History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin, Part 10

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. [from old catalog]; Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1298

USA > Wisconsin > Richland County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 10
USA > Wisconsin > Crawford County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 10

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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

of his death. llis successor, as previously stated, is Chief Justice Orsamus Cole.

By an act of the Legislature of 1881, a board of supervision of Wisconsin charitable, re- formatory and penal institutions was founded. The boards of trustees by which these insti- tutions had been governed since their organi- zation were abolished by the same law. The board of supervision consists of five members, who hold their office for five years, and who are appointed by the governor, the Senate con- curring. The board acts as commissioners of lunacy, and has full power to investigate all complaints against any of the institutions un'er its control, to send for books and papers, sum- mon, compel the attendance of, and swear wit- nesses. The powers delegated to this board are so extraordinary, and its duties so manifold, that a recital of them will be found of interest. They are as follows :

(1.) To maintain and govern the Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane, the Northern Hospital for the Insane, the Wisconsin State Prison, the Wisconsin Industrial School for Boys, the Wisconsin Institution for the Educa- tion of the Blind, and the Wisconsin Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb ; and such other charitable and penal institutions as may hereafter be established or maintained by the State. (2.) To carefully supervise and direct the management and affairs of said in- stitutions, and faithfully and diligently promote the objects for which the same have been established. (3) To preserve and care for the buildings, grounds and all property connected with the said institutions. (4.) To take and hold in trust for the said several institutions any land conveyed or devised, or money or property given or bequeathed, to be applied for any purpose connected therewith, and faithfully to apply the same as directed by the donor, and faithfully to apply all funds, effects and property which may be received for the use of such institutions. (5.) To make on or before Oeto- ber I in each year, full and complete annual in-

ventories and appraisals of all the property of each of said institutions, which inventories and appraisals shall be recorded, and shall be so classified as to separately show the amount, kind and value of all real and personal property belonging to such institutions. (6.) To make such by-laws, rules and regulations, not incom- patible with law, as it shall deem convenient or necessary for the government of the said insti- tutions and for its own government, and cause the same to be printed. (7.) To visit and care- fully inspect each of said institutions as often as once in each month, either by the full board or by some member thereof, and ascertain whether all officers, teachers, servants and em- ployees in such institutions are competent and faithful in the discharge of their duties, and all inmates thereof properly cared for and governed, and all accounts, account books and vouchers properly kept, and all the business affairs thereof properly conducted. (8.) To fix the number of subordinate officers, teachers, ser- varts and employees in each of said institutions, and prescribe the duties and compensation of each, and to employ the same upon the nomi- nation of the respective superintendents and wardens. (9.) To promptly remove or discharge any officer, teacher or employe in any of said institutions, who shall be guilty of any malfeas- ance or misbehavior in office, or of neglect, or improper discharge of duty. (10.) To annually appoint for the Wisconsin State Hospital for the Insane and for the Northern Hospital for the Insane, for each, a superintendent, one assistant physician, a matron, a steward and a treasurer ; and for the Institution for the Edu- cation of the Blind, and the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, and the In- dustrial School for Boys, for each, a superin- tendent, a steward, a treasurer, and all necessary teachers ; and for the State prison, a warden, a steward and a treasurer, who shall be the officers of said institutions respectively and whose duties shall be fixed by said board, exeept as herein otherwise provided. (11.) To

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

maintain and govern the school, prescribe the course of study and provide the necessary ap- paratus and means of instruction for the Insti- tution for the Education of the Blind, and for the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. (12) To prescribe and collect such charges as it may think just, for tuition and maintenance of pupils not entitled to the same free of charge, in the Institution for the Educa- tion of the Blind and in the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. (13.) To fix the period of the academic year, not less than forty weeks, and prescribe the school terms in the Institution for the Education of the Blind and the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. (14.) To confer, in its discretion, upon meritorious pupils, such academie and literary degrees as are usually conferred by similar institutions, and grant diplomas accordingly, in the Institution for the Education of the Blind and in the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb.

On the 20th of April, 1883, a commissioner was appointed by the governor, for two years, in accordance with the provisions of an act passed by the Legislature of that year creating a bureau of labor statistics. The object of this office, now filled by Frank A. Flower, is to col- leet manufacturing and labor statistics, report violations of laws for benefit of artisans, and generally to show the manufacturing condition and resources of the State.

In her political divisions Wisconsin has copied, to a considerable extent, from some of her sister States. These divisions are counties, towns, cities and incorporated villages. The county government is in charge of a county board of supervisors, consisting of the chairman of each town board, a supervisor from each ward of every city, and one from each incorpo- rated village. The county officers are : Clerk, treasurer, sheriff, coroner, clerk of circuit court, district attorney, register of deeds, surveyor, and one or two superintendents of schools, all elected biennially. There are sixty-five conn-

ties in the State. The government of the towns is in charge of a town board of super- visors. The other officers are clerk, treasurer, assessors, justices of the peace, overseers of highways and constables. The government of cities depends upon charters granted by the State Legislature. Generally, there is a mayor, common council, clerk, treasurer, attorney, chief of police, fire marshal and surveyor. Incorpo- rated villages are governed by a president and six trustees. The other officers are clerk, treas- urer, supervisor, marshal and constable, and sometimes a justice of the peace or police jus- tiee.

The constitution of Wisconsin, adopted by the people in 1848, is still "the supreme law of the State ;" but it has several times been amended, or had material additions made to it :

(1.) Article V, section 21, relating to the pay of the members of the Legislature. This was amended in 1867.

(2.) Article VI, sections 5 and 9, relating to the salaries of the governor and lieutenant-gov- ernor. This was amended in 1869.

(3.) Article I, section 8, relating to grand juries. This was amended in 1870.

(4.) Article IV, sections 31 and 32, relating to special legislation. These sections were added in 1871.

(5.) Article XI, section 3, relating to mnnie- ipal taxation. This was amended in 1874.

(6.) Article VII, section 4, relating to the number and term of the judges of the supreme court. This was substituted for the original section in 1877.

(7.) Article VIII, section 2, relating to claims against the State. This was amended in 1877.

(8.) Article IV, sections 4, 5, 11 and 21, re- lating to biennial sessions, and a change in salaries and perquisites of members of the Legislature. These were thus amended in 1881.

HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

(9) Article III, section 1, relating to resi- dence of voters in election districts some time before the election, and to registration of voters in cities and villages. Amended to this effect in 1882.

(10.) Article VI, section 4, article VII, sec- tion 12, and article XIII, section 1, all relating to biennial elections. Amended to this effect in 1882 .*

* A. O. Wright, in Exposition of the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin.

HISTORY

CRAWFORD COUNTY,

WISCONSIN.

CHAPTER I.

ARFA, POSITION AND PHYSICAL FEATURES.

B EFORE entering upon a consideration of the history of Crawford county, past and present, it is a matter of importance to under- stand its area and geographical position.

AREA.

Crawford county, in area, ranks among the southern counties of Wisconsin as one of aver- age size. It includes twenty-seven whole, half and fractional congressional townships with an average in each as follows:

AREA OF TOWNSHIPS.

Acres.

Township 6, of range 5 west ...

812 32

5,648 84

980 12

143 15

7,844 01

4 4

19,40: 10

22,028 57

....

L-

2,564 24

. .

8 €

15,258 85

.22,507 37

.23, 350 73

. .

1, 627 57

9 0

23,003 24

.. ..

23,208 70

9,596 22

10 '.

23,078 53

. . ..

23,540 80

. .

4. 44

17,475 44

4,505 79

13, 026 24

. .

.11, 198 82

11,580 96

4 4

11,600 68

3.679 06

This does not include the area of the private land claims confirmed to different parties by the United States, and located on the prairie, the same on which the city of Prairie du Chien is situated. The extreme length of the county, north and south, is twenty-nine and one-half

. ..

Acres.

: whip 6 of range G west.

21,317 02

22,739 57

22 884 87

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

miles; its extreme width, east and west, twenty- eight miles.

POSITION.

Crawford county is bounded on the north by Vernon county; on the east by the counties of Richland and Grant; on the south by the county last mentioned; and on the west by Allamakee and Clayton counties, Iowa. It is in the second tier of counties north of the northern boundary of the State of Illinois; its northern line being a distance from the south- ern boundary line of Wisconsin, in a straight course, of sixty-three miles. The eastern line of the county is 144 miles distant from the western shore of Lake Michigan. A dis- tance from its northeast corner of 225 miles, due north, is the nearest point on the southern shore of Lake Superior.

PHYSICAL FEATURES .- A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW. [From the Illustrated Historical Atlas of Wisconsin, 1878.]

At Prairie de Chien, the prairie is underlaid by about 140 feet of sand and gravel-river de- posit-under which commences the Potsdam sandstone formation. This has been pene- trated to the depth of 1016 feet in boring an artesian well, without reaching the granite. Above the plain at this place, the Magnesian limestone rises in perpendicular cliffs to the height of about 250 feet. Above this, the bluff slopes back to a perpendicular height of about 100 feet. This slope is com- posed of the St. Peter's sandstone, and the lower portion of the Trenton limestone. The formation of the whole of Crawford county is of similar character. The county is bounded on the west by the Mississippi river; on the south by the Wisconsin. The waters of these rivers have worn out deep channels in the rock, pro- ducing beetling bluffs on either side. The Kickapoo river runs diagonally through the county from northeast to southwest, in conse- quenee of which the face of the county is worn into deep ravines. A very narrow ridge runs the whole length from northeast to southwest, sloping off abruptly-to the Kickapoo on one

hand and Mississippi or Wisconsin on the other. This ridge forms an admirable wagon road.

The > oil of Crawford county is rich in the elements necessary for vegetable growth. It is both argillaceous and calcareous, mixed in many places with sand and universally with a large proportion of vegetable mold. The soil prodnees abundant crops of cereals and affords good pasturage. The timber is composed of oak of several varieties, hickory, butternut, aslı, elm, basswood, hard and soft maple, quaking asp, white and yellow birch, and black walnut.

The county has one feature which is some- what remarkable. None of it has been subject to action of the glacial period. There. is no drift, nor are there any boulders or water-worn pebbles, except in beds of streams, with only one exception, which is in a bed of limonite at Seneca, where there are numerous water-worn pebbles imbedded in iron ore. This bed of ore is situated on the highest land in the county.

At this place there is a considerable deposit of limonite, which has never been worked. In the town of Wauzeka, there is considerable copper ore, of the variety called by miners gossam. It is found in masses imbedded in the earth from the size of peas to fifty and sometimes 100 pounds. This ore yields about twenty-five per cent. of copper. At Bridge- port, there are extensive quarries of Dolomite or Magnesian limestone. These quarries are of much importance, producing beautiful and dur- able building stone. It is at present mostly dressed into window caps and sills and columns. In the town of Wanzeka some lead ore is found; but in no large quantities, as the Galena limestone terminates in a north- westerly direction.

There are three artesian wells at Prairie du Chien, one discharging 869,616 gallons daily. . This well is 960 feet deep,and is said to possess rare mineral qualities, The others are upward

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

of 1,000 feet in depth, and discharge propor- tionately large quantities of water. The two wells last mentioned were bored for the pur- pose of obtaining water to drive machinery.

THE RIVERS OF THE COUNTY.

Crawford county is emphatically the river county of Wisconsin. Leaving the smaller streams to be described in the record of the towns, it is sufficient, in a general view, to no- tice only the Mississippi, the Wisconsin and the Kickapoo.

I .- THE MISSISSIPPI.

This is the largest and most important river of the United States, rises in the north part of Minnesota at an elevation of 1,6:0 feet above the tide water. Its chief source is Itasca lake, which is 1,575 feet higher than the sea, and about 3,000, or, as some say, 3,160 miles from the mouth of the river, and is about latitude 47 degrees, 10 minutes north and longitude 95 dt- grees, 20 minutes west. From Itaser lake it runs first northward, but soon twins towards the east, and expands into Lake Cass and other lakes. After flowing towards nearly every point of the compass, it arrives at Grow Wing below which it runs southward to St. Cloud and southeastward to Minneapolis. Here is a pic- turesqne cataract called the Falls of St. An- thony, which is the head of navigation. The river here descends sixty-six feet in less than one mile, including a perpendicular fall of seventeen fret. It passes by the city of St. Paul and a few miles lower strikes the bound- ary of Wisconsin and expands into the long and beautiful Lake Pepin, bordered by vertical limestone bluffs, which are about 400 feet high and very picturesque. Below Dubuque its general direction is southward, and it forms the boundary between the States of lowa, Mis- souri, Arkansas and Louisiana on the right and Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi on the left hand. After an extremely sinuous course it enters the Gulf of Mexico by several mouths at the southeast extremity of Plaque-

mine parish, Louisiana, in latitude 29 degrees north and longitude 89 degrees, 12 minutes west. Its largest affluents are the Missouri, Ohio, Arkansas and Red rivers, besides which it re- ceives the Minnesota, Iowa and Des Moines from the right hand and the Wisconsin and Illinois rivers from the left. The Missouri river is longer than the part of the Mississippi above the junction of the two rivers, which is called the Upper Mississippi. The total length of the stream from the sou ce of the Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico is computed to be 4,300 miles, which exceeds that of any other river in the world. The area drained by this river and its tributaries, according to Prof. Guyot, is 1,244,000 square miles. It is computed that the mean volume of water discharged by it in a second is 675,000 cubic feet. It is navigable by large or middle-sized steamboats from its month to St. Panl, a distance of about 2,200 inites. Steamboats can ascend the Missouri to Fort Benton, which, according to some, is about 2 500 miles from its mouth, and 3,900 miles from the month of the Mississippi. The chief cities on the great river, giving precedence to those nearest the source, are Minneapolis, St. Paul, La Crosse, Dubuque, Davenport, Keokuk, Quincy, Hannibal, St. Louis, Memphis and Now Orleans. The lowest place at which the river is crossed by a bridge is St. Louis, Mo., about 1,400 miles from its mouth. This has three arches raised so high that large steamers can pass under it. The river is 3.500 feet wide at St. Louis, about 2,500 at New Orleans and 4,000 feet at the month of the Ohio. It appears that it is generally wider between Dubuque and St. Louis than it is below the latter city. Three other bridges cross the river at Davenport, Clinton and Dubuque. The mean velocity of the current between St. Louis and the Gulf of Mexico is about sixty-five miles per day. The Mississippi Valley comprises a vast extent of very fertile land, which is nearly level or gently undulating. As the river runs southward and traverses eighteen degrees of latitude, the

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

climate and productions of the lower part differ greatly from those of the upper part of the val- ley. In Louisiana and Mississippi the river is bordered by alluvial plains and swamps, which are lower than the surface of the water, and are often inundated, though partly protected by

artificial embankments called levees. The greatest floods occur in the spring, after the snow and ice of the Upper Mississippi have been melted. The water begins to rise about the Ist of March and increases until June. The levees are sometimes bursted or overcome by the violence of the flood, which rushes through crevices and devastates large tracts of arable land of which cotton and sugar are the staple products. Such a calamity occurred in April, 1874, and reduced many thousand people to des- titution. At the mouth of the river a large delta has been formed by the mud and detritus carried down by the current. This delta is intersected by a number of outlets, or water-courses, called bayous, which issue from the Mississippi, or de- rive from it a supply of water in time of a flood. "The whole area of the delta," says Dana, "is about 12,300 square miles and about one-third is a sea-marsh, only two-thirds lying above the level of the gulf." The amount of silt or sediment carried to the Mexican gulf by this river, according to Humphreys and Abbott, is about 1-1,500th the weight of the water, equiv- alent for an average year to 812,500,000,000,000 pounds, or a mass one square mile in area and 241 feet deep. "The new soil deposited in one year by the Mississispi," says Guyot, "would cover an area of 268 square miles with the thickness of one foot." The water enters the gulf by five channels called the Northeast Pass, Southeast Pass, South Pass etc. The navigation of these passes is partly obstructed by sand bars, which are continually formed or shifted, and to obviate this difficulty a system of jetties has been constructed in the South Pass by Capt. J. B. Eads, by authority of the National govern- ment, calculated to maintain a channel thirty feet in depth,

Il .- THE WISCONSIN.

This stream, which washes for about ten miles the northwest boundary of Dane county, is much the most important of those which drain the elevated lands of the State. Its total length from its source to its mouth is about 450 miles. It forms, with its valley, the main topo- graphical feature of central Wisconsin. Rising in Lac Vieux Desert, on the summit of the Ar- chæan watershed, at an elevation of 951 feet above Lake Michigan, it pursues a general southerly course for 300 miles over the crystal- line rocks, and then, passing on to the sand- stones which form its bed for the remainder of its course, continues to the southward some eighty miles more. Turning then westward, it reaches the Mississippi within forty miles of the south line of the State, at an elevation of only thirty feet above Lake Michigan, so that its fall from Lac Vienx Desert is 921 feet-an average of a fraction over two feet to the mile. Like all other streams which run to the south, southeast and southwest from the crystalline rocks, it has its quite distinct upper or crystal- line rock portion and its lower or sandstone portion. This river, however, may be regarded as having three distinct sections, the first in- cluding all that part from the source to the last appearance of crystalline rocks in the bed of the stream, in the southern part of Wood county ; the second, that part from this point to the dells on the south line of Adams and Juneau counties ; and the third, that portion from the dells to the mouth of the stream. The first of these divisions is broken constantly by rapids and falls, caused by the descent south of the surface of the Archæan area, and by the obstructions produced by the inclined ledges of rock which cross the stream. The second and third sections are alike in being almost entirely without rapids or falls, and in the nature of the red rock, but are separated by the contracted gorge known as the dells, which, acting in some sort as a dam, prevents any considerable rise in the river below, the water above not in-

. HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

frequently rising as much as fifty feet in flood seasons, whilst below the extreme fluctuation does not exceed ten feet. The total lengths of the Archaan upper sandstone and lower sand- stone sections of the river are, respectively, 250, sixty-two and 130 miles; the distance through the dells being about seven and a half miles.

The width of the river, where it enters Mara- thon county, is from 300 to 500 feet. It pursues a general sontherly course through townships 29, 28, 27, 26, 25 and 24 north, of range 7 cast, and townships 24 and 23 north, of range 8 east, in the southern portion of Portage county. In this part of its course the Wiscon- sin flows through a densely timbered country, and has, except where it makes rapids or passes through rock gorges, a narrow bottom land, which varies in width, is usually raised but a few feet above the water level, and is wider on one side than on the other. Above this bottom terraces can often be made out. with surfaces in some cases one or two miles in width. Above, again, the country surface rises steadily to the dividing ridges on each side, never showing the bluff edges so charac- teristic of the lower reaches of the river. Heavy rapids and falls are made at Wausau (Big Bull Falls), at Mosinee (Little Bull Falls), at Stevens Point and on section 8, in township 23 north, of range 8 east (Contant's Rapids). All but the last named of these are increased in height by artificial dams. Two miles below the foot of Contant's Rapids, just after receiving the Plover river on the east, the Wisconsin turns a right angle to the west and enters upon the sparsely timbered sand plains, through which it flows for 100 miles. At the bend the river is quiet, with high banks of sand, and a few low ontcrops of gneiss at the water's edge. From the bend the course is westward for about nine miles, then, after curving southward again, the long series of rapids soon begins, which, with intervening stretches of still water, extend about fifteen miles along the river to the last rapid at Point Bass in southern Wood county.

East of the river line, between the city of Grand Rapids and Point Bass, the country rises gradually, reaching altitudes of 100 feet above the river at points ten or fifteen miles distant. On the west the surface is an almost level plain, descending gradually as the river .is receded from. At Point Bass the gneissic rocks disappear beneath the sandstones which for some miles have formed the upper portions of the river banks and now become in turn, the bed rock, and the first division of the river's course ends. The main tributaries which it has received down to this point are, on the left bank, the Big Eau Claire, three miles below Wausau; the Little Eau Claire, on the north side of section 3, in township 25 north, of range 7 east, just south of the north line of Portage county ; and the Big Plover, on section 9, in township 28 north, of range 5 east, just at the foot of Contant's Rapids ; on the right bank, the Placata or Big Rib, about two miles below Wausau ; the She-she-ga-ma-isk, or Big Ean l'leine, on section 19, in township 26 north, of range 7 east, in Marathon county ; and the Little Eau Pleine, on section 9, in township 25 north, of range 7 east, in Portage county. All of these streams are of considerable size and drain large areas. They all make deviations in their courses, so that their lengths are much greater than the actual distances from their sources, to the Wisconsin at the nearest point ; and all of them have a very considerable descent, making many rapids and falls over the tilted edges of schistose and gneissie rocks, even down to within short distances of their junctions with the main river.

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History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin, Part 10

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. [from old catalog]; Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company Number of Pages: 1298

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899. [from old catalog]; Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1298