History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin, Part 45

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 45
USA > Wisconsin > Crawford County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 45

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).

down to fan out the chaff as the grain was dropped before it; but this trouble was fre- quently obviated when the strong winds of autumn were all that was needed to blow out the chaff from the grain. This mode of pre- paring the grain for flouring was so imperfect that it is not to be wondered at that a consider- able amount of black soil got mixed with it, and unavoidably got into the bread. This, with an addition of smut, often rendered it so dark as to have less the appearance of bread than mud; yet upon such diet the people were compelled to subsist for want of a better.

GOING TO MILL.

Not the least among the pioneers' tribulations during the first few years of the settlement, was the going to mill. The slow mode of travel by ox teams was made still slower by the almost total absence of roads and bridges, while such a thing as a ferry was hardly even dreamed of. The distance to be traversed was often as far as sixty or ninety miles. In dry weather, common sloughs and ereeks offered little impediment to the teamsters ; but during floods and the breaking up of winter, they proved exceedingly troublesome and dangerous. To get stuck in a slough, and thus be delayed for many hours, was no uncommon occurrence, and that, too, when time was an item of grave import to the comfort and sometimes even to the lives of the settlers' families. Often a swollen stream would blockade the way, seein- ing to threaten destruction to whoever would attempt to ford it. With regard to roads, there was nothing of the kind worthy of the name.

When the early settlers were compelled to make these long and dillicult trips to mill, if the country was prairie over which they passed, they found it comparatively easy to do in sum- mer when grass was plentiful. By traveling until night, and then camping out to feed the teams, they got along without much difficulty. But in winter such a journey was attended with no little danger. The utmost economy of time was, of course, necessary. When the goal was

310

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

reached, after a weck or more of toilsome travel, with many exposures and risks, and the poor man was impatient to immediately return with the desired staff of life, he was often shocked and disheartened with the information that his turn would come in a week. Then he must look about for some means to pay ex- penses, and he was lucky who could find em- ployment by the day or job. Then, when his turn came, he had to be on hand to bolt his own flour, as, in those days, the bolting ma- . chine was not an attached part of the other mill machinery. This done, the anxious soul was ready to endure the trials of a return trip, his heart more or less concerned about the af- fairs of home.

Those milling trips often occupied from three weeks to more than a month each, and were at- tended with an expense, in one way or an- other, that rendered the costs of breadstuffs ex- tremely high. If made in the winter, when more or less grain-feed was required for the team, the load would be found to be so consid- erably reduced on reaching home that the cost of what was left, adding other expenses, would make their grain reach the high cash figure of from $3 to $5 per bushel. And these trips could not always be made at the most favorable season for traveling. In spring and summer, so much time eould hardly be spared from other essential labor; yet, for a large family, it was almost impossible to avoid making three or four trips during the year.

WILD ANIMALS.

Among other things calculated to an annoy and distress the pioneer was the prevalence of wild beasts of prey, the most numerous and troublesome of which was thewolf. While it was . true, in a figurative sense, that it required the utmost care and exertion to "keep the wolf from the door," it was almost as true in a literal sense. There were two species of these animals, the large, black, timber wolf, and the smaller gray wolf that usually inhabited the prairie. At first, it was next to impossible for a settler

to keep small stock of any kind that would serve as a prey to these ravenous beasts. Sheep were not deemed safe property until years after, when their enemies were supposed to be nearly exterminated. Large numbers of wolves were destroyed during the early years of settlement. When they were hungry, which was not uncom- mon, particularly during the winter, they were too indiscreet for their own safety, and would often approach within casy shot of the settler's dwellings. At certain seasons their wild, plain- tive yelp or bark could be heard in all directions at all hours of the night, creating intense ex- citement among the dogs, whose howling would add to the dismal melody.

It has been found by experiment that but one of the canine species, the hound, has both the fleetness and courage to cope with his savage cousin, the wolf. Attempts were often made to capture him with the common cur, but this animal, as a rule, proved himself wholly unre- liable for such a service. So long as the wolf would run the cur would follow; but the wolf, being apparently acquainted with the character of his pursuer, would either turn and place him- self in a combatative attitude, or.else act upon the principal that "discretion is the better part of valor," and throw himself upon his back in token of surrender. This stategie performance would make instant peace between these two seions of the same house; and not unfrequently dogs and wolves have been seen playing to- gether like puppies. But the hound was never known to recognize a flag of truce; his baying seemed to signify "no quarters;" or, at least, so the terrified wolf understood it.

Smaller animals, such as panthers, lynxes, wildeats, catamounts and polecats, were also sufficiently numerous to be troublesome. And an exceeding source of annoyance were the swarms of mosquitoes which aggravated the trials of the settler in the most exasperating degree. Persons have been driven from the labors of the field by their unmerciful assaults.

311

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

The trials of the pioneer were innumerable, and the cases of actual suffering might fill a volume of no ordinary size. Timid women became brave through combats with real dan- gers, and patient mothers grew sick at heart

with the sight of beloved children failing in health from lack of the common necessaries of life. The struggle was not for ease or luxury but was a constant one for the sustaining means of life itself.

312

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

CHAPTER XII.

FIRST TIIINGS.

THE MILITARY ROAD.

The first regularly laid out road in Crawford county, leading out of it, was what was known as the "Military Road." It was built at the ex- pense of the United States for the transporta- tion of supplies from Fort Howard, as the army post at Green Bay was called, to Fort Winne- bago, near what is now the city of Portage, Columbia county and Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien, and for the passage of troops to and from these posts. In summer, provisions and the munitions of an army could be transported in batteaux by water from the lakes to the Mis- sissippi, but in winter this could not be done; hence, the necessity for a road between Green Bay and Prairie du Chien by way of the por- tage of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers.

The road was a crude affair and was con- structed by entting through timber land, clear- ing a track about two rods wide and setting mile stakes On the prairies, the mile stakes were also set, and mounds thrown up of earth or stones. On the marshes or other low places, corduroy roads were made by crossing timbers and covering with brush and earth.

Commencing at Fort Crawford in Prairie du Chien, the road ran to Bridgeport. A ferry at this point took soldiers and supplies across the Wisconsin river. The road then ran up on to the divide, keeping it to the Blue Mounds. The first stopping place after leaving Prairie du Chien was at Wingville, forty-one miles distant, where there was a log house; the next was at the Blue Mounds, at the same distance beyond.

oncerning this highway, a report was made to Congress Sept. 1, 1839, by Capt. T. J. Cram, as follows:

"Military road from Fort Crawford, by Win- nebago, to Fort Iloward, at Green Bay; Com- mencing at Prairie du Chien, and running as far east as to the Blue Mounds, this road is laid on the ridge dividing the waters flowing toward the north from those flowing toward the south. At the Blue Mounds this dividing ridge deflects toward the northeast, and continues on this course to within about four miles of Fort Win- nebago, where it is lost in a summit level, de- nominated the portage. This remarkable sum- mit is one among a few others of similar char- acter in our country, possessing the property of dividing the waters flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from those which flow into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The part of the road from Fort Crawford to the portage, a distance of abont 115 miles, will need the sum of $5,700 to be expended, chiefly in the repairs and con- struction of small bridges and the opening of ditches, which are not only necessary to the immediate nse of the road, but also to the pres- ervation of the road itself. The construction of a safe and permanent road across the por- tage for about four miles, will require the sum of $5,955. Owing to the periodical overflowings of this summit level, the road across it is ren- dered utterly impassible, and continues so for several days at a time, amounting to some weeks during each year. At such times the United States mail and travelers to Fort Win- nebago are obliged to be taken around on a cir-

313

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

cuitous route of about fifteen miles, crossing a lake on their way, in order to reach the desired point; and it is not unfrequently the case that the unwary traveler is led into the middle of the portage before he becomes fully apprised of his danger, when all of a sudden, his horses are mired in the midst of a flood of water, from which he finds it impossible to extricate his team, and might perish in sight of the fort, but for the assistance of the soldiers, who come off in canoes to his rescue. A thorough and critical examination has been made with a view of constructing a road around the portage. It is found, however, that the cost of such a con- struction, besides an increase of distance and the inconvenience of a ferry, would quite equal the cost of making the present road good and safe at all times.

"The sum required to complete the con- struction of the part of the road between Fort Winnebago and the south end of Lake Winne- bago, a distance of about sixty miles, is $6,320. The land in the vicinity of this portion of the road is of good quality, and similar in most re- spects to that described elsewhere in this re- port. From the south end of Lake Winnebago to within about six miles of Fort Howard, at Green Bay, the road is exceedingly bad, and the cost of transportation over it is a heavy tax upon the settlers, and tends greatly to retard the settlement of the whole tract of country between Green bay and the Wisconsin river.

"The tract of land bordering the east side of Lake Winnebago, and thence along Neenah river to Green bay, is chiefly covered with ex- cellent timber, consisting of various kinds of oak, white pine, sugar maple, bass wood, black walnut, etc., and from its proximity to naviga- ble waters, on both sides, must become valna- ble. The soil of this tract is deep, with a sub- stratum of limestone, and being well watered with numerous small brooks, is well adapted to farming. The military road along here passes di- rectly through the settlements of the Brother- town and Stockbridge Indians. The farms of

the Brothertown people are in a promising con- dition ; and the clearings, fences and snug buildings show that their proprietors are not behind any of the farmers of Wisconsin in the art of agriculture. Their respectable appear- ance, eivil and quiet demeanor and exceedingly industrious habits, all combine to render them good and worthy citizens of the United States. It is to be regretted, however, that the general appearances of the Stockbridge settlements are not so favorable ; and yet, were it not for the contrast of their neighbors, the Stockbridge people might be said to have evinced signs of civilization not often met with in the settle- ments of the red men.

"The cost of constructing the road from Fond du Lac to Green Bay, about fifty-six miles, would be $17,292, to be expended in bridging, ditching, and filling the wet places with dura- ble materials, all of which exist in abundance on the road. Thus the whole sum required to complete the construction of the military road from Fort Crawford, by Fort Winnebago, to Fort Howard, an extent of about 235 miles, amounts to $35,267. This sum, with strict economy in adopting the most simple kind of construction, would not more than cover the cost of completing this road, which, in a mili- tary point of view, is of unquestionable impor- tance; connecting, as it does, a chain of mili- tary posts, which the safety of the people of Wisconsin and the north part of Illinois will require to be maintained for several years to come."

THE FIRST STEAMBOAT UP THE MISSISSIPPI.

A steamboat first made its appearance in Crawford county in 1821. It was called the l'ir- ginia, and owned in St. Louis. Joseph Rolette, Alexis Baily and a few more went on her to Fort Snelling. They stopped and ent wood as they needed it. J. B. Toyer went as pilot. It was a stern wheeler, and a man with a pole was stationed on the bow to aid in steering. The inhabitants were greatly surprised when they first saw the boat in the middle of the river

314

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

without sail, as the keel boats always kept near the shore in ascending the river.

Baily was the first man to see the boat ; he procured a spy glass of Michael Brisbois and thus discovered its character. Madame Bris- bois went on board and remarked how strange it was that they did not have to go down into it, as in other boats she had seen.

THE FIRST SCHOOL.

The first school taught in Crawford county was a private one. It commenced in Prairie du Chien, May 25, 1818. It was taught by Willard Keyes. In June he had abont thirty scholars, "mostly bright and active, at two dollars per month." He boarded with Mr. Faribault. He taught three months. Mr. Keyes remained in Prairie du Chien until May, 1819, when he found it "of no use to remain longer in this ex- pensive place ;" so he went down the river to Madison Co., Ill.

FIRST POSTAL ARRANGEMENT.

In 1823 Judge James Duane Doty, at Prairie du Chien, finding that the mail matter for the place came up the river on keel-boats, or by mil- itary express, sent occasionally for the special purpose, to Clarksville, Mo., a village about 100 miles above St. Louis, and the then near- est postoffice, made application to the post- office department for the establishment of a postoffice at Prairie du Chien, which was granted. This was the first postoffice in Craw- ford county. Judge Doty was appointed post- master-the first one in the county. The judge was given the privilege of expending the pro- ceeds of the office for carrying the mail. The receipts for postage, together with contributions from the principal inhabitants and officers of the garrison, enabled him to send John B. Soyer, an old voyageur, one trip to Clarksville during the winter, for which he was paid $30.

During the winter of 1823-4, Judge Doty concluded to change his residence from Prairie du Chien to Green Bay, and resigned his office of postmaster, and recommended James 11. Lockwood for the vacancy. Mr. Lockwood was !

appointed with the same power and authority that Doty had. Lockwood applied during the summer of 1824, and got a postoffice established at Galena, and Ezekiel Lockwood appointed postmaster ; also an office at Rock Island, with Lee Davenport, postmaster ; the proceeds of both offices to be applied by James H. Lock- wood to defraying the expenses of conveying the mail from Prairie du Chien via Galena and Rock Island, to Clarksville, Mo. The increased fund, by this new arrangement, enabled the postmaster at Prairie du Chien, James H. Lock- wood, to send the mail twice during the winter to Clarksville; and thus the postal arrangements remained until the close of 1825, when a post route was extended from Springfield, III., to Galena ; and, on the first of January, 1826, John D. Winters, the contractor, arrived at Galena with the first mail sent through by this arrangement. The office at Prairie du [Chien continued to send to Galena for her mail at her own expense until the fall of 1832, when Dr. Addison Philleo, who had obtained the contract to Prairie du Chien, sent the mail through ; and thus the latter place had a regular mail for the first time brought there under permanent gov- ernment arrangements.

THE FIRST SUNDAY SCHOOL.

The first Sunday school established in Craw- ford county was at Prairie du Chien, in the the spring of 1825, by Mrs. Juliana Lockwood, wife of James H. Lockwood. There was not, at that time, any meeting to attend on Sunday ; even the Roman Catholics had a priest visit them only occasionally ; and Mrs. Lockwood having been accustomed to see the children collected in Sunday schools, and seeing a large nu nber playing about the streets on the Sab- bath, concluded it would be doing them a good service to gather them into a Sunday school. She proposed the subject to Miss Crawford, a young lady reared in the place, who spoke Eng- lish and French fluently, and who had a good common education. The latter agreed to assist her. The two together influenced Dr. Edwin

315

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

James, the surgeon of the United States army, who was then stationed at Fort Crawford and John H. Kinzie, formerly of Chicago, then quite a young man, in the employment of the Ameri- can Fur Company, at Prairie du Chien, also to take hold of the matter.

The four collected the children and com- menced their school in the spring of 1825; and continued it until the winter following, but not without opposition. Some took the ground that it was the design to make Protestants of the children. To counteract this, the teachers in- troduced and taught the children the Roman Catholic catechism. During the winter, how- ever, Dr. James was ordered to another post, and Mrs. Lockwood went in the spring of 1826 to New York. Mr. Kinzie and Miss Crawford also left the place, both going to Mackinaw. This broke up the school, and another was not collected until 1830, when the members of the different Protestant denominations united in forming a union Sunday school. This coutin- ued for a few years, until the Methodists, becom- ing, by far, the most numerous, assumed the management of it, and it became a Methodist Sunday school.

FIRST PROTESTANT MEETINGS.

In the year 1828 Gen. Joseph M. Street was appointed Indian agent at Prairie du Chien, and arrived alone in the fall of that year to assume the duties of his office ; and, in the winter, re- turned to Illinois, and brought his family to Prairie du Chien in the spring of the following · year, being the first family who settled in Prai- rie du Chien that made a profession of religion of the Protestant faith, of any of the different sects.

In 1830, a man by the name of Coe, who claimed to be a minister of the Presbyterian Chureli, and missionary to the Indians, passed through the country, and remained over Sun- day at Prairie du Chien, and made an attempt at preaching ; but he was a very illiterate man, and not overstocked with good sense. He made several trips to the upper Indian country, and

on one occasion took passage on a keel boat and arrived within about thirty miles of Fort Snel- ling on Saturday night ; and as the boat would start early in the morning, and he would not travel on the Sabbath, he went on shore without provisions, and encamped over Sunday, and on Monday made his way to Fort Snelling, hungry and nearly exhausted. Sometime in the year 1832, a student of divinity, of the Cumberland Presbyterian sect, came here and taught school for about six months, and on Sundays attempted to preach.

At the treaty of Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, of which Gen. Scott and Gov. Reynolds were the commissioners, concluded Sept. 15, 1832, in part consideration for a claim of land, it was stipulated that the general government should, for a term of twenty-seven years, maintain a school at or near Prairie du Chien for the edu- cation and support of such Winnebago children as should be voluntarily sent to it, to be con- dueted by two or more teachers, and at an annual cost not to exceed the sum of $3,000. To carry out the stipulations of the treaty, the United States, the next year (1833), sent the Rev. David Lowry, of the Cumberland Presby- terian denomination, as superintendent of the Indian school ; but it was about a year before suitable buildings were erected on the Yellow river, in Iowa, and Mr. Lowry remained at Prairie du Chien, and preached on Sundays ; and during this time he collected those profess- ing religion, of the different denominations, into a society.

In the fall of 1835 the Rev. Alfred Brunson visited Prairie du Chien, and returned home the same autumn ; and in the spring of 1836 he came back with his family, as superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Mission of the upper Mississippi and Lake Superior. He purchased a farm and built a house, he materials for which he brought with him from Meadville, Peun., and continued several years laboring in his missionary capacity. He several times visited the missions on the upper Mississippi, and when

316

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

at Prairie du Chien preached and formed a Methodist society.

In the year 1836 the Rev. Mr. Caddle, of the Episcopal Church, came to Prairie du Chien as a missionary, but was shortly after appointed chaplain to Fort Crawford, in which capacity he continued until 1841, when feeling, as he ex- pressed it, that he was not in his proper place, preaching to soldiers who went to hear him more from compulsion than anything else, he resigned his chaplainey and again entered the missionary service in another part of the terri- tory. Mr. Caddle, while chaplain of the fort, formed a Church of the few communicants of Prairie du Chien, and of the officers and ladies of the fort, which he called Trinity, but was obliged, for most of the Church officers, to elect non-communicants.

In the year 1842 the Rev. Mr. Stephens, of the Presbyterian Church, who had been on a missionary service somewhere in the Indian country, came as a missionory of that denomi- nation, formed a Church, and continued here two or three years. There being too few mem- bers of his Church to supply the means of sup- jort with the stipend he received from the missionary society, he left.

FIRST M. E. CHURCH EDIFICE.

In 1842, the subject of religion created consid- erable interest, and at a quarterly meeting of con- ference, held in Prairie du Chien on the 25th

day of September, in that year, the project of building the First Methodist Episcopal church, was talked over and resolved on. At that same meeting a committee of three, Mr. Dandley, H. Brace and Sam Gilbert, were appointed to secure a suitable piece of ground on which to build; to make out plans, estimate the cost, and to oh- tain subscriptions in money, materials and labor for the erection of the church. The committee selected lot No. 15, of H. L. Donsman's addition to St. Friole, part of farm lot No. 32, as the most suitable piece of ground for the purpose. This lot was donated to the Church by Col. II. L. Donsman. Subscriptions to the amount of $1,- 034.93, in cash and materials were soon raised; and on the 6th of April, 1843, the building com- mittee, Rev. A. Brunson, Sam Gilbert and H. Brace, entered into a contract with H. H. Baily and G. W. Blunt, for the erection of the church. The building was to be fifty feet long by thirty- six feet wide, with stone foundation; to have on the front end a tower fourteen feet square at the base, and thirty feet high from the main plate, with spires at each corner; to have a gal- lery on the front end eight feet wide. Blunt and Baily agreed to have this building finished by Sept. 1, 1843, in consideration of $1,010; but the church was not finished at the time.

The Sunday School Library was formed by subscription and donations, and comprised many volumes-some very valuable works.

317

HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.

CHAPTER XIII.

FORMATION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY AND LOCATING TIIE COUNTY SEAT.

The people who were living within what are now the limits of Crawford county, on the 18th day of April, 1818, became, by an act of Con- gress of that date, citizens of Michigan terri- tory, along with all others who then resided be- tween Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river north of the northern boundary line of the State of Illinois as fixed by the act just mentioned. Instead of being in the territory of Illinois, they were now in the territory of Michigan, the for- mer territory having become extinguished. IL was incumbent, therefore, upon the governor of Michigan, Lewis Cass, to at once form new counties out of the area thus added to his terri- tory and to provide for their organization. This he proceeded to do by issuing proclamations, one of which was as follows:

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.

History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin, Part 45

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