USA > Wisconsin > Winnebago County > History of Winnebago County, Wisconsin, and early history of the Northwest > Part 23
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Green Bay was the great emporium of this section in those days, from whence all the sup- plies of civilized life, except home productions, had to be obtained.
In 1844, Joseph Jackson built the first frame house in the County on the present site of the Beckwith. In the same year the first store was opened by J. H. Osborn, and the second by Smith & Gillet, and the third by Miller & Eastman, in 1846. The first store, that of Osborn's, was in a little addition to Stanley's house - that location was the business center then. In the spring of 1844 Mr. Osborn united with Amos Dodge under the . firm name of Dodge & Osborn. They also had a trading post near the present site of Montello, and in that year put a sail boat on these waters.
In 1844 Joseph Jackson and W. W. Wright platted a tract into village lots - the west side of lower Main Street.
Up to the year 1846, the progress of the settlement was slow, and the population of the County was but 732, but this inviting field for immigration was now attracting general atten- tion. The fame of this beautiful lake and river country, with its rich prairies and wood- lands, had gone abroad and immigration began to pour in with a rapidity almost unprece- dented in the settlement of a country. A con- tinuous stream rolled in and overspread the County.
In the spring of 1846, Lucas M. Miller and Edward Eastman, attracted by the apparent advantages of the site of Oshkosh and the rich surrounding country, purchased a tract of land from Joseph Jackson, and erected a store
near the present site of Hutchinson's store. Business was now to commence in earnest. They also bought a frame building opposite, which had been erected a short time before for a tavern, and which Manoah Griffin after- wards bought from Miller and converted into the Oshkosh Housc. The " business center " of Oshkosh then consisted of those two build- ings opposite each other -the store on one side of Pa-ma-cha-mit Road and the country tavern on the other. The residence portion was the one frame house occupied by L. M. Miller for a dwelling, and which stood on the present site of the Beckwith House. This was the Oshkosh of 1846-the store, the tavern the dwelling house. and the ferry consti- tuted all there was of Pa-ma-cha-mit (the crossing) except the little store on the present Gang Mill site. Its suburban district was extensive, composed of the adjoining farms and their log houses, with a plentiful supply of Indian wigwams.
Miller & Eastman did a rushing business in groceries, provisions, dry goods and Indian notions.
The growth of the county in population, might now be said to have commenced, ten years after the advent of the first settlers (the Stanleys and Gallups, in 1836). The popula- tion of the county increased in one year from 732 to 2,787. Hotels, stores and dwellings were erected in Oshkosh and Neenah, saw mills and grist mills were built, various branches of industry were established; and the year 1850, found Oshkosh a thriving frontier village, with a population of 1,392; and Nec- nah also a promising village, with stores and several branches of industry started; among others, the pioneer flouring mill of the place, Kimberly's, known after as the Neenah Mills.
In 1847, the first store for the sale of gen- eral merchandise, in Neenah, was opened by Jones & Yale, and in the fall of that year Dan- iel Priest put in operation a carding mill. The town of Neenah was organized the same year, and a company chartered to construct dams across both channels of the river. In that year the first village plat of Neenah was recorded by Harrison Reed The dam was built, but not fully completed, that fall, and the same ycar the first two frame buildings (excepting the old Government mill) were erected by James Ladd, the same being the Winnebago Hotel, still standing, and the barn of the same, which was first built and used for a boarding house.
In 1850, the village of Winnebago Rapids (Neenah) was incorporated by the Circuit
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
1850.]
Court of Winnebago County (See history of Neenah, on subsequent pages.)
Menasha, which was commenced in the erection of two log houses, by Curtis Reed, in 1 848, was beginning, in 1850 to assume the pro- portions of a village. The first frame house was erected by Elbridge Smith. The first store was opened by Curtis Reed, in 1848. in 1849 the first mill-a saw mill-was built by Cornelius Northrup and Harrison Reed; and the dam, which was commeneed in 1848, was completed in 1850, the saw mill set in operation and Menasha started in that career of manufactur- ing enterprise which has sinee distinguished the place
In 1850, Waukau was also a promising vil- lage, and at that time, could elaim no mean pre- tensions. The first saw mill in the county, excepting the government mill at Neenah, was put in operation by L. M. Parsons, in 1847. It was a small concern, but it has the honor of priority. In 1847 the first store was opened there by Elliott & White; and James Deyoe erected the first frame house. In the same year a log school house was built, and a school opened,
In 1848 a postoffice was established, another store opened by Lester Rounds, and mechanic shop started. A plat of the village of Wau- kau was made, and the same recorded December 30th, 1848, and in 1850 a grist mill was completed. (See history of Rushford.)
The village of Omro was started later than Waukau. A plat of the village was recorded in 1849, and in 1850 the place commenced to make that growth which has since developed the stirring and prosperous village of Omro, for full history of which see subsequent pages.
In the early day, the village of Butte des Morts was the rival of Oshkosh, for the pos- session of location of county scat. In 1849 the first frame building was erected by F. T. Hamilton, and the first store, for the sale of general merchandise, opencd by the same party. A post office was established the same year. The second frame structure was erected by Augustine Grignon, for a hotel. In IS50 a saw mill was completed and set in operation, and quite a village had sprung up on the site of Buttes des Morts.
E. D. Gumaer completed the first frame building in Winneconne, in 1849. The same year Charles Gumaer and John Atehley con- structed buildings, and the Mumbrues erected a frame building for a hotel. In 1850, H. C. Mumbrue built a chair factory, and, during the same year, the Hyde Brothers constructed a saw mill. John Scott, in 1849, opened the first store, followed the same season by H. C.
Rogers; and, in 1850, Winneconne was a vil- lage of much promise. (For full history of these places see subsequent pages. )
CHAPTER XXXV.
Wolf River Pineries - First Logging Operations - First Logs in the Pineries Cut on Rat River in 1835 - First Saw Mill on 'These Waters Built at Shawano in 1843-44 - First Saw Mill in Oshkosh Built in 1847 - The Beginning of the Great Lumber Industry of Oshkosh and Its Rapid Growth- First Flouring Mills - First Steamboats, the Manchester and Peytona - First Boat Through the Portage Canal - Bridges Across the Fox - Telegraph Line - The First Newspapers - The Condition of the County in 1850.
SHE Wolf River, a large stream, and navigable for one hundred and fifty miles, flows from the pine forests of Northern Wisconsin, and traverses this county to its outlet, in Lake Winnebago. This fine river, with its numer- ous tributaries, is one of the best lumbering streams in the State; and gives this county the readiest means for floating the products of the pineries to the many mills engaged in the manufacture of lumber. Winnebago County, therefore, although not a pine grow- ing country itself, being one of the richest prairie and opening districts of the State, is, through its water communication with the pine forests, one of the chief lumber manufacturing centers of the Northwest; Oshkosh alone man- ufacturing one hundred million feet of lumber, and more, per annum, in good years, and over a hundred million shingles, which, with its sash and doors, are sufficient to load over fif- teen thousand railroad cars.
The first saw logs cut, in the Wolf River pineries, were those got out by David Whit- ney, of Green Bay, to be used in the construc - tion of the Government buildings at Neenah. They were cut on the shores of Rat River, in 1835.
The next "logging " was done by one, Clark, of Taychcedalı, and Thomas Evans, of Osh- kosh, in the winter of 1843. The next winter, Gilbert Brooks, Milan Ford and Phillip Wright, all of Oshkosh, cut 30,000 feet, on Rat River, which they sold to Harrison Reed for $2.50 pcr M.
The first saw-mill on the Wolf River waters was built at Shawano, in 1843, by Samuel Farnsworth, and lumber from that point was floated in rafts to Oshkosh during the same year, and sold for $5.00 per M.
The beginning of that lumber industry of Oshkosh which developed into such vast pro- portions, was the building of the two steam
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
[1847-60.
saw mills by Morris Firman and Forman & Bashford.
In 1847, Morris Firman built a mill near the present site of the gang mill. Forman & Bashford constructed one at the same time at Algoma, and succeeded in completing it a short time before that of Firman's was finished. The third mill was built by Geer & Co., which was followed by those of Ebenezer Hubbard and L. P. Sheldon.
By the year 1852 the lumber business was overdone. The supply was greater than the demand; lumber that would now be called good second clear, sold for five dollars per thousand.
For several years the manufacture of lumber was not a very profitable business, and that interest struggled against serious difficulties. The buiding of the Chicago & Northwestern railroad to this point in 1858, opened up a wider market and afforded a means of trans- portation to the great prairie conntry to the southwest. Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, as well as Southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, now became a great market ground for the Oshkosh mills. New mills were now con- structed on a large scale with improved machinery and with circular and gang saws; and in 1871 there were in Oshkosh twenty- four large saw mills, sixteen shingle mills and seven sash and door factories - employing from twenty to eighty hands each. In this year there were sixty odd establishments in Oshkosh run by steam.
The first flouring mill was built at the vil- lage of Algoma, now the Fifth Ward of Osh- kosh, by D. W. Forman & Co. in 1848. This and the Waukau mill supplied a want that had long been severely felt.
The first steam boat navigating these waters was the little Manchester, built on the oppo- site shore of the lake, and which made her first trip in 1844. £ She was the only boat on this lake until the Peytona made her appearance in 1849. The Peytona was a fine boat, built at Neenah by Captain Estis, who also sailed her for some time. She had a very successful career. The old settlers will remember the crowd of passengers she used to carry on her daily trips from Fond du Lac to this place.
In 1851, the Portage Canal was so far con- structed that two steamers passed from the Fox into the Wisconsin.
The fine steamer, Menasha, made her appearance in 1852, and in 1853 the passenger and freight business on these waters had increased to such an extent that daily lines of steamboats were run to various points.
The travel and immigration to the "Indian
Land " was at that time, and previous to it, via Oshhosh and the Wolf River.
The fine water communications branching from Oshkosh in different directions made it a central point in travel, and in the transporta- tion of freight to various points.' The steam- boats, therefore, did a good business, and the docks presented a scene of great business activity.
In 1850, a telegraph line was completed from Milwaukee to Green Bay, passing through this county and connecting with its business points.
In 1847, Stanley's Ferry, which had been removed from its original location, at the site of the Gang Mill, to the present location of the bridge, was superseded by a float bridge, on the third day of July, 1847, the first team passing over it on that day.
In 1850, Messrs. Weed, Gumaer & Coon built a bridge across the river at Algoma. At that time Algoma was a rival of Oshkosh, and confidently expected to outstrip the latter place in growth, business and population.
The county, at this time-1850-was pretty well settled, and plentifully dotted with log houses, with an occasional frame house and frame barn.
The land was so easily brought into cultiva- tion and was so productive, that a large arca was soon under cultivation, and large crops were raised.
The county now began to assume the appear- ance of a settled country; and, as building material was cheap, large frame barns began to spring up in every direction. Soon a better class of farm houses were built, and by the year 1860 no county in the State surpassed, and few equaled Winnebago, in the appearance of highly cultivated farms, with handsome dwell- ings and spacious barns and out-buildings. The well-painted, substantial farm buildings, giving an air of thrift and comfort, were a matter of surprise to the new-comers from the East. The building of school-houses and churches also kept pace with other improve- ments; every community had its district school, and its educational interests well attended to.
The population of the county had in this ycar, 1850, reached 10,167. The population of Oshkosh was 1,392. It contained twenty odd stores, and hotels, mills, mechanic shops, etc., and was making a rapid growth.
The first newspaper in the county was the Oshkosh Truc Democrat, first published on the ninth day of February, 1849, in the vil- lage of Oshkosh by Densmore & Cooley. The next was the Winnebago Telegraph, by Mor- ley & Edwards (Hiram Morley). Then came
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
1844-46.]
the Oshkosh Republican, by Morley & Hyman. Then the Fox River Courier by McAvoy and Crowley, first published in June, 1852. About the same time the Anzeiger des Nordwestern by Kohlmann Brothers. The Menasha Advocate was started by Jere Crowley at Menasha in 1853, and the Conservator and Bulletin, the first by Harrison Reed and the latter by W. H. Mitchell, were published in Neenah in that year.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Incidents in the Early Day - Recollections of Early Settlers - The Partridge Child Alleged to Have Been Stolen by the Indians - Great Excitement and Trial for the Recovery of the Child - Recollections of Sam Clough and of Doctor Linde - Desperate Encounter Between Walter James, Son of G. P. R. James, the English Novelist, and Three Indians -An Old Time Scrimmage at Omro with a Lot of Young Winnebago Bucks- C. L. Rich Witnesses an Encounter at Stanley's Ferry.
R. Samuel Clough, at the present time a highly respected citizen of Nepeuskun, started, in 1844, for what was then considered the out-posts of civilization, and in his peregrinations reached Rock Prairie in the vicinity of Janes- ville, Wisconsin; remaining in that neighbor- hood about one year, during which time he made explorations as far north as Seven Mile Creek in Fond du Lac County. In 1845 he started with a view of making a permanent settlement, and made a purchase about one and a half miles west of his present residence on land now owned by T. McLelland and M. Thomas, this being the first land entered in the town of Berlin.
Mr. Clough after making his selection set out for Green Bay to purchase; but on his arrival at the farm of John Bannister, about two miles south of Fond du Lac, he learned that Mr. Bannister was acting as land agent, and to save the walk to Green Bay and back entrusted his money for entering the land to him, retaining only one dollar and eighteen cents as the sum of his worldly possessions, with anticipations of a patent for 160 acres of Uncle Sam's domain, and again turned his face toward Rock Prairie about one hundred miles distant. Weary and footsore, with his shoes in his hand and traveling in his stockings, he was soon overtaken by a gentleman with a horse and comfortable buggy, who asked him if he would like to ride. He replied he would but was short of money.
"How much have you got," was asked.
"One dollar and eighteen cents," was the reply.
"Good; that's more than I've got; where are you going?"
"To Rock Prairie."
"Well, get in here; I am going to take this horse to Racine and have got just one shilling. If you will pay for feeding the horse at Wau- pun I will carry you to Watertown."
Arriving at " Wilcox's " at Waupun, the stranger took the horse to the stable, and, see- ing a barrel of barley there, very dexterously transferred a peck to the manger; then walk- ing into the house, he saw a pan of cookies in an unoccupied room and filled his pockets.
Rejoining Mr. Clough in the kitchen, Mr. C. proposed to invest in a bowl of bread and milk, each involving an outlay of twenty cents. This the stranger declined, and after Mr. C. had relieved the inner man in manner aforesaid, and resting the horse sufficiently as the stranger expressed it to Mr. Wilcox, they started again and arrived in Watertown before five o'clock. Here Mr. C. discovered the well- known mule team of uncle Jo Goodrich of Prairie du Lac (Milton) and from thence con- tinued his journey on foot Working here through harvest, he went to Metomen, Fond du Lac County, and after splitting 16m rails started for his Berlin estate. Arriving there he sold out in April, 1846, and taking the pro- ceeds started for Green Bay, where he purchased 200 acres, his present farm.
Returning from Green Bay, he, with an acquaintance, set out for Oshkosh with the intention of purchasing a boat, and with the requisite provisions as freight, proceeding to Wolf River to procure logs, which when floated down the Wolfand up the Fox to a point most convenient to his purchase were to be con- verted into shingles. Reaching Omro on his way to Oshkosh, he found Jed Smalley (at the time an Indian merchant), where he stopped for dinner which consisted of boiled peas, the only solids obtainable.
Arriving at Oshkosh they found Webster Stanley, George Wright, P. V. Wright, Amos Dodge, two Gallups, and what was supposed to be a town site. Unable to procure boat or provisions, the expedition to Wolf River was abandoned, and while considering the next best thing, Mr. Sam Farnsworth (who had built a dam and saw mill at Shawano the year before) made his appearance in search of assistance to rebuild his dam which had been washed out, and a millwright to repair the mill which had been badly damaged. Mr. C. and nine others enlisted. Purchasing three or four barrels of pork and beef at Fond du Lac, and
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
[1847-56.
some thirty bushels of potatoes, Mr. Farns- worth's boat was loaded, and with cight oars the boat was rowcd to Shawano, the dam and mill completed and the party returned to Osh- kosh in six weeks, arriving on the evening of July 2d.
Immediately on arrival Mr. C. was accosted by a young gamin with, "we're going to have a celebration here to-morrow. " There being no settlers in the region where Mr. C. left he very naturally asked the boy, "where are the folks coming from?"
"Oh, the country is full of folks!"
"But," says Mr. C. "to-morrow is not the Fourth of July."
"Well, we've got to celebrate to-morrow, 'cause the steamboat (the old Manchester) is going to celebrate at Fond du Lacthe Fourth."
And they did celebrate, Amos Dodge and a key bugle comprising the band, and Mr. C. was greatly interested to see the increase of population during his absence of a few weeks.
The same year Mr. C. had fourteen acrcs broke at a cost of two dollars per acre, and in the spring of 1847 purchased twelve bushels of seed wheat (of William Daikin of Green Lake) at fifty cents per bushel, and with it sowed six acres of his breaking from which he harvested 126 bushels. Up to this time he had purchased his flour and pork on Rock Prairie. The flour was manufactured at Whitewater from wheat that cost thirty-nine cents per bushel, (first quality of wheat.) Pork and beef were purchased at one and a half cents per pound.
Having raised the wheat the grinding was the next consideration. Joining with a neigh- bor each put in twenty-two and a halfbushels, making forty-five bushels, which was taken to Watertown, a distance of fifty-three miles, ground and returned, feeding the bran on the way home.
In the winter of 1848-9, Mr. C. contracted with Messrs. Brand & Sawyer, of Algoma, for sixteen thousand feet of pine lumber at eight dollars per thousand, to be one-third clear stuff, and drawing it home erected his present residence in the spring of 1849.
ENCOUNTER WITH INDIANS.
Doctor Linde gives the following recital of a most tragical event which occurred near his place at Muckwa, during his residence there: ---
On a fine hunting-night, in the latter part of June, 1856, Mr. Walter James went to a small lake near Muckwa, with his canoc, for the purpose of night-hunting deer. Fortunately he took the doctor's hunting-knife, a formida- ble weapon, made of the best stech, and weigh-
ing two and a half pounds. He found plenty of deer, but they would not take to the water on account of the carousals of three Indians, who with their families were encamped near the lake. James, being familiar with the Indians, and not anticipating any trouble, then went to their wigwams, and asked them not to make so much noise, and let him have a chance at the deer. The Indians who had drank just about whiskey enough to make them excitable and quarrelsome, then attacked him. One grabbed him by the throat; when James pulled out his big hunting knife, and then the Indian grasped him by the fore arm, to prevent James from striking with it; but his desperation lent him strength; and the great weight of the weapon enabled him by the strength of his wrist alone, to strike a blow which split the Indian's skull, when he fell unconscious. This was the work of a few seconds. The Indian had no sooner released his hold on James and fallen, than another made a thrust at him with a knife; but James being a skillful swordsman, easily parried the thrust, and struck his antagonist on the right arm with the intention of crippling him. The blow severed the bone between the shoulder and the elbow, barely leaving the artery uncut and a shred by which the arm dangled. At the same instant that the second Indian made the thrust with his knife, the other grasped the gun which James hell in his left hand. The latter clung to the gun, which was loaded with buckshot, well knowing that his life depended on keeping it in his possession; but after he had disabled the second Indian, the third kept beyond the reach of the knife, hokling the gun by the barrel, while James held it by the brecch. Seeing that be could not get within reach of the Indian without releasing his hold on the gun, he let go and at the same instant jumped forward and made a desperate stroke at the Indian's head. The latter threw his head back and received the blow in the left breast, which partly cut four of the ribs, and expended its force on the wrist, cutting deeply into the bone. The Indian then fled with the gun and James followed in close pur- suit, knowing well that it was a race for life; for if the Indian could get sufficient distance to turn and get a shot at him, he was gone. After running a short distance, in which the Indian barely succeeded in keeping but a little more than arm's length from James, the latter was tripped by a wild grape vine and fell. At the same instant the Indian turned and leveled the piece at him and pulled the trigger. When James saw the muzzle of the glistening barrel that contained twenty-four buck-shot, he felt,
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HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
1856.]
for an instant, that his chances for life were narrow. The Indian, however, failed to dis- charge the gun, and James, quickly compre- hending the reason, which was that the gun was at half-cock, jumped up and plunged down the bank of the stream which was the outlet of the lake. As the place where he happened to fall was near where he had left his canoe, it was the work of but a few moments to reach it, when he quickly paddled out in the lake, trusting that the obscurity of the night would prevent the Indian from getting a shot at him. This desperate encounter, up to the time when the Indian fled with the gun, occu- pied but a few seconds; as the three Indians attacked James simultaneously, and in fact it was but a few minutes from the time he had landed to visit the Indians, until he was again out on the lake.
Another man was on the lake in a canoe watching for a chance at deer; a Mr. Jerroux, who owned the adjoining land. As the Indians were making such a racket, he had lain down in his canoe to rest, till the noise subsided; and had fallen asleep, unconscious of the trag- ical events transpiring so near him. James paddled out to him and awakening him, related, what had occurred, and requested him to go to the wigwam and see what condi- tion the wounded were in. He went, came back and reported to James, who immediately started for Doctor Linde, feeling that his surgical services were much needed; but the Doctor who had been at .Weyauwega, was then on his return on a steamboat, which met James' canoe in the river. The latter was taken on board and gave a recital of what had occurred. He showed the marks of the encounter; his neck still retaining the indentations of all the finger nails of the hand which had grasped it.
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