History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 80

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: [Chicago : Western Historical Co.?]
Number of Pages: 1050

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533

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

early parlance as a " trail." These arteries linking the different villages one to another, fur- nishing alike means for the solitary traveler, the hunting party, or the hideous, bedaubed warriors intent upon plunder and scalps, to attain their different ends, and was deemed quite sufficient by the first inhabitants of the soil. These trails were only wide enough for one person, making " Indian file " always the order of march, a phrase that was long remembered by settlers and their de- scendants. To the early white men, but little removed from his Indian companions in point of civilization, the Indian trail furnished ample means for pursuing his desire for pelts and pelf, and he gave but little heed to any improvement in this direction. Hence, when the early pio . neers, those men of brawn and muscle, whose strong arms and stout hearts were to make a path- way that should serve as an entering-wedge for the advancing civilization made their appearance. They found slow travel along winding trails, or, slower but much more pleasant, drifting down the sparkling streams, the only mode of reaching the point which was to be their future home.

As in all other portions of the country so it was in Grant County, trails crossing and recross- ing led in every direction, but of genuine highways, broad and passable, there were none. What were put down on the early survey as roads were, with one or two exceptions, only an enlarged edition of these trails. A road was early inaugurated from Galena to Mineral Point and Dodge- ville, that passed up through the present townships of Hazel Green and Smelser, leaving the latter township in the northeast quarter of Section 12. This road running almost wholly through a prairie country, was passable for teams from the beginning of settlement, but can hardly be classed as a properly laid out road. Other trails, or so-called roads, were, as has been stated, numerous. Upon the earliest surveys of the county, these connecting links are laid down as ex- tending between Galena and Prairie du Chien, Cassville and Prairie du Chien and between Cass- ville and Galena, this latter road following the ridge for a portion of its length down through the southern portion of the present township of Lancaster. Another road properly so called led from the Western Paris, then an embroyo city, and, as after circumstances proved, destined to remain such, to Galena, and another from this place to Potosi. Besides these a " mail trail " connected Prairie du Chien, Cassville and Gibralter with Galena.

Upon the transfer of this Western Territory to the United States, the chain of posts at Green Bay, "the Portage" and Prairie du Chien was established. For a time the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers were depended upon to furnish means of communication between the posts, but the long winters and inconvenience attending this absolute dependence upon this water-way, led the Government to decide upon the construction of a road between these places, and thus it comes that the first regularly built highway in Grant County was the military road constructed at Government expense.

Early in 1835, Lewis Cass, then Secretary of War, issued orders to open, lay out, and prop- erly construct a road between Fort Howard and Fort Crawford, by the way of Fond du Lac and Fort Winnebago. These being the " piping times of peace," the Government in a truly economical vein determined to use the muscle and intelligence encased in United States uniforms in its con - struction. Accordingly the soldiers at Fort Crawford were ordered to construct that portion of the road lying between Prairie du Chien and the "Portage." Those stationed at Fort Winne- bago were to build the portion extending from the " Portage " to Fond du Lac, while the re- mainder of the distance from the latter place to Green Bay was put into the hands of the mili- tary stationed at Fort Howard for construction. The soldiers stationed at these three posts were under the command of Brig. Gen. George Mercer Broke, and composed the Fifth Regiment of the standing army. The road was laid out by Lieut. Centre and James Duane Doty. Mr. Doty's assistance was secured, as he was much better acquainted with the route over which the road was to pass, than any other man in the Territory.

The road itself was an extremely crude affair. Through timbered country a track about two rods wide was cut and mile-stakes set up. On the prairie, mile-stakes were also set up and small mounds erected. Over marshy places, a " corduroy road " of logs, overlaid with dirt was built, and any one whose way has led them at any time of life over one of these abominations, can easily conjecture the torture and speed to be gotten out of this illusory phantom misnamed a road.

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

It was, however, a shade better than no road at all, and in a fashion answered its purpose for some years. It passed through Grant County along what is now known as "Military Ridge." From the Blue Mounds it followed the old Indian trail to the northwest of Lake Mendota, and thence via Fort Winnebago, Waupan and Fond du Lac to its eastern terminus, Fort Howard. For many years it was quite a well-traveled road, owing to the scarcity of other lines of travel, but as the country filled up and other roads better and more direct between different points were constructed, this highway fell into disuse.

First and last, a considerable sum of money was laid out on this " connecting link," as will be seen by the following report made by Capt. T. J. Cram to Congress, September 1, 1839. In this report the Captain says :

" Commencing at Prairie du Chien and running east as far as to the Blue Mounds, this road is laid on the ridge dividing the waters flowing toward the north from those flowing toward the south. At the Blue Mounds, this dividing ridge deflects toward the northeast, and continues on this course to within about four miles of Fort Winnebago, where it is lost in a summit level denominated ' the Portage.' This remarkable summit is one among a few others of similar char- acter in our country, possessing the property of dividing the waters flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from those flowing into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The part of the road from Fort Crawford to 'the Portage,' a distance of about one hundred and fifteen miles, will need the sum of $5,700 to be expended, chiefly in the repairs and construction of small bridges and the opening of ditches, which are not only necessary to the immediate use of the road, but also to the preservation of the road itself. The construction of a safe and permanent road across ' the portage,' for about four miles, will require the sum of $5,995. Owing to the periodical overflowing of this summit level, the road across it is rendered utterly impassable, and continues so for several days at a time, amounting to some weeks during each year. At such time, the United States mail and travelers to Fort Winnebago are obliged to be taken around on a circuitous route of about fifteen miles, crossing a lake on the way, in order to reach the desired point, and it is not unfrequently the case that the unwary traveler is led into the middle of 'the portage ' before he becomes fully apprised of his danger, when, all of a sudden, his horses are mired in the midst of a flood of water, from which he finds it impossible to extri- cate his team, and might perish in sight of the fort but for the assistance of the, soldiers, who come off in canoes to his rescue. A thorough and critical examination has been made, with a view of constructing a road around the portage. It is found, however, that the cost of such con- struction, besides an increase of distance and the inconvenience of a ferry, would quite equal the cost of making the present road good and safe at all times.

" The sum required to complete the construction of the part of the road between Fort Win- nebago and the south end of Lake Winnebago, a distance of about sixty miles, is $6,320. The land in the vicinity of this portion of the road is of good quality, and similar in most respects to that described elsewhere in this report. From the south end of Lake Winnebago to within about six miles of Fort Howard, at Green Bay, the road is exceedingly bad, and the cost of transportation over it is a heavy tax upon the settlers, and tends greatly to retard the settlement of the whole tract of country between Green Bay and the Wisconsin River."

In conclusion, the Captain adds :

" The cost of constructing the road from Fond du Lac to Green Bay, about fifty-six miles, would be $17,292, to be expended in bridging, ditching, and filling the wet places with durable mate- rials, all of which exist in abundance on the road. Thus, the whole sum required to complete the construction of the military road from Fort Crawford, by Fort Winnebago to Fort Howard, the extent of about two hundred and thirty-five miles, amounts to $35,267. This sum, with strict economy in adopting the most simple kind of construction, would not more than cover the cost of completing this road, which, in a military point of view, is of unquestionable impor- tance, connecting, as as it does, a chain of military posts, which the safety of the people of Wis- consin and the north part of Illinois will require to be maintained for some years to come."

535

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

At the second session of the Territorial Legislature, the necessity for more convenient thor- oughfares of travel, is shown by numerous acts locating roads in different portions of the State. But one road, however, was provided for in Grant County, the Council and House of Repre- sentatives enacting, " That Jonathan Craig, William Davidson and Stewart McKee are hereby appointed Commissioners to locate and establish a Territorial road from Osceola, in the county of Grant, to Belmont, in the county of Iowa, by way of Platteville. The Commissioners, or a majority of them, shall meet at Platteville, on or before the first Monday of August next, and proceed to the discharge of the duties assigned them by this act, according to the provisions of the act regulating the mode of laying out Territorial roads, passed at the last session of the Legis- lative Assembly.

" SECTION 2. The County Commissioners of the counties of Grant and Iowa, shall audit and pay the expenses in their respective proportion to the amount of the road laid out by each. The Commissioners shall receive each $3 per day for the time necessarily employed in the dis- charge of the duties assigned them by this act.'

This was the first Territorial road laid out in Grant County. Previous to this, however, Daniel Burt, an early settler, who had located in the present township of Waterloo, on the Grant River, and erected a mill, had opened several roads, one eleven miles in length, to Cass- ville, one eight miles to Potosi, another to Beetown, eight miles in length, and still another to Hurricane Corners, six miles away.

Perhaps no better illustration of the difficulties and inconveniences which beset the path of the early pioneers, in attempting to get from one point to another, can be given than the follow- ing : Soon after Mr. Burt's settlement at his new home the supply of food ran short, and, fail- ing to receive any from St. Louis as he had expected, started for Paris, on the Platte, the nearest point at which provisions could be purchased. To reach that place with a team, it was necessary to take a circuitous route, first to McCartney's, eight miles, then to Beetown, thence to Lancas- ter, and from there on to Potosi and Paris. His starting-point had been only eight miles from Potosi, but there was no road between the two points, and Mr. Burt was therefore obliged to per- form a roundabout journey of forty-four miles to reach his destination, which, but for lack of a short stretch of road, would have been only a short trip of twelve miles. He arrived at his destination, and returned as far as a cabin situated on the present site of Potosi, where he stopped overnight. In the morning, a start was made for home, through the timber, over a route that had never before been traveled by man or beast. Mr. Burt was accompanied by a man to drive, while he himself selected the route and cut away the trees. They reached Boice Creek, about half way, by 10 o'clock, and with but little difficulty. At that point they met with a formidable obstruction. The Mississippi was high, and the water covered the bottoms of the creek a quarter of a mile to the depth of eighteen inches; and in the channel of the creek, some forty to forty-five feet wide, the water was ten feet deep. The wagon was a new one and the box was reasonably tight. After caulking up some of the open places with leaves, the wagon was placed on the verge of the perpendicular bank with the provisions aboard to be forced by the driver into the channel when all was ready. Mr. Burt then swam the horses over the creek and placed them in readiness with whiffletrees and chain attached ; he then cut a grape vine and fastened one end of it to the pole of the wagon, and took the other end in his teeth. Having swam the length of the vine, he ordered his companion to force the wagon into the creek, which he did, and this odd craft, floating with its load in fine shape, was towed by Mr. Burt across the stream until it reached the opposite side, when the horses were hitched on and all brought safely over the bottom. The bluff was then ascended without difficulty. and they arrived opposite their home about 1 o'clock. Here another obstruction was met. For some distance either way the bluff was steep and rocky. A point where timber had been rolled down was selected, the inclination being about thirty degrees from perpendicular. All the wheels were chained, and a tree, fifteen inches in diameter and with a wide expansive top, was felled, and chained to the hind axle-tree. Thus fixed, the descent was made in fine shape, and the ·cargo was safely landed.

536

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

After the organization of the county, among the first acts of the County Commissioners was the meeting of this demand for inter-county communication. At a meeting of this body, held May 4, 1838, M. De Tandebaratz-better known as Detantabar-presented a petition for the laying. out of a road between Platteville and Paris, on the Platte River, notice having previously been published and no objections raised. Ralph Carver, James Gilmore and James H. Dixon were appointed Commissioners to locate a road in accordance with the request of the petitioner, upon the latter's depositing the sum of $25, as required by law.

At the same meeting, the same person presented a second petition, signed by himself and others, asking for a road from Lancaster to Galena, Ill., via Paris, said road to run to State line. James Bonham, Jonathan Craig and Enos P. Wood, were appointed as a commission to lay out the wished-for road, as soon as the petitioners should deposit $30.

Still another petition was presented by Asa E. Hough, for a road from Cassville "by the best and most practicable route via La Fayette, on toward Galena, to the State line of Illinois." Elias Dean, Orris McCartney and Benjamin Kilbourn were appointed Commissioners to lay out this road, the applicants being first required to deposit the sum of $36.

The list ends with a petition presented by Daniel R. Burt, the settler whose adventures are. chronicled above, praying for the location of a road from Cassville, via Burt's Mills, "to the most eligible point in the Snake Diggings by the most practicable and best route." The peti- tioner's cry was granted upon the deposit of $15, and a commission, consisting of Isaac Dodge, F. A. Sprague and E. P. Wood, was appointed to locate the wished-for road. With the opening of the country, as the years wore on, new thoroughfares were opened, until now every district and farmhouse has its connection with the main arteries, and the difficulties, not to say dangers, surrounding travel in the early days of settlement, are only remembered, as are other tales of pioneer experiences, in a traditional and fragmentary way.

Ferries .- While the early Indian, from the very necessities of the case, was obliged to es- tablish trails as means of communication with his neighbors, he was far from perceiving the necessity of providing permanent means of crossing the streams, numerous or otherwise, which might intersect these forest pathways. He considered himself fortunate if a stray canoe should happen to furnish the means of a dry and convenient passage across the brawling obstructor, but if this was absent, the copper-colored inhabitant, not being troubled with that superabundance of clothing rendered necessary by modern civilization, plunged in, and stoutly breasted the min- iature waves or swift-sweeping currents, and, with a few muscular strokes, landed on the oppo- site shore, and pursued his way without giving a second thought to his interceptor. In this, the first explorers of the country, and those who visited it later on, were fain to follow the ex- ample of their dusky companions and predecessors, and it was a number of years before ferries, with their rude but safe appliances for conveying the traveler dryshod over the larger streams, were established. Gradually, however, as settlers began to come in, and the inconvenience of a cold bath, not to mention the great disadvantages of swimming cattle and himself, soon brought about a new order of things in the shape of fixed ferries at certain accessible points. The con- struction of the military road in 1835 brought in its train the establishment of the first legally authorized ferry, at the point where the military road crossed the river. This ferry was run by a Canadian Frenchman by the name of Jean Brunet, a shrewd, hard-working, enterprising representative of that class without whose aid the great Northwest country might have lain many years longer, covered with the darkness of uncertain tradition. By means of a flat-boat propelled by poles, oars, or transferred from point to point by means of ropes, as occasion served, Brunet was wont to convey the early settler, the wandering hunter, or detachment of troops, across the broad bosom of the Wisconsin. On the north shore of the river the ferryman had erected a comfortable stone house, one of the first erected in this western country, and combined the avo- cation of tiller of the soil with that of ferryman. Brunet was succeeded by Jean Barrette, who bought out the original proprietor, and so satisfactorily had the ferry been conducted that. upon the second session of the Legislature, in the latter part of 1837, the early legislators granted to Barrette, his heirs and assigns, permission "to establish and keep a ferry across the Wisconsin

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

River at that place where the military road running from Prairie du Chien to Fort Winnebago crosses said river, for the term of ten years from and after the passage of this act." Section second of the same act provided, " that no district, county, or Board of County Commissioners shall have power to grant license to any person to establish a ferry across said river within one mile immediately above or immediately below the place aforesaid."

The ferry landing upon the Grant County side of the river was between a quarter and a half mile below the present bridge.

At the same session an act was passed authorizing " William Walker and Joseph H. D. Street, their heirs and assigus to establish and keep a ferry across the Mississippi River at Cass- ville, in Grant County, and for one-fourth of a mile below and one-fourth of a mile above said town, to the west bank of said river, and for one mile below the mouth of Turkey River, for the term of ten years from and after the passage of this act ; provided, said Walker and Street shall keep, or cause to be kept, a good and sufficient horse or steam ferry-boat, at the place aforesaid, for the safe conveyance of passengers, horses, cattle or hogs across said stream with- out delay ; and provided, also, that said ferry, when so established, shall be subject to the same laws, and under the same restrictions as other ferries are, or may hereafter be, in this Terri- tory."

Still another act granted the required authority to James P. Cox and Justus Parsons to establish a ferry across the Grant and Mississippi Rivers, at Parson's Landing, in the county of Dubuque, to the town of Osceola, in Grant County.

This act was confirmed at a meeting of the Board of County Commissioners, held April 2, 1838, when it was " Ordered that license to keep a ferry across the rivers of Grant and Missis- sippi issue to James P. Cox and Justus Parsons, at the following place : From J. P. Cox's land- ing, Osceola, to Jones' Island, and from said island to Parsons' Landing west of the Mississippi River, and at the following rates of ferriage, viz .: Ferrying a person from Osceola to said island, 182 cents; each head of neat cattle, 162 cents ; each hog, 4 cents ; each sheep, 3 cents. For car- riages of all kinds, 83 cents each wheel ; double the foregoing rates for crossing the Mississippi River from said island to said Parsons' Landing, and for crossing both the rivers around the island, quadruple the sum for crossing the Grant.'

These ferries were soon after established, and furnished means for crossing their respective streams for many years. Through the interior of the county but few ferries were known, fords taking their place until the advent of that emblem of civilization-the bridge. Near Paris, at an early date, a ferry had been established across the Platte, under private auspices. At cer- tain seasons of the year, these fords were extremely treacherous and unsafe, owing to the swift- ness of the currents of the streams, and numerous accidents combining in rare instances a dis- tressing loss of life told of the dangers lurking in the riotous depths of these on-rushing waters. Soon, however, with the advent of properly laid out roads came the accompaniment of bridges, and only the remembrances of the lurking dangers in the silent depths remained to haunt the spot.

RAILROADS IN GRANT COUNTY.

Probably no section of the Western country has had more projected railroads to the square mile, compared with the actual railroad facilities, than Grant County. Local lines and trunk lines have been from the earliest times almost annually projected in all parts of the county, run- ning in all conceivable directions, and with varied termini. " Great expectations " might well be the characteristic applied to the railroad interests of Grant County. As a matter of fact, until within two years previous to this writing the larger part of the county has been left with- out railroad connection.

As early as 1836, a railroad was chartered in the county. Early in the session of the first Territorial Legislature an act was passed incorporating the "Belmont & Dubuque Railroad Company." Section 8 of this act gave the company power "to construct a single or double track railroad from the town of Belmont, in Iowa County, to the nearest and mnost eligible point on the Mississippi River within the Territory ; and they shall have power to extend the railroad

538

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

if they shall deem it expedient, from Belmont to Mineral Point, and from thence to Dodgeville in the said county of Iowa, with power to transport, take and carry property by the power and force of steam, of animals, or of any other mechanical or other power, or of any combination of them ; and they shall also have power to make, construct and erect such warehouses, toll-houses, carriages, cars, and all other works and appendages necessary for the convenience of said com- pany in the use of said railroad." In a subsequent section it is " Provided, that the toll on any species of property shall not exceed fifteen cents per ton per mile, nor upon any passengers more than six cents each per mile." This was the second road chartered in the State, the first being the La Fontaine Railroad Company, to run from La Fontaine, on the Fox River, to Winnebago City.

The incorporators of the Belmont & Dubuque Railroad were John Atchinson, Francis K. O'Ferrall, William I. Madden, James Gilmore, John Foley, Charles Bracken, Richard McKinn, Robert McPherson and Paschall Bequette. This road was never built.

The next railroad of which historic mention is made, was one agitated in 1843 and 1844. It had more important termini than the first one-no less, in fact, than Lake Michigan and the Pacific Ocean. It was proposed by Ira Whitney, of New York, as a part of a trans-continental route, intended to afford a means of reaching Oregon, a section then coming into notice. Aid was solicited from Congress, but the project was never carried out, or even begun.

In 1843-44, the subject of a road from Grant County to the lake was warmly agitated, the object being to afford a means of transit for the vast quantities of lead ore then being mined in this section. Galena, however, opposed the road, thinking it would interfere with her jobbing trade. Potosi was anxious for the road. A committee was appointed, of which Maj. G. M. Price, of Cassville, was Chairman, to report to the House of Representatives the practicability and expediency of the construction of a road from Potosi to Lake Michigan. The road was projected on two routes, one to run up the hollow at Potosi and pass near Lancaster and Fenni- more ; the other nearer Platteville ; and $20,000 per mile was thought to be a liberal estimate for building. The income was estimated to be 52 per cent upon the investment.

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History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 80

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: [Chicago : Western Historical Co.?] Number of Pages: 1050

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: [Chicago : Western Historical Co.?]
Number of Pages: 1050