History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin, Part 43

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 43
USA > Wisconsin > Crawford County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 43

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Joseph St. Cyr

1 I

Benjamin Brandrieh.

M. Fitspatrick

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

SETTLERS IN 1837, '38 AND '39.

In 1837 the following persons became settlers in the county: Alexander McGregor, Seth Hill, S. A. Clark, George W. Pine, Messrs. Smith and Merrick, Thomas Bugbee, Dr. B. C. Miller, Levi R. Marsh, D. Hopkins, H. W. Sav- age and Thomas A. Savage. Following these during the next two years were: William Wright, W. H. C. Folsom, Elisha Warner, Wil- liam Kurts, Jackson Foster, Mr. Revel, Chris- topher Bowen, Joseph Curley, Mr. Tyler, Richard Lane, James Foster and others.

PIONEER TIMES.

The character of the pioneers of Crawford county was a compound of civilization and primitive simplicity, exhibiting the polite and lively characteristics of the French, and the thoughtlessness and improvidence of the aborig- ines. Possessing the virtues of hospitality, and the warmth of heart unknown to residents of cities, untrameled by the etiquette and conven- tional rules of modern "high life," they were ever ready to receive and entertain their friends, and more intent upon the enjoyment of the present than to lay up store, or make provision, for the future. With few wants, and contented and happy hearts, they found enjoyment in the merry dance, the sleigh-ride, and the exciting horse-race, and, doubtless, experienced more true happiness and contentment than the plod- ding, calculating, and money.seeking people of the present day. This was the character of the settlers who occupied this country before the arrival of the Yankees; a class now entirely ex- tinct, or lost sight of by the present population; but it is one which unites the present with the past, and for whom the old settlers entertain feelings of veneration and respect.

II. S. Baird says :- "During the early years of my residence here at Green Bay, the social circle, although limited, was by no means insig- nificant. It was composed of the families of the garrison and the Americans, and several of the old settlers. If it was small, it was also united by the ties of friendship and good feel-

ing. Free from the formalities and customs which are observed by the elite of the present day, we met to enjoy ourselves, more like mem- bers of one family than as strangers. The young people of that period (and all felt young then) would assemble on a few hours' notice at the house of a neighbor, without form or cere- mony. Young ladies were then expected to ap- pear at an early hour in the evening, and not at the usual hour of retiring to rest; nor were they required to appear in court or fancy dresses. The merry dance followed, and all enjoyed themselves until the early hours in the morning. One custom prevailed. universally among all classes, even extending to the Indians; that of devoting the holidays to festivity and amuse- ment, but especially that of 'calling' on New Year's Day. This custom was confined to no class in particular. All observed it; and many met on that day, who did not again meet until the succeeding year All then shook hands, and exchanged mutual good wishes. All old ani- mosities were forgotten, all differences settled, and universal peace established.

"During the winter season, Green Bay was en- tirely insulated. Cut off from communication with all other parts of the civilized world, her inhabitants were left to their own resources for nearly half a year. The mails were few and far between. Sometimes but once a month, never more than twice, did we receive them; so that the news when received here was no longer news. The mails were carried on a man's shoul- ders from Chicago to Green Bay, through the wilderness, a distance of about 250 miles, and could not contain a very great quantity of in- teresting reading matter. Under such circum- stances, it became necessary that we should de- vise some means to enliven our time, and we did so accordingly; and I look back upon those years as among the most agreeable of my life. The country at that early day was destitute of roads or places of public entertainment. Noth- ing but the path, or 'Indian trail' traversed the wide expanse of forest and prairie from Lake

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

Michigan to the Mississippi; and the travel by land was performed on foot or on horseback.

"But there was then another mode of locomo- tion, very generally adopted by those who took long journeys, now become obsolete, and which would be laughed at by the present fast-going generation; that of the Indian or bark canot. The canoe was used in all cases where comfort and expedition were desired. These may ap- pear strange words, when you refleet that the traveler sat cooped up all day in a space about four feet square, and at night encamped on the bank of the stream, cooked his own supper, and slept upon the ground, with no covering but a tent and blanket, or, oftentimes, nothing but the wide canopy of heaven, having, after a day of toil and labor by his crew, accomplished a journey of thirty or forty miles. But these journeys were not destitute of interest. The voyageur was enlivened by the merry song of his light-hearted and ever happy Canadian crew, his eye delighted by the constant varying scenery of the country through which he passed, at liberty to select a spot for his encampment, and to stop when fatigned with the day's travel, and, above all, free from care, and from the fearful apprehensions of all modern travelers on railroads and steamboats; that of being blown up, burned or drowned.

"I can better illustrate this early mode of travel by giving an account of a party of pleas- ure undertaken and accomplished by myself. In May, 1830, being obliged to go on the annual circuit to Prairie du Chien, to attend court, I concluded to make it a matter of pleasure, as well as business. I accordingly obtained a good- sized and substantial northwest bark canoe (about five fathoms, or thirty feet, in length, and five feet wide in the center), a good tent, or 'marquee,' together with mattresses, blankets, bedding, mess basket, and all things required as an outfit on such expeditions. The party consisted of my wife, self, two small children, two young ladies as companions, and a servant girl; my crew, of four Canadians (experienced

men, and good singers) and two Menomonee Indians as bow and steersmen. The canoe was propelled both by oars and paddles. We as- cended the Fox river to Fort Winnebago, and descended the Wisconsin to the Mississippi, and thence up the latter, four miles, to Prairie du Chien.

"The voyage occupied eight or nine days in going, and about the same length of time in re- turning, during which the ladies camped out every night save two. They did all the cook- ing and household work. The former was no small item; for with appetites sharpened by pure air and exercise, and with abundance of fresh venison, with fowl and fish to satisfy them, the quantity of viands consumed by the party would have astonished modern epicures, and, perhaps, shocked the delicate tastes of city belles. We frequently encamped early in the afternoon, at some spot which attracted our at- tention from its natural beauty or romantie ap- pearance, and strolled along the bank of the stream, plucking beautiful wild flowers, which abounded; or, clambering up some high bluff or commanding headland, obtained a view of the surrounding country, and traced the mean- dering stream through its high banks, far in the distance. It was in the merry month of May, when the forest was clothed in its deepest ver- dure, the hills and prairies redolent with flowers, and the woods tenanted by melodious songsters. It was truly a trip of pleasure and enjoyment. Many trips for pleasure have been undertaken, where parties may have experienced the refine- ments and accomodations, and enjoyed the lux- uries to be found in the present day in old and long settled countries; but I believe few, if any, realize more true delight and satisfaction than did this party of pleasure in a bark canoe."

As time passed along, many changes took place. Other men and their families came in, and became a part and parcel of the commu- nity, introducing new ideas, and bringing with them the customs and habits of the places from which they removed. The title acquired by

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

the government, by treaties with the Indians, and these lands being surveyed and brought into market, and offered at a mere nominal price, increased the number of settlers from the eastern and other States. By energy and per- severance, they surmounted all obstacles, and by their courage and firmness ; and to them is owing the development of the country, the opening the way for the introduction of civili- zation, education, and the arts and sciences ; and to them should be awarded the merit of having largely contributed, by their talents and labor, to the formation and organization of the territory, now State of Wisconsin. Not many years ago, the whole State of Wisconsin, except Green Bay and Prairie du Chien, was a wilder- ness, with here and there a settler, and those in the lead-region in the southwestern part. It seems almost incredible to think, or in any way realize what has since taken place, as it seems almost like enchantment.

But the delights of pioneer life carried with them many difficulties and hardships. C. M. Baker, in his address at the old settlers' meet- ing of Walworth county, in 1869, says:

"I have spoken of the men who first settled old Walworth; but what, old comrades in this life-battle in the wilderness that was, what of our companions, the women?

"Most of them had been delicately reared, and were accustomed to the luxuries and refine- ments of cultivated society ; and most, or all, had good homes, with the necessaries and con- veniences of life in abundance, and were sur- rounded by kind friends and dear relatives. To these they had been bred ; to all these they were strongly attached. But these ties were sundered, these homes were left behind, when, after the last trunk was packed, and the last farewell was sadly uttered, they set their faces westward for a new life and a new home, they knew not whither; but they knew it must be among strangers. They shared with us the toils of the journey, the weary miles of sunshine and storm, as we journeyed on and onward.

They partook with us of the coarse fare and rude accommodations of the wagon and way- side, the canal-boat and the steamer, the log- tavern, and the bivouac under the open heavens, all this they encountered without murmuring, and cheerfully.

"And when, late in autumn or early spring, it may be, in the cold storm, or driving mists and chilly winds that cut to the bone, they took their departure from Chicago or Milwaukee, the last outposts of civilization over those low, lonely prairies which surrounded the one, or through the gloomy forests which enveloped the other, over dismal roads beset with ruts or stumps, without sign of cultivation or human habitation, then it was that the hour of bitter trial came to their hearts; then it was, that, amid their loneliness and utter heart-desolation, the dear homes and kindred they had left, rose up before them, and, through their tears, they looked down upon the little ones who elung to them. But not a murmur, not a word of regret or repining, escaped them. The feelings, too deep for utterance, which swelled within them, were smothered in their bosoms. When we, at last (some later, some earlier), had found a place where to make a home in these pleasant groves and prairies, pleasant to us men ; for here there were herds of bounding deer, and flocks of wild fowl, the wolf and the sand-hill crane, and game, large and small, to give us sport. The lakes and streams abounded in fish, and we could take them at our will. The country was all open, and free to roam over as one great park. There was excitement for us in all this, suited to our rougher natures and coarser tastes. We could roam and fish or hunt as we pleased, amid the freshness and beauties of nature.

"But how was it for our wives? From all these bright, and, to us, fascinating scenes and pastimes, they were exeluded. They were shut up with the children in log-cabins, when they were fortunate enough to get them, rude huts, without floors often, and, not unfrequently,

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

without doors or windows, while the cold, bleak winds of March and December whistled through them. Frequently they were covered with shakes fastened on with poles, between which the stars at night looked down upon the faithful mother and her sleeping infants. Here, in one small room, filled, perhaps, with smoke; without furniture, except a little of the rudest kind, rough słab stools, an equally rough table, and a bedstead, if any, made of poles fastened into the house; without kitchen-utensils, save, perchance, a kettle, a skillet, and a frying-pan ; destitute of crockery, and with a little tinware, they were called upon to do, unaided, the duties of a housewife. With these conveniences and these surroundings, they took upon them for weeks and months, and even for years, the burden of their households in a continued strug- gle with hinderances and perplexities. These were the heroic women to whom our hearts did homage; and I should fail in my duty at this time, if, in the roll-call of worthy and honor- able names, they should not be remembered."

The experience of the settler in Walworth county, however, was no worse, and in some respects better than those who lived farther in the interior of the State. Many of these pio- neers have passed away ; some are still living, and are enjoying, in the evening of their days, wealth, and the comforts obtained by honorable toil and industry. Their conduct and action as public servants will bear the scrutiny of pos- terity, and they will lose nothing in compari- son with legislators or rulers of the few past years. May those who succeed them in either capacity follow their example, and prove as true to the interests of the State, as did the old settlers in their time! and may the present and future Legislatures, by their acts, retrieve the character and credit of the country from the odium brought upon it by reckless and incon- siderate Legislation!

INCIDENTS OF PIONEER HISTORY.

In 1820, an expedition of three Mackinaw boats, with six men each, was fitted out for the

Selkirk settlement on the Red river of the north. The boats were loaded with wheat, oats and peas, and started April 15th from the "prai- rie." The following year, Lord Selkirk pur- c'ased cattle at the "prairie" and had them sent to the colony under the guidance of J. B. Loyer, a noted pilot of the place. In 1823, the Virginia steamboat, the first one to reach Craw- ford county, landed at Prairie du Chien. In 1826, occurred the highest flood in the Missis- sippi that had then been seen since the year 1785. The river rose twenty-six feet inundat- ing the site of the old village. The cholera in 1832 reached the county and about 100 soldiers died in two weeks in the garrison at Prairie du Chien. In 1833, smallpox broke out, but did not extend greatly among the white in- habitants, although it made serious ravages among the Indians. In 1836, in Crawford county (confined . of course to the "prairie") speculation ran wild-as in many other places in the west."

"There were but few Americans in this settle- ment," says Alfred Brunson, "previous to the occupaney of the fort by the United States army in 1816. In 1805, Lieut. Pike found a few Americans here; but the most of the traders and settlers were Canadian French. When I moved my family to this place in 1836, there were but three or four American families in the place, out of the garrison and the Indian de- partment. At that time the Indian title had not been extinguished to any portion of the country north of the Wisconsin, except to this prairie, as above stated by common consent.

"In 1830, or thereabout, Judge J. H. Lock- wood, under a license from the war department and by consent of the Sionx, to whom he paid an annual ground rent, built a saw-mill on the Red Cedar branch of the Chippewa, at which establishment some gardening, but no farming was done. In t838, after the treaties with the Indians of 1837 had been ratified, one company ascended the St. Croix to the Falls; another to the Falls of Chippewa; and in 1839, another

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

company went to the Falls of Black river-all of them to build and run saw-mills. But each became the nuclens of more extended settle- ments, which have been extending themselves wider and wider, until they settled a part of Minnesota, which has been taken from us; and the counties of Lapointe, St. Croix, Chippewa, La Crosse and Bad Ax, which have been or- ganized from the western portion; and the counties of Richland, Sauk and Adams, from the eastern portion of what was originally Crawford county, leaving the present county to contain 558 square miles; and, in 1850, 2,399 in- habitants."

PROMINENT PIONEERS.

We hold in remembrance the pioneers, of the country and cherish their memories for the indomitable courage they manifested, and for the trials they endured. Generally speaking, it would be invidious to single out a few of these worthies as entitled to particular mention, where all filled their spheres with so much credit. However, circumstances have conspired to make historical characters of a few in so marked a manner that a more than passing no- tice of them is demanded of the historian.

HERCULES L. DOUSMAN. [By Henry H. Sibley.]

Hercules L. Donsman departed this life at Prairie du Chien in the State of Wisconsin on the 12th day of September, 1868. The announce ment of the event, the intelligence which way soon spread far and wide, that death had sud- denly stricken a man so long and favorably known, throughout the west, was productive of more sad emotions in the entire State in which he was an honored citizen, than are usually man- ifested in a single community, when it is made known that one of its most prominent members has been unexpectedly called away. Indeed so identified with the territorial and State history of Wisconsin and Minnesota had my lamented friend become, that his name was a familiar word in almost every household, as that

of a kind-hearted, high-minded man, and public spirited citizen.

Col. Dousman was born in the Island of Mich- illimackinac, or Mackinac as it is now called, in the year 1800. He was the son of Michael and Catharine Dousman, long and highly es- teemed residents of the island, the soil of which now covers their remains. He was sent to Elizabethtown, N. J., for a high school edu- cation, where he remained until he had at- tained the age of eighteen years, when he re- moved to New York and engaged himself as a clerk to a Mr. Robinson, a dry goods merchant in the city.

His services in that capacity continued for two years and he then returned to the home of his parents at Mackinac. Ile was soon there- after employed as a clerk by the American Fur Company, under the management of John Jacob Astor, Mackinac being the principal western depot of that association.

In 1826 he was dispatched to Prairie du Chien, as the confidential agent of the company, to take charge of the business at that important en- trepot of the fur trade. Here the great natural abilities of Col. Donsman, combined with the thorough commercial education he had received, displayed themselves in the broad and almost limitless sphere to which he had been assigned. The late Joseph Rolette Sr., was his ostensible superior, inasmuch as he held the position of part- ner with the American Fur Company, but in reali- ty the commanding talents of Col. Dousman soon placed him in actual control of the business of the company in this region. In fact the entire country north and west of Prairie du Chien, to the British boundary (except the Mississippi valley above the falls of St. Anthony, and the upper St. Croix and its branches), with its numer- ous trading stations, and fur traders and other employes, was tributary to that post until the year 1834, when a new and different organization was effected. .

It required a man of sound and cultivated judgment, and of great executive ability to

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systematize operations in so extensive a district, embracing many thousands of Indian hunters belonging to distinet and separate tribes, wild and savage in disposition, and even more ad- dicted to inter-tribal war than to the chase. Among these discordant and belligerent bands, were stationed at intervals more or less regular the fur traders and voyageurs of the great com- pany, entrusted with merchandise amounting in the aggregate to many hundreds of thousands of -dollars annually. None but those familiar with - the ramifications and intricacies of the trade with wild Indians in early days, can rightly estimate the business tact and energy requisite to bring order out of confusion, and to reduce to a proper working system the operations of traffic in so wide a field. No higher tribute can be paid to the surpassing abilities of Col. Dous- man as a business man, than the bare mention of the fact that he was successful in his efforts to effect an organization almost perfect in all its parts.

My personal acquaintance with the subject of this memoir dates back to the year 1829. I was then a mere boy employed as a clerk by the American Fur Company at their central agency at Mackinac. Col. Dousman and others in charge of important distriets were required to report in person during the summer of each year at that point, whither they went in charge of the Mackinac boats that contained the furs and skins collected during the previous year. I hecame quite intimate with him, al- though he was by many years my senior, and at each of his annual visits he depieted the beauties of the wild western land in such glowing colors, and the abundance and variety of game animals and birds it contained; that my youthful imag- ination wax captivated,and my love of adventure aroused, so that in 1834, at his earnest solicita- tion, I formed with him and the late Joseph Rolette Sr., a co-partnership with the American Fur Company of New York, which passed in that year under the direction of Ramsey, as president.

By the terms of the agreement, Messrs. Ro- lette & Dousman were to continue in charge of the station at Prairie du Chien and conduct the trade with whites and Indians in the region more immediately contiguous, and tributary to that post, while I was to be placed in control of all that country above Lake Pepin to the head waters of the streams emptying into the Mis- souri, and north of the British line, with my headquarters at St. Peters, now Mendota. Col. Dousman was therefore under providence chiefly instrumental in linking my destinies with the soil, which has since become the territory and State of Minnesota. I am thankful for the recollection that from our first acquaintance to the day of his death, our warm friendship was mutual and undiminished, and that the harmony existing between us was never in a single instance marred by any serious con- troversy.

A biography of Col. Dousman commencing with his advent to the upper Mississippi, would not fall far short of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Although there was probably no office in the gift of the people of the State to which he could not have successfully aspired, he made it a rule of his life to accept no public position. Never- theless, so widely and so favorably was he known, that his advice with reference to the management of Indian affairs in the northwest was eagerly sought by high dignitaries of the general government, and if that advice had been always followed, many grave errors might been avoided. During his connection with the American Fur Company, of New York, and subsequently as a partner with myself, with the extensive firm of Pierce, Chateau & Co., of St. Louis, to whom the interests of the former corporation in this region were transferred in 1843. Col. Dousman was brought into elose rela- tions with the Winnebagoes, Menomonees, some of the lower bands of Sioux, and a portion of the Chippewas, and his influence, especially over the first named bands, was almost without limit.

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HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

The Winnebagoes were regarded as among the most turbulent and dangerous of the wild, western savages, and nothing but the benign rule, under which they were brought by my de- ceased friend, prevented outbreaks of violence which would necessarily have resulted in great destruction of life and property among the white settlers. His tact, sagacity, and consum- mate knowledge of Indian character were displayed on many critical occasions, when a col- lision seemed inevitable, and the services he thus rendered in the cause of peace, were the subject of public recognition by government officers, both civil and military. Gen. Alex. MaComb, formerly in chief command of the United States army, held him in high estima- tion, as did Gen. Brooke, who, in after years commanded the department of the Upper Missis- sippi, with his headquarters at Prairie du Chien, and their policy in the management of the Indi- an tribes of the northwest was that recommend- ed ordinarily by Col. Dousman. The attempts of the government to negotiate treaties with the Winnebagoes were often frustrated by the jealous suspicions of their chiefs and head men, and their great reluctance to sell their land, and it was almost impossible to succeed in that di- rection, without first securing the consent and influence of the individual who was the trusted friend and counsellor of these wild bands. They had unbounded faith in the honesty of Col. Dousman, and they looked to him for protection from the rapacity of unprincipled agents, and of the swarm of white cormorants who were ever on the alert to deprive the ignorant savages of the pittance to which they were entitled from the United States government.

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History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin, Part 43

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