History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 85

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

USA > Wisconsin > Grant County > History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 85

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During the first three years of my residence in Wisconsin, the frost, in September, killed all the corn and other late crops. The seed was from the South, and not acclimated. It was a universal belief that the country was " too cold for corn." No one claiming that fruit could be raised here, could obtain credit for sanity. Again, it was the general opinion that the country would never be settled, except by transient miners, because fuel and building material could never be obtained, except by importing. These current beliefs came fresh to me, when, after forty years' absence, I passed over the prairies of 1837, and found the orchards bending under their thousands of bushels of apples, the corn like the plentiful years of Egypt, and the farmers con- suming wood to get it out of the way of the plow.

SHULLSBURG, Wis., February 23, 1881.

BY J. W. SEATON.

It was in the month of July, in the year 1847, that a Northern Lake boat, " bearing Cæsar and his fortunes," and a few less distinguished personages, landed in the city of Milwaukee. The shore was reached by a broad plank-uncarpeted-being shoved out into the sand. Down this, one by one, the passengers filed, and through the deep, burning sand, carpet-sack in hand (grip-sacks were undeveloped), for half a mile or more, the few passengers made their way to the limits of the city (it was quite a limited city then), and sought the accommodation of a first- class hotel. They found one. It consisted of a long, one-and-a-half story frame building with a porch in front, and chairs ranged thereon for the accommodation of guests. The fare was beef- steak, boiled potatoes with the jackets on, coffee, warmn biscuits of a saffron hue and an alkaline flavor, all placed on the center of a long table, within reach of the most modest guest, which was " Cæsar." They were disposed of with a relish, however, and perhaps went as far to satisfy the inner man as the sumptuous bills of fare which are now served from the sideboards of the New- hall and the Plankinton. Rest for the weary was provided up one flight of stairs, on beds of straw duly separated by board partitions. Dizzy dormitories on sixth and seventh story floors were not reached by elevators on this occasion, and, when morn broke in the east, you did not

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

look out like an angel from mansions in the skies, to take observations of the waking world, and then descend, like a miner down a shaft, to the common level of mortals. None of these condi- tions existed. But one day and one night of this delectable, primitive city life sufficed for a lifetime, and, in a two-horse hack, with a jovial companion of lesser note than the writer consid- ered himself at that time, but who has since managed to " climb the steep where Fame's high temple shines afar "-the Hon. Orsamus Cole, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court-we set out in search of green fields and fresher pastures, over farmless prairies, around the margins of charming lakes, which in their undisturbed repose, and the cool quiet shade of the old oak open- ings which lined their borders, seemed an epitome of the "Saint's Rest "-through fenceless valley's and over the' brow of treeless hills, we reach at length, on the second day out, the gallant young city of Madison, the capitol of the State. Stat umbra et preterea nihil. An unpretentious hotel situated near the foot of Lake street, wearing the modest title of "Lake House," gave us of its cheer, which was a repetition of the Milwaukee sort, with the addition of broiled prairie chicken and fried fresh fish. It enjoyed also the more exalted honor of being the headquarters of His Excellency, Gov. Henry Dodge, who was then in the zenith of his power. It was here he gave the famous reception to the German Count, displaying a hunting knife and a pair of horse pistols as the insignia of his rank and badge of his office. The city boasted of two other hotels of about the same magnitude and style of architecture as the Lake House ; the one . standing near the present site of the Vilas House, kept by Robert Lansing, and the other the notorious " American," which stood on the corner to the north of the park. These, with the old capitol, which looked more like a prison house of the Dark Ages than the capitol of a civilized State in the nineteenth century, and perhaps a hundred or more private residences, environed with hazel-bushes and the primitive oak groves-no house as yet being erected west of the grounds reserved for the public park-comprised all there was of this now beautiful inland city. Even then it was an enchanting spot. Nature, in one of her most wanton moods, seemed to have lavished here her fairest charms and most seductive smiles. Lakes, groves, and undulating hills all conspired to captivate the senses, and lead the adorer to exclaim in his heart,

" These are thy glorious works, Parent of Good !

Almighty! thine this everlasting frame, Thus wondrous fair!"

Here were landscapes and pictures of loveliness. unapproachable in their design, perfect in their execution, painted by the hand which had long since designed the blue canons of the skies, and painted the starry galleries of the heavens.

Leaving this paradise of places, where reason and the charms of nature invited us to stay and make our fame and fortune (if such a thing were possible), we resumed once more our journey westward, and soon were approaching the lofty summits of the Blue Mound. Arriving at the old home of Ebenezer Brigham, which stood a short distance from the public highway, in all its original simplicity-a double log cabin of the Southern type-we partook of a choice meal of venison and pastry, supplemented by other rare dainties of a well-spread Western table, which we have ever since held in grateful remembrance. Here for the first time, I met the hero of Pecatonica, Gov. Henry Dodge, who, in company with Judge and Frank Dunn, was on his way to Madison, the latter to attend a session of the Supreme Court, of which the Judge, in Territorial days, was Chief Justice. The stockade near the Mound, called "Mound Fort," was still standing about a mile and a half south of Brigham's house, and could be seen from it, excited the most lively emotions in my young and enthusiastic mind. Here was one of the strongholds of the early settlers, where they had brought their wives and children, to protect them against the wily assaults of the renowned chief of the Sacs and Foxes and his followers-Black Hawk and his warriors. In this neighborhood the blood-thirsty savages had murdered a member of Brigham's family. It was in the sight of this Fort two of its inmates, who were out recon- noitering, had been surrounded by the lurking enemy, killed and horribly mutilated, in the presence of their companions, and which deed of atrocity had led to the relentless punishment

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

which Gen. Dodge and his command soon after gave them at the famous battle of the Pecatonica, where, out of a band of seventeen warriors, not a red-skin was left to tell the tale. Ail were. killed. It was to this fort the young Hall girls, after a month's wandering and captivity, were brought in a most destitute and forlorn condition, and where they were so kindly received and treated by the ladies of the Fort. The scene of these cruelties and war-like exploits made a deep and lasting impression upon my mind at the time, as well as the wide, romantic view of the surrounding country, which these lofty summits enables the eye of the traveler to obtain. From here onward we came in contact with the old-time mode of transportation of lead across the State to the lake ports-three and four yoke of cattle attached to a heavy wagon-the " prairie schooners " of early times-which made their regular monthly voyages to and from the lakes and mines-taking out their cargo of pig lead, and returning with merchandise and family stores. It was a slow but sure and profitable business. In driving these teams many a Yankee boy learned forcible expressions and expletives which he never dreamed before were in the English language. Passing through the already important and wealthy mining villages of Dodgeville, Mineral Point and of Platteville, all then flourishing places and deserving of men- tion, we reach, at last, the brow of the hill where the road descends into this ancient burg- Potosi. What a view is here again presented ! Before you, to the southward and westward, is a prospect the most beautiful which can be imagined. It is not in your immediate presence, in superlative languages, sublime, illimitable, immense ; it is rather quiet, impressive, peculiar. To the right and left are gentle, undulating slopes, clothed in emerald green of waving oaks, mark the northern limits of the long, deep and sinuous ravine you are about to enter. Its trailing course, as it presented itself to the early settler, winding in dark and dismal folds to the river, begot the name of "Snake Hollow," by which sobriquet it was long known among the miners. On either hand burst forth two large and never-failing springs of limpid water, which form the source of the beautiful stream called by the harsh, ill-sounding pseudonym of "Snake Hollow Branch." All the diminutive streams in the mining region which branch out from and supply the larger water-courses are known by this peculiar, and I may say, appropriate appella- tive. Hence we have " Rigsby Branch," " Dry Hollow Branch," "Long Branch," " Eayres' Branch," and many other branches, all tributary to the Grant and Platte Rivers, which course through the town in nearly every direction, furnishing pure and living water to almost every farm. None of them are sluggish in their movement, but go rippling and bounding down to mingle with the great Father of Waters; and to their purifying influence more than any other causes, may we justly attribute the continued exemption of this town from malarial and other diseases, so destructive to human life and happiness in many Western towns.

The moisture with which they continually supplied the earth and air were also produc- tive of a heavy growth of forest trees which are still numerous, and which, fifty years ago, shaded nearly every rod of ground within the borders of the town with their dark, dense foliage. And it is to these huge trees, many of them the slow growth of centuries, more than the products of the mines, rich and valuable as they have been, Potosi has derived a preponderant share of its wealth and prosperity. Chopping and boating cord-wood and timber to the Dubuque market has for years been a lucrative business, and many of our prominent citizens have derived there- from a respectable independence, a fact which can be said of but very few who have delved and wasted their lives in the lead mines.

But to return to the brow of the hill, where like De Soto, I gazed for the first time upon the broad, matchless and almost boundless valley of the Mississippi, where sweeps its mighty waters to the ocean. It was standing upon this elevation, looking over and beyond the little valley in my immediate presence into the vast and almost measureless valley beyond, that I became impressed with the greatness and grandeur of the country I had reached. There, almost at my very feet, flowed the world's most magnificent river. There, within reach of my vision, clearly defined by the shores of this mighty stream, were the eastern boundaries of an empire yet to be. The Great West, with its vast prairies, its arid plains, its streams and mount- ains, its wooded hills and valleys, its " boundless contiguity of shade," yet uninhabited and.

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

unexplored by the foot of civilized man, stretching onward and onward to the far limits of a continent, presented itself to my mind, and I shrunk into nothingness, and was ready to exclaim in the language of the Psalmist " What is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou visitest him." Surely, thought I, here is a region so far-reaching in its limits, so wild and weird in its aspect, so much beyond the necessities of the present civilization that centuries must elapse before the broad acres of its prairies will be needed to supply the wants of man, and generations must expire before the solitude of its woods and streams shall be broken up or re-ccho to the sound of the woodman's ax.

At this date, 1847, Potosi was second to no other town in the county. Her miners were pros- perous, her mechanics were profitably employed, her merchants were doing an increasing and extensive business both in the wholesale and retail trade. Lancaster, Wingville, Beetown, the Hurricane and all surrounding points came here to purchase their supplies. Steamboats left the landing weekly, freighted with lead and brought back in return the necessaries and luxu- ries of life, as whisky, bacon, flour, staple groceries and dry goods. A printing office whence issued the Potosi Republican (whereof your humble servant was proprietor and editor, and weekly expounded good, sound, Democratic doctrine) was here sustained and shed its benign in- fluence over the darker portions of the county ; four lawyers, Cole & Biddlecome, the former now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the latter one of the brightest intellects and most promising young men the State could boast, who since pursued his profession in St. Louis and died in Florida ; Judge Cyrus K. Lord and Hon. William Hull, both residents at the present time of La Crosse, where they still pursue their honorable profession. Judge Lord was Receiver of the Land Office at that point, holding his appointment from President Franklin Pierce, and William Hull distinguished himself in the Legislature during the term of Gov. Bashford's ad- ministration as the popular Speaker of the House ; closing his political career, he located at La Crosse and became the attorney of Commodore Davidson's Northern Line of Boats, which posi- tion he still holds. The medical profession was eminently represented by such skilled prac- titioners as Dr. Carlos M. Hewitt, now a respected citizen of Boscobel, but whose failing health has prohibited him for several years from active practice. Drs. Bennett Armstrong, George W. Bicknell and John Creighton, all of whom are now dead, and a few years later, Dr. Taylor L. Graham, who still resides and pursues his profession among us.

Among the principal merchants at that period, who were engaged in active business, were Solon M. Langworthy, now of the city of Dubuque, a son of old Dr. Langworthy, an early pioneer of the mines. Donald A. McKinzie, a Scotchman by birth, boasting Highland blood, who came from St. Louis about the year 1840, entered into the lead and mercantile business and established a character for honesty and fair dealing which became proverbial. He subse- quently entered into partnership with Julius Augustine and James Garmick, doing business under the firm name of Mckenzie, Augustine & Co. The firm was dissolved in the spring of 1855, Mr. Mckenzie removing to Dubuque and Mr. Garmick to Dunleith, where, for a few years, they were connected with the Dubuque & Dunleith Ferry Company, Mr. Mckenzie for many years being the trusted and efficient clerk of the company. The members of this firm are now all dead, Mr. Garmick having become an invalid and cripple several years before his death from a railroad accident, suffering the loss of his right arm. He was a good citizen, and an intelli- gent, worthy man.

Samuel Wilson, a native of County Down, Ireland, was another leading merchant. He came to Potosi about the year 1840, from the city of Galena, where he had previously been in business, and engaged at first as a clerk in the store of D. A. Mckenzie. Subsequently pur- chasing the stock of Lawther & Dyer, who removed to Dubuque, he commenced business for himself, and continued it until the summer of 1857, when his active and busy career was brought to an untimely end, and he passed from the busy walks of life to the cold and silent grave. Mr. Wilson was a fine man, correct and expert in all his business transactions, and the soul of honor. His memory is yet cherished by all who knew him, and none pass his mar- ble monument in our village cemetery without mentioning his manly virtues, and paying a

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

tribute to his genial qualities and kindly heart. While residing in Galena, he became acquainted with and married Elizabeth Carpenter, an estimable lady, and a step-daughter of Gov. Briggs, late of Andrew, Iowa: Mrs. Wilson remained in widowhood for a number of years after the death of her husband, and then was re-married to a Col. Cobb, a gentleman who resided a short time during the war in Potosi. They soon afterward disposed of their pleasant home here, and went to reside at Farmington, Mo., the place whence the Colonel had migrated during the troublesome times. Both have since passed to their long repose. Dr. George M. Wilson, an only son, survives them, and is practicing medicine in Missouri.

Another merchant of note was the late Simon E. Lewis, who passed from the scenes of life in July, 1874. He was probably the shrewdest, most energetic and successful of all who were here engaged in business at an early day, securing by his industry, tact and enterprise an ample fortune, which his children now enjoy. Mr. L. was born in Austria, on the Upper Danube; leaving his native country while yet a young man, to seek and carve out for himself a name and fortune in a strange land, which the limited opportunities and over-crowded state of affairs denied to him and others like him in his own land. Landing in the New World alone and almost penniless, he makes his way westward to the then almost frontier of civilization, and takes up his residence at Bowling Green, Mo., where the natural avocation of his people leads him to engage in the mercantile business. From the beginning, he is a prosperous and rising man. Learning of the fortunes being so readily made in the Upper Lead Mines, he closes his small establishment in Bowling Green, and the spring of 1840 finds him domiciled in Potosi, selling large quantities of supplies to the miners and neighboring farmers, who were then struggling in the swaddling clothes worn by all settlers in a new country-scarcely able to live and gain a foothold on the soil. Of course they needed credit, and Mr. Lewis soon became abundantly able and freely gave them all the credit their circumstances required .. He thus secured a large and profitable trade, and became well and widely known to all the leading men of the county. About the year 1847, Mr. Lewis was joined by a younger brother, Mr. John P. Lewis, and for several years thereafter the business was conducted in the firm name of John P. Lewis & Co. Other partners succeeded, and branches of their growing business were established at Wingville, Lancaster and British Hollow. He purchased the interest of Julius Augustine in the steam saw-mill located at the mouth of the Hollow, erected by Messrs. Kin- ney & Augustine, in the year 1853, which for many years did a large and profitable business. and was a partner in the saw-mill and mercantile business, the firm being known as Kinney & Co., until a few months before his death. In the year 1857, he was elected to and held the responsible office of County Treasurer, discharging its duties in a creditable and efficient man- ner. Mr. Lewis was long known in this community, and exerted a large influence in the busi- ness circles as well as over the political and social interests of the town. His second son, George H. Lewis, succeeded him in the mercantile business. His amiable widow remains upon the homestead, while the other members of his family are Dr. John S. Lewis, of Dubuque, Iowa; Josephine McKee, the wife of John McKee, a well-known citizen of Leavenworth, Kan .; Eugene H. Lewis, a promising a young lawyer of New York City-a junior partner in the law firm of Chamberlin, Carter & Hornblower-the first-named individual being the late notorious carpet-hag Governor of Georgia, and T. G. Lewis, a student of Beloit College, Wis. Cyrena, his eldest daughter, and wife of Dr. Taylor L. Graham, died a few years since, and sleeps beside the affectionate father whom she loved so well in life, in the old Van Buren Cemetery, on the ridge west of the village.

Celestine Kaltenbach was then, as now, Postmaster, which position he has held for the past forty-three years almost continuously, being the oldest Postmaster in the State. He received his first appointment from Amos Kendall, August 28, 1838, under the administration of Presi- dent Van Buren, and has discharged its onerous duties so faithfully and well, that no adminis- tration has seen fit to remove him. He is a worthy man and good citizen, besides being a prom- inent merchant of forty years' standing ; has held several offices of trust and responsibility in school, church and town. In former years, no man exercised a wider or more salutary influence

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over the community, and especially his own countrymen, than did Celestine Kaltenbach. He is still spared in the vigor of health, and in the enjoyment of happiness, surrounded by his esti- mable wife and children, a worthy and well-preserved monument of early life in the mines.

There were many others doing business here worthy of extended notice, but space forbids other than a brief reference to their names-all of whom, or nearly all, are now out of active business, have removed from the place or been gathered in by the Great Reaper. To close the list, I will simply mention the names of those most familiar to my memory : Haines & Hollub, I. G. Ury, Langworthy & Williams, Block & Kaltenbach-the senior member of the firm being Elias Block, now a wealthy banker in San Francisco, who was succeeded in business by his brother, Hyman E. Block, who married the eldest daughter of his partner and became an active and influential citizen of the town (now a prominent commission merchant of St Louis), Mr. A. B. Southworth (a relative of the celebrated novelist, Emma D. E. N. Southworth), tinsmith and dealer in stoves. He closed business here about the year 1850. Mr. S. afterward located in San Francisco, where he accumulated a large fortune in the lumber trade. Bicknell & Arm- strong kept a drug store ; and there were the usual number of shops, saloons and other places of resort which constituted a well-regulated mining town. Samuel Vance and his brother James conducted a thriving business in general merchandise at British Hollow, where was also the old brewery and several saloons in full blast, furnishing potations to the thirsty and thrifty English miners of that village. A small store was kept by Edward Lafont at Rockville, and another by Harrison Pauley. At the German settlement, Peter Zeng and Peter Ort, brothers-in-law, sup- plied their freshly-arrived Teutonic brethren with their native beverage, and, in generous mugs. made them forget their exile and "Fatherland." Old Peter Zeng, who has now reached his fourscore vears, is yet hale and hearty, and walks as sprightly as of yore. He was the first German who located in the settlement-now fifty years ago-and began the building of a town by the erection of a small log house. Others soon followed. and the settlement bids fair to be- come as famous as "fair Bingen on the Rhine." The mines were flourishing, buildings sprang up on every side, a church soon followed, and the sweet tones of its vesper bells soon greeted the ear and told the listening world a Christian people here had come to dwell. The old church building is now converted into a Sisters' school, while a new and more stately edifice, one of the finest in the State, supplants the old, and rears its lofty spire amid the sunny clouds. And Peter has lived to see this wonderful change; and now, with his "ault frau," contented and happy, blessed with plenty and surrounded by his children and grandchildren in untold num- bers, awaits the coming of that time, when, together they shall " wrap the drapery of the couch about them and lie down to pleasant dreams.'

In those days, dancing parties were of frequent occurrence in the settlement and were greatly enjoyed by young and old of all classes, creeds and countries. The "sound of revelry by night" and the sweet tones of the violin, with clarionet accompaniment, as executed by John Guion, Von Bernard Marcus and his brother musicians, and as it comes gently floating down on the stream of time, is still ringing in my ears ! Oh, those delicious sounds !

"'Twas music in the sinner's ear-

'Twas life and health and peace."

Nor were these gay waltzing parties without their little episodes. Rude barbarians from the surrounding neighborhood often crept in to disturb those who had met to smile upon the pretty German girls and enjoy the fleeting moments as they passed. And when there was too much malt in the brew, as sometimes happened, black eyes and broken noses were the consequence.

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History of Grant County, Wisconsin, preceded by a history of Wisconsin, Part 85

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