History of Iowa County, Wisconsin, Part 71

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 958

USA > Wisconsin > Iowa County > History of Iowa County, Wisconsin > Part 71

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The first death occurred in 1827. among Henry Dodge's household, the victim being one of the negro slaves who voluntarily accompanied his master from Galena, Ill. The next death, and the first white man to die here, was James Journey, who expired in the spring of 1828. Ile was buried in the old cemetery, near Dodgeville.

PEDDLERS CREEK AND DALLAS.

Mineral was likewise discovered at Linden, in the fall of 1827, by Patrick O'Meara, famil- iarly known as the " Dodgeville peddler." Ile circulated all through the mining country be- tween Galena and Dodgeville, retailing his wares to all who stood in need of such trifles as pins. needles, cloths and general small wares. By a fortuitous mishap, if such an anomaly could exist, O'Meara was overtaken one night by darkness and compelled to camp on the banks of what has since been called Peddler's Creek, a short distance west of the present village. While collecting fuel for his camp-fire, he accidentally stumbled across a piece of lead ore, displaced by the burrowing of a badger. Ile pursued his journey to Galena, where he confided his secret to a bosom friend, Morgan Keogh. Together they returned to the location and prosecuted mining on the creck, near its intersection with the Galena and Dodgeville. This has since been known as "Peddler's Creek," in deference to the peddler whose discovery rendered that section famous. They erected cabins, and continued to exhume mineral for several years ; then, owing to un-

467

IIISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

propitions fortune, they removed elsewhere. Keogh erected his cabin in a grove of timber, which has since been known as Keogh's Grove. John G. Parrish, from the blue-grass region of Kentucky, settled in Mifflin, on Section 16, late in 1827. He built a hut for himself and family, and engaged in mining and teaming. He only remained here for five years, when he returned to Galena, where he was stricken with the cholera and died. In the summer of 1828, Abel Clapp, a Missourian, and Joseph B. Hunter and Thomas Simpson made their debut and located claims on the old Indian camping ground, subsequently the platted site of the village of Dallas. There the first furnace in the town of Mifflin was erected by Joseph B. Hunter, who continued mining and smelting until the death of his partner in 1832.

MINERAL POINT.

The vicinity of Mineral Point was settled in the fall of 1827, but, owing to the number of contending statements. no accurate idea can be gained of the first actual settler. The honor has been claimed for William Roberts, R. C. Hoard and others. None, however, supply cor- roborative testimony of the justice of those claims, and therefore public opinion relegates the honor to John Hood and wife, who are generally accredited with the distinction of having made the first permanent location. They removed to Iowa County from Missouri, and settled in Mineral Point in the spring or early summer of 1828. This first place of abode was a hastily constructed hut, made by extending two poles from an overhanging bank, and covering them with bark to shed the rain. A sod house, measuring ten by twelve feet, was afterward erected. The first lead in the hill, whence the town derives its significant name, was struck by Nat Morris and Messrs. Tucker and Warfield. They struck it rich, to use a localism, and the news was quickly bruited abroad among the miners then engaged in the Illinois fields. R. C. Hoard and John Long, who rank among the first arrivals, built the first furnace two miles east of the " Point." Several others were added during this season. About two and a half miles from Mineral Point, in a northwesterly direction, a mining camp was established in 1828, under the dignified appellation of Mosquito Grove. The prime movers in this cluster were Duke Smith, Maston, Lucius Langworthy and brothers and James Brady. The camp was located in a hollow at the confluence of two ereeks, flanked on both sides with a scrubby growth of wood, which formed a regular jungle for the busy mosquito. Barreltown, another diggings a little south, was estab- lished in the same year. Abner Nichols was one of the first in this section.

EARLY MERCHANDISING.

The first store and stock of goods were opened in Dodgeville in the spring of 1828. This place at that time must have ranked high as a commercial standpoint or distributing center for the miners, as we find that three fairly stocked "stores " were in full blast in Dodge's mining camp, whereas, for fifty miles north or south, not a single article, barring mineral, was offered for sale until the growing importance of Mineral Point induced a merchant to select it as an eligible location. Quail & Armstrong were the pioneers of trade. Early in the spring of 1828, they brought in from Galena a general stock of provisions, groceries, clothing and mining implements, and opened a shop within the present boundaries of Dodgeville. In the summer or early autumn, Erastus Wright, accompanied by an assistant or associate trader named Gniard, rented a log house in Mineral Point, wherein they made the first sale of goods witnessed in that section.

To Dodgeville again is bequeathed the honor of having had the first mechanical industry in the county, in the form of a blacksmith-shop, which stood about the center of lowa street, in front of Stratman's present paint-shop. There were two blacksmiths working together named Chatsy and Manlove.

FIRST MARRIAGES AND BIRTHS.

In 1829, Miss Lovey Roberts, the daughter of Elder Roberts, the first preacher in the county, and one of the very first settlers at Mineral Point, was married to Joshua Brown. These,

468

HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

it is asserted, were the first nuptials celebrated in the county, but a doubt has arisen regarding priority, owing to the claim of America Parish, who, it is alleged, was married as early as 1828, to Daniel Moore, in the town of Mifflin, or what is now called Eden.

An equally interesting event, and one that in the estimation of many overtops all other social occurrences in importance, was the birth of the first child in what is now the town of Min- eral Point. This natal curiosity was the offspring of Mrs. G. D. Ferris, who gave birth to a promising girl baby in 1828. The child was baptized with the euphonious title of Hannah.

A quaint document, the first marriage license issued in the county after organization, is found among the county archives. Herewith we give transcript :

EAST MOUNDS, February 12, 1830. Mr. John L. Chastirn, please to let D. Ferris, Esq., have license to marry Mary Ann McCormick and Thomas Walsh, both of Michigan Territory and Iowa County. THOMAS WALSH, MARY ANN MCCORMICK.

Attesi.,

Thomas R. Bracken.

FIRST FARMING.

Prohibited by the fallacious policy of the government from forming or developing the agri- cultural resources of the country, husbandry languished and was not pursued by the early settlers, who were forced to devote their whole time and attention to mining. In 1828, paltry patches of land adjoining the miners' diggings were broken, or, rather, dug up and planted with garden truck, in hopes of realizing a variety to the monotonous diet of pork and beans. The first attempt to follow farming as an industry was made in 1829 by Capt. J. B. Estes, who broke forty acres in the town of Linden. James Jenkins broke land on Section 21, Town 6, Range 3, Dodgeville, in 1829. William Kirkpatrick performed the work. John Messersmith settled on a farm in Dodgeville, Section 24, Town 6, Range 3, in 1829, and established an extensive farm. In 1830, Bennett, Honey and Jerry Lycan broke 100 additional acres for Capt. J. B. Estes. A greater portion of this was never fenced in until other men entered it. This land was famed for its luscious strawberries, and people flocked thither from all around to partake of the rich fruit. The first crop of wheat and oats was garnered by Capt. J. B. Estes on his hundred-aere farm, in 1831, in Town 6, Range 2 (Linden). The seed was obtained from Illinois, by John Lindsay, who is yet living, a settler of 1828.

The following paragraph from the Miner's Journal of 1837, goes to show the redundant fertility of the soil when even only rudely cultivated. Our prairie and hazel lands have produced this season an unusual quantity of this delicious fruit (strawberries), and, in some places which were favorable to their growth, they have equaled in size the production of the best cultivated gardens. The following is the size of five berries taken from the top of a pailful which were gathered in a field in the vicinity of Willow Springs : One, two and a half inches in circumference, three two and five-eighth inches, and one three inches. The cultivation of strawberries should be attended to in our territory, which in soil and latitude is so favorable to their growth.

FIRST MILL.

In 1830, a man by the name of Walker built a small mill two miles northeast of Mineral Point, on the old Dowd place, for a Mr. Miller, who conducted it for two or three years, grind- ing grain into feed for animals, and making corn-meal. Ile not having adequate facilities to supply bolted flour, the inhabitants of the county were supplied from Galena.

BLUE RIVER.

The western section of the county was first visited as far back as 1826; one F. X. Bris- bois, a French Canadian half-breed, arrived from the portage on a prospecting tour. It is un- known what measure of success was meted out to him, neither are there any living persons now in the county who can conjure up more than a passing recollection of this individual. Capt. Silas Jones was the succeeding adventurer, to whose skill and enterprise the present town of High- land is indebted for much of its prosperity. Capt. Jones arrived in the Blue River Precinet, on

MINERAL POINT.

471

HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

the ground now occupied by Centerville, in the latter part of 1827. Capt. Jones built the first smelting furnace here in 1828. His title was gained during the Black Hawk war when he was commander of the Blue River Fort. After him, during 1827, a large number of miners came in and started what have since been known as the " Centerville Diggings."

RIDGEWAY.

Following the belts of mineral deposits, the miners swarmed into the mineral regions of the eastern quarter of the county in the spring of 1828.

J. B. Skinner settled in this town in 1828, and within a short time started a furnace, with Jacob Pate, who entered the town at the same time. In honor of the erection of the first furnace in the vicinity, the locality was dubbed Patesville.

Hugh R. Porter came to the town in the same year, and entered a smelting claim on the land which, to this day, has preserved the name of Porter's Grove. In the fall, James and William Morrisson built a " double-eye " furnace. About the same time, Thomas McRaney erected a " single-eye " furnace southwest from the Little Blue Mound, at the junction of Mound Creeks. The Rankin brothers also came in 1828, and, in 1829, sold their diggings to William Garrison and Patrick Horine ; hence the name Garrison's Grove.

J. D. Ansley smelted the first copper in Iowa County as early as 1835, and the ruins of his works are still visible about three miles south of Mineral Point, on the line of the railroad adjacent to the Mineral Point Branch. Another furnace was erected on the East Fork of the Mineral Point Branch, two miles from the depot, by Kendall, Preston & Co.

In 1851, the first agricultural society was established in Iowa County, with HI. L. Leffing- well, President ; Henry M. Billings, Levi Sterling, P. O'Dowd, John Hand, F. J. Dunn and G. Goldthorp, Vice Presidents ; Samuel Crawford, Treasurer, and William K. Smith. The society held its first meeting and fair October 1, 1851. This society is now supplemented by the Southwestern Agricultural Society, with headquarters at Mineral Point.

Various social organizations were perfected between the years 1850 and 1860. The most prominent association was the Miners' Co-operative and Protective Union, composed of miners from Green, Dane, La Fayette, Iowa and Grant Counties. The workings of the society were purely beneficial, being intended to benefit wives and families of deceased miners, to assist them in illness, and generally to protect individual mining interests. An art association existed here about 1857, but, owing to the more absorbing cares of business, it did not survive the see- ond year.

FIRST SCHOOL AND PHYSICIANS.

The first school in the county was taught at Mineral Point in 1829 by Mrs. Harker and Beulah Lamb. The attendance numbered eight pupils, whose facilities for mastering the simple rudiments of the English language were plain beyond description. The schoolhouse was a wretched log cabin, with rough-hewn timber walls. The seats were made by inserting four wooden pegs in slabs of timber. The floor was composed of rough, puncheons, and pens and ink were novelties beyond the flightiest imagination. With the institution of a school, the highway was paved for the reception of the arts and sciences. In 1828, Dr. E. Loofborrow appeared in Mineral Point from Gratiot's Grove, but did not tarry long in the budding town. Ile was suc- ceeded by Dr. Mannegan, of Missouri, who permanently located at Mineral Point. Dr. Mor- rison made his appearance about the same time at IIelena. On the north side of the county, Dr. Justine settled at Dodgeville during 1828, also.

OLD IIELENA.

The settlement of the northern seetion is almost parallel with the earliest claims in the south or central portion of the county. Advantage was taken of the Wisconsin River to trans- port merchandise and convey the raw products to market. The brightest prospects were freely canvassed, and, in the temporary location of the county seat at Helena, we witness the presumptuous

472

HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

overreaching of an aspiring community. As carly as 1828, a village was laid out, surveyed and staked, in what is now known as McHutchins' place. This was laid out by Gen. Dodge, Col. Moore, McRaney and others, and is conspicuous only as having been the first village platted in the county. Several cabins were erected that fall by miners from Dodgeville, Mineral Point and surrounding locality. ITere were built. in 1829, the first boats launched from the shores of Iowa County. The crafts were of the flat-boat type, the only kind for which the shal- low waters of the river were navigable. The Inmber was sawed by John Lindsay and Mr. Morrison, the work being done with a pit or whip saw. where one man stood in a pit and the other on top of the log. The first boat was built by McCaul and Judd. Later in the same year. Collyer, Lay, Dunn and the Morrison brothers built a flat-boat. The logs, from which the lumber was sawed, were obtained from the opposite banks of the river.

The first attempt to inaugurate a manufacture suitable to this region was made here in 1833, when Daniel Whitney, Platte & Co. undertook the manufacture of various grades of shot. A tower was erected at the mouth of Mill Creek, and for many years it afforded a home market for quantities of lead. Owing to the instability of the lessecs and the frequent transfer of the pro- prietorship, the manufacture gradually weakened, and finally ceased. The United States Gov- ernment located officers here in 1829 for the collection of lead rents. Frank Guion was sub- agent, representing Col. Wight, of Galena. A building was subsequently erected in which were kept military supplies until 1833, when the premises were abandoned and the supplies disposed of to the ininers.

A VISIT TO HELENA IN 1836.

G. W. Featherstonhaugh, who voyaged down the Wisconsin in 1836, thus sums up his Helena experienec : " At 9 o'clock, A. M., we reached a shot-tower belonging to Mr. Whitney, on the left bank of the river, and landed there to breakfast. As soon as the canoc was fastened to the shore, we trudged to the agent's house, to which the name HEclena had been given. Mr. Whitney's nephew and wife received me civilly, and insisted upon entertaining me with breakfast, which, when I had dispatched, I went to see what they called the shot-tower, where lead, brought from the lead distriets of Wisconsin, not many miles off, is cast into shot of various sizes. This shot-tower was not one of the ordinary columns that rise to a great height from the surface, but was a cylindrical excavation. ingeniously made in an cscarpment of the incoherent sandstone, 200 feet in height. The lead was melted at the top, and afterward poured down to a chamber below. The whole contrivance did great credit to the proprietor. From the top of the escarp- ment, I had an extensive view of the Wisconsin, with the broad bottoms of fertile soil on cach side of it, forming, altogether. a rich valley about two miles in breadth. once occupied entirely by this flood, in the ancient state of the river, and which had contracted itself into its present channel, either upon that last retreat of the waters of the country, or from its diminution by the gradual drainage of the country. In treating, however, of these physical phenomena analytically, a distinction is to be observed. Some of the valleys may have been formed on the general retreat of the ocean from a continent, on its first appearance, and some on the retreat of an inland sea of fresh water, such as that which has produced the valley of the Wisconsin. with its coves and dells coming into at right angles, all abounding in natural and beautiful plantations of trees and shrubs. But, whether these fine vales are owing to one cause or the other, it is evi- dent that they have both been instruments, in the hand of Providence, to embellish that surface of the earth which was to be inhabited by the human family.

Mr. Whitney's agent informed me that galena was found within twenty miles of the shot- tower; and, in examining some of the highest parts of the escarpment, I found a sparry, cal- careous rock, resembling that in which the galena is found in the State of Missouri-a fact which led to the inference that the galena of this district might also be inclosed in equivalent strata. I left Helena at 11 A. M. The morning was beautiful, and, having made a good breakfast, I went gliding on and enjoying the scenery. Near 1 P. M., we came up with a mass of sand- stone, which had fallen off from an escarpment about thirty feet in height, for about two hun- dred feet in length; the water had underworn it, and, being loose and incoherent, it had pecled

473

HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

off. leaving a smooth face. About 2 P. M., we stopped at a little cove to let the men dine, at a place where I found what I had not met with before-an industrious family in a clean wigwam. About 2:30 P. M., we were afloat again, and soon passed a fine stream coming in from the right bank (Pine River). The country here was remarkably beautiful, the slopes of the banks gracefully wooded, and occasionally interrupted by coves. For a distance of about three miles, the escarp- ments were about two hundred and fifty feet high, the rock every now and then jutting out and taking a castellated appearance. It was evident, from the manner in which the sections pre- sented themselves on the banks, that the surface of the country in the interior must be very un- dulating. I observed, too, that the incoherent structure of the sandstone had been favorable to Indian talent; the figures of deer, men and horses, sometimes well executed, being cut in it, and. sometimes, painted with a red bole. The swallows bad availed themselves of the softness of the rock by picking holes and building their nests there in innumerable quantities. This loose texture of the rock is to be detected also in the tops of the hills, which are gracefully rounded off, the inco- herent rock having yielded to the action of the atmosphere. In these parts of North America, the arenaceous beds are of immense extent. and it goes beyond the power of man's imagina- tion to form even a proximate idea of the ancient state of things which existed before the par- tieles of sand. now so loosely combined, formed an integral portion of the hard, quartzose rock from which they seem to have been derived. How remote that period must have been from the present ! About 6 P. M., we stopped for the night at a bold bank, up which the men had to carry the butin to a commodious encampment.

Subsequently, in 1837, the same author wrote: " On reaching the shot-tower on the bank of the Wisconsin, I found everything much improved since my visit there in 1835. Although called a tower, it was, in fact, a perpendicular cylinder cut from the top of the escarpment through the incoherent sandstone to a depth of one hundred and eighty feet, and the adit below from the surface of the escarpinent to the water-tub was ninety feet long. Their method in the manufacturing of shot was to put ten pounds of arsenic to every one thousand pounds of galena, to make the lead brittle and disposed to separate ; three-fourths of this arsenic evaporates whilst melting. and does not combine with the lead. The lead, when melted a second time, is poured through a perforated ladle, and falls from the top of the tower into the water below in all sorts of sizes and shapes. When taken ont and dried, it is poured over a series of inelined planes, separated by small troughs. Those globules which are quite orbicular, run over all the planes, while the imperfect ones waddle along, and, being sometimes double and having no spring in their movements, drop into the troughs and are melted over again. The perfect shot are finally sifted in a machine containing various drawers with their bottoms perforated in holes of all sizes, from buckshot to mustard-seed. This machine is moved by the hand. The shot, when separated into sorts. is glazed and put into bags.

.. But a very short time ago, the whole country was a wilderness, containing only a few roam- ing Winnebagoes, and already the white men have established a well-conducted and prosperous manufactory. Having got something to eat at the house, we lay down to sleep on the floor and surrendered ourselves to myriads of pitiless mosquitoes.

" What with the mosquitoes and the heavy thunder and rain that were performing almost the whole night. I rose at the dawn sleepless and feverish. The Wisconsin River, which inter- ested me so much when I came down it in iny canoe in 1835, was as beautiful as ever. Having got a cup of coffee, we left its banks about 9 A. M., and returned to our guides, where. taking leave of our hospitable friends, we proceeded on our return to Mineral Point, which we reached about 4 in the afternoon."

FURNACES OF '27 AND '28.

Previous to the incursions of Black Hawk, the following furnaces were in successful opera- tion in Iowa County :

James Estes had a log furnace four miles northwest of Dodgeville, in 1828.

James and William Morrison's furnace, at Porter's Grove, in Ridgeway.

474

HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

John Messersmith's furnace, on Section 13, where Joseph Michael's farm was located, con- structed in 1828.

The firm of Tay, Collier & Dunn had a furnace about one and one-half miles west of Messer- smith's furnace, in the town of Dodgeville ; built in 1828.

Maj. Thomas Jenkins' furnace, half a mile southwest of the above furnace 1828.

Bush's furnace, built either in the towns of Linden or Eden, in 1828.

Gaines & Wooley's furnace, near Dodgeville; built in 1827.

William Phelps' furnace, on Furnace Ridge, two miles southeast of Dodgeville; built in 1829.

Kirkpatrick's furnace, Diamond Grove; built in 1828.

J. B. Terry's furnace, at Diamond Grove ; built in 1828.

Gratiot & Laramie's furnace, at Diamond Grove ; built in 1828.

MeKnight & Thrasher's furnace, at Diamond Grove; built in 1828.

A log furnace, on Blue River, now Highland, started by Capt. Jones in 1828.

James H. Gentry's furnace, three miles west of Mineral Point; built in 1828.

Gov. Dodge's furnace, in Dodgeville ; built in 1827.

R. C. Hoard's furnace, on the O'Dowd farm, three miles cast of Mineral Point ; built in 1828.

Millsap & Hunter, had furnace in Linden, in 1828.

Capt. John F. O'Neill's furnace, two and a half miles south of Mineral Point, was in oper- ation a short time previous to the Black Hawk war.

THE FIRST CENSUS.

The first census enumeration was made in 1834 by Levi Sterling. Then there were 5,400 white persons residing in what is now the State of Wisconsin ; 2,633 of whom were living in the County of lowa.

Aside from the above, it is impossible to arrive at accurate deductions in the absence of the census books, but herewith are appended the names enumerated in four districts by P. F. Dillon, and returned to the County Clerk May 16, 1838. This census was taken according to an act approved December 30, 1837 :

Peckatonika .- John Smith, 5; Michael Cook. 4; Isaac Bailey, 5; Thomas J. Iliggin- botham, 2; George W. Rollins, 2; Joseph Bailey, 11; George Evans, 3; Abner Adkins, 5; James Robb. 4 ; Mrs. Hall, 5; P. F. Dillon, 5; J. B. Sheldon, 14; Joshna Bailey, 12; Edmund Dellahey, 2; Christopher Blackgrove, 7; Lewis Sanderford, 11; John Johnson, 1; Benjamin Martin, 2.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Iowa County, Wisconsin, Part 71

Author: Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 958

Author:
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 958