USA > Wisconsin > Richland County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 69
USA > Wisconsin > Crawford County > History of Crawford and Richland counties, Wisconsin > Part 69
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A CENTENARIAN.
Antoine Valley died in the town of Prairie du Chien Feb. 28, 1881, in the 104th year of his
477
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
age. Ile was born in St. Antonine, Canada, Nov. 4, 1777. He settled at Prairie du Chien in 1854. Ile was the father of eighteen chil- dren, nine of whom survived him. He practiced total abstinence from alcoholic drink, and died while giving thanks for blessings received.
CRAWNORD COUNTY IN 1873 .*
Among the striking physical features of this connty are the towering bluffs, which often rise to the height of from 400 to 600 feet, and which present their bold, rocky fronts on the whole line of their boundary, as well as along either bank of the principal streams. The bottom lands lying at the foot of these bluffs are very fertile; and the soil, which is a light, sandy loam, is of great value for the production of garden vegetables of every description, which come to maturity much sooner than on the high lands in the same localities. Through this county, near its centre, runs a divide, which separates the valley of the Mississippi from those of the Wisconsin and Kickapoo rivers; and from this, at right angles with it, are alter- nations of ridge and valley, the former gener- ally wooded; while in the vales are fertile lands, valuable forests, prairie meadows and good water-powers on never failing streams.
Agriculture and trade have hitherto been the pursuits of the people, to the almost entire neg- lect of manufactures; the census of 1870 show- ing an aggregate of farm production of $823,- 000, while the products of our manufactures was but 8240,000. But, during the past year, the people have awakened to the importance of manufactures, over all other branches of in- dustry; and henceforth the hammer, loom and · anvil are to have their devotees, as well as the plough. In the line of public improvement are excellent roads and good school houses, so numerons that every child enjoys the privilege of a good common school education. The Mil- waukee & St. Paul Railway extends along the southern line of the county for a distance of
twenty miles. Bridgeport is one of the princi- pal shipping points on the road for grain and live-stock; while at Prairie du Chien the com- pany have one of the largest freight depots in the State, a grain elevator with a capacity of 250,000 bushels, and from which 275 cars have been loaded with wheat in a single day. The company have here large car works, a good passenger depot, and near this, one of the finest hotels in the west. The business of the com- pany has increased so rapidly under its excellent management, that it has been compelled to erect a temporary bridge over the Mississippi for the transfer of trains during the winter; while in the season of navigation in in 1870, three steamers were constantly engaged in the transfer of cars from one shore to the other.
The commerce of the county at this time has an extent and importance which few would im- agine who have not examined the figures which show it; and this is not conducted by rail alone; but three organized lines of elegant steamers touch at the river town, and do not only a large freight, but passenger business also. The county is remarkably healthy,is well-watered and has heavy forests in every town. In her markets, lumber and all descriptions of building ma- terial are plenty and cheap. Improved lands may be purchased at from $15 to $ 30 per acre; and unimproved from $5 to $10. The public schools are under the charge of good teachers and an efficient county superintendent, and are accessible to nearly every child. In Prairie du ('hien is a large German school, with an ac- complished native teacher; while the Catholics have a large "sisters'" school, and will soon open another, of a higher grade, in a large and beautiful building, which was erected at a cost of $50,000.
The people of Crawford county are intelli- gent, industrious, wide-awake to their interests, and hence are good patrons of schools, churches and the press; and, taken all in all, the county possesses the natural and other advantages, which in future will permit her to take a front rank among those which make up the noble commonwealth of Wisconsin.
* This sketch is compiled from the report of the com- missioner of immigrailon for 1873.
478
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
CENSUS RETURNS. CENSUS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY FOR 1820.
Free white malce.
Free white females.
Foreigners, not naturalized.
Number of persons engaged in Agriculture.
58
Number of persons engaged in Manutactures.
29
Frec colored males.
D-1 9
Free colored females
All other persons except, Indians, not taxed.
Total
492
CENSUS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY FOR 1830.
Free white males. 1,602
Free white females.
1,501
Free colored males.
6
Free colored females. Total ..
3,127
CENSUS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY FOR 1840.
Free white males. 1,033
Free white females.
464
Number of persons engaged in Agriculture ..
329
Number of persons edgaged in Commerce.
3
Number of persons engaged in Manufactures
102
Free colored males.
1
Free colored females.
1,502 Total
CENSUS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY FOR 1850.
White males
1,434
White females.
1,047
Free colored males.
4
Free colored females
13
Total.
2,498
STATE CENSUS FOR 1855.
AGOREGATE POPU- LATION.
Total ..
Deaf and Dumb
Blind.
Insane ...
Foreign Born .... .....
Eastman.
995
240
535
1
143
Highland.
208
441
1
12
Marietta
173
139
312
14
Prairie du Chien
815
678
13
13
1,519
3
Utica ..
253
263
516
132
Total.
1,769
1,528
13
13
3,323
2
5
702
CENSUS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY FOR 1860.
WHITE.
FREE COLORED.
TOWNS.
TOTAL.
Clayton
440
387
827
Eastman.
429
369
798
Freeman.
413
366
779
Haney.
259
203
462
Lynxville.
145
117
262
Marietta
361
319
680
Prairie du Chien
1,227
1,143
14
14
2,398
Scott
172
159
331
Seneca
119
110
Utica ..
320
305
625
Wauzeka
351
326
677
Total
4,236
3,804
14
14
8,068
CENSUS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY FOR 1865.
TOWNS.
MALES ....
FEMALES.
COLORED.
TOTAL.
Clayton.
554
528
1,082
Eastman.
479
452
931
Freeman.
405
465
930
Haney.
243
203
446
Lynxville.
161
119
280
Marietta.
180
175
355
Prairie du Chien
1,805
1,727
42
3,556
Seneca
406
376
1
783
Seott ..
347
314
661
Utica.
523
471
994
Union
135
117
259
Wauzeka
391
350
741
Total.
CENSUS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY FOR 1870.
TOWNS.
NA- TIVE.
FOR- EIGN.
WHITE
COLOR ED.
TOTAL.
Clayton ..
1,137
279
1,416
1,416
Eastman .
779
435
1,214
1,214
Frecman.
753
526
1,279
1,279
Haney
452
37
488
1
489
Lynxville*
411
41
452
452
Pr'rie du Chien(town)
2,457
1,203
3,642
13
3,655
Seott
740
80
799
1
800
Seneea
930
303
1,233
Union.
331
17
348
348
Utica ..
945
315
1,260
1,260
Wanzeka.
676
247
923
Total
9,612
3,463
13,054
15
15,769
*In 1867 Lynxville merged into Seneca.
CENSUS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY FOR 1875.
TOWNS.
Males ... .
Females ...
Males .....
|Females ...
Bridgeport.
177
186
363
Clayton
851
765
1,616
.. .
Eastman.
755
688
1,443
1
Freeman.
798
766
1,564
1
llaney ..
313
258
571
1
Marietta
498
404
4
3
902
Pr. du Chien (town).
394
326
720
1
I
Pr. du Chien (city). First Ward ..
411
352
763
Second Ward
429
535
3
964
1
1
Third Ward ..
404
Fourth Ward
184
209
12
5
393
Scott.
485
468
953
Sencea ..
704
687
1.391
Utica
773
697
1,470
.
Wanzeka.
583
511
. .
1,094
1
Total
7,759
7,276
18
11
15,035
6
I
7
-
TOTAL.
Deaf and Dumb .
Blind.
Insane
WHITE. ·
COLOR- ED.
Males ..
COLOR- ED.
TOWNS.
WHITE.
Males ....
Females ...
Males .. ...
Females ...
Females ...
Males.
Females ...
..
....
. 400
POPULATION.
11,011
.
4:24
828
1
Marietta
Pr'rie du Chien (eity).
2,700
4
243 102 101 71
Number of persons engaged in Commerce.
131
479
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
CENSUS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY FOR 1880.
Ilridgeport.
448
Clayton, including the following villages.
1,976
Bell Center village, partef, (see Haney).
27
Soldiers' Grove village
106
Weoster Mills village.
62
Eastman, including Batavia village .. Batavia village.
1,459 63
Freeman. .
1,544
Haney, including part of Bell Center village
636
Bell Center village, part of, (see Clayton)
Marietta
1,037
Prairie du Chien
724
Prairie dn Chien eity. First Ward.
689
Second Ward
953
Third Ward
723
Fourth Ward.
412
Scott.
1,046
Seneca, including the following villages Lynxville village.
155
Sencea village.
88
Utiea, including the following villages Mt. Sterling village.
1,496
95
Rising Sun village
53
Towerville village.
38
Wauzeka, inelnding Wauzeka village.
1,055
Wauzeka village
230
Total ..
15, 644
THIE FUR TRADE IN CRAWFORD COUNTY.
It has incidently been mentioned that trading with the Indians was largely the employment of the early pioneers whose homes were upon the prairie. This was indeed the case for nearly, if not quite, sixty years after the first settle- ment there; and, in this connection, a few words with regard to the fur-trade, its origin, progress, and importance, are not out of place.
The northwest was visited and explored by French voyageurs and missionaries from Canada at an early day. The object of the former was trading and gain. The Jesuits, ever zealous in the propagation of their religion, went forth into the unknown wilderness to convert the na- tives to their faith. As early as 1624 they were operating about Lake Huron and Macki- naw. Father Menard, it is related, was with the Indians on Lake Superior as early as 1661. The early explorers were of two classes, and were stimulated by two widely different motives -the voyageurs, by the love of gain, and the missionaries, by their zeal in the propagation of their faith. Previous to 1679, a considerable trade in furs had sprung up with Indian tribes in the vicinity of Mackinaw and the northern part of "Quisconsin." In that year more than 200 canoes, laden with furs, passed Mackinaw, bound for Montreal. The whole
commerce of this vast region then traversed, was carried on with birch-bark canoes. The French used them in traversing wilds-other- wise inaccessible by reason of floods of water at one season, and ice and snow at another-also lakes and morasses which interrupted land jour- neys, and rapids and cataracts that cut off com- munication by water. This little vessel enabled them to overcome all difficulties. Being buoy- ant, it rode the waves, although heavily freighted, and, of light draft, it permitted the traversing of small streams. Its weight was so light that it could be easily carried from one stream to another, and around rapids and other obstrue- tions. With this little vessel, the fur trade of the northwest was carried on, as well as the interior of a vast continent explored. Under the stimulus of commercial enterprise, the French traders penetrated the recesses of the immense forests whose streams were the home of the beaver, the otter and the mink, and in whose depths were found the marten, sable, ermine, and other fur-bearing animals. A vast trade in furs sprung up, and was carried on by different agents, under authority of the French government.
When the military possession of the north- western domain passed from the government of France to that of Great Britain, in 1760, the relationship of the fur trade to the government changed. The government of France had con- trolled the traffic, and made it a means of strengthening its hold upon the country it pos- sessed. The policy of Great Britain was to charter companies and grant them exclusive privileges. The Hudson Bay Company had grown rich and powerful between 1670 and 1760. Its success had excited the cupidity of capital- ists, and rival organizations were formed. The business of the company had been done at their trading-stations-the natives bringing in their furs for exchange and barter. Other companies sent their voyageurs into every nook and corner to traffic with the trappers, and even to catch the fur-bearing animals themselves. In the
2,777
1,446
480
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
progress of time, private parties engaged in trapping and dealing in furs, and, under the competition created, the business became less profitable. In 1815 Congress passed an act pro- hibiting foreigners from dealing in furs in the United States, or any of its territories. This action was obtained through the influence of John Jacob Astor. Mr. Astor organized the American Fur Company in 1809, and afterward, in connection with the Northwest Company, bought out the Mackinaw Company, and the two were merged in the Southwest Company. The association was suspended by the War of 1812. The American re-entered the field in 1816.
A more specific relation of these eventsis the following account from the pen of Eyman C. Draper, of Madison, Wis .:
"In 1783 several of the principal merchants of Montreal entered into a partnership to prose- cute the fur trade, and, in 1787, united with a rival company, and thus arose the famous North- west Company, which, for many years, held lordly sway over the immense region in Can- ada and beyond the great western lakes. Sev- eral years later a new association of British merchants formed the Mackinaw Company, having their chief factory or depot at Macki- naw; and their field of operations was south of their great rivals; sending forth their light peroques and bark canoes, by Green Bay, the Fox and Wisconsin rivers to the Mississippi, and thence down that stream to all its tributa- ries. In 1809 Mr. Astor organized the American Fur Company, he alone constituting the com- pany; and in 1811, in connection with certain partners of the North west Company, and others, he bought out the Mackinaw Company, and merged that and his American Fur Company into a new association, called the Southwest Company. By this arrangement Mr. Astor be- came proprietor of one-half of all the interests which the Mackinaw company had in the In- dian country within the United States; and it was understood that the whole, at the expira- tion of five years, was to pass into his hands,
on condition that the American or Southwest Company would not trade within the British dominions. The war of 1812 suspended the as- sociation, and after the war it was entirely dis- solved, Congress having passed a law prohibit- ing British fur traders from prosecuting their enterprises within the territories of the United States. Mr. Crooks, in 1815, closed up the af- fairs of the Southwest Company, preliminary to enlarged individual enterprise on the part of Mr. Astor."
In the Illustrated Historical Atlas of Wiscon- sin (1878), the subject is treated of in these words: "Loth to relinquish the profitable fur trade, that government [Great Britain] held pos- session of Mackinaw long after it acknowledged the independence of the United States by the treaty of peace in 1783. Although it relin- quished all claim to this territory by the Jay treaty in 1796, that traffic was made a lever by which the Wisconsin outposts were held as sub- servient as before to British interests. The trade was for a long period controlled by an association of merchants at Montreal, known as the Northwestern Fur Company. The Mack- inaw Company was formed somewhat later, and operated toward Green bay and the upper Mis- sissippi. Their goods were brought through Canada, and having control of the fountains of supply they closed the door against competition from the United States. The traders at Prairie du Chien, as at other outposts, were usually agents of one or the other of the great compan- ies, and their employes were engaged mostly at Montreal by contracts of the ironclad dis- cription. There were few, either traders or employes, independent of these associations. In 1809, John Jacob Astor endeavored to cs- tablish the American Fur Company, but abmn- doned the undertaking and joined the North- west Company in 1811 in buying out the Maek- inaw Company, merging that and the American in the Southwest Company, of which Astor owned a half interest, with the arrangement that after five years it was to pass into his
481
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
hands altogether, being restricted in its opera- tions to the territories of the United States. The War of 1812 suspended this association, and at its close British traders were prohibited by law from pursuing their vocation within United States dominions; consequently the Southwest Company was wound up, and the American Fur Company reappeared under As- tor's exclusive control, with its western head- quarters at Mackinaw. But the British traders evaded the prohibition by sending their goods across the lines in the name of American clerks. Being of superior quality, their wares still com- manded the Indian trade, while on the other hand the prohibition cut off the new American Company from the customary channel of supply, and its goods began to be imported to New York, and introduced by way of the lakes in 1816. They were at first of inferior quality, especially the guns, cloths and blankets, and it was several years before acceptable merchan- dise for the Indian trade could be procured through this quarter, such was the hold of the British traders upon the foreign manufacturers. When accomplished, however, they were sup- planted, and the people of this region were re- leased from their grasp."
A United States factory was established at Prairie du Chien in 1816, in charge of John W. Johnson, a worthy man, who remained in the discharge of his duties until the establishment was closed out by the winding up of the system in 1832, when he removed to St. Louis. These factories were established for the purpose of counteracting British influence and preventing extortion by the traders by furnishing goods to the Indians at fair rates, under the direct su- pervision of government agents. They, how- ever, fell short of accomplishing their purpose on account of the inferior quality of the goods usually furnished.
Until 1816 goods came mostly from Montreal in bateaux or canoes, mostly by the Mackinaw or its successor, the Southwest company, or by some private traders. But early in 1815 Mr.
Astor purchased the interest of the Southwest company at Mackinaw and its dependencies, and in August of that year Ramsey Crooks, as already mentioned, went to Mackinaw as agent for Mr. Astor to complete the arrangements. In the spring of 1816 the goods of the Ameri- ean Fur Company were imported to New York, and thence by way of the lakes to Mackinaw. During that spring several Montreal traders ar- riving at Mackinaw with Indian goods, prob- ably not aware of the law of Congress prohibi- ting British subjects from trading within the American territories, now took advantage of the order of the secretary of the treasury, and sent their goods into the Indian country, under the nominal direction of a hired Ameriem clerk, to whom the goods were invoiced and who took the license in his name, and gave proper bonds with security to the traders who owned them, who went along ostensibly as in- terpreters, until the boat passed all the Ameri- can forts and agencies, when they assumed the ownership, and proceeded as usual in their bus- iness-these clerks' bonds were considered as a mere formality to evade the law, and were worth so much brown paper, and no more.
In the spring of 1817 the American Fur Com pany brought a large number of American clerks from Montreal and the United States, some of whom made good Indian traders and are yet in the country, but nearly one-half of them were found not qualified for the business, and in the following spring many of them were discharged from Mackinaw, which was the grand depot of the American trade.
The American Fur Company, as had been the practice of the Mackinaw and Southwest com panies, made their outfits to Lake Superior, to the Mississippi, the head of St. Peters' and the Missouri. The boats for the Mississippi and Missouri trade passed through the north end of Lake Michigan from Mackinaw, thence through Green bay to the settlement of that name; thence up the Fox river to the Little Kaukalin, where they made a portage of about three
482
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
fourths of a mile. Augustin Grignon had a trading house at this point and kept teams to transport the goods and furs, (the men taking the boats empty up or down the rapids, as the case might be,) for which he charged about twenty cents per 100 pounds. The boats then proceeded to Grand chute, where the men made another portage of the goods or furs, and passed the boat over the Grand chute empty. Thence they proceeded to the rapids at the lower end of Winnebago lake, where they usually made half loads over the rapids into the lake. Thence they proceeded upward to where the Fox river enters the lake, thence up Fox river through Puckawa Jake, and Lac de Boeuf, or Buffalo lake, and some smaller lakes to portage of Wis- consin, where a man by the name of Roy re- sided, who kept teams and hanled goods, furs and boats across the portage of one and one- fourth miles from the Fox to the Wisconsin river, for which he charged forty cents per 100 pounds, and $10 for each boat.
The boats then went down the Wisconsin to its mouth, and thence up the Mississippi about three miles to Prairie du Chien; the traders of the lower Mississippi and Missouri never going down without a short stop at Prairie du Chien, where they generally spent some days in con- viviality, dinners, daneing, etc. Tradition says that many years since, when there were many wintering traders in both the upper and lower Mississippi, it was the custom of every trader visiting Prairie du Chien to have in store a keg of eight or nine gallons of good wine for convivial purposes when they should again meet in the spring, on which occasions they would have great dinner parties, and, as is the English custom, drink largely. But in 1816 there were but few of the old traders remaining, and the storing of wine at Prairie du Chien had become almost obsolete, although the traders were then well supplied with wine, and that of the best kind, of which they made very free use. It was then thought that a clerk in charge of an outfit must have his keg of wine, but after
the American Fur Company got fairly initiated into the trade they abolished the custom of fur- nishing their elerks with this luxury at the ex- pense of the outfit. As has already been said, the Indian trade of the Mississippi and Missouri and their tributaries was carried on from Mack- inaw as the grand depot of the trade of the northwest.
The traders and their clerks were then the aristocracy of the country, and to a Yankee at first sight, presented a singular state of society. To see gentlemen selecting wives of the nut- brown natives, and raising children of mixed blood, the traders and clerks living in as much luxury as the resources of the country would admit, and the engages or boatmen living npon soup made of hulled corn with barley, tallow enough to season it, devoid of salt, unless they purchased it themselves at a high price-all this to an American was a novel mode of living, and appeared to be hard fare; but to a person ae- quainted with the habits of life of the Canadian peasantry, it would not look so much out of the way, as they live mostly on pea soup, seasoned with a piece of pork boiled down to grease; sel- dom eating pork except in the form of grease that seasons their soup. With this soup, and a piece of coarse bread, their meals were made; hence the change from pea soup to corn is not so great, or the fare much worse than that to which they had been accustomed, as the corn is more substantial than peas, not being so flatulent.
These men engaged in Canada generally for five years for Mackinaw and its dependencies, transferable like cattle to any one who wanted them, at generally about 500 livres a year, or in our currency, about $83.33; furnished with a yearly equipment or outfit of two cotton shirts, one three point or triangular blanket, a portage collar and one pair of beef shoes; being obliged, in the Indian country to purchase their mocca- sins, tobacco, pipes and other necessaries at the price the trader saw fit to charge for them. Generally at the end of five years these poor voyageurs were in debt from $50 to $150 and
483
HISTORY OF CRAWFORD COUNTY.
could not leave the country until they had paid their indebtedness; and the policy of the traders was to keep as many of them in the country as they could; and to this end they al- lowed and encouraged their engagees to get in debt during the five years, which of necessity required them to remain.
These new hands were by the old voyageurs called in derision mangeurs de lurd-pork eaters, as on leaving Montreal, and on the route to Mackinaw, they were fed on pork, hard bread and pea soup, while the old voyageurs in the Indian country ate corn soup, and such other food as conld conveniently be procured. These mangeurs de lard were brought at considerable expense and trouble from Montreal and other parts of Canada, frequently deserting after they had received some advance in money and their equipment. Hence it was the object of the traders to keep as many of the old voyageurs in the country as they could, and they generally permitted the mangeurs de lard to get largely in debt, as they could not leave the country and get back into Canada, except by the return boats or canoes which brought the goods, and they would not take them back if they were in debt anywhere in the country, which could be easily ascertained from the traders at Macki- naw. But if a man was prudent enough to save his wages, he could obtain passage, as he was no longer wanted in the country.
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