History of Grant County, Wisconsin, Part 74

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1044

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Three years later, in 1855, the population of the county, according to the State census, was 23,170, against 16,169 for 1850, showing not only that the tide of outflowing gold-seekers had been stopped and even returned upon itself, but had been counteracted hy a much larger wave of immigration flowing into the county which now advanced with steady strides for the next five years. Then came the war of the great rebellion which again depleted old Grant of its brawny sons, who responded so nobly to the call for living breastworks to oppose the slimy wave of secession. Of this great and patriotic outpouring, extended mention is made in its proper place. With the return of peace, Grant County once more resumed its onward march. Manufactories began to spring up in different parts of the county, while agriculture, which at first, as we have seen, was hardly noticed or thought of, had now become the principal occupa- tion of the inhabitants. The census reports of 1870 showed that ahout one-half of the land of the county was under cultivation. Of the remaining half, the greater portion was woodland ; leaving but about one-fifth of the land of the county unimproved; which, when the bad and broken lands among the bluffs are taken into consideration, is an extremely creditable showing. The number of farms in the county at that time was 4,301, of which the great majority, three- fourths in fact, were from twenty to one hundred acres in extent. The value of these farms was $11,662,855, their products amounting to $2,629,805. The capital invested in manufact- uring at the same date was $627, 130, with an annual production of $1,122,000. The principal industries, stating them as they came on the relative scale of value were : Flouring-mills, with an annual production of $261,345; lumber, $117,150; woolen goods, $65,568, and carriages and wagons, $64,670. The productions of the lead mines within the county was at the same time $196,957.

Thus Grant County took rank not only as an agricultural and mining county, but as one whose manufacturing interests would make a respectable and goodly showing alongside those of any other county of the State. This rank it has since maintained. It will be found that the census returns when published for 1880, will show about the same amount of production in the manufacturing industries, although in some branches there may be a slight falling off, especially in the matter of carriages and wagons, which industry has in a great measure been driven from the county by the competition from the eastern part of Wisconsin and other States. The flouring interests havealso suffered somewhat, but that which is lost in one branch will be offset in a measure in the increased production in another. Possessed of a fine country, water-power in abundance, with its mines still unexhausted, Grant County may well view with a hopeful countenance the great future which stretches away before it. All itneeds to develop the latent wealth, is better transpor- tation facilities, and these are already promised with a goodly prospect of the promises being fulfilled with proper transportation by means of which goods manufactured in the county can be brought into direct competition with the productions of other sections, the advancement in manufactured pro- ductions will be steady and unbroken. The vista is constantly brightening. Although lovingly referred to by its children as " old Grant," the county is yet young in possibilities, and the development of its latent riches with its three sources of wealth, agriculture, manufacturing and its mines from which to draw, the county has yet to enter upon its most felicitous period of existence.

MINING TROUBLES.

Immediately upon the earliest discovery of mineral in that section afterward known as the "lead region," the Government withheld these lands from sale, and established a system of rental, stationing a Government agent in the different mining districts to collect the same, one-

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tenth of the product of the mines being the general rule of tribute. This tax was not very well received by the miners, even at the establishment of the new regulations, and as the region became more thickly occupied by delvers after the hidden treasure, many miners refused to pay " tribute to Cæsar." This course became gradually more and more popular, owing, first, to self-interest, and second, to a growing suspicion that the Government agents were given to lin- ing their own pockets, rather than transferring to Uncle Sam the rents received. Among the later agents was one of the Floyds, a name afterward rendered odious by secession proclivities, and one Flanagen. The general rule was for these gentlemen to remain as long as it was deemed healthy to do so and then decamp, leaving the Government to appoint a new agent who · was sure to follow in the footsteps of his predecessors. At the period mentioned, agents wielded an additional authority in having the power to grant new trials where contests in regard to claims had been tried before the usual board of arbitrators. These arbitrators were six in num- ber, and their verdict was decisive unless the Government agent saw fit to grant a new trial in the premises.

Having discovered at last that it was playing a losing game, the Government determined, in 1846. to throw the lands upon the market for sale to the highest bidder. This decision created a whirlwind of opposition from every miner's camp in "the diggings." The danger of having their claims bought up by some speculator, who could at his will, run the price up to a figure where the unfortunate occupant could not touch it, was more appalling than the former Govern- mental policy. Indignation meetings were held in all the camps, and resolutions adopted pro- testing against this action on the part of the Government, and calling for the appointment of committees who should proceed to adjust all disputed claims, and then provide for the appoint- ment of a bidder whose duty it should be to attend the land sales and bid off the different lands, after which he was to re-convey them to the original owners. A claim was about two hundred yards square, but as the mineral was sometimes found running east and west, sometimes angling from that line, the different claims assumed an oddly jumbled appearance when viewed upon the surface and upon maps. As an example of the text and tone of the resolutions passed at these miners' meetings, below is given the preamble and resolutions adopted at a meeting held at British Hollow, December 19, 1846 :

WHEREAS, The President of the United States has ordered the sale of the reserved mineral lands in this land district, which sale takes place on the 24th of May next, to the highest bidder without respect to claims or to settlers, leaving it for speculators to bid off our claims and property which have cost us the labor of years. Therefore,

Rosolved, Ist. That we are willing to pay the price fixed by the Government, $2.50 per acre, for our homes and claims, and will repel by force any attempt to make us pay more.

Resolved, 2d. That we will all be at Mineral Point on the first day of the land sales, and there remain until all the reserved lands on the west side of the Big Platte have been offered for sale.

Resolved, 3d. That there will be a committee of five appointed by this meeting, three of whom shall form a quorum, whose duty it shall be in all cases where there are conflicting claims, to hear the evidence in the case and decide according to justice and equity, and their decision shall be final.

Resolved, 4th. That the jurisdiction of this committee shall extend over Town 3 north, of Range 3 west, and the whole of Section 12 in Town 2 north, and Range 3 west. Said committee shall give a certificate of decision to the rightful owner, with the appropriate value affixed thereto.

Resolved, 5th. That the owners of claims on each section shall appoint one or more of their numher, who shall receive the certificate of each forty-acre lot as it is bid off at the land sale, and who shall give bond in double the appraised value of said claims to redeed it to the rightful owners.

Resolved, 6th. That the claimants shall employ the County Surveyor to survey their claims and give a certificate to the owners thereof, specifying the number of acres in the claim surveyed, and also a plat of the whole survey, for the settlers on the reserved lands.

Resolved, 7th. That no committeeman shall sit to investigate the right of any claim in which he is interested. Resolved, 8th. That a committee of five be appointed by this meeting, who are claimants of recerved lands, whose duty it shall be to correspond with all meetings held in this and Iowa Counties, for the purpose of carrying into effect the objects of this meeting, offering them our and soliciting their co-operation.

This feeling of injustice was shared by all classes. The Wisconsin (now Grant County) Herald, commenting on the action of the Government, and the meetings of the miners for pro- tection, says:

"The only fault we have to find with the bill providing for the sale of these lands is, that the claimants are not allowed to enter them at $1.25 per acre. The law makes the minimum

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price $2.50. By reference to our first page it will be seen that the claimants in the west part of the county, have formed an association for mutual protection against the rapacity of specu- lators. This is the only plan by which their best rights can be secured. In union there is strength. Fill up the ranks, present yourselves in solid, serried phalanx at the land office on the day of sale. Submit all disputes unconditionally to the arbitrament of your committee, heal all dissensions, sacrifice even what you deem your individual rights if need be, and substantial jus- tice will be done to all. * *

* * Congress walks into us to the extent of ten bits per acre; that is we have to pay just twice as much for land as others who buy of the public domain. There let the robbery of Government forever cease.

Early in the succeeding year, the following memorial was presented to Congress by the Territorial Legislature.

TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED :

The memorial of the Council and House of Representatives of the Legislative Assembly of Wisconsin respect- fully represents,

That by the late proclamation issued by the President of the United States for the sale of lands in the Mineral Point Land District, in the Territory of Wisconsin, to be held at Mineral Point, on the 24th day of May next, a large number of tracts of land are proclaimed for sale, which were entered at the Mineral Point Land Office several years sgo, some of them as early as 1832, in accordance with the laws of the United States regulating the sale of the public landa. Some of the said lands were entered by pre-emption, and some were purchased st publio sale, at prices ranging from $1.25 to $1.60 per acre. The principal value of these lands at present has been given to them, in many cases, by the labor and improvements of the pioneer settlers of the country, who came to the country at an early day and were exposed to all the hardships and privations peculiar to the settlement of a new and wild country. Thoss privationa and hardships can be appreciated by those, and those only, who are acquainted with the nature and character of aavsge and uncivilized Indian tribes, with which Wisconsin, in the daya of the early settlement of this portion of the country, was filled. These settlers have by their own hands subdued the forest, cultivated the prairies, opened the mines, constructed the roada, etc., and have thus done much and everything toward develop- ing the rich resources of the country, and paving the way for the unparalleled growth and settlement of the richest portion of the hitherto public domain of the United States.

In other instances these aame lands have been sold and transferred by the original settlera to other peraona who havs purchased in good faith, and paid large considerationa for improvements thereon, and from time to time have mads further and other valuable improvementa, equal, in many instances, to five times at least the original value of the land. These lands so entered and transferred from individual to individual, in some cases many times, and by desds of warranty, are now offered for sale a second time under proclamation. As the most injurious and diass- trous consequencea would result to a large and respectable portion of the citizens of Wisconsin, if the lands entered and paid for should again be diaposed of at public sale, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Wisconsin deem it an act of duty to the people residing in said district to address your honorable body in their behalf.

After referring to the welfare of one portion of the Territory upon the prosperity of the whole, the importance of the tenure of leases and the suggestion that the proper place to sub- mit fraudulent entries was the organized tribunals of justice, while to expose the lands for sale would be to strip many settlers of homes, the memorists closed by stating, " In view of these facts, and urged by the most important considerations of public policy and public and private justice, and as the only effectual means of protecting and securing the rights of innocent parties, the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Wisconsin respectfully and most earnestly petition your honorable body to provide by law for withholding from sale all lands in the Mineral Point District heretofore sold, and for the issuing of patents for all lands purchased at said land office, saving such entries as have been, or may hereafter be declared fraudulent entries by the proper tribunals."

Despite memorials, resolutions and entreaties, the Government continued with its prepara- tions for the sale of the mineral lands. The miners, in their turn, as the time drew near for the sales, assembled in large numbers at Mineral Point. Previous to the day set for commenc- ing the sale, a public meeting was held, Maj. J. H. Roundtree, of Platteville, officiating as Chairman, at which it was determined that the bidders from each place should bid off the land in their vicinity, and that none others should be allowed to bid. An "inspection committee" was appointed, whose duty it was to see that no officious meddlers interrupted the harmony of the sale. It is needless, perhaps, to add that none of that class made themselves manifest, and the lands were bid off as proposed; the bidder taking the land in the name of the owner, when only one party laid claim to the portion up for sale, and where several claims were located on a

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piece it was taken in the name of the bidder, and then by him conveyed to the occupants forth- with. Thus the long-disputed land question was settled once and for all.

FIRST THINGS.

The first farming in the county was done by Col. Joseph Dixon, who, in the early fall of 1827, began to prepare a farm a short distance from Platteville. The succeeding spring he plowed twenty acres and planted it to corn, of which he raised a generous crop that year.

The first marriage in the present county was performed in September, 1828, at Esquire Holmans, the contracting parties being James R. Vineyard and Miss Mary Jones.

The first white child born in the county was Dorothy J. Bushnell, born at Muscalunge in 1828.

The first saw-mill was erected in 1829, by Mr. Edgerton Hough, at Gibralter.

The first schoolhouse was built in Platteville in 1834, and school opened the same year, Mr. Hundington, master.

First church in the county was erected at Platteville in 1837 by the Methodist denomination First post office established at Platteville in 1829.

The first court was held at Cassville, Judge Dunn presiding in June, 1837. First town election was held in spring of 1833 at Platteville.

First election of county officers was held in the spring of 1837.

The first railroad was Prairie du Chien Division of Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, opened in Grant County in 1856.

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY GOVERNMENT-GRANT COUNTY FORMED-THE COUNTY SEAT-ATTEMPTS TO DIVIDE THE COUNTY-COUNTY OFFICERS-TERRITORIAL AND STATE REPRESENTATION-TERRITORIAL LEG- ISLATURE-STATE ORGANIZATION-REPRESENTATIVES IN CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION-TOWN ORGANIZATION-LEGAL JURISDICTION-COUNTY BUILDINGS-EARLY JUSTICE-CAPITAL CRIMES -JIM CROW MURDER-RUSSELL MURDER-LATIMER MURDER-DE LASSEAUX MURDER-JORDAN MURDER-HARNEY MURDER-HAGGERTY MURDER-KILLING OF MILAS K. YOUNG.

EARLY GOVERNMENT.

The first civilized claimants to the territory now included within the boundaries of Wiscon- sin were the French. The whole of the Northwest was claimed by France from 1671 to 1763, when it was surrendered to the English. By the " Quebec Act" of 1774, all of this region was placed under the local administration of Canada. It was, however, practically put under a des- potic military rule, and so continued until possession passed to the United States. Before the last-mentioned event, and during and after the Revolution, the conflicting claims of Virginia, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut to portions of the country were relinquished to the General Government. All these claims were based upon supposed chartered rights, Virginia adding to hers the right of conquest, as she contended, of the "Illinois country " during the Revolution. As early as October, 1778, Virginia declared, by an act of her General Assembly, that all the citizens of that commonwealth who were then settled, or should thereafter settle, on the western side of the Ohio, should be included in a distinct county, which should be called Illinois. No Virginians were then settled as far north as the southern boundary line of what is now Wisconsin, and, as none thereafter located so far north before Virginia relinquished to tlie United States all her rights to territory on the western and northern side of the Ohio, it fol- lows that no part of the territory which afterward became Wisconsin was ever included in Illi- nois County as a part of Virginia, nor did the last-mentioned State ever exercise any jurisdic- tion over the territory of this State, or make any claim to any part of it by right of conquest. Wisconsin was never a part of Virginia.

Notwithstanding the passage of the Ordinance of 1787, establishing a government over the territory northwest of the Ohio River, which territory was acquired by the treaty of 1783, from Great Britain, possession only was obtained, by the United States, of the southern portion, the northern part being held by the British Government until 1796. Arthur St. Clair, in Febru- ary, 1790, exercising the functions of Governor, and having previously organized a government for the country under the ordinance above mentioned, established, in what is now the State of Illinois a county, which was named St. Clair. But, as this county only extended north "to the mouth of the Little Mackinaw Creek, on the Illinois," it did not include, of course, any part of the present State of Wisconsin, although being the nearest approach thereto of any or- ganized county up to that date.

In 1796, Wayne County was organized, which was made to include, besides much other territory, all of what is now Wisconsin watered by streams flowing into Lake Michigan, the ter- ritory of the present Grant County, as it will be seen, being not included in the new county. From 1800 to 1809, the present limits of Grant County were included in the Territory of In- diana, and, in the last-mentioned year, passed into the Territory of Illinois. It is probable that Indiana Territory exercised jurisdiction over what is now Wisconsin, at least to the extent of appointing two Justices of the Peace-one for Green Bay and one for Prairie du Chien. In the year 1809, the Illinois Territorial Government commissioned three Justices of the Peace and two militia officers at Prairie du Chien, the county of St. Clair having previously been ex-

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

tended so as to include that point, and, consequently, the present county of Grant. In course of time, other counties had jurisdiction, until, in 1818, what is now Wisconsin became a por- tion of Michigan Territory.

By a proclamation of Lewis Cass, Governor of Michigan Territory, of October 26, 1818, Brown and Crawford Counties were organized. The county of Brown originally comprised all of the present State of Wisconsin, east of a line passing north and south through the middle of the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, except a small portion of the Door County Peninsula, which was included in the county of Michilimackinac. The limits of Brown County extended north into the territory of the present State of Michigan so far that its north line ran due west from Noquet Bay. An east and west line, passing near the northern limits of the present county of Barron, separated the county of Crawford from the county of Michilimack- inac on the north ; on the east, it was bounded by the county of Brown; on the south, by the State of Illinois ; and on the west, by the Mississippi River.

Thus, as it will be seen, the present territory of Grant County was included in the limits of Crawford County. By an act of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, ap- proved October 29, 1829, to take effect the 1st of January following, the county of Iowa was established, embracing all territory south of the Wisconsin, west of Brown County, east of the Mississippi, and north of Illinois, or what is now included in the counties of Grant, Iowa, La- Fayette, the greater part of Green, nearly half of Dane, and a portion of Columbia.

By an act of Congress passed in 1836, and approved April 20 of that year, the Territory of Wisconsin was organized, including in its limits, beside the present State, the territory now included in the States of Iowa and Minnesota, and about half the present Territory of Dakota. June 12, 1838, all that portion of Wisconsin Territory lying west of the Mississippi River was organized into a Territory called Iowa.

GRANT COUNTY FORMED.

Previous to this, and at the first meeting of the Territorial Legislature at Belmont, in the present county of La Fayette, in 1836, in an act entitled " An act to divide Iowa County " it was enacted, "That all that part of the county of Iowa lying west of the fourth principal meridian be and the same is hereby constituted a separate county, to be called Grant."

Section 4 of the same act provided : That, "from and after the 4th day of March next, the said county of Grant shall, to all intents and purposes, be and remain an organized county, and be invested with full power and authority to transact all county business which any regu- larly organized county may of right do."

Section 5 stipulated that "Henry W. Hodges, James Gilmore, E. E. Brock, Orris Mc- Cartney and Frank C. Kirkpatrick are hereby appointed commissioners to fix the seat of justice of said county of Grant, and they are hereby required to perform the said duty on or before the 1st day of February next ensuing, at such place within said county of Grant as to them may seem best calculated to promote the public interest, being first sworn to the faithful discharge of their trust ; and so soon as they shall have come to a determination, the same shall be reduced to writing and signed by the Commissioners, and filed with the Clerk of the present county of Iowa, whose duty it shall be to record the same and deliver over the same to the Clerk of Grant County, whenever he shall be appointed, whose duty it shall be to record the same and forever keep it on file in his office ; and the place thus designated shall be considered the seat of justice of said county ; provided, that in the event of said Commissioners being prevented, from any cause what- soever, from performing the duty required of them, or if a majority of said Commissioners should not be able to agree upon any place for the establishment of the said seat of justice, then the seat of justice is temporarily established at Cassville, in said county of Grant."

"Section 6, That there shall be two terms of the District Court held annually at the seat of justice for said county of Grant by one of the Judges of the Supreme Court, to wit: One upon the first Monday in June, and the other upon the fourth Monday of October; and the said District Court for said county of Grant shall have and enjoy all the powers, rights and

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ties which courts in the other counties of this Territory have and enjoy, and shall be subject all the restrictions imposed upon said courts by the act entitled ' An Act for establishing judi- al districts and for other purposes,' passed at the present session of this Legislative Assembly, d that the courts hereby authorized to be held in the county of Grant shall be held at the wn of Cassville, in the county of Grant, until the necessary public buildings are erected at the at of justice of said county.'

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History of Grant County, Wisconsin, Part 74

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co. Number of Pages: 1044

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1044