History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 55

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304

USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > History of Dane County, Wisconsin > Part 55

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On the second day, we passed the foot of the Blue Mound. It is a high hill of regular ascent, overlooking the country, and serves as a beacon to the traveler thirty miles distant. At night, we slept in a block-house in the mining district. Within sight of the station, a newly

* When this was written, the position occupied by Dodgo in the army was not well understood by the writer .- En.

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made grave lay at the roadside in the midst of a solitary prairie. The person over whom it was raised, had ventured too far from the house, and approached a thicket of bushes. Suddenly a band of concealed Indians sprang upon him, with the fatal whoop on their tongues ; his scalp, heart, and most of his flesh were soon stripped from the body, and a savage dance performed about the remains.

The country is still prairie, with scattering tufts of inferior timber. The huts of the miners had been deserted on account of the difficulties now terminated, and the business of making lead was about to re-commence.

Occasionally, a farm might be seen running out from an island of timber, and supplied with comfortable buildings. But most of the improvements were of a temporary nature, consisting of a lead furnace and the cabins adjacent. The process of reducing lead ore is very simple and rapid. The furnace is a face wall, about two feet thick, located upon a gentle slope of the ground, with an arch or passage through the center ; on each side of the arched opening, and in the rear or up-hill side, two wing walls run out transversely to the face wall, between which the wood is laid. The ore is placed upon it, and a continual fire kept up. The lead gradually separates. from the dross, and runs into a cavity in front of the arch.

EARLY FRENCH . RESIDENTS.

After the Black Hawk war, and when Dane County began to receive a something of a popu- lation from abroad, there were found within its present limits a number of Canadian Frenchmen, either domesticated among the Indians, or trading with them. Their names were Michel St. Cyr, Joseph Pelkie, Phillip Covalle, Oliver Emell* and one Lavec. But none of these can be considered as settlers of Dane County. They soon disappeared as civilization advanced into " the Four Lakes region."

Michel St. Cyr resided at a point a little north of the mouth of Pheasant Branch, on the north side of Lake Mendota, in what is now the town of Madison, where the "City of the Four Lakes " was afterward located and platted. Here he traded with the Indians, his stock consist- ing mostly of whisky and tobacco. The whisky was at first dealt out to his Indian customers in full strength, and pretty liberal quantities, until they became considerably oblivious, when the liquor was diluted, and finally, as they became still more intoxicated, water was freely substi- tuted, and, as St. Cyr said, answered every purpose. But this trade was not sufficient for a livelihood, and St. Cyr cultivated about eight acres of ground, surrounded with a rude fence, raising corn, oats, potatoes and a few vegetables.

His cabin was a small affair, about twelve feet square, with a dirt floor ; and almost adjoin- ing it was a stable of about the same dimensions. With a Winnebago woman for his wife, and two sons and two daughters, all young, he entertained the very few travelers that passed through the country. A. F. Pratt and companion stopped there in February, 1837. They had served up to them a kind of pot-pie which relished very well ; and, after finishing their meal, and inquiring what kind of meat they had eaten, they were informed that it was muskrat. Indeed, muskrats, and occasionally pheasants, seemed to form the principal articles for his table; and St. Cyr would pleasantly observe, that the Englishmen, meaning white people generally, " would just as soon eat pheasant as rat, when all were cooked up together."

St. Cyr was a Canadian half-breed, born about 1806; had always lived on the frontier and among the Indians, and could speak English quite well, though he was entirely illiterate. Hle was a man of ordinary size, about one hundred and fifty pounds weight; with a thin visage, dark complexion, black hair and eyes, a quick step, and a ready, active man generally, in both body and mind. He was amiable and kind to all, and scorned a dishonest man or a liar. He exercised a commanding influence over that portion of the Winnebagoes with whom he was asso- ciated.

*The name of this Canadian is variously epelled, frequently Armel ; but there are notices extant with his name signed to them spelled as above .- En.

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

St. Cyr claimed that he had made some arrangement with J. D. Doty to enter for him the land where he lived; if so, the arrangement failed of its object. The lands which he had culti- vated were bought without his knowledge, for, in fact, he took no interest in anything except trad- ing with the Indians. W. B. Slaughter entered the tract in 1835, and conveyed an undivided half-interest to Doty, December 20, in that year, with a view of having a town laid out there, and eventually securing the location of the Territorial Capital at that point. Doty employed John Bannister, a surveyor of Green Bay, who subsequently removed to Fond du Lac and died there, to lay out on the land " the City of the Four Lakes." The certificate of the plat bears date July 7, 1836. Subsequently to purchasing an interest in Slaughter's tract, Doty, with Gov. Mason, of Michigan, entered the tract embracing the present locality of Madison, which was probably regarded in a more favorable light than the Slaughter location. At the time of the eventful session of the Belmont Legislature, when the location of the capital of the Territory was decided upon, Slaughter was absent in the South to spend the winter, and no one was pres- ent with tempting offers of corner lots in his behalf, and Madison was the successful competitor for the interesting prize at stake. So much for " the City of the Four Lakes " and its unhappy fate.

To compensate St. Cyr for his trifling improvements, Slaughter gave him some $200, and about the 1st of July, 1838, he removed first to Minnesota and soon after to the Winnebago reservation in Iowa, where he died about 1864.

Joseph Pelkie was domesticated with the Winnebagoes. He was employed in the erection of the first house occupied in Madison. He remained in and around the place for some time. Once he was shot, but not killed, by Berry Haney, and, when last heard of, he was still carry- ing the ball in his back. The dispute was about a land claim. Pelkie was an expert hunter and fisherman. He was once summoned as a juryman in Judge Irvin's court, in Madison, but, on making his appearance to take the oath, the Judge challenged him with-" Go home, you dirty Frenchman, and wash yourself, and put on some clean clothes, and then come back and take the oath." Court adjourned, to give him time to obey the order. Nothing is known of the earlier or later history of " Old Pelkie." He was married to a Winnebago woman and had a family, and, when the question came up as to his right to receive a stipulated sum from the General Government, he conceived it necessary to be re-married under civilized authority ; so Simeon Mills, as Justice of the Peace, performed the ceremony in the autumn of 1838.

Philip Covalle was a fisherman, hunter and trapper. He was the only white man found on the present site of Madison when it was first visited by A A. Bird, in the spring of 1837. Covalle was a Canadian of French extraction, and a fair type of the early voyageurs and ad- venturers who penetrated the wilds of the Northwest in search of furs, and whose natural affini- ties made them at home among the wild men of the forest. Born and bred among the half-civ- ilized border-men, he pressed back into the wilderness as the tide of civilization rolled on its Western course, occupying the ground so reluctantly relinquished by the red men and their ready associates, the trappers and traders, whose occupation followed in the train of the receding In- dians ; and, with the fading forests, disappeared entirely from the regions which but a few years before were known to the world only as the hunting grounds from which came the rich furs so universally admired in civilized life.

Covalle was the descendant of a Hudson Bay trapper, and followed the movements of his family, and for many years thereafter was in the employ of a fur company as a trapper, spend- ing years in the wilds north of the Saint Mary's River, returning to the trading establishments only at stated seasons to bring in his furs and obtain supplies. Nothing pleased him more than the opportunity of recounting his adventures and "hair-breadth escapes " among the men of the wilderness in which he has spent so much of his early life. Tired of this wild life, he left the employ of the Hudson Bay Company and commenced operations for himself, trapping along the streams emptying into Green Bay, falling back as civilization advanced-giving up his cabin to villages, and his trapping resorts to lumbermen. Following up the Fox River, he kept in ad- vance of the settlements, gathering in the little game that lingered along the line, until he was

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

forced to abandon the vicinity of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and find hunting grounds away from the business routes of white men. Taking bis Indian woman and his small family of half- breed children, with his ever-present companion, "Alex, the fisherboy," he came across the country to the chain of lakes, then in the undisturbed possession of the Indians, and built a cabin at the outlet of Lake Mendota. Here he was found by the men who came to lay the foundation of the capitol of the Territory, and here he remained until, tired of his surroundings, and longing for the quiet of the wilderness, he, with his little family, left, to join his old associates who had been transferred to the wilds west of the Mississippi.

Covalle, though illiterate, was a companionable, good-natured man, interesting in the long stories he used to tell of the happy life he led in the country before it was taken possession of by the white man. He tried hard to accustom himself to the usages of civilized life, but it was unnatural to him, and the attempt only made more apparent the force of early habits. Learn- ing that white men married, he brought his Indian woman before a Justice of the Peace, that his own marriage might be solemnized in the presence of his children, a proceeding which was important to them only as it conformed to the customs of white men. He would send to Dr. A. Lull, the village physician, to treat complaints that would be thought nothing of in his former solitary life, simply because white men employed the doctor ; and many a joke came back to the settlement, of Covalle's efforts to bring his half-breed family under treatment; and ludicrous enough were the attempts of the family to adapt some article of clothing, the gift of white peo- ple, to their native costume of buckskin and blanket. The " first families " of Madison (those who are left) remember the curiosity with which Madame Covalle and her children looked in upon them through the windows of their houses, refusing to enter the dwellings, and with what interets they would gather at the doors to witness the proceedings of meetings on Sunday.

Oliver Ermell was a trader with the Indians in 1832, having his headquarters on the site of the present city of Madison. He had his goods in a temporary Indian-built hut, and he seems to have done a large business, as, in the year above mentioned, no less than 500 Indians were encamped between where the State House now stands and the shore of Lake Monona, who came here for the purpose of trading with him. He lived on Lake Waubesa, on the west side, and had a Winnebago woman for a wife, with a family of children; but was re-married according to civilized usages, in the autumn of 1838, by Simeon Mills, Justice of the Peace. He left the county to join the Indians.

Lavec, like Pelkie, assisted in the erection of the first house occupied in Madison. He had a squaw wife, whose brother was stabbed and killed on the beach of Lake Monona. The mur- derer was also an Indian. As this happened after the settlement of Madison had commenced, considerable excitement ensued, but nothing was done in the matter. It was only one Indian killing another.

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

CHAPTER IV.

UNITED STATES LAND SURVEYS-DATES OF SURVEYS AND NOTES OF SURVEYORS-DANE COUNTY INCLUDED IN THREE LAND DISTRICTS-CENSUS OF 1836-YE ANCIENT PIONEERS-EARLY GOV- ERNMENT OF THE DANE COUNTY REGION-FORMING AND NAMING THE COUNTY-VISITS TO DANE COUNTY IN 1837.

UNITED STATES LAND SURVEYS.

The first surveys by the General Government, of lands in Wisconsin, were made south of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers. The northern boundary line of the State of Illinois, fixed April 11, 1818, on the parallel of 42° 30' north latitude, became, properly enough, the base line of these surveys. A principal north-and-south line (known as the Fourth Meridian) was run, extending from the base line to Lake Superior, at right angles with the last-mentioned line. The Fourth Meridian is west of the territory of Dane County, running on the east boundary of what is now the county of Grant, and on the west boundary of La Fayette and Iowa Counties, and thence onward dne north, a distance west of the west line of Dane County of thirty miles, strik- ing Lake Superior a short distance west of the mouth of Montreal River.

Parallel lines to the Fourth Meridian were run every six miles on the east and west sides of it. The intervening six miles between these lines are called ranges. Range 1 east is the first six miles of territory east of the Fourth Meridian ; Range 2 east is the second six miles, and so on to Lake Michigan-Dane County lying in Ranges, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 east.

Parallel lines north of the base line (the north boundary line of the State of Illinois) were run every six miles, which, crossing the ranges at right angles, cut the whole into blocks six miles square, called townships. These are numbered by tiers going north from the base line, the first tier being known as Townships 1 north, the second tier as Townships 2 north, and so on. As the most southern boundary of Dane County is distant from the base line twenty-four miles, or four townships, of course the first or most southern tier of townships in the county is numbered five north ; and, as there are five tiers, they are numbered consecutively, Townships 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 north.

Dane County, then, lies in Townships 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 north, of Ranges 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 east, except that the northwest part of Township 9, in Range 6 east, and the northwest corner of Township 9, Range 7 east, are a part of Sauk County. After this territory was surveyed into townships, the latter were subdivided into sections and quarter-sections.

Each town in Dane County contains exactly a surveyed township of land of the United States survey, except such as are hereinafter mentioned.

The town of Albion is organized of Township 5, Range 12 east; the town of Berry, of Township 8, Range 7 east ; town of Blooming Grove, of Township 7, Range 10 east, except so much as is included in the city of Madison ; Black Earth, of the south half of Township 8, Range 6 east ; Blue Mounds, of Township 6, Range 6 east ; Bristol, of Township 9, Range 11 east ; Burke, of Township 8, Range 10 east ; Christiana, of Township 6, Range 12 east; Cot- tage Grove, of Township 7, Range 11 east ; Cross Plains, of Township 7, Range 7 east ; Dane, of Township 9, Range 8 east ; Deerfield, of Township 7, Range 12 east; Dunkirk, of Town- ship 5, Range 11 east ; Dunn, of Township 6, Range 10 east ; Fitchburg, of Township 6, Range 9 east : Madison, of Township 7, Range 9 east, except so much as is included in the city of Madison ; Mazomanie, of the north half of Township 8, and all of Township 9, lying south of the Wisconsin River, all in Range 6 east ; Medina, of Township 8, Range 12 east; Middle- ton, of Township 7, Range 8 east ; Montrose, of Township 5, Range 8 east ; Oregon, of Town- ship 5, Range 9 east ; Perry, of Township 5, Range 6 east ; Primrose, of Township 5, Range 7 east ; Pleasant Springs, of Township 6, Range 11 east ; Roxbury, of Township 9, Range 7

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.

east, except a small fraction northwest of the Wisconsin, in Sauk County ; Rutland, of Town- ship 5, Range 10 east ; Springdale, of Township 6, Range 7 east ; Springfield, of Township 8, Range 8 east ; Sun Prairie, of Township 8, Range 11 east; Vermont, of Township 7, Range 6 east; Verona, of Township 6, Range 8 east; Vienna, of Township 9, Range 9 east ; Westport, of Township 8, Range 9 east, except so much as is covered by a portion of Lake Mendota, which is in fact a portion of the city of Madison ; Windsor, of Township 9, Range 10 east, and York, of Township 9, Range 12 east.

The number of acres in each of the townships included within the limits of Dane County are, according to the survey of the United States, as follows-excluding meandered lakes and streams, and including the city of Madison :

Township 5, Range 6 (Perry), 22,992.11; Township 5, Range 7 (Primrose), 22,663.79 ; Township 5, Range 8 (Montrose), 22,662.88; Township 5, Range 9 (Oregon), 22,614.41; Township 5, Range 10 (Rutland), 22,699.09 ; Township 5, Range 11 (Dunkirk), 23,003.67 ; Township 5, Range 12 (Albion), 22,609.37 ; Township 6, Range 6 (Blue Mounds), 22,926.07; Township 6, Range 7 (Springdale), 22,892.43; Township 6, Range 8 (Verona), 23,153.97 ; Township 6, Range 9 (Fitchburg), 23,255.28; Township 6, Range 10 (Dunn), 18,885.16; Township 6, Range 11 (Pleasant Springs), 21,527.75; Township 6, Range 12 (Christiana), 23,198.55; Township 7, Range 6 (Vermont), 22.924,06; Township 7, Range 7 (Cross Plains), 23,- 020.80 ; Township 7, Range 8 (Middleton), 22,972.80; Township 7, Range 9 (Town of Madison and most of the City of Madison), 12,949.32; Township 7, Range 10 (Blooming Grove and a south of the City of Madison), 19,539.30 ; Township 7, Range 11 (Cottage Grove), 22,- 451,59 ; Township 7, Range 12 (Deerfield), 22,381.88 ; Township 8, Range 6 (Black Earth and south part of Mazomanie), 22,874,11; Township 8, Range 7 (Berry), 23,032.49 ; Township 8, Range 8 (Springfield), 22,998.70 ; Township 8, Range 9 (Westport), 21,497.25; Township 8, Range 10 (Burke), 22,876.30 ; Township 8, Range 11 (Sun Prairie), 22,731.70 ; Township 8, Range 12 (Medina), 22,578.25 ; Township 9, Range 6 (north part of Mazomanie), 8,031 .- 96 ; Township 9, Range 7 (Roxbury), 22,661.23; Township 9, Range 8 (Dane), 22,954.06; Township 9, Range 9 (Vienna), 23,033.01; Township 9, Range 10 (Windsor), 22,687.19; Township 9, Range 11 (Bristol), 22,637.13 ; Township 9, Range 12 (York), 22,906.44.

DATES OF SURVEYS AND NOTES OF SURVEYORS.

The township lines in Dane County were run by John Mullett, assisted in some cases by John Brink, in the years 1831, 1832 and 1833-mostly in the latter year. The section lines were run in the years 1832, 1833, 1834 and 1835, by J. W. Stephenson, Lorin Miller, John Mullett and Orson Lyon. The first surveying was done by John Mullett, who ran the township lines of Township 6, Range 7 east (town of Springdale), in the latter part of 1831. The last surveying was done by Lorin Miller, who ran the section lines east of Sugar River, in Township 5, Range 8 cast (Montrose), in the second quarter of the year 1835. Robert T. Lytle, one of the Surveyors General, on the 21st of September of that year, declared the survey finished of all that is now Dane County, besides much other territory, south and east of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers.

From the field-notes of the surveyors and the Government plats, many items of interest are obtained. These sources furnish the following facts :

Township 5 north, of Range 6 east (Perry)-Was surveyed into sections by J. W. Ste- phenson, in the first quarter of the year 1833.

Township 6 north, of Range 6 east (Blue Mounds) .- This township was surveyed into sections by John Mullett, Deputy Surveyor, beginning the survey February 24, 1833, and end- ing the following March. He was assisted by Mahlon Blaker, Marker ; C. H. Stowell, H. M. Draper and John Brink, Chainmen.

Township 7 north, of Range 6 east (Vermont) .- This township was surveyed into sections by John Mullett, Deputy Surveyor, in the first quarter of 1833, assisted by Mahlon Blaker, Marker; C. H. Stowell, H. M. Draper and John Brink, Chainmen.

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY

Township 8 north, of Range 6 east (Black Earth and south half of Mazomanie) .- This township was surveyed in the first quarter of 1833, by the same parties who surveyed the last- mentioned townships, 6 and 7 north, of Range 6 east.

Township 9 north, of Range 6 east (north half of Mazomanie) .- The survey of this town- ship into sections was begun January 15, 1833, and finished on the 18th of the same month, by John Mullett, Deputy Surveyor, assisted by the same marker and chainmen as before mentioned.

Township 5 north, of Range 7 east (Primrose) .- This township was surveyed into sections by J. W. Stephenson, in the first quarter of 1833.

Township 6 north, of Range 7 east (Springdale) .- The northeast half of Section 1, being so much of the section as lies to the northeast of Sugar Creek, was the first land surveyed in . this township, this was done by Lorin Miller, Deputy Surveyor in the second quarter of 1833, assisted by Russell Baldwin and Noah Phelps, Chainmen, and Richard Reese, Marker. The res- idue of the township was surveyed by John Mullett, Deputy Surveyor, assisted by Mahlon Blaker, Marker, and C. H. Stowell, H. M. Draper and John Brink, Chainmen, during the quar- ter of the year.

Township 7 north, of Range 7 east (Cross Plains) .- The survey of this township into sections was begun March 12, 1833, and finished on the 18th of the same month (excepting so much as lay south of the military road), by John Mullett, Deputy Surveyor, assisted by the par- ties last mentioned. That portion lying in the southeast corner of the township, consisting of Section 36 and portions of Sections 35, 34, and 25, were not surveyed until December, 1834, when the lines were run by Orson Lyon, Deputy Surveyor.

Township 8 north, of Range 7 east ( Berry) .- This township was surveyed into sections by John Mullett, assisted by the same men who aided him in the survey of the township last men- tioned, who began his labor February 15, 1835, and finished the same on the 23d of the same month.

Township 9 north, of Range 7 east (Roxbury) .- All of this township, except the small fraction lying west of the Wisconsin River, was surveyed into sections by John Mullett, Deputy Surveyor, with the same assistants before mentioned, who began his labor January 29, 1833, ending February 6, thereafter. Alvin Burt surveyed the fraction now lying in Sauk County, in 1842 ; it contains only 37 acres and a fraction.

Township 5 north, of Range 8 east (Montrose) .- So much of this township as lies east of Sugar Creek, was surveyed into sections by Lorin Miller, Deputy Surveyor, who commenced his work (assisted by Russell Baldwin and Noah Phelps, Chainmen, and Richard Rees, Marker,) January 19, 1834, and completed the same on the 22d of the same month. In his field-notes, he says : "The east part of this fraction [that is, the east part of the present town of Mont- rose] is very hilly, but of good quality of soil ; heavily, not densely timbered, with black, white, and yellow oak. As you approach the Sugar Creek, the land becomes more level, with less tim- ber. The First [Lake Kegonsa] and Fourth Lake [Mendota] trails unite at and cross the Sugar Creek at the 'Fish Trap Ford,' which is directly north of Sugar Creek Springs, or Dogharty's." This survey was canceled, and the same was re-surveyed by Orson Lyon, in 1834, but the latter wrote no description of the fractional part of the township, thus re-surveyed by him. West of Sugar Creek was surveyed into sections by J. W. Stephenson in the last quarter of 1832.

Township 6 north, of Range 8 east ( Verona) .- This township was surveyed into sections by Lorin Miller, Deputy Surveyor, who commenced his work (assisted by Russell Baldwin and Harvey Booth, Chainmen, and Richard Rees, Marker), December 15, 1833, and completed it on the 22d of the same month. Mr. Miller, in his field-notes, says : " This is a good township of land, and timbered with burr, white, and yellow oak, and some hickory. It is watered by Sugar Creek and its tributaries. The water is of the best quality. There are no bad marshes. The timber is low and not valuable."

Township 7 north, of Range 8 east (Middleton) .- This township was surveyed into sections by John Mullett, Deputy Surveyor, assisted by Mahlon Blaker, Marker, and C. H. Stowell, H.

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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY

M. Draper and John Brink, Chainmen ; but the southeast half of the survey was canceled and re-surveyed by Orson Lyon, in December, 1834 ; that is, all southeast of the military road was thus re-surveyed. Mr. Lyon, in his field-notes, has these " General Remarks :" "The south- west part of Fractional Township 7 north, of Range 8 fast, is hilly and second-rate land. The northeast part is rolling and second-rate. It is timbered with burr, white and black oak, with an undergrowth of grass. Near the west side of the township, there is about three square miles of prairie. There is also a small portion of the southeast part of the township dry, rich prairie and first-rate land, with a growth of grass."

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History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 55

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1304

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304