USA > Wisconsin > Vernon County > History of Vernon County, Wisconsin, together with sketches of its towns, villages and townships, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 17
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LA CROSSE LAND DISTRICT.
An act of Congress, approved March 2, 1849, formed the La Crosse land district, including within its limits the following territory:
"Commencing at a point where the line be- tween the townships 10 and 11 touches the Mis- sissippi river, [in the present county of Craw- ford, ] and running thence dne east of the fourth principal meridian; thence north to the line be- tween townships 14 and 15 north; thence east to the southeast corner of township 15 north, or range 1 east of the fourth principal meridian; thence north on the range line to the south line of township 31 north; thence west on the line between townships 30 and 31 to the Chippewa river; thence down said river to the junction with the Mississippi river thence down said river to the place of beginning."
This included, though it has since been les- sened, all of the present county of Vernon, like- wise that of La Crosse, Monroe, Buffalo, Trem- pealeau, Eau Clair, Clark and parts of Juneau and Chippewa counties. Vernon county is still in the same districts.
By act of Congress, approved Feb. 24, 1855, an ad litional district was formed of all that por- tion of the Willow river land district lying north of the line dividing townships 40 and 41, to be called the Fond du Lac district, the office to be located by the President as he might from time to time direct. The present counties of Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland and part of Bur- nett were included within its boundaries.
By an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1857, so much of the districts of land subject to sale at La Crosse and IIndson, in the State of Wisconsin, contained in the following bound- aries, were constituted a new district, to be known as the Chippewa land district: North of the line dividing townships 24 and 25 north; south of the line dividing townships 40 and 41 north; west of the line dividi g ranges 1 and 2 east; and east of the line dividing ranges 11 and 12 west. The location of the office was to be designated by the President as the public inter- est might require. The present counties of Chippewa, Taylor, Eau Claire and Clark were in this district.
LA CROSSE LAND OFFICE.
There are at the present time six land offices in the State. They are located at Menasha, Falls of St. Croix, Wausau, La Crosse, Bayfield and Eau Claire. By the provisions of law, when the number of acres of land in any one district is reduced to l' 0,000 acres, subject to private entry, the secretary of the interior is required to discontinue the office, and the lands remain- ing unsold are transferred to the nearest land office, to be there subject to sale. The power of locating these offices lies with the President (unless otherwise directed by law), who is also authorized to change and re-establish the bound- aries of land districts whenever, in his opinion, the public service will be subserved thereby. As the county of Vernon is in the La Crosse land district, the land office for this county, is at La Crosse. All the lands that have been entered since the opening of that office, by set- tlers and others in Vernon county, have, of course, been entered there.
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
CHAPTER VIII.
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY.
Among the questions which naturally interest the citizens of Vernon county of to-day is this: "Who was the first settler within its limits?" There is a curiosity always manifested by those who come after the pioneers, to leave his name, where he settled and the date of his arrrival. Especially is the time of his coming a matter of interest. The county itself, so far as the people constitute it, begins then, although its formation and organization date a number of years thereafter.
THE FIRST SETTLERS.
The town of Franklin has the honor of being the one in which was located the first sett'er. His name was John McCullough.
The exact date of his coming is unknown, ouly that it was in the spring of 1844. He built a house on the west half of the southeast quarter of section 25, township 12, range 5 west, during the summer of that year. It was near what was afterward Bad Ax, now Liberty Pole. The place is now owned by Thomas Sheridan. Ile also did some breaking, and made other preparations to bring on his family, which he effected in the following spring.
The section upon which MeCullough located was not afterward entered by him, nor any part of it. Orrin Wisel entered forty acres of it June 17, 1848, Charles Wiedeman, a quarter section, Nov. 13, 1849; Alexander C. Davis, eighty acres, Nov. 19, 1849; H. L. Dousman, forty acres, May 2, 1850; Jacob Higgins, forty acres, July 17, 1851; Julia Hart, forty acres, April 1, 1852; Thomas J. Gosling, a quarter section, July 27, 1852; Thomas J. Gosling, forty acres, Oct. 23, 1852, and Francis Sanford, forty aeres, Aug. 11, 1855; in all 640 acres; the en- tire section.
Mccullough remained on his place until the year 1852, when, in company with a number of others, he started for California. He arrived there safely, and, after a sojourn there of a year, he wrote his brother that he was on the eve of returning home; that he would start in a day or two, but he was never after heard of. The general impression is that he started on his homeward trip and died on the plains.
The next to make claims and erect a cabin (for houses in those days were little else), were two brothers, Samuel and Hiram Rice. This was in the spring of 1845. They settled at what was afterward Bad Ax, now Liberty Pole, in the town of Franklin, near MeCollough. Samuel Rice brought his family with him. Mrs. Rice was a most excellent woman; a devoted Chris- tian. She died in the fall of 1847.
McCullongh and the Rice brothers were soon followed by Henry Seifert, George P. Taylor and George Pike. Seifert was a bachelor. Ile settled at the place afterward known as the "Dowhower farm," but now owned by Benja- min Williams, on section 18, township 12, in range 4 west, in the town of Franklin. Taylor located on section 30, township 12, of range 4 west, also in the town of Franklin. The place is now owned by J. C. Adkins. Mr. Taylor is not now a resident of the county.
Harvey Sterling came to what is now the town of Sterling in July, 1846, and settled on section 10, in township 11, of range 6 east. Ifis family, consisting of his wife and two sons, Lewis and Le Grand, came on in the spring following. Le Grand Sterling is still a resident of the county.
In the same month (July, 1846), that Harvey Sterling settled in what is now the town of
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
Sterling, John Graham, with his three sons- Thomas, Baker and Lamach, all grown-settled in the present town of Jefferson, on section 23, in township 13, of range 5 west, at what is now Springville.
In 1846 Moses Decker settled at what is now Viroqua ; T. J. DeFrees, at the head of "De Frees' Branch," and James Foster on Round Prairie. Mr. DeFrees was accompanied by his wife and seven children, Jacob Johnson, John Graham and family, and Saul Decker.
Those just mentioned were soon followed by others. Thomas Gillett and his sons, Nicho- las Vought, James A. Cooke, George Dawson, and J. Shields-all took up claims near the present site of Viroqua ; and, about this time, (1846), Ira Stevens located at what is now Victory. William C. McMichael, Samuel Mc- Michael and Robert MeMichael, Charles Waters and Ilenry Waters-these located at or near Springville.
Those who came during the year 1846, or previous to that time, to what is now Vernon county, were, indeed, "ye ancient pioneers." "They were subject to all the inconveniences and privations attending the establishment of new communities in remote sections of the country. They had at first to go to Prairie du Chien for their provisions and supplies."
VERNON COUNTY IN MAY, 1847.
By Alexander Latshaw.
"I settled, on the 14th of May, 1847, on West Prairie, in the present town of Sterling. There were before me, George Nichols, LeGrand Sterling, Lewis Sterling, and their father, Harvey Sterling, and James A. Clark. The whole of the present county of Vernon was then the town of Bad Ax, Crawford county. There were some Frenchmen at De Soto, then called Winneshiek. There were three who had families and one who had none. Two lived in
what was afterward Bad Ax county ; the others in Crawford county. They had comfortable log houses and carried on trade with the Indians. Two of them had Indian wives; they were brothers by the name of Godfrey. They left not lo g after the Winnebagoes went away. They would chop a little wood for steamers sometimes.
"Where the village of Victory now is, there was one Frenchman named Potwell, a trader. Hle was married to a squaw and had a family of children. Just above the mouth of the Bad Ax, there was another Frenchman, but he had no family. He, too, was a trader. Both left about the same time as the others who lived at Winneshiek (De Soto).
"At this time (May, 1847) there were no settlers in going east from West Prairie until the settlement that was afterwards called Liberty Pole was reached. The first settler one came to, in going east and north, was John McCollough; the next, Samuel Rice, and Hiram Rice lived with him. The next directly east was George P. Taylor. A little north and west from Samuel Rice's lived George Pike. In about two miles north of Riees (now in the town of Franklin), on the road from Liberty Pole, as often called, to what is now Viro- qua, was the home of Henry Seifert. About a mile further north, on the same road, lived Jacob Johnson and T. J. DeFrees.
"At what is now Springville, lived John Graham and his family. William C. McMichael was living on Taylor's place at that time. George A. Swain came soon after and settled on section 21, township 12, range 4 west (town of Franklin). Abram Stiles and James A. Cooke came with him. Cooke settled on seetion 4, in what is now the town of Viroqua. Stiles found a home on section 15, township 12, range 4 west, in the present town of Franklin."
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
CHAPTER IX.
PIONEER LIFE.
Records of pioneer times are interesting, and they are not without their lessons of in- struction. By the light of the past, we follow in the foot-prints of the adventurous and enter- prising pioneer. We see him, as it were, amid the labors and struggles necessary to convert the wilderness into a fruitful field. We sit by his cabin fire, partaking of his homely and cheerfully-granted fare, and listen to the accounts which he is pleased to give us of fron- tier life, and of the dangers, trials, hardships and sufferings of himself and others, in their efforts to make for themselves homes in regions remote from civilization. Through these pioneer records, we make our way along to the present. From small beginnings we come to the mighty achievements of industry, the com- plex results of daring enterprise, subduing and creative energy and untiring perseverance.
Following on in the path of progress and improvement, we see once waste places rejoic- ing under the kindly care of the husbandman; beautiful farms, with all the fixtures and appur- tenances necessary to make the tillers of the soil and their families contented and happy, are spread out before us; villages are built up as if by magie, and by hundreds human souls are congregated within their precincts; the marts of trade and traffic and the workshops of the artizans, are thronged; common schools, union schools and high schools have sprung up; young and ardent minds-children of the rich and the poor-may press forward together in the acquisition of science, literature and art; churches are built and a Christian ministry is sustained for the inculcation of religious senti- ments and the promotion of piety, virtue and
moral goodness; the press is established, whenee floods of light may emanate for the instruction and benefit of all ; railroads are built to bring the products of every clime, and the people from afar, to our doors; and the the telegraph "upon the lightning's wing" car- ries messages far and near. Let the records of the pioneers be preserved; in after years our children and our children's children will look over them with pleasure and profit.
THE LOG CABIN.
- The first important business of the pioneer settler, upon his arrival in Vernon county, was to build a house. Until this was done, some had to camp on the ground or live in their wagons-perhaps the only shelter they had known for weeks. So the prospects for a house, which was also to be a home, was one that gave courage to the rough toil, and added a zest to the heavy labors. The style of the home entered very little into their thoughts-it was shelter they wanted, and protection from stress of weather and wearing exposures. The poor settler had neither the money nor the mechanical appliances for building himself a house. He was content, in most instances, to have a mere cabin or hut. This was made of round logs light enough for two or three men to lay up. The house would generally be about fourteen feet square-perhaps a little larger or smaller-roofed with bark or clapboard, and floored with puncheons (logs split once in two and the flat side laid up). For a fire-place, a wall of stones and earth was made in the best praeti- cable shape for the purpose, in an opening in one end of the building, extending outward, and planked on the outside by bolts of wood
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
notched together to stay it. Sometimes a fire- place of this kind was made so large as to occupy nearly the whole width of the house. In cold weather when a great deal of wood was needed to keep the proper warmth inside, large logs were piled in the fire-place. To protect the crumbling back wall against the effects of the fire and to throw forward the heat, two back-logs, one on top of the other, were placed against it.
For a chimney, any contrivance that would carry up the smoke would do. They were usually constructed of clay and sticks. Imagine a cold winter's night when the storm of wind and snow was raging without, the huge fire blazing within, and the family sitting around! It might be cozy enough if the cold was not too intense; and, in reality, before those fire-places there was often something of cheer, as the farmer sat smoking-if he had any tobacco; and the wife knitting-if she had any yarn and needles.
For a door to his log cabin the most simple contrivance that would serve the purpose was brought into requisition. Before a door could be made, a blanket often did duty in guarding the entrance. But, as soon as convenient, some boards were split out and put together, hung upon wooden hinges, and held shut by a wooden pin inserted in an auger-hole.
PIONEER FURNITURE.
In regard to the furniture of the pioneer's cabin, it may be said that it varied in propor- tion to the ingenuity of the occupants, unless it was where settlers brought with them their old household supply, which, owing to the distance most of them had to come, was very seldom. It was easy enough to improvise tables and chairs; the former could be made of split logs; the latter were designed after the three-legged stool pattern, or benches served their purpose. A bedstead was a very important item in the domestic comfort of the family; and the fashion of improvising them was as follows:
A forked stake was driven into the ground diagonally from the corner of the room, and at a proper distance, upon which poles reaching from each side of the cabin were laid. The wall ends of the poles were either driven into auger-holes or rested in the openings between the logs. Bark or boards were used as a sub- stitute for cords. Upon this, the wife spread her straw tick; and if she had a home-made feather bed, she piled it up into a luxurious mound and covered it with her sheets and bed- quilts. Sometimes sheets were hung against the wall at the head and side of the bed, which added much to the coziness of this resting-place - this pioneer bed-room. The sleeping arrange- ment was generally called a "prairie bedstead." PRIMITIVE COOKERY.
If the settler arrived in the early part of the season and had not time to plant, or had no fields prepared for that purpose, he could, at least, have a truck-patch, where a little corn was planted, also a few potatoes and turnips, and some other vegetables were put in the ground. Of course this was only to make his small supply, which he had brought with him, reach as far as possible. His meager stores consisted of flour, bacon, tea and coffee. But these supplies would frequently be exhausted before a regular crop of wheat or corn could be raised, and as game was plentiful, it helped to eke them out. But when the corn was raised, it was not easily prepared for the table. The mills for grinding were at such distances away, that every other device was resorted to for making meal.
Some grated it on an implement made by punching small holes through a piece of tin or sheet-iron, and fastening it upon a board in concave shape, with the rough side out. Upon this the ear was rubbed to produce the meal. But grating could not be done when the corn become so dry as to shell off when rubbed. Some used a coffee-mill for grinding it ; and a very common substitute for bread was hominy, a palatable and wholesome diet, made by boil;
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ing corn in a weak lye till the hull or bran peeled off, after which it was well washed to cleanse it of the lye. It was then boiled again to soften it, when it was ready for use, as occasion required, by frying and seasoning it to the taste. Another mode of preparing hominy was by pestling. A mortar was made by burning a bowl-shaped cavity in the end of an upright block of wood. After thoroughly cleaning it of the charcoal, the corn could be pnt in, hot water turned upon it, when it was subjected to a severe pestling by a club of suffi- cient length and thickness, in the large end of which was inserted an iron wedge, banded to keep it there. The hot water would soften the corn and loosen the hull, while the pestle would crush it.
PRIMITIVE THRESHING.
When breadstuffs were needed, they had to be obtained from long distances. Owing to the lack of proper means for threshing and cleaning wheat, it was more or less mixed with foreign substances, such as smut, dirt and oats. And as the time when the settlers' methods of threshing and cleaning may be forgotten, it may be well to preserve a brief account of them here. The plan was to clean off a space of ground of sufficient, size, and, if the earth was dry, to dampen it, and beat it to render it somewhat compact. Then the sheaves were unbound and spread in a circle, so that the heads would be uppermost, leaving room in the center for the person whose business it was to turn and stir the straw in the process of When the early settlers were compelled to make these long and difficult trips to mill, if the country " as prairie over which they passed, they found it comparatively easy to do in sum- mer when grass was plentiful. By traveling until night, and then camping out to feed the teams, they got along withont much difficulty. But in winter such a journey was attended with no little danger. The utmost economy of time was, of course, necessary. When the goal was reached, after a week or more of toilsome threshing. Then, as many horses or oxen were brought as could conveniently swing around the circle, and these were kept moving until the wheat was well trodden out. After several " floorings " or layers were threshed, the straw was carefully raked off and the wheat shoveled into a heap to be cleaned. This cleaning was sometimes done by waving a sheet up and down to fan out the chaff as the grain was dropped before it; but this trouble was fre- quently obviated when the strong winds of | travel, with many exposures and risks, and the
autumn were all that was needed to blow out the chaff from the grain. This mode of pre- paring the grain for flonring was so imperfect that it is not to be wondered at that a consider- able amount of black soit got mixed with it, and unavoidably got into the bread. This, with an addition of smut, often rendered it so dark as to bave less the appearance of bread than mnd ; yet upon such diet the people were compelled to subsist for want of a better.
GOING TO MILL.
Not the least among the pioneers tribulations, during the first few years of the settlement, was the going to mill. The slow mode of travel by ox teams was made still slower by the almost total absence of roads and bridges, while such a thing as a ferry was hardly even dreamed of. The distance to be traversed was often as far as sixty or ninety miles. In dry weather, common sloughs and creeks offered little impediment to the teamsters ; but during foods and the breaking up of winter, they proved exceedingly troublesome and danger- ons. To get stuck in a slough, and thus be delayed for many hours, was no uncommon occurrence, and that, too, when time was an item of grave import to the comfort and some- times even to the lives of the settlers' families Often a swollen stream would blockade the way, seeming to threaten destruction to who- ever would attempt to ford it. With regard to roads, there was nothing of the kind worthy of the name.
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HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
poor man was impatient to immediately return with the desired staff of life, he was often shocked and disheartened with the information that his turn would come in a week. Then he must look about for some means to pay ex- penses, and he was lucky who could find em- ployment by the day or job. Then, when his turn came, he had to be on hand to bolt his own flour, as, in those days, the bolting ma- chine was not an attached part of the other mill machinery. This done, the anxious soul was ready to endure the trials of a return trip, his heart more or less concerned about the affairs of home.
Those milling trips often occupied from three weeks to more than a month each, and were attended with an expense, in one way or another, that rendered the cost of breadstuffs extremely high. If made in the winter, when more or less grain-feed was required for the team, the load would be found to be so considerably reduced on reaching home that the cost of what was left, adding other expenses, would make their grain reach the high cash figure of from $3 to $5 per bushel. And these trips could not always be made at the most favorable season for traveling. In spring and summer, so much time could hardly be spared from other essential labor ; yet, for a large family, it was almost impossible to avoid making three or four trips during the year.
WILD ANIMALS.
Among other things calculated to annoy and distress the pioneer was the prevalence of wild beasts of prey, the most numerous and trouble- some of which was the wolf. While it was true, in a figurative sense, that it required the utmost care and exertion to "keep the wolf from the door," it was almost as true in a literal sense. There were two species of these animals, the large, black, timber wolf, and the smaller gray wolf that usually inhabited the prairie. At first, it was next to impossible for a settler to keep small stock of any kind that
would serve as a prey to these ravenous beasts. Sheep were not deemed safe property until years after, when their enemies were supposed to be nearly exterminated. Large numbers of wolves were destroyed during the early years of settlement. When they were hungry, which was not uncommon, particularly during the winter, they were too indiscreet for their own safety, and would often approach within easy shot of the settlers's dwellings. At certain seasons their wild, plaintive yelp or bark could be heard in all directions at all hours of the night, creating intense excitement among the dogs, whose howling would add to the dismal melody.
It has been found by experiment that but one of the canine species, the hound, has both the fleetness and courage to cope with his savage cousin, the wolf. Attempts were often made to capture him with the common cur, but this animal, as a rule, proved himself wholly unreli- able for such a service. So long as the wolf would run the cur would follow ; but the wolf. being apparently acquainted with the character of his pursuer, would either turn and place himself in a combatative attitude, or else act upon the principal that " discretion is the better part of valor," and throw himself upon his back in token of surrender. This strategic performance would make instant peace between these two scions of the same house ; and not infrequently dogs and wolves have been seen playing together like puppies. But the hound was never known to recognize a flag of truce ; his baying seemed to signify "no quarters ; " or, at least, so the terrified wolf understood it.
Smaller animals, such as panthers, lynxes, wildcats, eatamounts and polecats, were also sufficiently numerous to be troublesome. And an exceeding source of annoyance were the swarms of mosquitoes which aggravated the trials of the settler in the most exasperating degree. Persons have been driven from the labors of the field by their unmerciful assaults.
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