USA > Wisconsin > Buffalo County > History of Buffalo County Wisconsin 10847607 > Part 21
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13. Adam Weber.
14. Henry Keller, (Creek Valley.)
15. Lawrence Dressendoerfer.
16. Ulrich Kritzenthaler.
17. Geo. Zimmermann.
18. Henry Funke.
Among the strange occurrences at this election may well be put down, that Charles Bipes, or Pipes, was elected clerk of the county board of supervisors without having himself voted, he at that time living in what is yet called Piper's or Pipes' valley. The small number of votes does not indicate that there were not any more inhabitants in the county as then organized or set off, but it indicates, that for want of roads and bridges, and other facilities of travel, those not in the immediate neighborhood of Holmes' Lan- ding did not participate in the election, So for instance, it would have required about 24 miles of travel by skiff, for those living at Twelve Mile Bluff (now Alma) and return by the same route, to appear at that election. No wonder they did not come to it.
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ORGANIZATION.
board organizes by electing a chairman for, the year, who usually appoints the necessary committees, which might be called the working organization. As the work assigned to these committees is really the work of the county board, I will introduce it in that way.
1 .. Committee on Assessment.
This committee is really a board of equalization for the whole county, balancing the work of the assessors of all the towns and corporations, which has been separately subjected to the correc- tion of the local boards, into some harmony among the whole number. Some consider this the most important. committee, as the state and county taxes are levied upon each town by the scale thus made up. As most private citizens appear as poor as possible, when the assessor comes round, so every town tries to be poor in comparison with others before this committee. There are never less than five members to it.
2. Committee on Claims.
There are always a number of accounts against a county which must be examined before they can be allowed. This examination is the work of the committee on claims, which is sometimes sub- divided or assisted by a separate committee for examining the accounts of Justices of the Peace for criminal prosecutions, or in- quests of dead. The district attorney, who is, ex-officio, the legal advisor of the county board in all such matters, is more often called to the assistance of this committee than to that of any other. This, however, does not indicate that there are very many claims against the county, which are dubious, in fact, or should be re- jected on general principles, but that some prescribed form in making such claims are very often overlooked.
3. . Committee on Finance.
The business of this committee is the investigation of ac- counts of all officers, who receive and disburse the money collected by the county for taxes, fees and interest on tax certificates. The work is always done by the officers beforehand and the committee has seldom much more to do than to test the accuracy of it, as it appears on the face of the different reports. This committee draws up a financial statement for the basis of levying of taxes.
4. Committee on Ways and Means.
This committee takes under consideration such petitions of
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appropriations for one or the other towns usually for the purpose of assisting in the building, improvement or repair of some road running through. several towns and used by all of them, or some bridge situated in such a road.
5. Committee on Roads and Bridges.
There are some roads. which may legally come under the, con- sideration of the county board, whether they should be, built or not, whether or not any subvention should be granted for them, and what, in general, should be done about them. The same ap- plies to some bridges. These matters form the material for con- sideration in this committee.
6. Committee on Towns and Boundaries.
At first, about thirty years ago, when towns began to be laid out, they were constructed according to township and range lines, from the maps, and but little, if any, regard was had to the future accommodations of the inhabitants for travel and intercourse. That other errors casually crept in and needed correction, was to be expected, and was quite excusable. After a while the necessity became apparent for divisions, and such divisions were often brought before the county board unexpectedly, and as this body could not be expected to be informed of every situation or locality, alterations were usually made upon the recommendation of the chairman requesting them. The more the country filled up, the more became it important that land should be included in such town as could afford the best accommodation or facility in regard to roads and schools, joint school districts being rather an annoy- ance for the administration of towns, which each sought to avoid, or set aside, if opportunity was offered. So it is not to be won- dered at the fact that but few regular sessions of the board were held without some petition being presented or motion made for the alteration of town boundaries. These are now first considered and investigated by the committee. The towns being now so far divided and arranged that almost every one has a chance for the necessary roads being laid out by the town in which he happens to reside, and most of the land being now settled, this committee has of late had " easy times," and may eventually become superfluous, unless some change in the laws should permit the organization of smaller towns.
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7. Special Committees for Special Purposes.
Sometimes matters are brought before the board, which are within its jurisdictiction, but are of such a nature, as to require special investigation, or may be made the subject of such, for some legal doubts, or want of precise information as to facts. In such cases a motion for appointing a special committee is usually made and prevails. The work of committees, however, is only prepara- tory; the board in its full assembly decides upon the propositions made by the comittees. It allows claims, grants petitions, con- firms the equalizations, accepts or adopts reports of officers, levies taxes, that is the state, county and county school tax, changes the boundaries of towns, and performs sundry other functions, among which is the selection of a jury list from the qualified persons, resi- dents of the county. The decisions of the board are made by tak- ing a vote on every question, after the same has been duly consid- ered or debated, Common parliamentary rules govern discussions and other proceedings of the board. The clerk has to keep a record of the same, called the Journal of the Proceedings, which must be entered into a book especially provided for that purpose. Claims that have been allowed against the county are paid on the presen- tation of an order made out by the county clerk and signed by himself and the chairman of the county board.
It is with committees very much as with individuals; they have their youth, the time of taking the first steps and beginning to gather wisdom from experience, So it was with our county There being at first but one town and for a while only a few towns, there were but few members in the board, and frequently all new ones, and instead of there being less business than now there were, on the contrary always numerous questions, which are now settled, and not very likely to create disturbances. But when they first turned up, they created excitement and opposition. Such events as were of the latter kind will be mentioned in the recapitulation of the meetings of the county board as they occur- red. It will strike every reader as somewhat singular, that there were at first so many special meetings of the board, but in the chaos of a first beginning things do not only appear, but are really more urgent than in later times, when order and system have been introduced and maintained, and sources of information multiplied. It would be extremely tedious to relate all the proceedings, in-
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288
ORGANIZATION.
April 28th, 1855.
In this meeting the town of Belvidere was set off, to consist of Townships 20 and 21 of Range 12. The election of town officers was to be held on the third day of April, 1856, at John Linse's place. in Sec. 16, T. 20, R. 12.
Another special meeting was held
July 25th, 1855.
A motion was made and subsequently withdrawn for a bridge to be built acrosse Waumandee Creek near the saw mill belonging to H. Goerke and F. Binder. It was resolved to lay out a county road to Alma and Waumandee via Sawmill, Sandprairie and Lang- don's farm. $229.63 were appropriated or allowed for books, seals and such things for the county-officers.
At the regular meeting,
November 13th, 1855,
Marvin Pierce and John P. Sohung were the only members. On the first day of the meeting Mr. Teckenburg resigned his office as clerk of the board, and Thomas G. Hake, who had been elected to the office in the general election previous to the meeting, was ap- pointed to fill the short vacancy, The remainder of the proceed- ings. is routine work.
In a special meeting held
March 13th, 1856,
two new towns were laid out:
. Alma in Township 21 (probably Range 13) and Townships 22, 23 and 24 all of Range 12, possibly meant to embrace all the land west to the Mississippi and Chippewa, though not so stated.
Waumande, to contain the Townships 21, 22, 23 and 24 of Range 11. Election localities were appointed:
At Alma, in the house of John Marty.
At Waumandee, in the house of J. Kirchner.
Officers to be elected April 1st, 1857.
There was a special meeting of the newly elected board on the 27th day of June, 1856.
Edward Lees was elected chairman of the board. Nothing else seems to have been done than to make out a list of grand jurors, 19 from Buffalo, 9 from Belvidere and 8 from Waumandee.
At the regular meeting of the board, held
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ORGANIZATION.
November 11th, 1856,
the county board consisted of the following members:
Alma: W. H. Gates. Buffalo: Edward Lees.
Belvidere: Frederick Mager. . Waumandee: Robert Henry.
Mr. Gates was elected chairman.
There was a regular order of business adopted; and settlement had with the treasurer.
It was resolved to lay out a county road from Fountain City to Alma; also one from Alma to Waumandee, the latter to be ex- tended to an intersection with the Chippewa or Ridge Road.
Mr. Finkelnburg was commissioned to make maps of the dif- ferent towns.
A salamander safe for the treasurer was purchased for $200. The same sum was appropriated to Mr. Wesley Pierce for build- ing a jail 16x16 feet floor and 8 feet high, whenever the work would be accepted. $8.00 were appropriated to Adam Klingel and Rich. Kiel for burying the body of an unknown person.
The state tax levied was $800.00, county tax $1690.00.
This meeting adjourned to the 2d Monday in March 1857, but the board had to hold a special meeting on the 2d day of Dec., 1856, because they had neglected to levy a county school tax, which they then did in the sum of $200.00.
At the adjourned meeting on
March. 10th, 1857,
Mr. Finkelnburg was appointed county Clerk, vice T. G. Hake re- resigned.
Accounts were allowed, and appropriations made for roads to the amount of $900.00
Some order was introduced into the descriptions of the differ- ent towns, as follows:
Buffalo (de facto) Townships 18, 19 and 20 Ranges 10 and 11. Belvidere, Townships 19, 20 and 21 of Range 12.
Bear Creek, Townships 23 and 24 Ranges 13 and 14 and West Half of Range 12.
Alma, Tshp. 21 and 22 Range 13 and T. 22, Range 12. ,
Naples, Tshp. 23 and 24 Range 10 and 11 and East Half Range 12.
Waumandee, Tshp. 21 and 22 of Range 11 and Sect. 25 T. 21, R. 12.
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ORGANIZATION.
The clerk was ordered to purchase necessary books. At the next special meeting
June 8th, 1857
the following new towns were laid out:
Cold Springs, Township 21 Range 10 and so much of the sec- tions 1-10 in Tshp. 20 of the same range, as was situated west of Trempealeau River.
Trempealeau. The description is somewhat unintelligible but was meant for what now is the town of Cross. This town was never organized.
To the above description of Alma was added Tshp. 22 in Range 14. Election places appointed in the new towns.
Another special meeting was held
July 20, 1857,
principally for the purpose of making out a jury list. This list contains a number of familiar names. There were 19 for grand and 20 for petit jury. Mr. Orlando Brown was the new member, and for the first time in the county board of this county.
At the regular meeting
November 10, 1857,
there was a petition for forming a town Monpelier which was to embrace all of Belvidere and part of Alma, but it was rejected ...
" Fixing up " of towns was still a leading topic, and this time the town of Cross was established as follows:
Tshp. 20 Range 10, except what belonged to Cold Spring, and the East Half of Township 20 Range 11, to which is to add: Sect. 1, 2, 3, 10, 11 and 12 of Towship 19 Range 11.
What made my old friend Ed. Lees call his town Cross I could never learn, but perhaps he " felt that way."
Elk Creek: Tshp. 23 of Ranges 10 and 11, and East Half of Range 12. The polls to be at the house of A. P. Loomis.
Nelson : Tshp 23 Range 13; all of tshp. 22 range 13 north of the tier of which Sect. 24 is the eastern one; the West Half of Tshp. 23 Range 12 excepting sections 4, 5 and 6. All of Tshp. 23, 14 except sections 1 and 2. The polls were appointed to be held at Alexander Swim's.
Milton : West Half of Tshp. 20 Range 11; South Half of Tshp. 20 Range 12, and all there is of' T. 19 R. 12.
The Fountain City " Beacon " was declared the official paper
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292
ORGANIZATION.
the assignment of tax certificates, of which there cannot have been a great many yet. The sum of $501.60 was appropriated on the construction of the bridge across Trempealeau River, the situation of which everybody seems to have known so well, that it was not particularly described in the proceedings.
Another special meeting was held September 20, 1858
in which the towns were represented as follows:
Buffalo: Wm. Willig. Nelson: Steph. Barton.
Eagle Mills: Fred Binder. Cold Springs: Jas. Faulds, Jr.
Belvidere: Wm. Achenbach. Alma: Gottlieb Kurtz.
Waumandee: John Ochsner. Bloomington and Naples, not on Gilmanton: And. Gilman. record, nor Cross.
This was a board of equalization, but it is still remarkable, that not one of the last before mentioned representatives was pre- sent, although no new election had been held. The schedule of as- sessments made by the above board was tabulated and. entered upon record.
At the regular meeting
November 9th, 1858,
there were some entirely new representatives of towns, not enum- crated in the two preceding lists. Mr. Doughty represented Bloomington, which name was changed to "Maxville " in this ses- sion. Nelson was represented by Wilson Crippin. The board found it advisable to have some talk about Beiner's Addition and Alteration to the village of Alma, but it does not appears that it was any of their business. For the rest nothing but routine work was done.
-
The special meeting held '
July 11th, 1859,
there were, according to a vote, the following members present: Edw. Lees, Cross. R. Strohmann, Belvidere,
A. Finkelnburg, Buffalo. Chas. Kessinger, City of Buffalo.
E. Doughty, Max ville. Geo. Schroeder, 4 H. Brown, Naples. Frank Gilman, Gilmanton.
William Robertson, Cold Springs. W. H. Gates, Alma.
John Ochsner, Waumandee. Ferd. Fetter, Eagle Mills.
Wilson Crippin, Nelson.
These names appear on record on a vote taken upon the ques.
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tion of moving the county seat from Fountain City to Upper Fountain City commonly called Sand Prairie. This being nega- tived, John Buehler and other citizens offered to the county board a new building, intended and arranged as a court house, the same, which now of course with needed alterations, is the Eagle Hotel at Fountain City. The county board, thereupon, established the county seat at Fountain City, as far as its authority availed.
At this session the county road, or that piece of the road from Fountain City to Alma, lying between the houses of Fred. Binder and Jack Baumann was re-established as a county road.
This session, which had evidently been called for the purpose of establishing the county seat for ever at Fountain City, had the effect to stir up the county seat question in general, and as the towns in the upper part of the county were growing more and more populous, they demanded that the village of Alma should be selected for the purpose, it being much nearer the center of the surface and of the 'population. Subsequent events justified the demand and the regular session held
November 15th, 1859,
was the last session of the county board held at Fountain City. The first work of the board was to canvass the election held in No- vember. The result was: - Sheriff: John Buehler.
Clerk of Circuit Court: Ferdinand Fetter.
Register of Deeds: Frederick Binder.
Clerk of County Board: John D. Lewis.
Treasurer: C. Bohri, Jr.
District Attorney: Edward Lees.
County.Surveyor: Hiram B. Merchant.
Coroner: Dr. Wm. Spuehr.
Among other, (current) accounts was also one of Newland and- Averill for printing; which had been before the board previously, but was now settled.
A motion was made and carried, not to allow the City of Buf- falo any representation in the county board, until it should poll 60 or more votes on any general election. As the city had become incorporated by an act of the legislature of 1859; it was clearly be- yond the power and jurisdiction of the board to exclude the mem- bers sent by the city, In fact this resolution finally congealed
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ORGANIZATION.
into a petition to the state legislature to amend the charter of the city according to the resolution. Messrs. A Finkelnburg and J. D. Lewis were appointed a committee to attend to this matter.
The board also resolved to petition the legislature for the re- peal of Chapter 11 of General Laws of 1858. I could not find out to what said law related, and as it is certainly of no consequence whatever now, and possibly was of but little at the time, I only mention it to show, that the county board of that time felt itself a very puissant body, if it is to be judged by its resolutions.
I have now to interrupt the relation of the proceedings of the county board and take up the narrative of that struggle which has visited almost every new county in the western states, and the seeds of which had been sown in the very act of the; organization of ours. The reader, if he will take the trouble to consult this act in the beginning of this chapter, will find that the "seat of justice" for Buffalo County was thereby located upon Section 1 Township 19 North Range 12 West. Those living in that neighborhood, may at one time have known something of the situation of that section, but those living near it could not tell me anything of the corners or lines when in 1883 in November I went there with R. Hollins- head, an engineer in the employ of the Winona & Alma Railroad Company, to find the northeast corner of it in order to locate the line of said road relative to government surveys. Mr. Hollinshead, who had studied the Atlas of Buffalo County on this matter, in- sisted that the line must run somewhere south of F. Richter's house, which, however, I could easily prove to be wrong, as I had been familiar with the situation of the northern quarter section post of the adjoining section 6, and knew it to be located at the foot of the cliff, almost due east of the mill. Subsequent invest- igations proved that the corner we wanted to determine was located in the mill pond, over a quarter of a mile north of Richter's house, and as I had learned the situation of the remaining stump of one of the bearing trees of the corner, the problem was satisfactorily solved afterwards. At the time when Mr. Marvin Pierce projected the description of Buffalo County as found in the act of organiza- tion (1853,) there was, however, no pond in the place, and the said corner was in the bottom at the foot of the sandy slope, on the west side of Waumandee Creek, and, if government maps are ap- proximately reliable, about sixty rods from it, probably approach-
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ORGANIZATION.
firmer hold upon the possession of the much coveted boon. It is true, it offered a court house, and the offer was accepted, but that was at a time when other places had already acquired some size, and when it was seriously questioned, whether the. county board had a legal authority to establish a county seat in any other place than the one designated by the legislature. Accordingly, instead of a law to deprive Buffalo, City, of its representation in the county board, a law was passed in the legislature to enable the people of Buffalo County to decide upon the question whether the county seat should be established in the village of Alma. The vote was in favor of Alma, but some informalities or mistakes in the re- turns emboldened the canvassers, all of whom, as well as all of the county officers were either residents of. or otherwise in the interest of Fountain City, to reject these defective returns, whereupon the case came up on a " Mandamus "? before the Supreme Court of the state and was decided against Fountain City,
Accordiugly the offices were removed to Alma, and by a reso- lution of the county board established in the house owned at that time by F. S. Richards, originally built. by : Capt. E. S. Herman, and after being vacated by the county owned by Dr. John Ehing, sold by him to the firm of Tester and Schilling, it having occupied the site of their hardware store and dwelling.
But Alma should not possess the dignity of being the capital of this county without having to fight for it at the next town elec- tion, 1861, with the City of Buffalo. This young corporation, in which Mr. Mr. Charles Schaettle, sen., was then the most promi- nent man and leading citizen, made strenuous efforts to. wrench from Alma the newly acquired distinction. At that time the own- ers of lots in the city, living mostly at Cincinnati and other places south and east of this state, still entertained great expectations in regard to the future prosperity. of the place, and were ready to make any reasonable sacrifice for its promotion, and. on the strength of this fact, the enterprise was undertaken with the prom- ise of furnishing free of cost, a suitable court-house, of which I furnished the plan and elevation, Mr. Schaettle and others doing the canvassing, showing the plan all round the county. The scheme, however, miscarried, and when afterwards, Mr. Schaettle and some of his then fellow-citizens went to Alma, to possess them- selves, vis at armis, figuratively, of the offices and papers, they were
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prevented from accomplishing their design, ridiculed and threat- ened with violence and compelled to leave, at which retrograde movement they were serenaded by the old fiddler to the tune: " Wender nit bald heigo, ihr Chaiba " which translated from his native Swiss dialect means: Won't you please decamp, you rascals! * C. H.
This is the story of the struggle for capital honors among the leading communities of Buffalo County. After a short time the animosities roused by it subsided, the heated imaginations cooled off, and harmony was again restored.
After having finished this unavoidable digression, we can now return to the chronicle of the county board.
The next meeting after the one mentioned before the episode of the county seat question was a special one, held
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