govern- ment *
* and therefore the petitioners humbly pray that Michigan Ter- ritory may be divided into two separate governments. and that such form of government may be provided for that section of the Territory in which they reside as Congress in its wisdom may deem suitable and necessary ; and that the seat of government may be established upon the Fox river in the said county of Brown, the settlement upon the said river being the only central settlement within the contemplated Territory." (W. H. C. Vol. 14. )
Judge Doty's estimate at this period of the advantages of Brown county as a place of residence, in urging its claim for recognition as a separate territory, is interesting. The climate and soil he reports are all that could possibly be desired ; at the Bay, vessels arrive and depart almost weekly during the spring, summer and autumn, rendering it accessible from the outside world. The com- merce upon the upper lakes is increasing rapidly, and the exports from this portion of Michigan Territory, are estimated to consist annually of furs and peltries valued at $300,000, white fish 800 to 1,000 barrels, maple sugar 200,000 pounds and lead, as before stated, 10,000,000 pounds.
Another bill to create a new territory out of western Michigan passed the House in 1831, but largely because of the local quarrel over the place for the capital failed in the Senate. The following year the matter was again before Congress, and yet again in 1834; both of these attempts, however, proving futile. In June, 1834, the boundaries of Michigan Territory were enlarged to include the Mississippi country, and the agitation for division was now encouraged by the dwellers at Detroit and eastern Michigan, it being admitted that for practical purposes the bounds of the proposed commonwealth would be far too extensive
During the year 1835, and the early part of 1836, owing to a dispute as to boundaries between Michigan and Ohio there was delay in the formation of Michigan state, and consequent interruption in the proceedings toward the organ- ization into a separate territory of the counties west of the great lakes. Pending the action of Congress the Legislative Council of Michigan Territory met in Detroit. . August 27, 1835, with Stevens T. Mason as secretary and acting governor. A proclamation was issued by Governor Mason, appointing January first, 1836, for the assembling of the members of the territory's legislative council at Green Bay. There is considerable confusion both in dates and data regarding this last session of Michigan's territorial council, and the first of the embryo territory of
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Wisconsin, owing to the state of affairs at that time. Michigan was confidently expecting the prompt action of Congress awarding her statehood, and outside of her prospective limits as a state lay that area stretching many miles westward which for seventeen years had been recognized as a part of Michigan Territory. and still held that name, although not to be incorporated in the new state. It was primarily for the benefit of these western counties that Governor Mason arranged that a territorial legislative council should be held at Green Bay in the early part of January, 1836.
Michigan, on the presumption that statehood would readily be granted as soon as Congress convened, had adopted a state constitution during 1835, and in October of that year an election of state officers was held. Governor Mason, although as yet unauthorized by the federal power, had set in motion the machin- ery of state government and it was now in full operation, save for the judicial branch, which was not organized until the fourth of July, 1836. The country west of Lake Michigan was "no man's land" as far as the new state was con- cerned, but its inhabitants naturally still counted themselves and persisted in their rights as citizens of Michigan Territory, and Governor Mason's proclama- tion for the calling together of a legislative council at Green Bay strengthened them in their position.
John Scott Horner had in September, 1835, a month before the state election, been appointed by President Jackson as secretary and acting governor of Michi- gan Territory. The coming to Detroit of this young and apparently tactless Vir- ginian, who was quite unfamiliar with western men and affairs was regarded as an intrusion and aroused a spirit of opposition ; so that the unfortunate official was subjected to neglect and more than once to actual insult.
In the month of November. 1835. Horner in his capacity of acting governor ignored the previous proclamation issued by Governor Mason and "for divers good causes and considerations" changed the date of meeting of the territorial legislative council from the first day of January, 1836, to the first day of Decem- ber, 1835, just one month earlier. Confusion reigned in consequence of this unforeseen state of affairs. The season of the year, the uncertain roads through- out the territory, the unavoidable delay of the mail service with a carrier who was obliged to traverse the several sparsely inhabited counties through thick woods and on foot, absolutely prohibited the attendance of members-elect at the specified time and place.
The seventh legislative council of Michigan Territory met in Navarino on the first of January 1836, the date set by Governor Mason, in a small house on Main street just east of the present Beaumont Hotel. Governor Horner did not appear, so the council organized temporarily by electing Joseph B. Teas, presi- dent pro tem., Albert G. Ellis, secretary pro tem., and Levi Sterling, sergeant- at-arms, pro tem. The oath of office was administered by Secretary Ellis, acting in his capacity as justice of the peace of Brown county. Nine members were present, four absent, but a quorum was secured, permanent officers elected, and business was transacted in due form. A committee of two was appointed to wait upon Governor Horner and inform him that the council was organized and ready to receive any communication he might have to make, but at the following session on January fourth, the committee reported that they had not been able
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to perform the duty assigned them in consequence of the absence of the acting governor from Green Bay.
Thoroughly exasperated by what they considered gross disrespect in the executive towards this dignified and legal assemblage, the council ended by censuring Governor Horner in these words, "That John S. Horner, Secretary and Acting Governor of Michigan Territory has forfeited all just claims to the confidence of the people, and from his incapacity and disregard of his official obligations and duties to the country, he is in the opinion of this council unworthy of the high office which he fills.
"That the President of the United States be and is hereby requested in behalf of the people of the Territory to revoke the commission of the said John S. Hor- ner, and to appoint some other person better qualified to fulfill the duties of the office."
Notwithstanding this discourteous and ill-advised action of Governor Hor- ner toward the Green Bay assembly he proved himself at other times an able and astute executive, prompt and decisive, although given to oddities of dress and manner. He later became a resident of Green Bay and for many years he and his charming wife and family lived in the pillared house which formerly occupied the site where S. H. Cady's home stands today.
President Jackson refused to accede to the request made by the irate coun- cil that Horner be removed from office, and beyond their caustic arraignment of the absentee, renewed bickerings over the location of the proposed territorial capital of Wisconsin, and the adoption of a report declaring that the people of Alichigan had been ruled "rather as a distant colony than as an integral portion of the same government." little was accomplished in Michigan's seventh leg- islative council at Green Bay. On the ninth of January the meeting adjourned sine die, and through lonely, often trackless forests the disgruntled members of the first Legislative council of Wisconsin Territory made their way homeward. The military road from Fort Howard to Fort Winnebago had been partially completed the preceding summer but beyond this piece of passable road the stumps concealed by the heavy snow were a constant menace, upsetting the sleighs and being responsible for more than one broken limb. For this reason travel in winter was usually on horseback unless one could take the river track on the ice, which was a favorite method of reaching one's destination.
There still remained the difficulty of establishing a boundary between the would-be Territory of Wisconsin and the projected state of Michigan. This being finally arranged Wisconsin Territory was erected by Congress under a bill approved April 20, 1836, to take effect "from and after the third day of July next" and Michigan was admitted to statehood on June 15, 1836. The territory was given practically the same boundaries as has the present state of Wisconsin, so far as the state lines of Michigan and Illinois were concerned ; but to the south and west its limits ran far beyond the state's present bounds, including all that land west of the Mississippi which had been annexed in 1834, to the territory of Michigan. The act establishing the territory provided that the governor should be appointed by the President of the United States ; he was also to be made superintendent of Indian affairs and commander in chief of the territorial militia, and his annual salary was fixed at $2,500.
The first appointments made by the President and Senate of the several offi-
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cers provided for by that act were: governor, Henry Dodge of Dodgeville, Wis- consin : secretary, John S. Horner of Virginia, and later of Green Bay ; Charles Dunn of Illinois as chief justice, and as associate judges, David Irvin of Virginia and William C. Frazer of Pennsylvania, both of whom respectively presided over the circuit court of Brown county.
On the ninth of September, 1836, Governor Dodge issued a proclamation to the effect that he had apportioned the members of the council and house of rep- resentatives amongst the several counties of the territory, the number allotted to Brown county being two members of the Council and three of the House of Representatives. It was further proclaimed that the first election should be held on the second Monday of October, and that the members elected from the several counties should convene at Belmont, Iowa county, on the twenty-fifth of October for the purpose of organizing the first session of the Legislative Assembly. It was also directed and appointed that at the same time and place specified for this first election a delegate to Congress for the term of two years should be elected. This was done, and George W. Jones of Iowa county, elected as the Con- gressional delegate over the rival candidates, James D. Doty and Morgan L. Martin, of Brown. The names and native towns of the members elected by Brown county for this first Legislative Assembly were: in the Council, Henry S. Baird of Dublin, Ireland, who was made president of the Council and John P. Arndt, of Northampton, Pennsylvania. In the House of Representatives, Ebene- zer Childs, Worcester county, Massachusetts, Albert G. Ellis, Oneida county, New York and Alexander J. Irwin, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, were the members from Brown.
Nine thousand, four hundred dollars was allowed by Congress for the ex- penses of this first and important session of the new territory's governmental body. This amount was supposed to include printing and other incidentals ; but the cost actually incurred aggregated eighteen thousand and eighty dollars, thought at the time to be an exorbitant expenditure. A number of memorials to Congress were adopted, Brown county, petitioning among other things, for aid in the construction of a pier and beacon light at Long Tail Point at the head of Green Bay. For this harbor improvement an appropriation of twenty thousand dollars was asked, and an additional six hundred for buoys, to mark the ship channel from the proposed lighthouse to the mouth of Fox river. Navigation was very difficult at this period in reaching "the city" as the old French voyageurs called the settle- ment on Fox river. The bill asking that a lighthouse be erected recites that the entrance to Fox river requires many lights and buoys, and the bay is described by the first government engineers as "difficult of navigation, full of shoals and rocky reefs." This was thirty-two years prior to the cutting of a channel through Grassy Island, and the sandy shoal of Point au Sable which extended in a westerly direction three and one-half miles from the end of the point was a menace to boats of all descriptions. Point au Sable was an old Indian camping ground, its shallow water offering no bar to the bark canoe, and Bass Channel, west of Grassy Island Light Station was a favorite cut-off for canoes and small craft at an early day. It was, moreover, a famous place for fishing and hunting.
The members of the first territorial legislature had enlarged views of the wants and future possibilities of Wisconsin internal navigation. Memorials
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were presented to Congress on the improvement of all the rivers and harbors throughout the territory, and petition was also made for a grant of land for a railroad across the state from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river.
At this first Legislative Council of the Territory of Wisconsin an act was also passed which provided that the county seat of Brown county should be established either at Navarino, Astor or De Pere as might be decided by vote of the people, Menomineeville for some unexplained reason being out of the running, although from the year 1824 it had held the distinction of being the county seat. Navarino and Astor at this time was each jealously putting forth a rival claim to being the most important village in the new territory, but the year previous and contemporary with the platting of Astor, the De Pere Hydraulic Company had been incorporated by act of legislature and the town of De Pere platted.
As early as 1804 settlement had begun at the Rapides des Peres near the site of the old Jesuit church. Arpents of land were marked off by French settlers and habitants were building their cabins at this desirable location early in the nineteenth century. When William Dickenson, the first American settler took up his residence there in 1829, there was continuous, although sparse settlement all along the shore from the Little Kakalin to Rock or Des Peres rapids. Extending from there to Fort Howard was a succession of snug log cabins, with here and there a two-story structure. Across Fox river at the head of the rapids a dam was authorized to be built by act of legislature approved January 26, 1835, by William Dickenson, Charles Tullar and John P. Arndt. The dam was subsequently built, the utility of the great water power recognized and the two De Peres with their large manufacturing interests grew up at that point.
At this same session of the Michigan Legislature of 1835 the act incorporat- ing a bank west of Lake Michigan was passed, the title of which was "an act to incorporate the stockholders of the Bank of Wisconsin." The bill provided that a bank should be established in the county of Brown or Iowa, at such place as a majority of the stockholders should determine; the capital stock was to be $100,000 in shares of fifty dollars each. The bank opened at Green Bay in the town of Astor in 1835 and was known as the Bank of Wisconsin. The build- ing which it occupied was erected by the Astor Fur Company, a rambling two- story structure which extended the width of the block on the north side of Chicago street between Adams and Washington. The stone vault which was built for this first bank in Wisconsin was still standing in 1899, its heavy door defying the corrosion of time.
The year 1837 spelled financial panic and ruin throughout the United States. In the new territory of Wisconsin, following as it did close upon the wild speculations in land deals the effect was disastrous in the extreme. The Hydraulic Company of De Pere was thrown upon its beam's end by the hard times, and in May and June of the year 1837, banks throughout the country suspended specie payment.
The bank of Wisconsin at Green Bay was in active operation, but in Novem- ber, 1837. a committee was appointed to examine into the affairs and condition of the bank and later united in reporting that the institution was in a sound and solvent condition.
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Rumors of the bank's insolvency were reported during the year 1838, and in consequence the Legislative Assembly of that year passed an act that the Attor- ney General of the territory commence suit by injunction to close up all pro- ceedings of said bank and annul its charter. authorizing the court moreover to appoint a receiver to take charge of the property, collect its debts, and pay its creditors the proportions due them. Upon the passage of this act Henry S. Baird, the Attorney General resigned his office, and the Governor appointed Henry N. Wells his successor. Baird, as president of the first Wisconsin Legis- lative Council had resigned that position to accept the office of Attorney General. and this definite refusal to assume the responsibility of closing up the affairs of the Bank at Green Bay was doubtless due to the fact that James Duane Doty, Morgan L. Martin and other friends were incorporators of the bank and heavily involved in its downfall.
The "wild cat banks," as all those in this western country were designated at that time. did not cover in their failure what is included in the suspension of a bank at the present time. The incorporators, officers and stockholders were the losers, and the effect was disastrous to the large interests of the territory, but the mass of the people did not as now deposit in banks to any extent and were but little affected personally by the catastrophe. The amount of actual cash was scarce west of Lake Michigan until the shipment of lumber, fish and other exports to outside ports brought in money to the different towns.
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