History of Iowa County, Wisconsin, Part 98

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

USA > Wisconsin > Iowa County > History of Iowa County, Wisconsin > Part 98

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).

2220

CHAPTER XIII.

MINERAL POINT AS A BOROUGH.

FIRST ORDINANCES AND CORPORATION MONEY-BUSINESS CONDITION IN 1837-AN ENGLISHMAN'S OBSERVATIONS-THE BANK OF MINERAL POINT-THE TRIAL AND HANGING OF CAFFEE- BORDER JUSTICE AND VENDETTAS-A FRENCH PRINCE VISITS THE BOROUGH-THE CALIFOR- MIA EXODI'S-A MINERAL POINT CRAFT AND HER ADVENTURES-CALIFORNIA EMIGRANTS.

While the amendment bill to the first act of Congress, approved July 2, 1836, which passed March 3, 1837, was yet pending, the representative men of Mineral Point, in anticipation of the passage of the bill, discussed the best means to be adopted for the proper and judicious man- agement of their pecuniary affairs. They finally called a meeting, to be held at the house of Abner Nichols on the 18th day of March, 1837, for the purpose of taking into consideration the exigencies of their situation, and the propriety of organizing a village or borough government.

It may be well to describe briefly, at this point, the chief desideratum involved. The town would, in the event of the passage of the amendment pending, be able to command the money to accrue from the sale of the land donated, after sales and returns were made, and would neces- sarily need an efficient village board to manage its disbursement. Not only that, but it would require a system based upon the public needs. which could only be decided to the satisfaction of the general public by deliberation and experience.

After the meeting had been called to order, and a short preliminary discussion of the vari- ous points deemed important, it was resolved by acclamation that the inhabitants should incor- porate as a borough, under the provisions of an act of the Council and Representatives of the Territory of Wisconsin, approved Dec. 6, 1836, entitled " An act to incorporate the inhabitants of such towns as wish to be incorporated."

This bill provided that the white male population. over 21 years of age and exceeding 300 in number, having been residents of a place for six months, could assemble in some public place, after ten days' notice of the meeting had been given, and decide viva voce whether they would be incorporated or not. A chairman and clerk of the meeting was to be then elected. and the latter was required to give five days' notice of the election (by ballot) of the officers. Five Trustees were to be elected, who were required to select one from among their number as Chair- man. and the village or borough was thereafter to be known under the corporate head of the President and Trustees. The officers were empowered to manage the fiscal, municipal and pru- dential affairs of the place, and make such ordinances as might be deemed necessary for the improvement and protection of the borough that were not inconsistent with the constitution of the United States and the Territorial laws of Wisconsin. The Trustees could define the bound- aries of the place within two miles, and could collect a tax from residents for the publie use not to exceed 50 cents on $100. assessed valuation, or 25 cents on $100 of personal property. The streets were to be kept clean, and each adult male citizen was to work on them two days during each year. Sidewalks could be built by the owner of walks paying half. Fines for breach of ordinances could be made by the Justice of the Peace, and could not be under $10, nor more than $20. The Trustees, who were elected each year, appointed a Clerk and Treasurer and other officers, who were required to give bonds for the faithful performance of their duties.

The corporation could be dissolved at any time by a two-thirds vote of the qualified electors of a borough, after thirty days' notice had been given in three newspapers advertising the inten- tion, time and place of meeting.

The first Trustees elected were Thomas McKnight. President : Abner Nichols, O. P. Will- jams. Francis Vivian and John D. Ansley. Trustees. A meeting of the board was held on

665

HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

the 21st of March following the election, when they were sworn to the duties of their office. At that meeting, D. G. Fenton was elected Clerk of the board.

On the 22d of March, 1837, the first official meeting of the board was held. At this time, Parley Eaton and Joseph Galbraith were appointed Assessors ; Thomas Denson, Collector, and D. W. Jones, Treasurer. The two latter were required to give bonds in $3,000 each.

At a meeting of the Trustees held at the house of Francis Vivian on March 25, 1837, surities were presented by Thomas Denson and D. W. Jones, as follows :

Know all men by these Presents, That we, Thomas Denson, D. M. Parkison and William Mannegan, are held and firmly bound, to the President and Trustees of the town of Mineral Point, in the just and full sum of $3,000 lawful money of the United States, for the true and faithful payment of which we do bind ourselves, our heirs, executors, administrators or assigns. In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals, this 25th day of March, A. D., 1837.

The condition of the above obligation is such that if the above Thomas Denson shall, with fidelity, perform the duties of Collector, to the said President and Trustees of Mineral Point for one year from this date, and shall pay over all moneys as soon as hy him collected to the Treasurer of said board, and do all things justly and faithfully, which shall and do appertain to his said office of Collector, then this obligation to he void; otherwise to he and re- main in full force and virtue.

Signed in presence of DAVID D. JONES, D. G. FENTON.

Approved by the board this 25th of March, 1837. D. G. FENTON, Clerk.

[Signatures ], THOMAS DENSON, D. M. PARKISON, II. F. MONAGAN.

The bond of D. W. Jones is almost a literal copy of the foregoing, with the names of D. W. Jones, M. V. Burris and Stephen Taylor as bondsmen. It was resolved by the board at this time, that D. W. Jones should receive 2 per cent on all the treasury notes indorsed or kept by him ; it was also resolved that the Treasurer should receive 13 per cent on all disbursements made by him, as compensation for his services.

A. W. Mills was appointed Constable at the above meeting, being required to give bonds for the privilege of attending to the peace of the community.

FIRST ORDINANCES AND CORPORATION MONEY.

Subsequent to the appointment of the Clerk, Treasurer, Collector, Assessors and Constables, on the 20th of May, 1837, such ordinances were passed as determined the various duties of those officers, and, on the 9th of May following, ordinances for the preservation of peace and good order were adopted. From the ordinance for suppressing noises and disturbances, we make a few selections that will illustrate how thorough the provisions were. as well as their oddities :

People restrained within the corporation boundaries from blowing horns, trumpets or other instruments or engines ; from the rattling of drums, kettles, pans, tubs or other sounding ves- sels ; from bellowing, bawling, howling, swearing, or using tumultuous or obscene language ; and from quarreling, scolding, fighting, etc.

By a special ordinance, passed in September, 1837, the treasury department was author- ized to issue corporation money, or notes. These notes were issued to obtain needed funds for public uses previous to the receipt of money from the sale of the corporation land, through which the issue was justified and payment guaranteed to the holders. Just how much scrip was issued is not known, but, from October 1, to December 9, 1837, the Treasurer's report shows that $17,043 of corporation moncy was out. According to a note made in the entry book by D. W. Jones, on the 4th day of August, 1838, we are informed that C. Loyd and D. G. Fenton told him to issue more of the corporation bills, and date them the same as the last that were issued. Thus we are left to infer that there might have been as much more issued as had already been authorized. One thing is certain, there was nothing small or mean about the issue ; it was big. A generous quantity of circulating medium was demanded, and, being rich in expectations of large land sales, the corporation boldly launched forth on the inflation system, and erelong every man in the borough and around it had his pockets well lined with corporation pledges of different denominations.

666

HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

There is no more certainty as to the number of these notes redeemed, than there is as to the amount issued. But of one thing there is not a shadow of doubt, that is, that many more were paid out to the public than the public were ever paid for : and even at this day there is a considerable quantity of the stuff awaiting collection in the hands of one of the city bankers.

On the 6th day of April, 1839, the board met, and pursuant to the act under which the village incorporated, established the first boundaries of the place, as follows: "Commencing at a point situated one-quarter of a mile west from the southeast corner of Section 5, Township 4, Range 3, east; running thence west two miles, to a station situated one-quarter of a mile from the south corner of Section 1, Township 4, Range 5, east; thence north two miles to a station ; thence east along the section line to a station ; thence south to the place of com- meneing." Including in all, two miles square.

The various ordinances for the punishment of crime and riotousness, for preventing drunk- enness, and maintaining good order, for keeping the streets and alleys open and clear from rub- bish and filth, and the providing of officers to attend to such matters-considering the time and the character of a majority of the inhabitants-were generally very good, and all that could have been expected.

An ordinance, passed in 1839, is worthy of note, as it prohibits the sale of liquor. or merchandise of any kind on Sunday, showing that the people of forty years ago were not behind their successors of to-day in such matters. In those days, the too frequent and turbu- lent canine was thoroughly restrained or banished from the borough by an ordinance that admit- ted of no amenities, except by a license of $1 or $2 per head. In this connection we note that there were nine licensed dogs in the town at that time.

After 1839, the borough corporation was dissolved, either in accordance with the provision of the act of 1836, under which the incorporation was effected, or owing to the neglect or irreg- ularity of the Trustees and public. The territory embraced by the borough limits, as estab- lished in 1839, then became, as before, a part of the Mineral Point Precinct, and was governed by the general law appertaining to the same. The place remained in that condition until 1844. when it was regularly incorporated by a special act of the Council and House of Representatives of Wisconsin Territory as a village.

BUSINESS CONDITION IN 1837.

The increase of business and size of the place, up to 1837, is very graphically portrayed by William R. Smith, the historian, who journeyed hither during that year, and who, during his stop, made copious notes, from which the following items were extracted :

" The roads leading into the Point were then in excellent condition ; there were seven dry- goods stores, four public houses, four groceries and liquor stores, two tailors, two smithies, two carpenter shops, one cabinet-maker and one brewery ; there were 250 houses, with a population of from twelve to fifteen hundred, four hundred of whom were miners. Wages were very high ; carpenters and mechanics were receiving from $3 to $4 per day, and laborers $2 per day. Rents for all kinds of buildings were high, and the price of town lots varied from $100 to $10,000.

" The town is laid off into streets, one of which runs up a ravine to a delightful spring." In the vicinity of the place were several furnaces doing a thriving business. He says : " The hills about the town are perfectly covered by the explorations of miners, and, indeed, it is dan- gerous for the benighted traveler to wind his devious path amongst the excavations ; for he may without notice be instantaneously engulfed in a mine hole. These lands have been excluded from private entry in the Land Office, and are worked at will by the miners, with an under- standing, by common consent among themselves, as to the extent around each lead or prospect. which the discoverer may claim as his exclusive right of digging and exploring. The galena mineral here found yields in smelting from 70 to 75 per cent of pure lead, and, consequently, is equally profitable to the miner and the smelter. The course of trade is that the miner raises the mineral from the bowels of the earth, and the smelter sends his teams to the mine whence lie alraws the crude material to his furnace by return teams." He delivers to the order of the miner

E.W. Sylwester

MINERAL POINT.

669

HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

50 per cent on what he receives of ore in pig lead ; thus the smelter receives 35 per cent of lead as his profit by his smelting furnace. From this profit is to be deducted his daily expense of fuel, payment of hands, keeping of stock, wear and tear of materials, implements and live stock, and also the interest of the capital employed. A smelting furnace that will yield from five to seven thousand pounds of lead daily, and many are calculated to produce this result, must cer- tainly be profitable."

" About one and a half miles northeast of the town, on the hills which rise into the great prairie extending to the Blue Mounds, are found the copper mines. Here have been raised im- mense quantities of copper ore which is said to have yielded from 20 to 30 per cent." This was an enormous product when it is considered that the best mines of Europe do not yield above 12 per cent, and the profit must have been proportionately large, considering that the European mines are worked at a profit. In 1836, 58,000 pounds of copper ore were shipped from the ' Point' to England, which yielded 33 per cent of pure material. This copper brought in Boston 22 cents per pound, while other ore brought but 18 cents per pound.

AN ENGLISHMAN'S OBSERVATIONS.

The following remarks are selected from "A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor," written by G. W. Featherstonhaugh, who came here in 1837 for the purpose of making a geo- logical survey of the lead and copper mines. After a hard ride, he finally reached Mineral Point, or, rather, its suburbs, where were various small wooden houses stuck up. * * * ". With difficulty, we procured a room to sleep in at the Postmaster's, and, it being evening, had scarce got our trunks out of the vehicle when we were marched to his brother's, who was an apothecary, to supper. The supper consisted of fried ham, coffee, bread and butter and treacle, served up in a cleanly way, and, being hungry with our drive, we made a very hearty meal." Subsequently, he speaks of the never-failing repasts of coffee, rice, bread and butter and treacle.

"The village is built on the edge of a coulee. It was an exceedingly miserable place, built there apparently on account of a small rivulet which is a branch of the Pecatonica River. * It contained two taverns, into which I ventured to enter for a moment, both of which seemed to be very full. A court of justice, being held at the time, had collected a great many parties and witnesses. We had been referred to those taverns for lodgings, as the Postmaster had told me it was not possible for him to give us quarters for more than one night ; but I was not sorry to learn that none were to be had, being thoroughly dis- gusted with the appearance of everything; and then such a set of 'ginnerals, colonels, judges and doctors ' as were assembled there, was anything but inviting, and most of these dignitaries, as I was informed, were obliged to sleep on the floor. This was exactly what I had to do at the Postmaster's, whose house at any rate was clean.

" On awakening the next morning, I found it exceedingly cold, and asked permission to have a fire lighted." Just as he was about to get up, he says : " An unshaven but confiding- looking fellow walked into the room with nothing but his nether garments on, and, immediately turning his back to the fire, engrossed it all to himself. His free and easy way was not at all to my taste, and threatened to interfere very much with my comfort. Under other circum- stances, I should not have hesitated to have turned him out; but, situated as I was, it was far from a safe proceeding, or, indeed, a justifiable one. It was certainly very cold, and I should have been glad to have had the fire to myself, but I had been treated hospitably, and the least I could do, was to be hospitable to others ; besides, my barefooted friend had an air about him that imparted something beyond the low swaggerer, something that smacked of authority-for authority is a thing that, from habit or from the dignity inherent in it, has a peculiar, inexpli- cable way of revealing itself. This might be the Governor, or some great man, en deshabille ; so I thought it best to meet him in his own manner, by slipping a pair of pantaloons on, and then addressing him in a friendly way. It was most fortunate that I acted just as became me to do : for he soon let me know who he was. He was no less a personage than 'the Court,'

670

HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

for so they generally called the Presiding Judge in the United States, and was beyond all ques- tion the greatest man in the place. He was, in fact, the personage of the locality for the mo- inent, and it turned out that the Postmaster had given him up his only good bedroom, and that he had good-naturedly given it up to me for one night, and had taken the majesty of the law to sleep behind the counter, in a little shop where the post office was kept, with blankets, crock- ery, cheese, and all sorts of things around him, and had very naturally come to warm himself in his own quarters. (Judge Dunn.)

"' The Court' and myself now got along very well together. He had been bred to the law in the Western country, did not want for shrewdness, was good-natured, * but was evidently a man of low habits and manners. Ile was very much amused with my apparatus for dressing, which was simple enough; a nail-brush was quite new to him, and he remarked that 'it was a considerably better invention than a fork,' which he said he had seen people use when they had too much dirt in their nails. He once carried one, but it was troublesome, though the handle was convenient to stir brandy-sling with."

After dressing and eating, our testy Englishman goes out with a " scientific friend." to make a " regular survey, and ascertain the real geological structure and nidus of the metallic contents of the rocks." They first went to the copper mines, and found that very little work had been done, and that altogether superficial. "Very extravagant accounts of these copper mines had been circulated by interested persons, and we saw at once that they would require a great deal of gullibility on the part of purchasers to be got rid of."

" After wandering about the whole day." they finally got back in the evening to the cus- tomary "ham and treacle." They were then informed that the " good-natured Court " declined to repose behind the counter a second night, that not being according to the ideas of the " majesty of the law," and therefore Mr. F. and his friend had to come down to the realities of their situation, and take lodgings on the floor of the eating-room with the "ginnerals, colonels, etc.," for company. He says, "Everything was makeshift at Mineral Point," and he also adds, "but certainly we found everybody very obliging." Thus it appears, at the last, that the kindness of the people had penetrated the cuticle of his sensibilities and extracted an acknow]- edgment.

His berth proved "both cold and hard." and he longed for morning. At 5 o'clock. he was roused by the woman of the house, who wanted the room to lay the breakfast, so he arose. and, to keep himself warm until the repast was ready, took a walk about town, of which he says : " Not a leaf was to be seen on the few stunted trees here and there, and the chilly, comfortless state of the weather was in perfect keeping with the dismal aspect of the place. I found that the inhabitants produced nothing of any kind whatever for their subsistence-not even a cabbage. for there was not a garden in the place, and that they were as dependent upon others as if they were on board ship. Everything they ate and drank was brought from a dis- tance by wagons, at a great expense. Flour, the price of which in the Atlantic States was $5

and $6 per barrel, was as high as $14 here. Everybody lived from hand to mouth, without once dreaming of personal comfort. The sole topic which engrossed the general mind was the production of galena and copper, especially the first, upon which they relied to pay for everything they consumed, no one possessing capital beyond that which a transient suc- cess might furnish him.

" It was, in fact, a complete nest of speculators, with workmen following in their train ; traders again upon their traces, to sell goods and provisions ; doctors to give physic and keep boarding-houses, and lawyers to get a living out of this motley and needy population.

"With but few exceptions, the diggings for metal were quite superficial. Such a thing as a steam engine, to drain a shaft or hoist out the " mineral," as it was called, was unknown here ; so that, as soon as the superficial diggings were exhausted, the population was always prepared to flock to another quarter. But change of place is not often accompanied with wounded feel- ings in the United States. Men do not always seem to sélect situations in that country with a view to living tranquilly and happily, but to try to find ready money by digging for it, or to

671

HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.

live upon others ; the moment they find there is no likelihood of success, they go to another place."

After collecting a quantity of fossils of minerals, Mr. F. departed, but not without a part- ing anathema :

" A more melancholy and dreary place," he says, " than this Mineral Point, I never expect to see again. We had not tasted a morsel of fresh meat, or fish, or vegetables, since we had been here. There was not a vestige of a garden in the place, and the population seemed quietly to have resigned itself to an everlasting and unvarying diet of coffee, rice, treacle and bread and salt butter, morning, noon and night, without any other variety than that of occasionally getting a different cup and saucer."

Mr. Featherstonhangh was evidently an irascible personage, and imbued with vasty notions of his own merits and ability ; but, in making the geological survey while here, he committed so great an error, either willfully or ignorantly, that nearly every geologist who has been over the ground since has spoken of it. There were some peculiar circumstances and results con- nected with Mr. Featherstonhaugh's visit that are especially worthy of mention.

Some time before the survey was made, John D. Ansley, who was then the principal busi- ness man of this locality, went to Philadelphia and made arrangements with a stock company, on the ground of his representations, for the sale of a large part of his copper mining lands. A large amount of money was seenred as an advance purchase, and everything went well until the advent of Mr. Featherstonhaugh, who was deputized to report as to the correctness of Mr. Ans- ley's statements regarding the value of the land. At that time. Mr. Ansley kept a carriage and horses, which Mr. F., who desired to ride about the country, sent for: but owing to a previous engagement made with Mrs. Alexander Hamilton, who was here at that time visiting hier son, Mr. Ansley was obliged to refuse. Mr. F. then sent demanding the team, and was again refused; a third time Mr. F. sent, peremptorily ordering Mr. Ansley to comply with his wishes under pain of his displeasure as a representative of the mining company, but with the same result. Subsequently, Mr. Ansley was sent for by the company and went East, where he was thrown in prison under charge of obtaining money under false pretenses. From this dilemma, he was rescued by William R. Smith, but his mining company scheme was exploded. He then went to England, and very soon succeeded in interesting a company of English capitalists ; but one day, while Mr. Ansley was sitting in his hotel, waiting to complete final arrangements, who should walk up to him but Mr. F., saying : " Ansley, I am after you," or words to that effect. And in all probability he was, for the next day Mr. Ansley was informed by the capitalists that, notwithstanding they had already advanced a few hundred pounds, they should drop the matter. Thus Mineral Point mining interests began to suffer, and were retarded through the operations of a designing party, a circumstance which has been repeated, in effect, in different ways, by others, with far more disastrous results.

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 98

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