History of northern Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development, and resources; an extensive sketch of its counties, cities, towns and villages, their improvements, industries, manufactories; biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers; views of county seats, etc., Part 116

Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1052

USA > Wisconsin > History of northern Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development, and resources; an extensive sketch of its counties, cities, towns and villages, their improvements, industries, manufactories; biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers; views of county seats, etc. > Part 116

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In 1872, a memorial was presented to the Wiscon- sin Legislature, asking for the removal of Indians re- maining in Wisconsin to their reservation. Congress made two appropriations, aggregating $86,000, for that purpose, and the largest proportion were removed in 1874. About 200 still remain in Jackson County, liv- ing on East Fork and Morrison's Creek. Some are engaged in agricultural pursuits, while others secure a precarious existence by the sale of berries, fish, etc. The number, however, is diminishing annually, and within the next quarter of a century it is believed the race will become extinct.

SETTLEMENT.

The earliest accounts of settlements on Black River date back beyond the memory of the proverbial oldest inhabitant, and are shrouded in obscurity. Legendary lore asserts, that as early as 1818, an expedition was fitted out at Prairie du Chien, under the direction of a French trader named Rolette, and after many advent- ures by flood and field, succeeded in reaching the pres- ent site of Black River Falls. At that time the territory bordering on, and contiguous to, Black River belonged to the Indians, who held title until 1838, when the same was ceded away. The Winnebagoes claimed the land from the east fork of Black River went to the Wiscon- sin River and Beef Slough, on the Mississippi ; thence south to the mouth of the Wisconsin River. The Me- nomonees were located on the east side of the last named river, and the Chippewas occupied a vast extent of country north of the Winnebagoes and east of the Mississippi.

Upon the arrival of Rolette at the Falls, he erected a small saw-mill on Town Creek, to the rear of Squire's restaurant, but before it was fairly in operation the Winnebagoes burned the structure, and drove the lum- bermen off down the river. From this date there was no attempt made to effect a settlement at the Falls for a period of twenty-one years. In the early Summer of 1839, an expedition was organized at Prairie du Chien for the permanent settlement and improvement of the water-power at Black River Falls. The com- pany, which consisted of Jacob Spaulding, Isaac Van Austin, Hiram Yeatman, Joseph Stickney, Alonzo Stickney, Robert Wood Andrew Wood, Robert Saw- yer, Patrick Linn, Richard Woleben, Jeremiah D. Spaulding, John McGarom, Daniel MeLain, John P. Knight, Levi Tylson, Joel Lemon and John Angle Miller-seventeen in all-arrived at the Falls, August 27, of that year, and commenced the building of a saw- mill, which was completed and began operations the succeeding Winter.

Jacob Spaulding and the Woods were partners, the remainder who came with them being employes, and many with Mr. Spaulding continued in the country.

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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.

Mr. Van Austin subsequently returned to Trempealeau Prairie, west of the Falls ; the Stickneys to a point within a brief journey to the Falls ; Yeatman to Lewis Valley ; Sawyer to Chippewa River, where he shot a man and was imprisoned, and Lemon to Lytle's, where he was killed, in 1852, in attempting to snub a raft.

Prior to the building of the mill, which stood on Town Creek, very near the point where the bridge now spans it, the company began the erection of, and in a short time completed, a double log cabin, located on the south bank of Town Creek, north and a little east of the present site of the Freeman House, on Water street.

Late in the Fall of 1839, James O'Neill, with his brother and a limited number of assistants, came on to the river from Prairie du Chien and located for the Winter in the bottoms of what is now known as Rob- inson's Creek, where he was engaged in getting out timber. About this time, Jacob Spaulding, accom- panied by Andrew Wood, Joseph Stickney and Hiram Yeatman, departed in a canoe for Prairie du Chien, where Stickney and Yeatman disembarked, Wood and Spaulding, however, continuing to Warsaw, Ill., where they purchased the necessary irons and machinery for the mill at the Falls. Wood visited Quincy, where he remained during the Winter; but Spaulding returned to Prairie du Chien by steamer, thence hastened to Black River for the keel boat upon which he made his first journey hither, to convey the supplies he had in charge ; but the Indians had stolen the craft, which was recaptured near Decorah's village, a crew obtained and a start made for the supplies. These were ob- tained, and a start made for home ; but upon reaching Winnesheik, the boat was frozen in, and Spaulding made his way to the Falls on foot. Here he rigged up what were called " moose sleds," in those days, calcu- lated for a single ox, and returned to Winnesheik, where, procuring the cargo fast in the ice, he once more started for the Falls, reaching there in due time with- out serious delay.

Shortly after his return, Menomonee, with a party of forty bucks, arrived at the Falls, for the express purpose of forcing the whites to yield their claims and depart. They remained quiescent, as it were, for a few days, living off the whites, but finally peremptorily demanded that Spaulding and his comrades should vacate their claims and leave. The latter, however, had made up his mind to stay, and managing to get the Indians in one part of the double log-cabin, by strat- egy, armed his companions and ordered Menomonee with his band to evacuate, which he did without delay, and was afterward a firm friend of his whilom foe.

About the last of February, 1840, the supplies ran out, and Robert Wood, accompanied by the " hands," sought the lower country, leaving Spaulding alone in the wilderness. He was determined that his claim should not be abandoned, and, with his rifle, supplied himself with what meat was necessary to sustain life, dieting upon upon game, until the 21st of March. The country was overrun with elk and deer, the creeks were dammed by beavers from source to mouth, and no difficulty was experienced by the self - imposed hermit, in procuring that which he sought.

The river opened in March and the Woods brothers

returned with a party of eight men, including William Paulley, who shot Moses Clark some years after, at Neillsville. Soon after the arrival of this assistance, the mill on Town Creek resumed operations, and the Woods, concluding to dispense with the services of Spaulding, ejected him from possession and interest in the venture. The latter, however, proceeded to Prai- rie du Chien, where he procured legal process, and, returning with the Sheriff of Crawford County, was again placed in possession as joint tenant.

Before the opening of Spring, James O'Neill moved to the mouth of Perry Creek, where he got out the frame of a mill, and, in the Summer, Horatio Curtis, with Jonathan Nichols, arrived in the country and located at the mouth of what has since been known as " Nichols Creek," twelve miles below the Falls. About this time, Robert Douglas, William and Thomas Doug- las came into the county. Robert and Thomas located a farm in the present town of Melrose and commenced putting in a crop-the first farm opened, and the first crop raised in Jackson County. The property is still owned and occupied by Robert Douglas, Thomas resid- ing at Danville, Wis., and William near Walnut Bend, Ark.

The next year, Andrew Sheppard, with John Val- entine, arrived and commenced lumbering operations below the Falls, and in the Fall Spaulding and the Woods raised the frame of their second and larger mill on the present site of the saw-mill of D. J. Spauld- ing, which was not operated, however, until the follow- ing Spring, by which time it became clearly apparent that Spaulding and the Woods could not dwell together in unity, and the former purchased the latter's interest in the business for 400,000 feet of sawed lumber, pay- able in three installments, at Quincy, Spaulding assum- ing the firm debts, which amounted to about $5,000. The Woods then left the country, and were no more heard of, except in connection with subsequent attempts to regain the property thus transferred.

The years 1840-+1 closed upon the settlers without the occurrence of noteworthy incidents beyond those happening in a new country, excepting the arrival of Jacob Spaulding's family, which consisted of a wife and Dudley J. Spaulding, his son. She was, presum- ably, the first white woman to settle permanently in Jackson County, and her daughter, Mary J. Spaulding, who was born the same season, was claimed as the first birth ; but this is an error. She still lives, the wife of S. P. Jones, one of the prominent merchants of Black River Falls. The advent of settlers into this almost undiscovered land, as elsewhere in northern Wisconsin, was not frequent in those early days, and improvements kept pace with the arrivals. But the high price of pine lumber became an inducement in time, and to this, more than the excellent farming lands in the eastern and western portions of the county, is the building up of the county to be attributed.

The first birth is claimed for the wife of William Douglas, who accompanied her husband on a raft down Black River. When they reached Snake Bend, she was taken ashore and made as comfortable as the cir- cumstances would admit, when the child was born, its advent being witnessed and the mother congratulated by a number of Mormon women who came up the river

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at the critical moment, and, landing, contributed their services to the occasion. The patient and child were removed without delay to the husband's home, near North Bend ; but death, with its skeleton finger, touched the new dispensation ere it reached its father's house, which became a house of mourning. This was, doubtless the first death in the county, though it has been heretofore supposed that the decease of Harrison Gillette, who resided up the river from the Falls, in the Winter of 1846-47, was the first.

Early in the Spring of this year (1841), these iden- tical Mormons from Nauvoo, under the charge of Elders White, Curts and Miller, came to the river to obtain lumber for their temple, and a claim of Jacob Spaulding was unceremoniously jumped by them. Upon being informed of the summary procedure, Spaulding secured a force of twenty men and came up with the interlopers after they had felled not less than 300 trees. Upon interrogating the Elder as to his rights on the premises, the latter responded that he would cut when and where he pleased. Spaulding replied with equal emphasis, and marshaling his forces, gave the Mor- mons ten minutes to vacate their occupation. They loaded up their plunder and marched off, heading down stream, with doubts as to the Lord's supremacy that high up Black River. When this was brought to the knowledge of the Mormons who were located on Nichols Creek, and had purchased the interest of Hor- atio Curtis in the mill there, they became exceedingly wroth, and sent a messenger to Nauvoo for men and guns. Spaulding hearing of this, communicated with the commander at Fort Crawford in person, and asked for assistance in case of trouble with the Mormons. He was assured of aid in the anticipated emergency, and the Mormons hearing of this, suspended prepara- tions for war, and engaged in the more remunerative pursuits of peace. The following Spring, Spaulding sold them the Falls property for $20,000, payable mostly in lumber. It consisted at that time of the lit- tle mill on Town Creek, the cabin first built, a large mill, built, but not furnished, a small frame boarding house, one other log cabin which stood on the corner of Main and Front streets, and a blacksmith shop.

These " Latter Day Saints " were very devout it is said in all the outward observances of their peculiar re- ligion, and had preaching every Sabbath, at which all the sect and many strangers were in attendance. Upon one occasion, Paul Knight, a well-known Gentile mill- wright, considerably intoxicated, strayed into the church at the exact moment when Elder Lyman White promulgated as his ultimatum that he " would rather go to hell willingly, than be forced into heaven." This unexpected conclusion aroused the inebriated Paul, who raised himself from the bench on which he was sitting, and shouting " Bully for you by G-d, " fell prone upon the floor, a frightful example of the effect of new and original theological ideas suddenly developed in men of Knight's sensitive nature and impulsive tempera- ment.

In 1844, when the death of Joe Smith reached the Falls, the Mormons re-transferred the property to Spaulding, and returned to Nauvoo to aid their brethren in avenging the death of the Prophet.

Among the arrivals in 1841, were: Thomas HIali

and Peter Hall, brothers, from Canada, and commenced lumbering about six miles north of the Falls, where they built a mill on what has since been known as Hall's Creek, the following year. Francis M. Garrett came in 1842, as also did Samuel Wright, Benjamin Wright, Augustus Harrington, at present a resident of Chicago, where he is employed as counsel for the North western road, William K. Levis, Sylvester Abbey, George R. Gillenger. the first carpenter, E. L. Brockway, and some others. Few engaged in agricultural pursuits, those who came devoting their time, capital and skill in lum- bering. Quite a number of mills had been erected by Douglas, Levis and others, and the Mormons while in possession of the Falls finished up the larger saw-mill this year, and in 1843 or 1844, erected a commodious warehouse, besides some half a dozen dwellings, on the property. The wants of the people were few, the base of supplies at Prairie du Chien, 160 miles distant, and these wants, according to an old account book of a trader at the Falls in 1842-3, largely made up of whis- ky and tobacco. There is a legend that the cargo of a keel-boat in those days would consist of ten barrels of flour, five of pork, and twenty-five of whisky. All used the latter as a beverage, and if there were excep- tions, they were so few that the rule still held good. Flour or pork might give out without causing alarm, but let the whisky jug fail to " gin down," and the camp was in an uproar, subdued only by a fresh supply.

During 1843-4, emigration to the lumber district was by no means numerous; Silas A. Wilcox arrived with the Mormons. Hamilton McCullom came in the former year, and Joseph Clancy, John Law, who came from Maine, and was accounted the most expert ox- driver on the river, commanding the highest wages of any man in this vicinity ; Andrew Grover, who served as a lumberman, as also as a pettifogger in justice's courts ; John Monson, an honest, genial, quick-witted Irishman, who settled on what has since been known as " Monson's Creek," eight miles below the Falls, and doubtless others whose names, nativity and character- istics have not been preserved.

At the close of the year 1844, there were eight saw- mills in operation on the river, though all were not within the present limits of Jackson County. But one of these was supplied with other than an up-and-down saw, the propelling power being the old-fashioned flut- ter-wheel, by which the manufacture of logs into lum- ber was a question of time and patience.

The Winter, Spring and Summer of 1845, came and went without any particular change or incident worthy of mention occurring to any of the settlers in Jackson County as at present described. During the Summer, Levi S. Avery, among the first carpenters to locate in the village arrived ; the same season, Hon. William T. Price, who has labored so devotedly in behalf of his adopted home, and accomplished so much in that con- nection, anchored here. Like all new comers, he en- gaged in lumbering, and to a greater or less extent has been engaged in extensive operations of that character. Aside from this, he has been a successful lawyer, judge, legislator, merchant and operator, and is known as a man of the most undaunted nerve, as also the most unimpeachable character and integrity. The Fall of

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this year, C. R. Johnson came up Black River to Douglas's Mills, in the employ of John S. Lockwood, of Prairie du Chien, but removed to the Falls the follow- ing Spring, when he engaged as a hand to Spaulding. He is to-day a prominent lawyer, having passed through the various gradations of laborer, school teacher, student, soldier and advocate. Among those who came in during 1845, in addition to the above, were: Amos Elliott, Samuel Papple, Michael C. and James Conlon, Moses Clark, Zedekiah Root, Aaron Work, Joseph Gillinger, Ward and James Chandler, Abraham Mericle, L. T. Judd, Henry Atkinson. John O'Connell, James, William and Lemuel Hall, and pos- sibly some few others.

Life in those days is represented as having been de- cidedly exciting, as also eccentric. Inebriety was the rule, sobriety the exception. The man who refused to drink was an enemy of the human family, and room made for him as for a leper. Card playing supple- mented this vice, and large sums of money were night- ly lost on combinations made up of " bowers " and " high low jack." Those who are familiar with that condition of affairs in new countries will hardly recon- cile the present absence of these agencies in Black River Falls with their frequency forty years ago.

In 1846, the lumber commerce of Black River in Jackson County was estimated at from four to six mill- ions of feet, part of which was rafted throngh Gibbs's chute, opened this season. At that time, the white women about the Falls were limited to Mrs. Jacob Spaulding, Mrs. Hiram Yeatman, Mrs. Joseph Stickney, Mrs. Joseph Clancy and Mrs. Henry Elmer, or " Bar- bara," as she was more familiarly known in those days.

Mrs. Stickney, nee Van Ostrand, was married this year at Prairie du Chien, where she resided, Mr. Stick- ney going thither to secure a wife. His was the first marriage of a permanent resident of the county. In the Fall of 1846, the first marriage of residents of Jack- son County occurred at the house of a man named Browning on the East Fork. William Levis was one of the contracting parties, and R. R. Wood, a Justice of the Peace, witnessed the contract, but the name of the happy bride can not be recalled. It might be stated in this connection that the marriage of James O'Neill and Isaac S. Mason to the Misses Douglas, on March 7, 1847, at North Bend, is claimed as having been the pioneer matrimonial ventures in the county. But au- thorities contend that Levis anticipated their action by several months, and thus obtained precedence.

At this time, the improvements at the Falls consisted of a frame boarding-house, 18 x 26, with a tolerable high roof, under which, upon a double loose floor there generally slept of a night from thirty to forty men, mostly "spoon-fashion." Mrs. Elmer, or " Barbara," did the cooking, and her bill of fare was made up of bread and fried pork for breakfast and supper, with bread and pork boiled for dinner. There was also a double log house where Hendrick's barber shop now is, a single log house at the corner of Main and Water streets, a blacksmith shop at the south end of the bridge over Town Creek, kept by one West, whose wife was known to the public, in the expressive vernacular of the times, as " Short and dirty," a frame barn where Sawyer's clothing store now is, and a double log house

on property now occupied by the Agricultural Society for exhibition purposes. At North Bend there was the Douglas mill, a boarding-house and small clearing at- tached. Robert and Thomas Douglas resided near the present village of Melrose, where they had improvised some limited improvements. At other points where mills had been built, there was some evidence of set- tlement and improvements, but they were primitive.

This year the 4th of July was first celebrated at the Falls, the ceremonies occurring on the hill to the west of the village. A procession was formed early in the day, and headed by a wheelbarrow on which was laden a ten-gallon keg of " Black-strap," being a composition of whisky, syrup and water, headed for the grove, where, after preliminary proceedings, a man named Burton read the Declaration and Andrew Gruver orated. At the conclusion of these formalities, the keg became an objective point for the celebrants, nearly all of whom, according to the chronicler of the event, became as " drunk as pipers."

From this it will be apparent that the observations above made in regard to the habit of drinking through- out this region in those days was not exaggerated. It was universal. In the pineries, in the settlements, on the hustings, at weddings, births and funerals, as also in the courts of common law and chancery, toddy was an inseparable concomitant. Justice Jacob Spauld- ing held court in his store, the curule chair being the counter, upon which he sat, listening to the impassioned eloquence of Andrew Gruver and H. McCullom, who were alone in the field as lawyers, and accustomed to hurl legal and rhetorical thunderbolts at the court, be- tween drinks. The latter were frequent and always sweetened, a decanter of liquor invariably standing on a barrel head within reach of his honor, counsel and jury, alongside of which brown sugar and tin spoons were ranged invitingly.

Late this season, the Shanghai House, on the pres- ent site of the Freeman House, was completed and oc- cupied. It was built by Jacob Spaulding, and was the most prominent house on the river, having a frontage of sixty feet on Water street, two stories high, finished outside and in with dressed lumber, and regarded as a masterpiece of design and finish. Its distinguished name was not affixed to it by the proprietor, but was affixed by others some time after the completion, and on the principle that a man who was better dressed than his neighbors would have been designated as a "Shanghai." After being completed, the hotel was opened by Isaac Van Nostrand, who came to the Falls this year with his wife and two daughters. The open- ing was a grand affair and was attended by people who came from a distance of one hundred miles to be pres- ent. Dancing was kept up for fifty hours, and the quantities of the " Pike " brand of whisky consumed at the bar appeared only to aggravate the intense de- sire of every individual to enjoy a good time general- ly, and they did it.

During this season, Parson Snow and wife wandered into the county, and located a claim on Snow's Creek, embracing what was afterward known as the farm of Captain Kitchum. Snow instituted the first religious meetings on the river, which attracted considerable at- tention. He preached what he claimed was Baptist

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theology, and despised whisky as a beverage, although it is not of record that he ever declined any for the stomach's sake. Some years afterward, he removed to Iowa, where it is reported he was convicted and sent to the penitentiary for horse-stealing.

Among others who came in during 1846, was Isaac S. Mason, who became part owner of the Perry Creek mill property ; Ebenezer Dickey, Joseph Clancy and wife, Richard Hulett, the Perry brothers, John Adams, who had first made his appearance in 1843, but went elsewhere, whence he returned, George Nelson and family, Eliphalet Hunt, who made the first settlement in Trempealeau valley, where he took up land upon which the present site of Alma Center has since been established, W. H. Marshall, etc.

The year 1847 is remembered for the sudden, unex- peeted and remarkably unprecedented rise of the Black River. It was the highest ever known to settlers, be- ing twenty-two feet above low-water mark. The large saw mill of Spaulding's at the Falls was carried away, and the wreck floated off in pieces with the logs in- tended for Summer use. The Falls was thus left with- out a mill, but immediate preparations were made to erect a successor on the site of the ruins, which was completed in 1848 by Thomas Patterson, in early times well known as a member of the Lower Falls mill of Patterson & Brockway.

This year the first school enterprise and efforts to procure religious services at the Falls were undertaken. Mr. Spaulding fitted up a room in an addition to the old boarding house, which was opened by C. R. John- son with fourteen pupils, sent by Jacob Spaulding, Hiram Yeatman, the Wilsons, Henry Elmer, and Isaac Van Nostrand, respectively. The religious interests of the place were not sought to be conserved until the following Summer, when the Rev. R. R. Woods was stationed at the Falls, who remained in the vicinity for years, though not infrequently he was obliged to send to the bar-room adjoining the Shanghai House dining room, in which services were held, for some one to start the tune of the morning hymn. Upon the breaking- out of the Mexican war, school sessions were discon- tinued, Mr. Johnson, the teacher, abandoning the ferule for the musket, and enlisting as a soldier at Galena, in Capt. Holden's Company B, Twelfth United States In- fantry, the only recruit obtained in Jackson County.

During this year the first Government surveys of the Black River country were commenced, the contract being for the "running out of township lines." In 1849, the lands about the Falls came into market, and Andrew Wood took out a pre-emption, with which he seenred a United States patent for the quarter section of land covering the water-power and all the improve- ments at the Falls. He claimed that Spaulding had failed to pay him and his brother for the property, as agreed, and he adopted this summary course of pro- cedure to recover what he was justly entitled to. When Spaulding heard of the pre-emption and entry thus made, he proceeded to Milwaukee, and caused the arrest of Wood for perjury. The latter was acquitted, however, when suits and counter suits were instituted by both, which lasted many years, but in 1860, the assignees of Wood compromised their claims with Spaulding, by which the latter secured all his improve-

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Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1052

Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1052