USA > Wisconsin > Lafayette County > History of Lafayette county, Wisconsin > Part 64
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"The Winnebagoes never consented to the reservation with the other tribes who made the treaties of 1804 and 1816, although they were, as shown, part owners of the country ; neither can any evidence be adduced showing that the reservation provided for in the treaty of 1816, was ever located, except in the matter of timber surveys"before mentioned. * *
" When the first leases were granted, in 1822, the Fever River mines were fully 300 miles beyond the border settlements, and the Mississippi was the only thoroughfare into the country, and keel boats the only means of transportation. The consequence was that the necessary implements for mining purposes, as well as the necessaries of life, were taken to the mines at an enormous expense. For years the prosperity of the mines was retarded because the Government discountenanced any attempts at agriculture; the agents assuming that the fencing of farms would consume timber needed for smelting purposes. At first the ore was smelted in log furnaces, and thereby a heavy loss was sustained. For two seasons the mining and smelting operations were suspended, and great sacrifices were made by the miners in defending the country against the Indians. The miners, at a great loss in the expenditure of time and labor and money, and though suffering the worst dangers and deprivations that are to be met with on the frontier, opened this portion of the country to a permanent settlement. The expenditures of Col. Johnson alone amounted to $10,000."
*See " Winnebago War," in County History .- ED.
*This is clearly a misstatement, since evidences of white occupation north of the present Illinois boundary are abundant .- ED.
HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION.
423
THOSE WHO MINED PRIOR TO 1830.
The list referred to, as showing the names of miners and the amount of lead raised by them prior to January 1, 1830, is here given :
Name of Miners.
Amount of Lead Mined.
Name of Miners.
Amount of Lead Mined
G. W. Anderson.
10,551
George E. Jackson ..
6,560
Gabriel Bailey.
10,900
Richard H. Kirkpatrick.
42,809
John Bowles.
57,240
J. J. Kirk patrick
2,339
D. G. Bates.
111,993
P. A. Lorimer .. 102,596
Bates & Van Matre
37,809
P. H. Lebranm.
45,392
Nehemiah Bates
36,706
E. Lockwood.
133,576
Oliver Cottle
31,214
John McDonald
31,852
Ira Cottle
11,680
James Murphy
101,788
L. Collier.
52,303
William Muldrow
32,618
Robert Collet.
13,415
L. R. M. Moran
22,132
M. C. Comstock
262,476
James Morrison.
17,885
Henry Dodge.
31,661
Moses Meeker.
144,591
M. Detandbaritz.
91,966
J. Messersmith.
2,018
James B. Estes
4,760
Abel Moran.
64,693
James Frazier.
15,333
W. J. Madden
13,638
Abner Flack
4,530
R. H. Magoon.
57,207
B. Firmen ..
40,687
H. Newhall.
14,552
Thomas W. Floyd ..
1,802
John Phelps
22,226
J. P. B. & H. Gratiot
607,320
Alexis Phelps
24,426
Gratiot & Tury.
15,843
W. A. Phelps
95
J. Gale.
4,189
J. Perry
9,121
Richard Gentry
38,252
J. H. Rountree.
11,270
R. P. Guyard.
6,274
J. B. Skinner.
12,941
Allen Hill.
2,066
F. D. Slayton.
14,491
Robert A. Heath
27,032
William H. Smith.
51,539
A. E. Hough.
38,690
Washington Smith.
8,038
William Hempstead.
35,628
William Tate ..
11,002
Joseph Hardy.
107,492
William S. Hamilton
25,601
J. E. Tholozan
50,712
A. R. How.
10,032
A. P. Van Matre.
12,869
Isaac Hamilton.
33,786
Robert Waller
6,487
George Hacket ..
4,163
W. Wayman
3,016
Thomas Jenkins
19,897
George W. Jones.
85,981
Total mineral taxed.
2,983,107
A. D. Johnson.
2,525
POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE DISTRICT.
The legislative actions by which the mining district has been geographically changed, may be briefly and appropriately stated here, at the risk of repeating certain statements given in the general history which opens this volume.
The ordinance of 1787 provided that not less than three, nor more than five, States were to be erected out of the territory northwest of the Ohio River. Three States were to include the whole territory, and these States were to be bounded on the north by the British Possessions ; but Congress reserved the right, if it should be found expedient, to form two more States of that part of the territory which lies north of an east-and-west line drawn through the southern extremity of Lake Michigan.
It is not necessary to trace the various changes of territorial jurisdiction to which Illinois, and especially its northwestern portion, was subjected, until the admission of the State into the Union in 1818. During all that time this section of the country was inhabited only by Indi- ans, and this whole region was claimed by them. In 1804, the Sacs and Foxes, then a power- ful tribe, by a treaty made at St. Louis with Gen. Harrison, then Governor of the Territory of Indiana, ceded to the United States all their lands lying east of the Mississippi; but Black Hawk and other chiefs who were not present at St. Louis, refused to be bound by it. All the territory north of the line drawn west from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the
Hardy & Catron.
9,543
J. Yountz ..
5,027
John Tompkins.
2,821
424
HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION.
Mississippi was in the undisputed possession of the native tribes, when the State of Illinois was erected, in 1818, except a tract about five leagues square on the Mississippi, of which Fever River was about the center, which, by treaty with various tribes in 1816, the United States Gov- ernment had reserved, ostensibly for a military post, but really to control the lead mines. The Government had had knowledge for many years of the existence of lead mines here, but their location was not known, and it was thought that all would be included within the limits of the reservation .. The Government designed to own and hold exclusive control of these mines.
In January, 1818, the Territorial Legislature of Illinois, assembled at Kaskaskia, peti- tioned Congress for the admission of the Territory as a sovereign State, with a population of 40,000.
The petition was sent to Nathaniel Pope, the Territorial Delegate, by whom it was promptly presented, and it was referred to the proper committee, which instructed Mr. Pope to prepare and report a bill in accordance with its prayer. The bill, as drawn in accordance with these instructions, did not embrace the present area of Illinois, and, when it was reported to Congress, certain amendments proposed by Mr. Pope were reported with it. It was generally supposed that the line established by the ordinance of 1787, namely, the line drawn through the southern part of Lake Michigan, west to the Mississippi, was to be the northern boundary of the new State. But this, if adopted, would have left the port of Chicago in the Territory of Michigan, as well as all the territory now embraced within the limits of fourteen rich and populous counties in Northern Illinois. A critical examination of the ordinance, however, convinced Mr. Pope that Congress had the power, and could rightfully extend the northern boundary of the State as far beyond the line provided in 1787 as it pleased. The principal amendments proposed by Mr. Pope, therefore, were, first, that the northern boundary of the new State should be extended to the parallel of 42 deg. 30 min. north latitude-this would give a good harbor on Lake Michi- gan ; and secondly, more important than the boundary line, to apply the 3 per cent fund arising from the sale of public lands to educational purposes, instead of making roads, as had been the case in Ohio and Indiana. These amendments were adopted without serious opposition, and Illinois was declared an independent State.
These important changes in the original bill, says Mr. Ford in his History of Illinois, " were proposed and carried through both houses of Congress by Mr. Pope on his own respon- sibility. The Territorial Legislature had not petitioned for them-no one had suggested them, but they met the general approval of the people." The change of the boundary line, however, suggested to Mr. Pope-from the fact that the boundary as defined by the ordinance of 1787, would have left Illinois without a harbor on Lake Michigan-did not meet the unqualified approval of the people in the northwestern part of the new State. For many years the northern boundary of the State was not definitely known, and the settlers in the northern tier of counties did not know whether they were in Illinois or Michigan Territory. Under the provisions of the ordinance of 1787, Wisconsin at one time laid claim to a portion of Northern Illinois, "in - cluding," says Mr. Ford, writing in 1847, "fourteen counties embracing the richest, and most populous part of the State." October 27, 1827, nine years after the admission of the State, Dr. Horatio Newhall, who had then recently arrived at the Fever River Settlement, wrote to his brother as follows : "It is uncertain whether I am in the boundary of Illinois or Michigan, but direct your letters to Fever River, Ill., and they will come safely." In October, 1828, a petition was sent to Congress from the people of that part of Illinois lying north of the line established by the ordinance of 1787, and that part of the Territory of Michigan west of Lake Michigan, and comprehending the mining district known as the Fever River Lead Mines, pray- ing for the formation of a new Territory. A bill had been introduced at the previous session of Congress for the establishment of a new Territory north of the State of Illinois, to be called "Huron Territory," upon which report had been made, in part, favorable to the wishes of the petitioners, but they asked for the re establishment of the line as ordained by Congress in 1787. They declared " that the people inhabiting the territory northwest of the Ohio had a right to expect that the country lying north of an east-and-west line passing through the southernmost
425
HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION.
end of Lake Michigan, to the Mississippi River, and between said lake, the Mississippi and the Canada line, would REMAIN TOGETHER " as a Territory and State. They claimed that this was a part of the compact, unchangeably granted by the people of the original States to the people who should inhabit the "territory northwest of the Ohio." They declared that the change of the chartered limits, when Illinois was made a State, was open invasion of their rights in a body when they were unrepresented in either territory ; that "an unrepresented people, without their knowledge or consent, have been transferred from one sovereignty to another." They urged that the present "division of the miners by an ideal line, separating into different governments individuals intimately connected in similar pursuits, is embarrassing.' They asked for "even handed justice," and the restoration of their "chartered limits." The Miners' Journal, of October 25, 1828, which contains the full text of the petition, says : " We do not fully agree with the memorialists in petitioning Congress again to dispose of that tract of country which has once been granted to Illinois ; but we think that it would be for the Interest of the miners to be erected, together with the adjoining county above, into a separate Territory. And we firmly believe, too, that Congress departed from the clear and express terms of their own ordinance passed in the year 1787, when they granted to the State of Illinois nearly a degree and a half of latitude of the CHARTERED LIMITS of this country. Whether Congress will annex this tract to the new Territory, we much doubt, but we believe the ultimate decision of the United States Court will be, that the northern boundary line of the State of Illi- nois shall commence at the southernmost end of Lake Michigan." The petition was unavailing, and the northern line of Illinois remains unchanged, but the agitation of the subject by the people of this region continued. In 1840, the people of the counties north of the ordinance line sent delegates to a convention held at Rockford to take action in relation to the annexation of the tract north of that line to Wisconsin Territory, and it is said the scheme then discussed embraced an effort to make Galena the capital of the Territory. Resolutions were adopted requesting the Senators and Representatives in Congress for Illinois to exert their influence in favor of the project. The labors of the convention produced no results ; but, until the admission of Wiscon- sin as a State, there was a strong feeling among the people of Northwestern Illinois that they rightfully belonged to Wisconsin, and there was a strong desire to be restored to their chartered limits. Perhaps the heavy debt with which Illinois was burdened at that time may have had some influence in causing the feeling.
St. Clair County, organized April 28, 1809, included the whole territory of Illinois and Wisconsin, to the line of Upper Canada, north of Randolph County, these two being the only counties in the territory.
Madison County was erected from the St. Clair, September 14, 1812, and comprised all the territory north of the second township line south, to the line of Upper Canada. County seat, Edwardsville.
Bond County was organized out of part of Madison, January 4, 1817, and extended in a strip about thirty miles wide on each side of the Third Principal Meridian to the northern boundary of the territory.
Pike County was erected January 31, 1821, from Madison, Bond and other counties, and embraced all the territory north of the Illinois River and its South Fork, now Kanka- kee River. This was the first county erected by the State of Illinois, which embraced the present territory of the lead region. A Gazetteer of Illinois and Wisconsin, published about 1822, says that the county " included a part of the lands appropriated by Congress for the payment of military bounties. The lands constituting that tract, are included within the peninsula of the Illinois and Mississippi, and extend on the meridian line passing through the mouth of the Illinois, 162 miles north. Pike County will no doubt be divided into several counties ; some of which will become very wealthy and important. It is probable that the section about Fort Clark (now Peoria), will be most thickly settled. On the Mississippi River, above Rock River, lead ore is found in abundance. Pike County contains between 700 and 800 inhabitants. It is attached to the first judicial circuit, sends one member to the House of
426
HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION.
Representatives, and, with Greene, one to the Senate. The county seat is Colesgrove, a post town. It was laid out in 1821, and is situated in Township 11 south, in Range 2 west of the Fourth Principal Meridian. Very little improvement has yet been made in this place or the vicinity. The situation is high and healthy, and it bids fair to become a place of some impor- tance." This is all that is known of the town of Colesgrove, the county seat of all this region in 1821.
Fulton County was formed from Pike, January 28, 1823, and included all the territory north of the base line, and west of the Fourth Principal Meridian, which had been in Pike.
Peoria County was created from Fulton, January 13, 1825, and, with some exceptions, included the same territory that comprised Fulton. The county seat was Fort Clark, now Peoria, and the first election of which record exists, within the mining district, was in Fever River precinct of Peoria County, August 7, 1826. The election was held at the house of James Smith. This was the trading-post then recently located by Amos Farrar and occupied by Smith as a tavern ; a double log-cabin that stood on the west bank of the river about half way between the foot of Perry and the foot of Franklin streets, Galena. Water street now passes over its site.
The following is a copy of a document found among the archives of Peoria County, at Peoria.
I hereby certify that Nehemiah Bates, T. W. Shull and Andrew Clamo, judges, and B. Gibson and Joseph Hardy, clerks of the election, were severally sworn before me as the law directs, previous to entering upon the duties of their respective offices.
Dated at Fever River, this 7th of August, 1826.
JOHN L. BOGARDUS, Justice of the Peace of Peoria County.
[POLL BOOK-Continued.]
Samuel C. Mure,
Moses M. Twist,
John Marfield,
Thomas Briggs,
Thomas Nicholdson,
Thomas Thornton,
James H. Kirkpatrick,
John J. Chandler,
Smith Moore,
William Hitt,
Thaddeus Hitt,
Enoch Long,
John Richardson,
John Welmaker,
Felix Scott,
Thomas Alven,
Martin Porter,
Elias Addams,
John Ellis,
Josiah Fulton,
James M. Hayle,
T. R. Lurton,
Stephen Howard,
Charles Love,
Atlas Moore,
Solomon Perkins,
Charles St. Vrain,
William Mitchell,
James Taylor,
William Nickols,
Thomas Davis,
Isaac Hamilton,
William Bridger,
Thomas Connor,
Andrew Clarmo,
Levi Gilbert,
Jeremiah Smith,
Thomas Bennett,
Joseph Hardy,
Martin Duke,
Patrick Hogan,
J. W. Shull,
Samuel Gouch,
John R. Smith,
Nehemiah Bates,
James Duncan, Hugh Walker,
John Armstrong,
James Beck,
Barney Handley,
George Evans,
George E. Jackson,
John Furlong,
Samuel Scott,
Daniel Fowless,
Warren Town,
Patrick Gorman,,
Robert D. Duke,
James Read,
Andrew Mowery,
John Handley,
Benjamin Bird,
Thomas Drum,
John S. Miller,
William Hansley,
Nathan Smith,
Ely Chaffin,
Thomas Reynolds, Jr.,
Patrick Lawler,
Harbet Flewisland,
Robert McGoldrick,
Charley Guilegan,
Harrison H. Jordon,
Isaac Hustow,
B. Gibson,
William Riley,
John R. Nickerson,
John L. Bogardus,
John Brown,
James Williams,
Charles Shargout,
Thomas Fitzpatrick,
John Finneley, Jacob Glass,
John M. Curtiss,
John Hosley,
William Barton,
George M. Britton,
George A. Reynolds,
Johu Boyle,
Isaac Martin,
William D. Adams,
Levi McCormac,
John O'Neil,
Little Walker,
Daniel Snider,
David Kirker,
Mathew Fawcett,
John McDonald,
Peter Dumont,
Henry Gratiot,
David Sciley,
Richard Palmer,
Ebenezer Owen,
George Scott,
Charles Gear,
Thompson Homes,
William St. John, Daniel Moore,
Caleb Downey,
Thomas McKnight,
Johnathan Browder,
Richard W. Chandler,
Thomas J. Webb,
Alexander Mitchell,
William D. Johnston,
Jacob M. Hunter,
James C. Work,
Crawford Fandle,
Cyrus Hibbert,
John Philley,
Alexis Phelps, John Knight,
Hillary Paden,
Benjamin Skillimus,
Stephen Thracher, John Wood,
John B. Dophant,
Samuel Adams,
Burt Curtis,
James Trimble,
John O. Handcock,
Henery M. Willison,
Edward Foster,
Thomas Gray,
Samuel S. Lawrence,
Francis Webster,
Benson Calvert,
Samuel Atchison,
James Harris,
Thomas Ray,
William Kelley,
Andrew Arnett, Peter White,
Josiah Little,
John Gibbin,
Adams Hymer, James Parmer, Abraham Kinney,
James Foley,
Thomas Hymers,
Seth Catlin,
A. P. Vanmeter, Thomas Bado.
Stephen Sweet,
Thomas Lumley,
427
HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION.
Israel Mitchell,
James Moefett,
Owen Callahan,
Thomas Harris,
Richard Kirkpatrick,
John Moefett,
Francis Martin,
John Conley,
William Kirkpatrick, William Harvell,
William Dalton,
William Timmerahon,
Michael Finley,
John Williams,
Foeasson M. Donald,
James Browner,
George Middleton,
James Colligan,
Aaron Crandall,
John Ames,
Thomas McCrany,
Jeremiah Goder,
George Weddling,
Robert Clayton,
John Barrett,
Daniel McCaig, James Smith, William McCloskey,
Elisha Kellogg, Bensan Hunt,
Joseph Clagg,
Joseph Winett,
John Love,
Mathew Johnston,
Gotham Straiter,
Charles Larock.
John Ray,
Isaac Wiseheart, William Troy,
Michael Byrnes, David Clark,
There is a tax-list of 1826 on file at Peoria, containing two hundred and four names of men in the Fever River settlement, but the Deputy Collector who undertook to collect the taxes reported that the settlers openly defied him, and refused to pay a cent. This recalcitrant con- dition grew out of the uncertainty of to whom allegiance was due, as described in the foregoing pages. The people of the region from the first days to the present have been noted for their law-abiding character, with this exceptional exhibition of feeling.
The narrative of the political creation of the counties of Grant, Iowa and La Fayette, is pur- sued in the works devoted to those several counties by the. Western Historical Company, and need not be detailed at this point.
R. H. MAGOON'S MEMOIRS.
His first visit to the lead mines was in August, 1828. He settled in Monticello, in the vicinity of the Galena lead mines in the following month. Capt. Benj. Funk, Thos. Wiley and R. H. Magoon band a band-mill at what is now Wiley's Grove, then called Funk's Grove, in Monti- cello. After seeing the mill in successful operation, Mr. Magoon went to the Blue Mounds, and, after a brief sojourn, entered into co-partnership with Esau Johnson and Henry Starr for the purpose of smelting. The enterprise proved a success. About December, 1829, he dis- posed of his interest in the business and returned to the Grove, now part of La Fayette County, but then erroneously accredited to Jo Daviess County, Ill. He re-engaged in the smelting busi- ness, having erected a furnace, which was completed about May 1, 1830. He subsequently made the discovery that he was nearly one mile within the boundaries of Michigan Territory. The United States Surveyors denominated his place of residence "Magoon's Grove," in defer- ence to the proprietor. This likewise proving a successful year of smelting, he broke up twen- ty-five acres of prairie land, which he seeded down with forage supplies. In the early part of 1831, all the mineral in view was smelted, as Mr. Magoon, in anticipation of increased prices, was paying a higher rate per ton than others believed they could afford. This anticipation proved faithful, for, on the arrival of steamboats, lead advanced in figure. With the profit thus realized by his shrewdness, he invested in a stock of general merchandise, such as always finds ready sale in a miner's camp. In 1831, he fenced in a hundred acres of arable land, and ex- tended his operations in ore to the absorption of his whole capital and $8,000 borrowed from Robert Graham, of Galena.
The winter of 1831-32 was marked by Indian inroads, which, coupled with authenticated reports, presaged a bloody influx of the Sac and Fox tribes in the ensuing spring. These rumors were still further corroborated in May, 1832, by information that the British bands of Sac and Fox Indians had crossed the Upper Mississippi River, ascending Rock River, with the intention of effecting a union with the Pottawatomies, and inaugurating warfare against the whole race of whites. Fully aroused by the threatening aspect of affairs, every settlement of miners and farmers began to erect forts for their mutual protection. Every other business was abandoned, as of secondary consideration, until these improvements were fully achieved. When Funk's Fort was completed, R. H. Magoon was elected Captain, a position which he resigned in a few days, for the express purpose of joining a mounted corps, a branch of the service which he considered more effective in waging war with a fleet-footed foe. Benjamin Funk was elected to fill the vacancy. Moving in such hazardous times, and at no moment confident of
Patrick Doyle,
John Clewes,
Abner Eads,
Chandler Armstrong,
John Coray,
428
HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION.
his own safety, he called upon Mr. Robert Graham and deeded to that gentleman his entire estate as collateral for the loan of $8,000. The transfer was reluctantly accepted by the cap- italist, who vainly essayed to dissuade R. H. Magoon from his purpose.
This business satisfactorily accomplished, he removed his wife and three-months-old son to a place of safety in Galena. Then, arming himself, he joined an expedition under command of Col. Dodge that was setting out to reclaim and inter the bodies of St. Vrain and others, who had fallen in an encounter at Plum River. Parts of four companies composed the force, with a few independent volunteers who were starting forth to war on their own account. The first halt was made at Fetter's, a point nine miles from Gratiot. Before alighting, Col. Dodge strongly impressed on the rugged yeomen the necessity that existed for unanimity of action, and urged them to study discipline. The troop was then formed into a hollow square, and, on receiving orders to " Dismount," each man removed his saddle and laid it on the ground where he, dismounted, and turned his horse out to graze. The orders were, that if an alarm was sounded during the night, each man should spring up in his place, and thus be formed in hol- low square, to repel an attack.
The line of march was resumed in the morning, and, later in the day, the bodies of St. Vrain and three companions were found and properly buried. One of St. Vrain's number, a Mr. Hawley, was not found. The march was continued on to Dixon's Ferry, on Rock River, where Mr. Magoon was assigned as Second Lieutenant of Capt. Clark's company of mounted volunteers, and in that capacity assisted, with an escort of twenty-five men, to conduct Gen. Brady to Ottawa. Col. Dodge was in command. The journey and return trip was accom- plished in immunity.
The camping-place selected was the very spot where St. Vrain and his men encamped the night before they met their fate. At Kellogg's Grove they encountered Capt. A. W. Snyder and his company. from St. Clair, Ill. Capt. Snyder reported that they had a brush with the Indians several hours previous, and, despite the assistance afforded by Gen. Samuel White- side, a portion of his command was sadly demoralized at a sight of the Indians. At the close of the conflict, it was found that several of the Illinois men were killed, whereas their foes escaped alınost unscathed.
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