USA > Wisconsin > Grant County > History of Grant County Wisconsin, including its civil, political, geological, mineralogical archaeological and military history > Part 48
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In the summer of 1832, at the close of the Black Hawk War, Isaac Whittaker came with his wife-the second white woman in Potosi.
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Willis St. John came at the same time and discovered a cave contain- ing a large quantity of mineral and also a great many snakes, from which circumstance the valley was called "Snake Hollow," a name it long retained. "St. John's Cave," as it was called, turned out a very large quantity of mineral and St. John was long a prominent person in the settlement, but in his old age he became poor and despondent, although rich in the esteem and good-will of all his neighbors. He died in 1853.
James P. Cox, then Sheriff of Iowa County (which included all of what is now Grant County), spent some time here in the summer of 1832, and afterward made his home here until he removed to his farm five miles south of Lancaster, a homestead which he called "Waukon." He was quite prominent in public affairs. He died in 1866.
In the fall of 1832 Wheeler & Price (G. M. Price, afterward a prom. inent man at Cassville) opened a store in the new mining camp. In 1833 Ruel Morrell, who afterward settled in the Hurricane, and Rob- ert Porter, who afterward had a mill on Grant River in Beetown, came to the Hollow. Porter was a blacksmith and did some work sharpen- ing miners' tools. John Lyon came in 1834. Mrs. Davies, of British Hollow, and Mrs. Peter Woodhouse, of Bloomington, are daughters of his.
1n 1835 there were many new comers, some of whom remained for life. Among them were John Van Dyke, who died there April 5, 1883, aged 71, and Jefferson Toulouse, who became a smelter in Rigsby Hol- low, and who had been a voyageur or trapper in the service of the Northwest Fur Company. With him, or not long after him, came sev- eral other Frenchmen, some with families, who had been in the service of the Northwest Fur Company at Pembina : Guyon, Montpleasure, Gau- tier, Fourchette, Robideaux, Cornique, and Thibeault. Some of these names were afterward anglicised in spelling, as, Gotier, Freshett, and Tebo.
Some of the new comers in 1836 afterward became prominent in other places. "Thode" Barber, soon after- ward and still a resident of Lancaster, was one; another was Celestin Kal- tenbach, who became the dean of
CELESTIN KALTENBACH.
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postmasters in the United States, holding that office from August 8, 1837, to the time of his death, March 18, 1891, with the exception of the time between 1862 and 1870. Before coming to Potosi he had mined for three years about Dubuque. On coming to the "Hollow," he started a store (in the location then known as Van Buren) which he.carried on for more than fifty years. He held several town of- fices and was so much esteemed in the community that to hundreds his advice or admonition was law. He was 78 years old at his death, Another comer this year was Samuel Morris, who had been living at Dubuque and was carrying on a little store there in 1832 when the soldiers under Lieutenant (afterward President) Jefferson Davis came and drove the miners from the place, which was then Indianland. In a few years he went to Cassville and carried on a store there for many years, and then returned to Potosi, where he died September 27, 1891. He was a rough and rugged frontiersman, but intelligent and highly respected. Also in 1836 came David Goodrich, who spent the rest of his life in Potosi and died there March 18, 1891, at the age of 84, "full of. years and honor;" and Bartimeus White, who, after mining several years, settled on a farm near Lancaster, where he still lives at the ripe age of 89; and Sylvester Brawner, a pioneer miner of Potosi, now past 90. Stephen B. Chase first came to Potosi in 1834, then returned to Dubuque, came back to Potosi in 1836 and lived there many years. He was in an early day superintendent of the county poor-farm. He died in Lancaster February 14,1887. Elisha E. Brock and Tarlton F. Brock, afterward county officers, came some time before 1836. David Gillespie, since a well-known justice of the peace, Robert Templeton, William Garey, William Clark, Joseph Woolley, Henry B. Uppena, W. T. Ennor, William Woods, Mrs. Fulton, Myron Harper, Joseph Petty, Peleg Hull, James White, George Maderie, Simpson and Tyre Oldham, Alexander Walker, and John and Ira Dodson came in 1836, or perhaps some of them a year or two before. James F. Chapman, a surveyor and afterward a prominent man, came with his family, and Braton Bushee, with his family, this year. Chapman moved into a cabin built by Peleg Hull. He long afterward went to Colorado and died there in 1895. It is said that on December 19, 1836, the first white child was born in Potosi : Mary, daughter of Celestin Kaltenbach and his wife. She grew up in Potosi, married Hyman Block, a merchant, and went to St. Louis to live.
In 1837 Snake Hollow was "booming." .James R. Vineyard put
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in another store there. The famous "Long Range" was discovered this year. Andrew J. Greene came this year with his family and spent the rest of his life there, dying September 11, 1899, aged 84. John Woodhouse with his numerous family, who afterward helped materi- ally to populate Beetown and Tafton, came this year. Other comers were James Threlfeld, Patrick McKenney, Thomas Mudd, Richard Wilmott, William Casey, Alexander Polkinghorn, Owen Mclaughlin, and P. F. Dillon, afterward a well-known resident of Lancaster, who went to California and died there. Mrs Fulton had a large story-and- a-half building put up and leased it to a man named Kibbe as a tav- ern, subsequently called the Bell Tavern. Kibbe did a rushing business for a while until he had to "skip out" to escape one of his previous wives from whom he had not been released by law or by death. A post-office named Van Buren was established here this year with C. Kaltenbach as postmaster. According to some accounts, Peter Coyle was postmaster for a few months early in 1837, with his office at "the Head of the Hollow." The Lafayette Mining Company, composed of Louis Eaton, William B. Sheldon, Morgan L. Martin,and F. K.O'Fer- rall, was organized this year and began operations on Section 28, Town 3. Range 3. The village of Lafayette was laid out in the spring of this year, by Samuel B. Rountree and William Clark, upon Grant Slough, near the present railroad station. The slough was then nav- igable for large steamers, and this was long the port of Potosi. John R. Coons opened a store at Lafayette, afterward conducted by the firm of Coons, Woolley & Co. Cook & Brenneman, Millechop & Co., and Braton Bushee also opened stores there.
In 1838 Jonathan Craig came in and put up a warehouse at Lafay- ette. John Spenseley and Matthew Ham had been running a furnace on Section 33, near the present village of Potosi, and this year they sold it to Thomas Palliser, Joseph Woolley, and Joseph Petty, who en- larged it. The landing at Lafayette was becoming an important port. Questions of titles to mines brought on litigation, and David T. An- derson and H. C. Green came in as lawyers. The physicians were Drs. C. D. Crockwell and Allen Hill. Among the new comers were Enos P. and Henry Wood, who had settled in Town 3, Range 4, in 1837; Elias Dean, who settled on Section 4, Town 2, Range 3; Henry Snare, Wil- liam McDaniel, Jacob D. Merritt, Abram Morgan, William McDonald, Thomas Harrison, Alexander George, Edward Lull, and William A. Coons, who settled in Lafayette; Green Bandy, who continued to live
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in Potosi until his death in 1889 aged 80; Marquis D. Briggs with his family, and Joseph Jarrett.
The legislature of 1838 had granted a charter to James P. Cox and Justus Persons to run a ferry from a landing in Dubuque County to Osceola, a place that was hardly more than a name, on the bank of the Mississippi, a mile or so from Lafayette. The County Board, at its April session, 1838, granted Cox & Persons a license, fixing the rates of fare. This ferry has been described on pages 42 and 43.
THE JIM CROW MURDER.
In 1838 occurred the "Jim Crow" murder, which created great excitement, not only in Potosi but throughout the county. The Long Range, referred to on page 517, was discovered by one Phipps, who failed to find the main body of mineral and sold to Moore & Watson. The wealth soon developed in the lode tempted some persons to try to obtain forcible possession of it, and to accomplish this they enlisted two or three of a gang of ruffians who then infested the settlement, ready for any evil deed that promised plunder. The owners heard of the design, and to guard against it they gave a "fighting interest " to James Wagner, better known as "Jim Crow," a man of enormous strength and brave as he was strong. As an opening move John Cal- der appeared on the ground, with a rifle, and claimed the mine. Jim Crow snatched the rifle from Calder's hands and kicked him off from the diggings. A few days later the principals in the plot, Samuel Rountree, William Clark, and Cyrus Harper, and their retainers, Jacob Derrick, William Cooley, and Lindsay Evans, all armed, approached the mine. Jim Crow was ready, heavily armed. Raising his rifle, he ordered them to halt. Knowing that it they came on Jim would shoot and shoot to kill, the gang halted and tried to parley ; but Jim sternly ordered them to shut their mouths and get off the range, and so great was their dread of him that, although six against one, they obeyed.
But the matter was not ended. Several days later Jim was sitting one evening in Owen Mclaughlin's "grocery" and Cooley, Derrick, and Evans entered. They exhibited no hostility to Jim; on the contrary, they asked him to drink. But as they were leaving the room Evans suddenly drew a pistol and shot Jim through the heart.
Evans, Derrick, and Cooley were arrested; but their employers were men of prominence and influence and the preliminary trial was a farce-the assassins were set at liberty.
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But the outrage aroused the people and the gang were again ar- rested and brought before Justice Nelson Dewey at Lancaster for trial. They brought strong influence to bear to clear themselves, but they found the Governor-to-be of quite different stuff from the Potosi justice, and they were sent to Prairie du Chien for safe keeping until their trial in the district court. But they soon got free on a writ of habeas corpus, granted by Judge Dunn, much to the dissatisfaction of the majority of the people.
The gang, including Rountree, Clark, and Harper, were compelled to leave the settlement. A meeting of the citizens also discussed the question of driving out Dr. Allen Hill, a friend of Rountree and Clark. But the Doctor himself took the floor with a rifle, and with great de- cision, enveloped in a good deal of profanity, informed the meeting that they could not drive him out and should not discuss the matter, and that he should shoot the first man that made a movement or spoke a syllable in an attempt to drive him out. The meeting at once adjourned informally, each man getting out of the room as quickly and quietly as possible.
POTOSI'S GROWTH.
In 1839 there was considerable improvement. Simon E. Lewis, Solon M. Langworthy, and James F. Chapman opened stores: A Methodist church was built. A log house for a Catholic chapel had been built in 1836. Among the new comers were William Hewitt, Hi- ram Hallowell, Henry Webster, Ezra Hall, Isaac Martin, William Hosmer, William Kinney and Alfred Kinney, and the families of these; also, Thomas Smith, Samuel Yenowine, Myron Patterson, C. C. Drake, Briar Davis, Charles Davis, Newton Morris, Robert Bulman, Hiram Weld, William W. Wright (who afterward opened a farm three miles north of Potosi), A. W. Emery, and Cornelius Kennedy, a Revolution- ary soldier and a teacher.
In the spring of 1839 the village of Van Buren was laid out by Joseph Woolley, Thomas Palliser, and Joseph Petty, although the place had for two years had a post-office and several buildings. Kal- tenbach that year added a tavern to hisstore. The city of Osceola was laid out by James P. Cox and the plat filed April 3, 1839. It was a magnificent plat on Sections 10, 11, 12, 14, and 15, Town 2, Range 3, and took in the entire river bottom from the main stream, across the sloughs, and part of the bluffs, south and east of Lafayette. The city did not materialize and the county records fail to show the sale of any
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lots, except to Hiram Weld, who afterward had a ferry landing there.
In 1840 Woods & Massey (H. L. Massey, for years one of the County Commissioners) opened a store. In 1841 S. M. Langworthy built a brick residence-the first brick building in the place, and Lang- worthy & Massey put up a frame store building. Among the comers in 1840 and 1841 were Joseph Palliser and William Longbotham. The former engaged in smelting and the latter in smelting, mining, and farming.
By act of the legislature approved February 19, 1841, the village of Potosi was incorporated (this and Platteville, incorporated the same day, being the first incorporated villages in the county) embrac- ing the settlement called "the Head of the Hollow," Van Buren, and Lafayette, the first election to be held at the house of C. Kaltenbach.
In 1841 James White built a stone blacksmith shop. In 1842 John Simplot built a brick house; in 1843, the Wisconsin House (later the residence of J. W. Seaton) was built; in 1842 the hotel later called the Banfill House was completed by Cox & Groshong and occupied by James Hudson. At this time there were two stores in Lafayette: those of Braton Bushee and D. Mckenzie; one in Van Buren : that of George Maderie; in Potosi there were several, among them those of I. G. Ury, Langworthy & Massey, S. E. Lewis & Co., Lowther & Dyer, and Cook & Brenneman. In 1843 " Madam Entz, late of Galena," put out her sign as milliner.
From the report of the port of Potosi April 29, 1843, we learn that "the steamer Rapids arrived April 24 from St. Louis with mer- chandise and sundries and twenty-five passengers-steamer Osage from St. Louis arrived-departures : steamer Rapids for St. Louis April 25; steamer Osage for St. Louis April 26, with 3,000 pigs of lead. Stock of lead on hand today, 15,000 pigs-our furnaces all in blast. Freight to St. Louis 121/2c. Price of lead $2.121/2 cash."
As mining was the first industry, furnaces were the first manufac- turing plants of Potosi. The first one was built by Ham & Spenseley in 1834 in Rigsby Hollow. In 1837 they built a blast furnace. The French furnace was built in 1839. In 1840 Jonathan Craig built a furnace at British Hollow, and Thomas Taylor had a furnace at Osceola.
In the spring of 1844 Potosi put on still more city airs, as Martin T. Ennor announced that he had started a bakery at "the Head of the
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Hollow." The lawyers of Potosi in 1844 were J. E. Dodge, Cyrus K. Lord, Charles Latimer, and F. A. Chenoweth.
In 1845 Potosi boasted of three churches, two of them (Methodist and Presbyterian) of brick, a female seminary, a male academy, 8 dry- gouds stores, 2 drug stores, 1 clothing store, 1 hardware store, 4 cab- inet shops, 4 furnaces, 6 "groceries," 3 blacksmith shops, 1 chair shop, 2 brick-yards, 1 tan-yard, 1 livery stable, 1 fanning-mill factory, 3 physicians, 1 jeweler, 2 bakers, 2 tinners, 2 tailors, 25 joiners, 12 ma- sons, 1 painter, 1 barber, a Free Masons' lodge, an Odd Fellows' lodge, and 1,300 population. At that date Potosi was the largest town in the western part of the State and ranked with Galena for both whole- sale and retail trade. The river towns and trading posts clear up to Fort Snelling laid in their supplies from Potosi. The lumbermen from the Kickapoo and Wisconsin, the surveyors from the Dubuque and Mineral Point land offices, and the hundreds of teamsters coming up from Illinois in the spring with their ten-ox teams to break up the prairie, all obtained their supplies at Potosi. Galena and Dubuque were as jealous of Potosi as of each other, and employed runners to divert the trade from Potosi.
This busy town was strung out for about three miles along a val- ley so narrow as to give room for only one street. Goodbue said of it : "It seems to be a question whether the creek or the street has the right of way down the hollow." After a heavy rain the creek decidedly had the right of ,way and the street was "sidetracked " for a time.
LATIMER'S DUEL AND DEATH.
A formal duel and a subsequent informal shooting affair which greatly excited the inhabitants of Potosi at the time was one in which an Englishman named Charles Latimer was the principal figure. Con- siderable feeling had been stirred up by the efforts of some persons to have the law permitting foreigners to vote after a three months' resi- dence in the State repealed. Latimer, as a foreigner, of course, op- posed the repeal. One of his strongest coadjutors was Peter Coyle, an Irishman and a justice of the peace for the precinct of Potosi.
Latimer was discussing the matter with some heat in a saloon, and took occasion to set off American character and peculiarities in a manner very distastasteful to some of his hearers, among whom was Thomas Gloster, a Kentuckian, who knocked Latimer down. The En- glishman got up and fearlessly continued his remarks and Gloster knocked him down again, giving him a very black eye. Latimer then
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drank several glasses of liquor in a short time, and then addressed Colonel White, a Kentuckian, in a very irritating manner, and White took his turn in knocking Latimer down. This occurred on Saturday night, February 17, 1845. On the next morning Gloster went to Lat- mer, acknowledged that his acts had been without sufficient provoca- tion, and begged his pardon, and the matter seemed amicably settled. On Monday morning Colonel White received a note from Latimer, asking him either to acknowledge publicly that he had injured and insulted him without cause, or fight a duel. White agreed on the meeting and the time was fixed at early the next morning. Gloster acted as second for White and Celestin Kaltenbach as second for Lati- mer. On the scene of combat the friends of the parties persuaded them to refer the dispute to a committee, who reported that it was a mis- understanding and no apologies from either party were necessary.
The affair might have ended here had not ill-advised friends of Latimer led him to believe that Gloster still had dangerous designs against him, and half-crazed by drink and excitement, he easily believed it. So, on the next Friday morning, he armed himself with three pis- tols and a bowie-knife and sought his supposed enemy. He met Glos- ter and fired a pistol at him and missed. Gloster said he was unarmed and Latimer told him to go and arm himself. Gloster went into a saloon and procured a double-barreled shotgun and came out, finding his enemy waiting for him. "I am ready," said Gloster. The other drew a pistol and snapped it, but it missed fire. He then, drew a bo- wie-knife and advanced. Gloster fired both barrels of the gun at short intervals, retreating as he did so. The second shot gave Latimer a mortal wound.
Gloster was tried and acquitted on the ground that he acted in self-defense. The justice, Peter Coyle, was severely censured for not arresting Latimer when it was evident that he was armed and hunt- ing for blood.
Latimer was a brilliant but dissipated man, an attorney of much ability. Although an Englishman, it is not true that he irritated Americans by boasting about England, as he had himself taken up arms against the mother country in the "Patriot War" in Canada, and for this reason was a fugitive from that country.
Among the citizens of Potosi and vicinity at this date who have net been before mentioned were William Hull, attorney, T. J. Emerson, Dr. G. N. Bicknell, Edwin Bicknell, Mrs. Emeline Fisher, Dr. Bennett
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Armstrong, Samuel Wilson, Samuel Vance, Valentine Huntemer, Wil- liam Lightfoot, Joel Pedlar, William McCulloch, Levi Brown, John P. Lewis, James Woolfolk, Allen Woolfolk, Davis Gillilan, John Swale, C. G. Hanscomb, John Sweeney, Conners Sweeney, T. W. Lakin, Jacob Neufang, T. D. Connor, C. Smith, L. D. Lewis, Thomas J. Kerling, and A. B. Southworth.
POTOSI'S CANAL.
An act of Congress in June, 1844, had been obtained, appropriating a section of land for the improvement of Grant River in the town of Potosi. The legislature of 1845 appointed commissioners who were to cause Section 34, Town 3, Range 3, to be surveyed into lots, and to decide upon and award preemptions. The lots were to be appraised and sold. A receiver was appointed to receive all money paid for lots and give certificates of such payments, which entitled the purchasers to receive from the Governor of the State patents for the lots. The com- missioners were also to cause a survey and estimate to be made of the improvement provided for by the act of Congress and report at the next session of the legislature. The money was to remain in the hands of the receiver, to be applied to the improvement in such a manner as the legislature should direct.
The commissioners submitted their report to the legislature of 1846, together with the report of the receiver, from which it appeared that they had caused the section to be surveyed into village lots and "outlots;" that they had examined and determined all claims to pre- emption rights presented, the valuation of which had been assessed by persons appointed by the Surveyor-General, and that they had, in pursuance of the act of the last session, sold all the lots in said section of land; that the aggregate amount of all the sales was $4,130.64; that the expenditures under the said act of the legislature were $1,- 405.21, leaving a balance in the hands of the receiver of $2,725.43.
The commissioners also submitted a report of Captain Joshua Barnes, U. S. engineer, superintending the improvement of the Du- buque harbor, who, after making an examination and estimates of the several different plans of improving the harbor of Potosi, recom- mended a direct cut from the Mississippi River to Grant River slough, the cost of which he estimated at $20,041.
The reports of the commissioners, receiver, and engineer were re- ferred to a committee of the House, of which Thomas P. Burnett was chairman, which reported that: "Although the cost of the proposed
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canal greatly exceeds the funds now available for its construction, and it may seem a large sum to apply to such a work, yet the committee are of the opinion that the importance of the improvement to the western part of the Territory is of such magnitude that the work ought to be undertaken, and a commencement made with the funds now applicable for that purpose. The sum will be very nearly or quite sufficient, according to the estimate that has been made, to pay for the clearing and grabbing of the ground and making the first course of excavation. This much of the work can be completed during the pres- ent year, and it may reasonably be expected that Congress will appro- priate a sufficient sum to finish the improvement after it shall have been commenced."
The legislature approved the report of the committee and ap pointed James F. Chapman a commissioner to expend the money in the hands of the receiver, upon the plan recommended by Captain Barnes. The legislature memorialized Congress for an appropriation of $17,316.02, but no appropriation (not even the odd two cents asked for) was obtained.
The same legislature gave James F. Chapman an exclusive charter for a ferry across Grant and Mississippi Rivers at the place of this im- provement.
Mr. Chapman made his report to the legislature of 1847. The first work performed was the clearing and grubbing of the line of the canal, which was let to the lowest bidder at $688.20. He reported that the estimate of the engineer of the amount of excavation to dig the canal to the depth of six feet below the average surface and fifty feet wide at the surface was 31,027 cubic yards-one hundred feet wide double that amount. To dig the canal four feet deep and fifty feet wide would require 17,315 yards of excavation.
The citizens of Potosi at a public meeting requested the commis- sioner to limit the excavation to fifty feet in width and to make it as deep as the funds would admit of. He accordingly adopted that width, and let the contract for 14,000 yards at twelve cents per cubic yard. He reported that the contractor had completed 11,000 yards and would complete the remaining 3,000 yards by the first of April.
The legislature approved this report and authorized the town of Potosi to borrow $5,000 for the purpose of completing the canal.
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The available funds were honestly expended in digging, but, of course, without any valuable results, and the enterprise finally died.
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