USA > Wisconsin > Grant County > History of Grant County Wisconsin, including its civil, political, geological, mineralogical archaeological and military history > Part 45
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Professor Charlton was succeeded by Prof. Duncan McGregor in 1878, and the latter in June, 1894, by Dr. James Chalmers, who re- signed in June, 1897, and was succeeded by Professor McGregor. The present faculty is :
Normal Department .- Duncan McGregor, M. A., Litt. D., President, Psychology, Science and History of Education; Albert Hardy, M. A., English Literature and Institute Conductor; William H. Dudley, Biol- ogy and Chemistry ; James A. Wilgus, M. A., History, Civil Govern- ment and Political Economy ; E. C. Perisho, M. S., Physics and Geol- ogy; W. H. Williams, M. A., Geometry, Trigonometry, and Higher Algebra; Philip Kolb, Ph. M., Music; Martin P. Rindlaub, Jr., B. L., Latin; H. H. ; Liebenberg, B. S., Arithmetic and Elementary Al- gebra; Thomas H. Gentle, Assistant Psychology, Pedagogy, and Re- views; Emma S. Wyman, B. I., Drawing; Isabella Pretlow, Geography, Grammar, Orthoepy and Reading; Alice E. Gifford, B. A., German; Ella N. Allen,. Methods and Supervisor of Practice; Nina A. Page, Physiology and Physical Culture; Rosa M. Cheney, B. L., American
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History ; Bee A. Gardner, Literary Readings and Reading Room Li- brarian; Emma E. Graham, Clerk and Text Book Librarian; Lau- ra J. Rountree, Pianist, Instrumental Music.
Training School .- Myrtle L. Carpenter, Principal and Critic Gram- mar Grades; Maud M. Averill, B. L., Assistant Grammar and Prepar- atory Grades; Edith A. Purdy, Principal and Critic Intermediate Grades; Carol Goff, Principal and Critic Primary Grades.
To return to the district schools: Platteville was divided into two school districts until 1857, when they were combined into one. In that year it was decided to erect another and a larger school-house. After a great deal of discussion as to the location, a. site was finally chosen near the east end of Main Street and the contract was let for what has since been known as "the Stone School-house." It is a two- story building, begun in 1857, but not completed until 1860, and then only the lower storv.
The village was again divided into two districts and another school-house of brick was erected on Adams and Chestnut Streets, completed in 1863. The total cost of both houses was $12,000. The city now has a third school building called the Cottage School-house.
The two districts have been again consolidated. The principal is Prof. Oliver E. Gray, a graduate of the Normal School and of the State University.
NEWSPAPERS.
The Northern Badger .- The first newspaper printed in Grant County bore this name. The first number was issued July 30, 1840. It was a four-page paper, five columns to the page, printed in brevier. It may seem remarkable that a county of nearly four thousand inhab- itants should be without a paper at the county seat; but papers were not so easily printed then as now. Thomas Eastman was the editor and publisher. The first number contained, besides general news and congressional proceedings, considerable local intelligence and a short editorial on "Our Southern Boundary," a matter then of great interest to the people of Wisconsin (see page 136). The principal local article bears the title, "The Broken Head," and says: "We are happy to hear from high authority that William Rogers is entirely out of danger and able to walk out. He could easily attend to his labors, but his med- ical attendant deems labor too early as yet. The legal proceedings, however, are going on, and should the person aggrieved think proper
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to prosecute the action in the name of the people, or try a civil suit for damages the case must come before a jury. If we might offer a word of advice, we would say, keep the case out of court. We have understood, however, that a gentleman of great legal ability has been spoken of as likely to be retained for the defense. Should thecase take such a direction it is probable that our young but highly gifted townsman, B. C. Eastman, will have an opportunity of entering the forensic arena with a veteran adversary in a highly interesting suit. That he will be retained in the pending trial we infer from the very deep impression he has made on the public mind by his efforts in the preliminary investigation before the justice's court." The paper con- tains the announcement of the following candidates for office: Dr. A. Hill, of Lafayette, Cyrus K. Lord, Miles Hollingsworth, Samuel Lewis, Thomas P. Burnett, and Dr. Crockwell for the legislature : Stewart McKee, of Platte Mills, Norman McLeod, Darius Bainbridge, and Robert Langley for County Commissioners; William Macauley for Treasurer; Ira W Brunson for Collector of Taxes. It contained a few advertisements-three of them "legal ads," one a Sheriff's sale by Harvey Pepper. The others were the card of Ben C. Eastman, attorney, W. G. Spencer, boot and shoemaker. Stewart McKee, lumber dealer, B. Roulette, dealer in lime, J. Reynard, tailor, and Miss Longsden, teacher of piano music. Of course, the publisher occupied considerable space with a prospectus of the Badger. He also printed the prospectuses of the Phila- delphia Saturday Courier and the Brother Jonathan. Those who were readers in the forties and early fifties will remember this latter mammoth sheet, with pages much larger than those of any newspaper of these days.
THOMAS EASTMAN.
The Badger owed its existence to the aid afforded by a subscription of money by the citizens of Platte- ville, Major Rountree being the leading spirit. The other subscribers were: Sylvester Gridley, W. Farmer, Thomas Parrish, James Bass & Co., A. M. Dixon. G. M. Price. A., C. Inman, J. R. Vineyard, William
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Davidson, J. Allen Barber, Stewart McKee, Nelson Dewey, Jonathan Craig, James Groshong, Irvin O'Hara. There were Lancaster and Po- tosi men, as well as Platteville men, among the subscribers. The sub- scribers stipulated that the paper should be neutral in politics. The material was purchased in St. Louis for $754.41. The office was in a frame building on Second Street, one door north of Pascoe's store.
The Badger was short-lived-just how short it is difficult now to learn,.as the only copies in existence, as far as the editor can learn, are those of the first four numbers, in the library of the Historical Society at Madison. The Wisconsin Whig and the Wisconsin Register, printed on the material of the Badger, followed; but they were both very short-lived. For some unaccountable reason, a paper could not be kept up in the Lead Region outside of Galena. The Whig was pub- lished for a few months by Alonzo Platt, who sold it to J. L. Marsh and Dr. L. C. McKenney, who continued the publication about a year and then suspended it. The Register was published by Charles Mallet. It was Know-Nothing in politics. Only two or three numbers were published.
In March, 1845, J. L. Marsh (since well known in Grant County) started the Independent American and General Advertiser at Platte- ville. These double titles were then much in vogue. The American was a six-column paper of four pages, very well printed. It was neu- tral in politics and devoted itself to news and to efforts' to promote the development of the Lead Region and Platteville in particular. Contrary to the usual course of country papers at that time, it de- voted much space to local matters and preserved much of the early history of Platteville in a series of articles devoted to the early settle- ment of the place. It was quite worthy of the patronage it received, which enabled it to live, although (unlike its predecessor, which had a clear field) it had a competitor in the Herald at Lancaster, and later in the Republican at Potosi. Mr. Marsh published the paper alone until January 14, 1848, when he took in E. F. Bayley and the publish- ing firm became Marsh & Bayley. The paper was suspended in 1849, the publication being resumed September 13, 1851, by Mr. Marsh alone. The paper had a new dress of type and was very well printed and ably edited. The office was in Moore & Hodges's block. On Oc- tober 6, 1854, soon after the beginning of the ninth volume, Page & Chatterton became the proprietors and Harlan M. Page editor. Un- der Mr. Marsh, whose instincts were commercial rather than political,
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the paper had been neutral in politics, but Mr. Page espoused the cause of the young Republican party, which that fall triumphed in Grant County. Mr. Page became the sole proprietor January 11, 1856. He published an excellent local paper, and evidently labored hard, but the hard times of 1857 were too much for him, and on October 30, 1857, he suspended publication, and this time it was never renewed. The publisher subsequently became As- sistant State Superintendent of Schools.
J. T. Lindley published a few numbers of a paper called the Ex- aminer on the material of Page's defunct American, but it cannot properly be called a revival of that paper. Platteville was then for nearly two years without a news- paper.
HARLAN M. PAGE.
Grant County Witness .- The first number of this paper was is- sued in Lancaster, May 26, 1859, by Israel Sanderson ; but on July 14 of that year the paper was removed to Platteville, the removal being accomplished without missing an issue. Mr. Sanderson remained pro- prietor for about three years when he sold to George K. Shaw and Daniel Bockius. The latter withdrew in November, 1863, and in De- cember Mr. Shaw sold his interest to F. S. Houghawout. In less than a year Mr. Houghawout sold the office back to Mr. Shaw, who con- tinued to run the paper until March 1. 1867, when he sold out to Martin P. Rindlaub, who has continued in entire control since that time. Mr. Rindlaub had been for years assistant editor of the Herald and was a practical printer. Under his management the Witness has been financially successful and for its full local news a valued visitor in nearly every household in the southern part of the county. He has always taken a great interest in the newspaper press of the State and has been for some years President of the Wisconsin Press Association. For some time the labors of publication have in great part fallen on the shoulders of the associate editor, Will M. Rindlaub, son of the publisher, who was brought up in the newspaper business and has be-
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come very efficient in it. The Witness has always been Republican in politics. It was successively enlarged from a seven-column to aneight.
GEORGE K. SHAW.
MARTIN P. RINDLAUB. column and a nine-column folio. For some years it has been printed in a six-column quarto.
Der Correspondent, a German weekly, was started in Platteville in the fall of 1879, by Herman Melster and Ferdinand Reinsberger. It was an eight-column folio and obtained a profitable patronage. The partnership continued for several years, when Mr. Reinsberger sold his interest to his partner, who continued the publication alone. In a few more years a more profitable field presented itself at Helena, Mon- tana, and the paper at Platteville was discontinued and the material shipped to Helena.
Platteville Times .- This paper was started October 27, 1881. It was a nine-column folio, Greenback in politics. It was published for about four years and then discontinued and the material moved away W. A. Thompson was the editor and publisher.
Grant County Democrat .- This paper was started at Platteville September 26, 1884, by W. H. Peck, formerly editor of the Mineral Point Democrat. He continued publishing it until May 2,1889, when he sold it to L. C. McKenney, formerly of the Bloomington Record and later of the Boscobel Dial, who changed the name of the paper to the Grant County News, which name the paper still retains. In May,
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1893, McKenney sold the paper to R. C. Huntington, who continued as its publisher until September, 1895, when W. L. Washburn became the publisher and remained such until May 24, 1897, when he sold it to R. I. Dugdale, who is now its publisher. It is a six-column quarto.
Grant County Advocate .- This paper was started in Platteville in the fall of 1895 by R. C. Huntington, who published it a few months and discontinued it. It was followed by the Mound City Advocate, published for a short time in 1896 by James Conley.
Platteville Journal .- This paper was started February 25, 1899. B. F. Huntington is editor and publisher, and Roy C. Huntington is associate editor. It is independent in politics.
THE POWDER MILLS.
The great. demand for blasting-powder in the mines of the Lead Region was the inducement for establishing these mills near Platteville in 1848 by F. A. and E. H Stowell and D. Marble. They purchased the Griffith saw-mill on the Little Platte a mile and a half west of Platteville. The necessary buildings were erected and the plant got into operation in 1849. The first of the many explosions the plant has suffered occurred the very next year. It was in July, 1850, that the citizens of Platteville were startled by a dull, heavy roar that shook the ground. They at once surmised that an explosion at the powder mills had occurred, and hundreds of them hastened thither. They found the debris of the packing-house scattered around and also some fragments of the body of J. R. Marble, who was in the packing- house when the explosion took place. The unfortunate young man had an engagement to take a buggy ride with the Misses Vineyard that very afternoon.
The destroyed building was replaced and business resumed. In the spring of 1855 the plant was purchased by Elijah Bayley and Laf- lin & Smith, the celebrated powder-makers of Saugerties, N. Y. Pre- vious to this purchase the annual output of the mills had been about 8,000 kegs of blasting powder, worth from $3 to $3.75 a keg. The firm had at first made considerable sporting powder, but this manu- facture was not found profitable. After the purchase just mentioned the output was increased to 12,000 kegs a year.
Mr. Bayley withdrew after about a year and the firm was com- posed of Dwight Laflin, S. H. Laflin, F. Laflin, and Solomon A. Smith. This continued until 1869, when the Laflin & Smith and the Rand companies consolidated, forming the since famous Laflin & Rand
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Powder Company, owning mills in various parts of the country. The firm consisted of the Laflin Brothers, A. T. Rand, Solomon and John Turck, with A. T. Rand president.
The mills are situated on a tract of 175 acres of land, the rough hills of the Little Platte, wild and unreclaimed, except in the immedi- ate vicinity of the buildings. These are scattered along the valley and hillside, seemingly without design, but really intended to be so placed that an explosion in one will not injure the other; but it has.sometimes done so. The buildings are low and plain, grimy with powder stains. At a distance from the buildings are the kilns for the burning of char- coal. This is made mostly from white poplar or quaking aspen. Wil- low is thought to make a superior quality of charcoal, but it cannot be obtained in large quantities. The bark is peeled from the wood, which is corded up till it is thoroughly seasoned. It is then put into the kilns or retorts each 12X14 feet, built of brick, with openings in the sides for the escape of the smoke and steam. The fires are then lighted. and the mass left to burn slowly, or rather char, when the drafts are closed and sealed and the kilnful left until wanted for use at the mills.
The next important ingredient, in fact 75 per cent. of the whole, is niter or saltpeter. This attracts moisture very readily and when moist cannot be ground up with the charcoal and sulphur. Therefore there is a furnace over which the niter is dried in an iron pan 6x12 feet, capable of holding a thousand pounds of niter, in which it is stirred up until thoroughly dry. It is then carefully weighed and transferred in canvas bags on cars running on a narrow track to the cylinder mills, about a quarter of a mile from the furnace. There are two of these mills, 20x30, each containing ten cylinders 21/2x7 feet. Into each of these cylinders is placed four hundred pounds of niter, charcoal, and sulphur, in proper proportions, and the cylinders are set to revolving at the rate of fourteen revolutions a minute, and kept at it for forty or fifty hours. The pulverizing is effected by two hundred and fifty copper balls which roll about in the composition and crush it. The crushing was formerly done with an iron wheel on an iron bed, but the iron was apt to strike fire and an explosion would follow. Even the copper balls have of late years been discarded for wooden ones. When ground as fine as flour and thoroughly mixed, the pow- der is taken from the cylinders and carried in tubs on a railroad to the pressing rooms, about a thousand feet distant.
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In the pressing-room the powder is pressed into cakes by a hydro- static press of enormous power. A copper sheet about two feet square covered with a piece of canvas of the same size is first laid down and powder to an inch in depth is laid on; then another canvas and an- other copper sheet, and so on until the layers are about three feet high ; then the pile is pushed under the press, the platen of which is brought down with enormous power until the mass will no longer yield to the pressure. After a few moments of rest the settling together of the par- ticles in the mass allows of still further compression. These intervals of rest and renewed pressure continue for about two hours, when the compressed mass is taken out and another is put in. The copper and canvas sheets are then removed, leaving the powder in thin, hard sheets called press-cake.
The press-cake is taken to the graining-house, which is also dis- tant from the other buildings. It contains ten cylinders, each of which will hold twenty-five kegs of powder. The press-cake is broken up by cogged wheels driven by water-power. The broken powder falls upon a horizontal wire screen which is shaken like the sieves of a fan- ning-mill. The particles sufficiently small pass through the screen, while the larger ones pass off and are again put under the crushers. It is then placed in cylinders which revolve for some time, in which the grains of powder are polished by rubbing against each other. It is then assorted into sizes by being pressed through screens, and taken in barrels to the drying-room.
The drying-room is of brick 20x40. The powder is placed in wooden trays with pasteboard bottoms, the trays stacked up eight or ten feet high, and for seventy hours it is dried by a current of hot air sent from a furnace some distance away. When dry the powder is put up in kegs and placed in the magazine to await shipment and sale.
All possible precautions are taken against accidents. The work- men are selected for their skill, judgment, and carefulness. When com- ing to work they change their clothes, their working-clothes never leaving the mill. Shoes without a particle of iron about them must be worn and the tools are made as far as possible of materials which will not strike fire. Yet with all the precautions, explosions have oc- curred.
The first explosion has been described. The second occurred on the night of November 7, 1870. About two hundred pounds of pow- der in one of the cylinder mills exploded, blowing away all the build-
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ing and machinery except the water-wheel. Many of the copper balls in the cylinders were found a mile away. A clock in one of the work- shops was stopped by the shock of the explosion, indicating its time as 10:15. As no one was in the mill at the time, no one was hurt. The damage was estimated at $5,000.
On Friday morning, February 8,1877, the coining-mill was blown up, killing John Stout, who was working in the mill. There was about 250 pounds of powder in the room, but as some of it was damp perhaps it did not explode. The origin of the fatal spark was un- known. The side of the building was blown out and the roof blown off, but the machinery remained in place and continued to run. The body of Mr. Stout was found outside of the mill, lying partly in the water, with all his clothing stripped from him except his boots and stockings. The hair was burned off and the body badly burned. The loss was estimated at $3,000.
On November 8, 1877, the press-mill was blown up. James N. Mc- Granahan was in the bath-house and, seeing the flash, plunged under the water in the mill-race. barely escaping death. He was severely in- jured, but upon his recovery he resumed work in the mill.
On Monday evening, September 16, 1878, the most disastrous ex- plosion occurred. The report was so loud as to startle the residents of Platteville and hundreds flocked to the scene. The drying and pack- ing house, containing about eleven tons of powder, had blown up, leaving hardly a piece of the building, not even the foundation stones, in place. All the buildings were more or less injured; the house for drying lumber, the keg factory, coining-mill, old keg factory, wash- house, old sorting-room, and store-room were completely destroyed. One of the cylinder mills was considerably damaged. as were the press and saltpeter houses. The coining-mill, at least two hundred yards from the drying-house, was badly damaged. James McGranahan was in the wash-house, taking his bath after his day's work, just as in a previous explosion. The wash-house was knocked to pieces and he was buried under the ruins. His cries were heard and he was rescued with great difficulty from the mass of rubbish. He was'badlycut and bruised on the head, shoulders and thigh. Jacob Kramer was in the old store-house and was somewhat injured on the shoulders. Mr. Toppes with his team was near the charcoal towers; and the horses were so stunned that they fell down and the wagon was overturned. Daniel Schaffer, in company with some other workmen, was at work
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near the coining-mill, and, though the building was badly damaged, the men were not hurt. Henry Dobson, the engineer, was in his house just across the river, about two hundred yards from the dry-house. His wife had just asked him to eat his supper, before he was to go to his engine on the night shift. He and his wife were thrown out of their chairs to the floor. The house was badly riddled, the windows all broken and the plastering knocked from the walls and ceiling. A stone of a hundred pounds' weight came through the side of the house, struck the floor and the ground, and bounded up, passing out of the house near the ceiling. The bedstead was broken and the chair of Mrs. Dob- son was shivered to pieces. George Dobson was in a building a few rods from his father's house, painting kegs. The side of the building was blown out, the paint-keg tipped over and the contents thrown in his face. The trees for several hundred yards were stripped of their leaves, and one tree, more than a hundred yards from Dobson's house, was torn up. Daniel Schaffer lived in a house on the hill about four hundred yards from the explosion, and the windows and doors were nearly all broken and much of the plastering knocked off. The chim- ney on B. A. Jacob's house, nearly half a mile from the mills, was knocked off. The explosion was heard and felt at Warren, Ill., more than thirty miles away. The cause of the explosion was not known. Mr. Smith, who worked in the packing-house, had left it about an hour before the explosion and said that everything was all right when he left. The loss was about $10,000.
Just before the explosion J. L. Rewey had visited the works and was at the superintendent's house. "There," said the superintendent, "You have seen all there is to a powder-mill except an explosion, and if you want to see that I'll ring up the curtain." Without waiting to give Mr. Rewey a chance to decline the invitation, the explosion oc- curred. We may be sure, however, that the superintendent didn't press the button. Mr. McGranahan recovered and went to work in the mills again. He experienced another explosion in 1891. His experi- ence furnished the ground for a good bit of humor by a local writer. Describing a game of base-ball by a fat men's club, he said that when the heaviest one made a run "the ground trembled as it does when the powder mill is blowing up Jim McGranahan." Mr. McGran- ahan retired at last and afterward served as treasurer of the city of Platteville.
One of the cylinder mills again exploded on the night of November
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24, 1886, with three hundred kegs of powder. No one was on the grounds except the engineer, George Higley, who was severely shocked but otherwise unhurt. Trees were torn up and great pieces of metal were thrown a mile or more. The great column of smoke reddened with flame that rose up hundreds of feet and spread out like an um- brella was a grand sight.
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