History of Green County, Wisconsin. Together with sketches of its towns and villages, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 11

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1168

USA > Wisconsin > Green County > History of Green County, Wisconsin. Together with sketches of its towns and villages, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 11

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About seven miles below Otterbourne, on the Pecatonica river, a beautiful and advanta- geous site has been selected for a town; it has been laid off in lots, and is called "Gratiot." At this point there is a saw-mill and small grist- mill, designated as Sheldon's mills, although the grist-mill was built by the late Col. Henry Gratiot. This location possesses many advan- tages, there being a large body of good prairie land near it yet unsold, and a considerable tract of timber land is also adjacent. This spot, by a great bend in the Pecatonica river, is ren- dered the nearest point on that river to Galena, to which place there is already an excellent road the whole distance to within three or four miles of Galena, being on a prairie ridge. The proprietors of the mills contemplate erecting, during the next year, a stone grist-mill in addi- tion to the one now in operation; the water- power for the works is furnished by Wolf creek, which empties into the Pecatonica at this place.

The Pecatonica country is one of the best watered sections I have seen; the various branches traverse delightful prairies and rich bottom lands, over a wide extent of country. Fine water powers are numerous on these branches; and on the union of the east and west branches, a few miles below "Hamilton," at Wiota, the old Indian town of Winnoshek, a chief of the Winnebagoes, a noble river is formed. This stream, after receiving Sugar river, empties into Rock river a few miles be- low the territorial line, in Winnebago Co., Ill. The improvement of the rapids of Rock river, for which an appropriation of $100,000 has been lately made by the Illinois Legislature, will go far to render this river perfectly safe for steam- boat navigation. The general government

*This has since been done by order of the Indian De- partment (1838).

HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

owes this section of country efficient aid, as a matter of general importance more than of local appropriation.

WATER-POWERS.

A ridge divides Green county from northwest to southeast. The county is, in fact, supplied with a perfect net-work of streams, which reach out, like silver threads, to beautify, gladden, re- fresh and fertilize it, in all its parts. These creeks are not well supplied with fish, although their waters are pure and clear. They have sufficient fall to afford good water-powers, which have, to a great extent been utilized. These water courses are fed from springs which rise in the high grounds mostly. Over the entire county, on nearly every stream, water-powers of varied importance, exist, of which the early settlers availed themselves by erecting mills for sawing lumber, as early as 1840, in several parts of the county, followed soon after by flouring mills ; so that, from the early settlement of the county, its water-powers have been utilized to the extent demanded by its people.

The Soil .- The soil of Green county, gener- ally, is a rich loam, with a clay subsoil, which gives'ample security against leaching, and con- sequent loss of fertility. It is deep and endur- ing in the prairie, more shallow in the openings, and somewhat sandy in the northeastern part of the county.

The foregoing being a general account of the surface features of the county, we close the de- scription and chapter with the following :

Bird's-Eye Views .- "While there are a con- siderable number of acres of level lands in the eastern and southern portions of the county, the surface, for the most part, is gently rolling, ris- ing, however, in the northern and western sec- tions of the county, into high and bluffy hills. In the southern and eastern sections, the soil is of a rich, black loam, with a large admixture of vegetable mould; however, on the extreme cast- ern border, a narrow belt of land is found where

the soil is a light, sandy loam. The soil of the timbered lands in the west part is of a deep . clay loam, and produces abundantly, when cul- tivated, all variety of crops. One of the great advantages of Green county, is the extent and distribution of timber-timber and prairie, prai- rie and timber, everywhere. The largest tracts are in the southern part, where is to be found maple, hickory, walnut, basswood, ash and many varietes of oak. The land being rolling, the whole county is almost without marshes."

II.

"The surface of the county is undulating. Prof. J. D. Whitney, in the State Geological Re- port for 1862, has called attention to the fact that while the whole northwest is characterized by three divisions of surface-the bottom land, the bluffs that shut it in, and the upland or prairie, the surface of the lead region has certain pecu- liarities of its own, which are principally due to erosion by its streams. There is, in this sec- tion, a rapid alternation of bluffs and valleys. The valleys, branch again, and again, in every direction, and their width is usually in propor- tion to the size of the streams that wander through them. The conformations of surface in southwestern Wisconsin present, therefore, a marked contrast to the comparatively unbro- ken level of the southeastern part of the State. Green county partakes of the peculiarities of both regions, and may be regarded as the con- necting link between them. Near its western bonndary the hills are many, and the valleys are narrow; but, in the interior of the county, the valleys along the small streams grow so much wider than those in the lead region that the bottom land of, Sugar river is as wide as that of the Mississippi ; and the undulations of the surface gradually grow longer and gentler, until, a little before the eastern border of the county is reached, the surface becomes a level prairie."*

Helen M. Bingham's History of Green County, Wisconsin, (1877), pp.9, 10.

HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

CHAPTER II.

TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.

Lead has been found so far east in Green county that we may consider the whole of it as lying in the "Lead Region." It will be profit- able, in this chapter, to begin with

I .- TOPOGRAPHY.

Unlike most regions which nature has selected for the reception of metallic ores and useful minerals, the Lead Region bears no evidences of any sudden disturbances, or violent action of phys- ical laws. The effects produced by igneous and eruptive agencies are wanting. Faults and dis- location of strata are nowhere found. The only irregularities are slight upheavals, or bending of the strata (and these never of great extent) producing changes of but a few feet from the normal dip.

Between the geological condition and the general surface contour of the country, there is no direct correlation. The existence of a hill or valley on the surface is not due to a subter- ranean elevation or depression of the surface, as is by many supposed; and whatever irregu- larities exist, must be chiefly attributed to the milder natural agencies now constantly at work, -such as running water, frost, winds, etc., acting through an immensely long period of time.

Drainage .- The most marked and persistent feature of the Lead Region is the long dividing ridge, or water-shed, which, commencing near Madison, in Dane county, continnes almost di- rectly west to the Blue Mounds, a distance of about twenty miles. Here it takes a slight bend to the southwest for fifteen miles until it reaches Dodgeville, where itresumes its westerly course until it terminates in the bluffs at the conflu-

ence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. Its total length is about eighty-five miles. Two points are noticeable: one is, its gentle uniform directness of outline (it being subject to but few and unimportant flexures); and the other is its parallelism with the Wisconsin river so long as the latter holds an approximately westerly course -the summit of the ridge being always about fifteen miles from the river.

The divide maintains an average elevation of about 600 feet above Lake Michigan and is sel- dom less than 500, or more than 700, except at the Blue Mounds, where it gradually rises east and west for several miles, until it attains an elevation at the west mound of 1,151 feet. This, however, is an extreme case, and in fact, the only marked exception to its general level. In the town of Mount Hope, Grant county, a slight decrease of elevation commences and contin- ues to the western end of the divide, where the elevation is about 430 feet, at a point within a mile of both the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers.

There are two main branches or sub-divisions .of the water-shed. Of these, the western is the ridge which separates the waters that flow into the Platte and Fever rivers from those which flow into the Pecatonica. It leaves the main divide in the town of Wingville, Grant county, and passing through the towns of Belmont and Shullsburg, in Iowa county, in a southeast- erly direction, passes out of the State in the town of Monticello, in the same county. This ridge is not so conspicuous as the main water- shed either for the directness of its course or the uniformity of its elevation. The most con-

HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

spicuous points on it are the Platte Mounds, which appear from a distance very high, but are, in reality only relatively so-their actual elevation being only about 700 feet above Lake Michigan. The ridge appears to slope some- what, in its approach to Illinois-its average elevation there being about 500 feet.

The easterly sub-division, and the one espe- cially of interest to the people of Green county, is that which separates the waters of the Peca- tonica and Sugar rivers. It may be said to be- gin at the Blue Mounds, or a couple of miles east of them, and pursuing quite a devious course through the town of Primrose, in Dane county, and of Washington and Monroe, in Green, it crosses the State line in the town of Jefferson. This ridge, which presents a conspicuous figure in the surface contour of Green county, is char- acterized by a much greater want of uniformity in its general course, and by its irregular eleva- tion. It is much narrower than either the main ridge or the western spur, already described, more abrupt in its slopes, and contains quite a large number of hills and low places, especially in the towns of Primrose and Perry, in Dane county and in those of York and New Glarus in the county of Green, in which towns, the streams head within comparatively short dis- tances of each other, on opposite sides of the. water-shed.

Streams .- The present situations of the streams in the Lead Region was probably never modified or influenced by drift or glacial agen- ies. It follows then that the location of streams not only in Green county but in the others of the Lead Region, must have depended on the nat- ural configuration of the country, and the supe- rior advantages of certain strata in certain posi- tions, predisposing them to become the beds of streams. Other things being equal, surface waters would naturally form a channel first in the more soft and easily erosible strata lying along the line of strike of some soft formation and would cause a river to conform its channel to its out-cropping edge. Simultaneously, its

tributaries would shape their channels, approxi- mately at right-angles to the river, under the following conditions: When the general slope and drainage of the country is not contrary to the geological dip of the formations; which, in the Lead Region, does not appear ever to have been the case. The tributaries on one side of the river thus formed, would conform them- selves to the natural dip of the underlying strata, sloping toward the main river, and would be found wherever there were depressions, or irregularities in the surface suitable to their formation. These would, at their inception, approximate to their final length and course, and future changes in them would be confined to the deeper erosion of their beds and widen- ing of their valleys; the formation of lateral branches; the division of the head of the stream into several smaller sources; and, finally, the gradual recession of all the subordinate parts.

With the tributaries on the other side of the principal river, a different order would prevail, as regards their position and growth. They would at first be the merest rivulets and increase only from erosion; and their beds would lie across the edges of the strata. There would be only a very limited extent of country tributary to the river on this side-the great volume of its water being derived from the tributaries of the other side. The dividing ridge would thus be very near the river, and a second set of long streams, tributary to some other river, would here take their rise and flow away.

In the course of time, the main river would slowly cut its way through the soft formation in which it had its original bed, into and through those which underlaid it. This might at first be accompanied by a slight recession parallel to the line of strike; such a movement, however, could not be of long duration, but would become less as the valley became deeper; because any such recession would necessitate the removal of all the overlying formations. Finally, the small streams flowing across the strata would cut their valley back from the river;

HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

the dividing ridge would recede and their sources would, from the position of the strata, be in steep and precipitous ravines. Such in brief, appears to be the theory of the formation of streams in the Lead Region and of course in Green county, of which region the county forms a part.

Diminution of Streams .- In comparing the streams in Green county and in other counties of the Lead Region, at present, with those re- corded in the government surveys, it will be found that many of the smaller ones are entirely dry and others nearly so. Numerous springs which formerly furnished an abundant supply of water, are now dry and have been replaced by wells, sunk to obtain water from a deeper stratum.

The larger streams of the Lead Region con- tain a much smaller amount of water than here- tofore. Some places can be found where mills, formerly operated by water-power, have been abandoned on account of a diminished supply, or absolute failure, of water.

This diminution is not confined to surface water, springs, streams, and the like, but it is true, to a greater or less extent, of all the min- ing ground of the Lead Region. In many in- stances, this circumstance alone has led to the re-opening and profitable working of mines which years before had been abandoned on ac- count of too much water-with ore "going down" in the crevices.

It is probable that cultivation of the land is the chief cause of this decrease, as a much greater amount of surface is thus exposed, and evaporation takes place more rapidly and in larger quantities. Removal of the timber is, without doubt, another cause of this decrease. The soil of the timbered land contains more moisture than that of the prairie; and, in all countries, the removal of the timber has always been followed by a marked decrease of the water supply. This was notably the case in the Harts mountains of Prussia after the fir and hemlock were removed. When the mountain sides were

again covered by indigeous trees that had been planted by order of the government, their growth was found to be attended by an increase of water in the streams and springs .*

Springs and Wells .- The Lead Region (and Green county as a portion of it) is one of the best watered tracts in the State. Springs are very numerous, both about the sources of the streams and frequently in their banks. They are found in all the geological formations.

In such portions of the country as are not liberally supplied by nature with springs, water is easily and abundantly obtained by means of wells. Their average depth is about twenty- five feet; this, however, depends chiefly on the locality in which they are sunk-those on the ridges and prairies being deeper than the rest. Wells are sometimes obtained by drilling, such borings being chiefly confined to the prairies. They are then furnished with a wind-mill pump and supply an abundance of clear water for stock and farm purposes.

Nearly all the water in the Lead Region, whether in springs or wells, holds in solution a small portion of lime and magnesia, and a still smaller quantity of sodium, iron, alumina and silica. The presence of these salts usually gives the water what is called a hard taste, which is more noticeable in the limestone than in the sandstone springs, and not infrequently induces people to believe them possessed of medical properties.

The following analysis, which is believed to be an average sample of the quality of the water in Green and the other counties of the Lead Region, is inserted to show thesmall amount of foreign substances found. The water ana- lyzed was taken from a well a short distance northwest of the incorporated village of Brod- head. One gallon, United States standard meas- ure, of this water, was found to contain of solid salts, 13.2720 grains, as follows:

*The reader's attention is called to the chapter in this history on Climatology of Green county, for further illustration of this subject.

HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

GRAINS.

Cloride of sodium.

0.3248

Sulphate of soda ..

0.1792

Bicarbonate of soda

0.0280

Bicarbonate of lime ..

6.6584

Bicarbonate of magnesia.

4.8552

Bicarbonate of iron.

0.2296

Alumina.

0.1288

Silica. 0.6888

Organic matter.

0.1792

Total. 13.2720

Prairie and Forest .- The prairie area of the Lead Region is comparatively small and seems to be chiefly a continuation of the great prairies of Illinois. The most extensive prairie is that found in the southern part of Grant and La Fayette counties, comprising the towns of Jamestown and Hazel Green in the first men- tioned county, and of Benton, New Diggings, Shullsburg, Seymour, Monticello and Gratiot, in the last. From this prairie, there is a branch extending in a northwestern direction (corre- sponding to the eastern sub-division of the water-shed previously alluded to), until it unites with the main water-shed; here it branches east and west. The western extension forms a prairie in the towns of Glen Haven, Patch Grove, Little Grant and some parts of Fennimore and Wingville, in the county of Grant. The east- ern prairie follows the main divide already de- scribed, the prairie being from six to ten miles in width. Between the east and west branches of the Pecatonica, there is a prairie, including most of the towns of Waldick, in Iowa county, and of Fayette and Wiota in La Fayette county. In Green county, the principal prairie is found in the towns of Monroe, Clarno, Sylvester and Washington.

We have thus given, in brief, a description of the prairie land of the Lead Region, including Green county. There exist small,isolated patches of timber, in this area, as well as small prairies or openings in the remainder of the country under consideration-not included in the prairie area and which is mostly timbered land. The original area of prairie appears, from the gov- ernment surveys, to have been somewhat greater than what would be assigned to it at present.

Now (1884), the original forests of large timber have been mostly cut down, except about the Wisconsin river bluffs, such timber as is now found being a second growth of black oak, white oak, burr oak, maple, hickory, poplar and elm, the trees being of small size, seldom more than a foot in diameter.

II .- SURFACE GEOLOGY.

Before entering upon a consideration of the geological formations of the Lead Region it is thought proper to call the attention of the reader to its surface geology.

Soil and Subsoil .- The quality of the soil of the lead region (and, of course, of Green county, of which it is a part) is chiefly dependent on the character of the subjacent formations. The subsoil appears to be derived directly from the decay and disintegration of the strata, of which it is the residuum. South of the principal water-shed the subsoil is clay, almost without exception, having a thickness of from three to six feet, depending on the configuration of the underlying rock formation. This is the average thickness on comparatively level ground; on side hills it is usually much thinner, the greater part having been washed down into the valleys below.

The amount of lime, magnesia and alkaline earths in the subsoil and soil, together with the vegetable mole in the latter, constitutes a soil which, in its virgin state, is unsurpassed for richness and fertility. The number of succes- sive wheat erops which, in years past, were raised without regard to rotation, on some of the prairie farms, attest its native strength; as also the marked decline in fertility of the soil when this has been done shows the inevitable retribution which follows the practice. The ex- ceptions to the clay soil in Green county will be hereafter mentioned; so also as to the transpor- tation of the component materials of the soils.

Peat .- While on the subject of surface soil and subsoil, it is proper to mention two places -both in Green county-which afford the only

HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY.

approach to peat yet known in the lead region. One of these is situated on Jordan creek, on the east half of sections 21 and 28,in township 2 north, of range 6 east (town of Jordan), and comprises from 150 to 200 acres. The other locality is on the Little Sugar river, near the center of section 11, in township 3 north, of range 7 east (town of Washington). As the conditions under which they exist are similar, one description will answer for both.

The turf is underlaid by an impervious stra- tum of blue clay, which holds the water and nourishes a vegetable growth about four feet thick, which, in this vicinity, is known as peat. When cut and dried it burns similarly to peat, but with so large a residuum of clay, sand and ashes as to render it unfit for economic purposes.

Brick Clay .- Clay suitable for making brick is found in many parts of Green and adjoining counties; but, in the city of Monroe, there is found a clay having a peculiarity not noticeable elsewhere; two kinds of brick are made from the same kind of clay. One is a red brick simi- lar to all common red brick; the other is a cream colored brick of very handsome appearance,close- ly resembling the Milwaukee brick. The differ- ence in color is due to the difference in burning -the red color being caused by a greater and long continued heat. The origin of the clay of which the brick is made is a matter of some doubt. It does not have exactly the appearance of a drift clay; and, if not, its situation indicates that it must have undergone some subsequent re-arrangement.

Glacial Drift .- The lead region is a driftless tract of country; not a single bowlder, pebble or clay of foreign origin being found within its limits, except in three or four isolated cases. The northern boundary line of the driftless re- gion lies far to the north of the lead region. The eastern line is in Green county; it com- mences on the west side of the Pecatonica river, crossing the State line at the southwest corner of the town of Cadiz, which is also the south- west corner of the county. From this point it

proceeds almost in a straight line to the city of Monroe. Thence north, it runs along the divid- ing ridge between the Pecatonica and Sugar rivers, until about two miles south of New Glarus, where it takes a northeasterly course and passes out of the county about a mile west of Belleville, in Dane county. The course thus indicated is its present line, as shown by erratic bowlders lying upon the surface. If the drift deposits originally extended farther westward, no trace thereof now remains. East of the line described, bowlders are found in all parts of the county with more or less frequency. The boun- dary line, where bowlders are now found, does not appear to conform at all to the surface features, but crosses the valleys of the streams and the ridges between them with equal impar- tiality.

The different kinds of rock found in the drift are so numerous that it would require quite a catalogue to enumerate them all. It will be sufficient to state that the great bulk of them are granite, metamorphic or trappean-the most frequent being the varieties of granite and gneiss, and next to them the trappean rocks. Chloritic rocks and those of a schistoze structure are also quite numerous. In addition to these, there are, in certain places, beds of gravel, sand and clay.

The distribution of the bowlders does not ap- pear to be very regular in Green county; in fact the whole of the county verges "so near the western boundary of the drift, that compara- tively small deposits were made here; which are quite insufficient to exemplify any general laws of distribution. No difference is observ- able in their frequency between the eastern line of the county and the western line of the drift. The bowlders are of various sizes from a few inches to two or three feet in diam- eter and are always rounded and worn smooth. They are frequently found quite numerous in one place, and then scattered along at very dis- tant intervals, on the same kind of ground, but

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History of Green County, Wisconsin. Together with sketches of its towns and villages, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, Part 11

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company Number of Pages: 1168

Author: Union publishing company, Springfield, Ill., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Springfield, Ill., Union publishing company
Number of Pages: 1168