USA > Wisconsin > Buffalo County > History of Buffalo County, Wisconsin > Part 34
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
Wm. Sauer
Built in 1871.
Lincoln
Frank Mattausch Built by Kochendorfer & Wachholz A. Mademann
Milton
Built by Mehrmann & Fetter 1858.
Misha Mokwa Farr & Aitkens
Built by Mr. Gurley from 1858-65.
Modena
Geo. Frary
Built by himself probably 1866.
Mondovi
J. T. Brownlee.
Built 1857 by A. & L. Gordon.
Mondovi
N. K. Fisher
Built in 1877.
Waumandee .. John Ochsner,
Built by himself 1866.
To complete the above table I add the following historical notes:
The mill [in the town of Alma was long in possession of August Grams, now of La Crosse county .- The mill at Gilmanton usually called Mann's mill, was operated by Joel Mann for some time, afterwards by others, and among them Harvey B. Farring- ton and Otis F. Warren, who were suoceeded by Mr. Howard.
In the mill of Glencoe Henry Kessler, John Maurer, Peter Grass, and I believe a man by the name of Keller were in the course of time interested.
Fred. Kochendorfer was the moving spirit in the erection of the Lincoln Mills and kept them in operation for some years.
The mill in Milton was started by Henry Goehrke and Fred. Binder as a saw mill as early as 1855, but after Ferdinand Fetter and Ferdinand Mehrmann had bought into the partnership it was converted into a flouring mill, and did for many years consider- able business, though interrupted every summer by the backwater from the Mississippi.
The mill at Misha Mokwa proved the financial ruin of its pro- jector, went through several hands, was rented to different parties, so for instance to Peter Kleiner, was owned by J. Thoeny, now again at Wabasha, for several years, and sold by him to the present owners.
The Mondovi mill was the first erected in the northern part of the county and at that time a great accommodation for the neigh-
405
MANUFACTURES.
borhood. From the builders named in the table it passed to Mr Walter Brown, the father of Hon. Orlando and of Harvey Brown, deceased, who sold it to Samuel Newton, of whom Mr. J. T. Brownlee bought it.
In regard to Mr. Fisher's mill, which is a sawmill and grist- mill, I can not remember exactly when it was commenced, al- though it must have been built during 1877, at which time I was frequently at Mondovi; but as it is marked in the "Atlas" pub- lished 1878 I can not be very far wrong. There is, also, in Mon- dovi another mill, usually operated by wind-power, but in case of need by steampower, belonging to a Mr. Fisher, whether the same or not, I can not say.
The mill of Mr. Ochsner in Waumandee is situated in the most fertile valley of this county, and has the advantage of plenty of water at all times.
Most of these mills do custom work, and none has attained commercial importance except in local trade. The one in Foun- tain City is most favorably situated for transportation of material and products. This is the only mill in this county run entirely by steam power; all the others use water power by turbine wheels.
A mill is considered a profitable investment, yet we have learned from the history of sonie of the mills in this county that the building thereof was the ruin of the owners. It would be wrong to suppose that this was in every case attributable to im- prudent management, and perhaps impossible and useless to in- vestigate the causes.
The first mill in this county was the steam mill of Buehler and Clarke in Fountain City. It was erected 1856, and for some time worked by the owners, afterwards sold, and rented to differ- ent parties, until it became the property of Sigmund Kammerer, in whose possession it was when it burned down in 1885. It was not rebuilt.
About the year 1858 J. P. Stein made an attempt to build a mill on the creek which bears his name. The enterprise had to be given up, partly on account of the obstinacy of the mill-wright, Ulrich Mueller, who had an unconquerable prejudice against tur bine wheels.
The county may be said to be sufficiently furnished withgrist mills for domestic purposes, but it might be an advantage to farm-
406
MANUFACTURES.
ers and others if a greater proportion of our surplus wheat were ground within the county.
II. SAW MILLS.
LOCALITIES.
Power.
OWNERS.
REMARKS.
Alma (city).
Steam
F. Laue
Ert. in Alma 1866. See below.
Buffalo (city) ..
66
Mrs. Bueker.
Fountain City (vil.)
Henry Teckenburg
Built by Bishop & Carpenter 1855.
Maxville Mondovi
.
Water John Bowmann
N. K. Fisher
On Spring Creek. Lower part of the village.
Saw-mills depend in our parts on logs from the pineries; hard wood is only a small fraction of the material manipulated. Hence it is only along the Mississippi and its navigable sloughs that we may expect to meet saw-mills.
The first saw-mill in the county probably was that of Goehrke and Binder on Waumandee Creek, the same place where the Eagle Mills now stand. It was dependent almost entirely on hard wood. But at nearly the same time the lower saw-mill at Fountain City was built by Bishop and Carpenter. It passed into the hands of Levi Slingluf, now in Eau Claire, and afterwards became the pro- perty of Henry Teckenburg, Esq. In 1857 Hon. A. Finkelnburg built the upper sawmill at Fountain City at the place where the sash and door factory of Roettiger & Co. now stands. It was soon abandoned for its purpose.
In 1858 the Colonization Society of Cincinnati, which had laid out Buffalo City, built at that place a sawmill, to which a gristmill was also attached. The arrangement being faulty, the supply of logs precarious, and the expectations of the residents and the members of the Colonization Society somewhat disap- pointed, this mill was abandoned after the mill of Bueker & Co. was started in the same place 1859. The latter mill was mainly managed by F. Lane together with Adolf Bueker, who were the resident members of the company. In 1865 F. Lane and C. Schaettle, sen., purchased the old Buffalo City mill, and worked it for some time, when, having purchased land of R. Beiner, just below the village of Alma, they removed the engine and boiler to that place and began the first mill of F. Lane, at first in company
407
MANUFACTURES.
from which Mr. Schaettle after a while retired. The business now belongs to Mr. Lane alone, and he is still working the engine that was brought to Buffalo City in 1858 .- Before any extensive settle- ment was made at and around Alma, somebody had started up a sawmill above town, but I do not remember its operation, though I have seen trace of a log-carriage upon the place. In 1870 the property passed into the hands of John Bretthauer and Fred Fisher, who built a sawmill on the spot. This afterwards passed into the hands of Gottfried Waelty, who with Mr. Geo. Williams and Dick Loveridge formed the " Alma Manufacturing Company " which, of course, manufactured lumber, lath and shingles. The concern passed by Sheriff's Sale into the hands of a certain Keller of whom Hon. R. R. Kempter purchased it. He leased the mill and adjoining land to the Meridean Lumber Co. and that company operated the inill under the management of Mr. S. V. Holstein. Mr. Kempter sold out to the Mississippi Logging Co. The place af- fording the most eligible situation for a railroad depot, it was sold to the Chicago, Burlington & Northern R. R. Co. Building and machinery were removed. About the time when Mr, Lane moved to Alma, Frank Mattausch built a sawmill in the northern part of Fountain City, which, after several years of successful operation, was destroyed by fire and not rebuilt.
Adolf Rauch and Henry Erding built a sawmill at Buffalo City some short distance below the site of the old sawmill. It is not now in operation.
III. WINE.
The manufacture of wine is carried on in a number of towns in the lower part of the county, of which Fountain City, Belvidere, Waumandee and the City of Alma are the most prominent, but not the only ones. But in our climate this industry is too unreli- able to ever to amount to much, although the cultivation of the grape will be continued perhaps indefinitely.
408
MANUFACTURES.
IV. BEER .- TABLE OF BREWERIES
LOCATION.
OWNERS.
REMARKS.
Alma
John Hemrich.
Union Brewery.
do.
Wm. Brueggeboos .
[ Built by himself in 1855. Begun by J. A. Hunner in the old Wisconsin House 1864.
.. Fountain City do.
John Koschitz. Brewing Company.
Eagle Brewery. Built 1857. Built in 1885.
Although these are all the breweries at present in working condition, it must not be supposed that others have not existed since very early dates in our history. The first attempt at Foun- tain City in the brewing business was made by a man named Alois - in 1855, the plant being on the site of the plow factory and machine shop of Mr. John Clarke. In 1857 Mr. J. G. Ziegenfuss started the City Brewery, and about the same time the Eagle Brewery was put in operation by Fred Richter and Valen- tine Eder. In the Eagle Brewery the following succeeded each other: Richter & Eder, Xaver Ehrhardt, Ewe & Krueger, Mrs. Pistorius, John Koschitz.
The City Brewery remained in the same hands until discon- tinued. The first brewery did not continue for more than two or three years.
At Alma, the Union Brewery, being built at about the same time as the first brewery at Fountain City, remains still in pos- session of its founder, who has now every arrangement for success in his business. The other brewery is only in the second hand. A feeble attempt was made some fifteen years ago by Charles Zen- gel to establish another brewery above the lime kiln and on the same land, but was soon abandoned. At the time when great ex- pectations were the rule at Buffalo City, Mr. Schaettle built and furnished a brewery at the Spring Lake. At that time a deep, cool cellar was an indispensable attachment to every successful brew- ery. Such a cellar could not be furnished at the spot, and after sinking considerable money Mr. Schaettle gave up the enterprise.
At Fountain City there was somewhere about 1870 a new and very large brewery erected and furnished, in which Henry Fiedler, Otto Bodmer and Mike Lenhardt were concerned. It burned
409
MANUFACTURES.
down and was not rebuilt. In its neighborhood, and on ground formerly belonging to it, stands now the brewery of the Fountain City Brewing Co. This is well arranged and well managed.
Seeing that these breweries were all undertaken in the lower part of the county, some of them even at a time when the popula- tion was yet very thin, it can readily be imagined that there must have been, and there still is, a considerable demand for their pro- duct. As a matter of fact we have to record that these breweries could not always supply the demand, and that beer was largely imported from Milwaukee and La Crosse. The arrangements for an improved product, and a sufficiency of it at all times being now on hand, we can but regard it with satisfaction, since, the de- mand for beer existing, it is certainly preferable to supply it by home industry, for which we have the principal material on hand. It must not be supposed that the demand for beer is entirely con- fined to the southern part of the county. A "good wee drop" is also appreciated by a good many in the northern part, in spite of prejudice and opposition.
V. CIGARS.
This is one of the articles which might be manufactured here, as well as in other places, though we do really not produce the material for it. What little tobacco may be grown here, has to be sold, for there is not enough of it to start a factory on. Whole- sale production has driven manufacturers of this article in smaller places out of the business.
There is at present no cigar-factory in the county.
VI. IRON PRODUCTS AND ARTICLES MANUFACTURED OF IRON.
The only extensive factory, using and producing the articles at the head of this, is in Fountain City, the plow factory and machine shop of Mr. John Clarke. Of course, it does not com- pare with such factories in the large cities, but for our neighbor- hood is considerable enough, and affords many advantages, to farmers especially. Mr. Simon Mueller of Buffalo City has a similar arrangement on a small scale. There may be such an in- stitution in Modena, but if there is, I think it finds its mate in Gilmanton, and more than that at Mondovi. I only mention this because there is no result reported for Gilmanton and Mondovi not mentioned at all in the table. Every blacksmith shop might
410
MANUFACTURES.
come within the scope of this table, and every town could be named in it. Perhaps the instructions justified the report, but a mistake inust be somewhere.
VII. LEATHER AND ARTICLES MANUFACTURED OF IT.
Leather is not manufactured here. Shoes and boots, and har- nesses are certainly made in the county, though, perhaps, many of them, or most, are imported. It is rather curious that nothing of the kind is reported from Alma, since we have two saddlers, and harnessmakers, Mondovi one, Gilmanton and Modena perhaps one each, perhaps not.
VIII. WAGONS, CARRIAGES AND SLEIGHS.
Why there should no such things be manufactured in Alma, I do not know, but could not assert any activity in the matter. I have already made remarks on that point and dislike to be forever criticising the census report. Wagons and sleighs have been made at numerous places in the county, but not in sufficient number to call it manufacturing.
Having sent off the manuscript of the chapter on Agriculture to the printer, I came near forgetting to mention
IX. CREAMERIES AND CHEESE FACTORIES.
Their products, butter and cheese, have to some extent been discussed under the head of Agriculture. This discussion, based upon the lucid statements of the census tables, did not men- tion any facts concerning creameries, although at least one of them, at the city of Alma, was in operation, and possibly the one in Fountain City also, at the time of taking the census. We have two creameries. The one at Alina, built early in spring 1884, commenced operations in May of the same year; the other at Fountain City commenced operations about one year later. We have no statistics on hand in regard to these institutions, and could not enter in a detailed description of processes, etc., under any circumstances, but think that they are doing good service to the farmers in many ways, besides buying their cream. They ought to be a success, but I understand that up to present times this is not assured. Cheese factories are more numerous than creameries, but not, perhaps, as numerous as they were some years ago. An inspection of the table given under Agriculture shows that only the factory at Mondovi reported any results in 1885. These factories do not require so much cash capital as
411
MANUFACTURES.
creameries, and are, therefore, not such dangerous ventures. I think that our county should be able to furnish all the cheese needed for consumption, and have considerable surplus for export. Cheese is, as an article of commerce, subject to great fluctuations in prices, but as it is much less perishable than butter, and, if of good quality, is much improved by age, the changes of the market must not necessarily be injurious to factory enterprises. There is at present but one considerable cheese factory in the county, that at Mondovi, which reported in 1885 a product of 32,684 pounds, at a value of $3,595.00, or something over 10 cents per pound. If my memory serves me right this factory must have been in operation for 12 or more years, though its patrons sometimes deserted it, and it had to suspend. Small factories, working up the milk of 50 cows or less, have been started up in many localities, by which the transportation of milk for long distances is avoided, an item of importance to our farmers at almost any season. It is not to be expected that the very best quality of cheese should be produced at these small factories, but an acceptable one is usually furnished by them. I have just now, by a mere accident, learned that a cheese factory, exists at Gilmanton, which produces a daily aver- age of 250 pounds of cheese. How this item could have escaped my attention I am at a loss to explain, since I am a reader of both the "Journal" and the "Herald" of this county.
X. OTHER INDUSTRIES.
I might now say something about other industries, for instance about lime kilns and brick yards. Of the first I have said some- thing in " Geology" and consider it sufficient. The most import- ant of the second are at Alma and Fountain City. The one at Alma is situated contiguous to the new Bluff Road about half a mile east of the lower end of the town and is owned and conducted by Julius Wilk. The one at Fountain City belongs to J. B. Oen- ning and is situated at the eastern end of North Street. I have no means of giving any figures in regard to the annual output of either, but I think it varies greatly according to the season and the demand for the product.
The above sketch of our manufacturing enterprises may not be as perfect as might be desirable, but it is all I could gather from available sources of information on the subject.
412
POPULATION.
POPULATION.
Speaking of the population of Buffalo County, we have no ac- cessible means of ascertaining its number, or, indeed, anything else about it, until the time when the county had been organized, and in working order for more than a year. Even if we should inves- tigate the census reports of Crawford county for 1840, or earlier, and those of La Crosse county for 1850, we would hardly be any the wiser for it. It is very probable that the lower part of our county, that part below the Buffalo River, that is to say south and east of it, was nominally considered as a town or part of a town, and that an organization existed somewhere to govern that town, probably down at Monteville, now Trempealeau village, and that an effort was made at the usual times, to take an account of popu- lation, if any body knew anything about people living above Trem- pealeau River; but if such a population existed, it must have been enumerated along with those who lived outside of our limits, The upper part of the county on the right bank of the Buffalo River, belonged to Chippewa county until 1854, and we might as well hunt a needle in a hay stack as ascertain from report of census- takers whether there was any population in those parts or not. Circumstances point.to the probability that there was none, or at least but a transient one. There might have been people at work near the mouth of the Chippewa River every winter to chop wood and bank it for the use of the occasional boats then beginning to run up to Mendota and afterwards to St. Paul, but they would most probably withdraw to the other side at Read's Landing or some other place in the spring. From its mouth to the head of Beef Slough, a distance of about 12 miles there was no place on the Chippewa which would tempt any one to settle upon it. About a mile above that place our northern boundary line passes of to the east.
From the notes on "Pioneers " and their lives we find that in 1840 Thomas A. Holmes, and Major Hatch must have been living at Holmes' Landing (Fountain City) and might have been enum- erated. Holmes was probably there in 1845 also, and there were others at the place then and in 1850, but if enumerated at all, were included in some large district between Black and Buffalo Rivers, In the following enumeration I have used the Census Report of 1885, supplemented by inquiries made at other sources.
413
POPULATION.
CENSUS OF 1885. ENUMERATION.
TOWNS, VILLAGES AND CITIES.
WHITE.
TOTAL.
Male.
Female.
Alma
414
333
747
Alma (City)
811
710
1,521
Belvidere
407
351
758
Buffalo
354
300
654
Buffalo (City)
136
134
270
Canton
388
343
731
Cross
356
325
681
Dover
375
339
714
Fountain City, village
487
479
966
Gilmanton
346
285
631
Glencoe
434
368
802
Lincoln
316
294
610
Maxville
415
343
758
Milton
222
213
435
Modena
399
385
784
Mondovi (340 in vill. )
487
457
944
Montana.
489
469
958
Nelson
1,133
635
1,768
Naples
418
379
794
Waumandee.
500
454
954
Total
8,887
7,596
16,483
No colored persons in the county in 1885.
TABULAR STATEMENT, SHOWING THE NATIVITY OF THE POPULATION OF BUFFALO COUNTY.
United States
10,771.
Germany
3,409.
Great Britain
163.
Ireland
342.
France.
22.
British America
161.
Scandinavia
1,323.
Holland
39.
Bohemia
25.
All others
228.
Total
16,483.
414
POPULATION.
The only thing correct in the above is the addition. It is true, the distribution is quite ingenious, and offers a handsome oppor- tunity to hide the more important facts behind statements that may or may not be correct, and are hardly worth while disputing, A person born of German parents is certainly of German descent, though born in the United States. The part of our population of German descent must be set down as between seven and eight thousand. Ten of the towns and corporations of the county are almost entirely inhabited by Germans, while in Nelson one third, in Cross perhaps one half, and Glencoe and Canton and other towns quite a number must be added. In this we must, of course, count in the Swiss, since they have no separate column, and can not very well be placed anywhere else. Most of them are actually of German descent, since the German is their native language. As with the Germans, so it is with the Scandinavians and the Irish. As to the natives of France, I would like to see the twenty-two Frenchmen, whose native language is the French, and who have lived in this county in 1885. Fifteen years before, there might have been that many persons born in the empire of France, but just about that time they were forcibly expatriated, their native country being annexed to Germany. If there are thirty-nine Hol- landers, genuine Dutch, in this county, it is strange, that I never got acquainted with any one of them. There may be some, who understand that language, or are from a part of Germany under Netherland sovereignity, the principality of Limburg, for in- stance. As for natives of Bohemia, I think I can count upon my fingers more than fifty, of whom about ten are of Czechish descent, the remainder of German. Who, then, is a Bohemian? And who are those of all other nativities? For the historian this table is of no value.
There would be some excuse for this report, if a politician could gather any instruction from it, but even for that it is unfit. There is but little purpose in analyzing our present population according to the nativity of each individual, but something might be said of the location of the different nationalities. By na- tionality I only mcan to indicate people of the same descent, using habitually the same language in their family intercourse and their religious assemblies, this being the only true distinction between Americans, Germans, Norwegians, Irish and Scotch among our
415
POPULATION.
population, for although the Irish and Scotch use the same Eng- lish among themselves as Americans do, there is still the diiffcr- ence of descent, which among those two classes is just as tena- ciously remembered, as if theirs were a different language. In giving the location of the different nationalities it can not be ex- pected that every individual or family should be accounted for. The similarity of language and habits tends everywhere to the for- mation of smaller or larger centers, as is exemplified in this county by the fact that the lower part of it is principally inhabited by Germans, whole towns being entirely occupied by people of that descent, who form south of the line between townships 23 and 22 the great bulk of the population. The town of Glencoe furnishes the only exception to that rule, but even there the Germans are probably as numerous as either the Irish or the Scotch. In the town of Cross there are a number of Scotch families, but perhaps not one fifth of the population is of that origin. There are some Scotch, and more Irish in Waumandee and Montana, not enough to influence a general estimate, Milton and Belvidere are entirely German, Buffalo and Fountain City very nearly so. The City of Alma may be considered as three-fourthis German, the Town of Alma as entirely so. In the lower part of Nelson the permanent population, the possessors of the soil or at least the tillers of it, are German, the floating population and those who do not cultivate farms, are of different nationalities, of which, however, the Ameri- can, taking the word in its usual and limited application, is not so very prominent. The prevailing nationality on the West side of township 23, Range 13 and the inhabitable part of Range 14 is al- most entirely peopled by Germans, as well as those parts of the town about Bygolly Creek and the upper portion of the Trout Creek Valley. In that part of the county consisting of townships 23 and 24 in their several ranges from 10-14 it is not very easy to decide whether the Americans or the Norwegians are more num - erous.
In the Town of Dover the Norwegians seem to form the major- ity, in Gilmanton the Americans prevail, in Modena, especially in the western part of the town, the Norwegians are certainly very numerous, and in the Town of Nelson, that is, especially the eastern and northern part of it, they have always been regarded as numerous enough to carry an election their own way, if they
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.