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 169

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 169

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earth by the loss of a thousand souls is not to be filled in a day.

It is uncertain when or where the tornado first formed, which was to put the finish upon this already desolate region. It is uncertain whether one tornado formed near the lower waters of the bay and there split, one-half rushing up its eastern shore and the other along its western banks, or whether each was formed alone and pursued its own destructive course. But certain it is, that the whirlwinds drove the flames to- gether into one mass on both the shores and then swept the newly formed body swiftly along. As it passed over the peaty swamps and marshes, gases were there generated which it rolled together and threw before it in great balls. These exploded and set fire to what- ever material had escaped the local conflagrations, and so the phalanx moved on, pushed from behind by an irresistible tornado, and fed and sustained, and strength- ened by its prey before. It lashed itself and roared, like a wild beast. Nothing in its way could withstand it. Oconto escaped its fury. Then it swept upon the settlements of the Sugar Bushes, and here the scene was sickening. The forward movement of the wind was not rapid, but its rotary motion was so fearful that great trees were uprooted and twisted like twigs. It tore up the earth ; it threw fire-balls in all directions ; it hurled torrents of fire after flying families. Houses and barns were swept away like toys. Amid the war of the tempest and fire and the falling of trees, sounded agonizing shouts and screams for help. Some fell to the earth, and with their mouth upon its hot bosom, man- aged to sustain the breath of life until the fury passed over them. Others fled to the highest points they could find and were swept away, not to be distinguished from charred limbs and trunks of trees. Some who escaped fire were smothered by gases. Others were drowned in the streams to which they had fled, and lay there with the dead fish, who rose to the surface in thousands. Fathers became crazed, and taking their children in their arms ran wildly before the flames and were swallowed up. One father seeing that escape was hopeless, cut his own throat, and killed his three chil- dren in the same way. Many suicides occurred in crouching moments of the horror which every one feels toward death by fire. Poor women, in that scene of confusion of death, gave birth to life. The fire passed over death and ruin, on to Peshtigo. In the three Sugar Bush settlements, consisting of three hundred families, but eight houses remained, those of A. Phil- lips, A. Place, John Hutchins, and Jacob Empy, in the upper; Mr. Fetterly, in the lower; Daniel Sage and Josepli Vallier, in the middle, and Charles Schwartz. in the village. In the Lower Bush settlement but four persons escaped death, and they by setting down in a shallow pool of water. It is impossible to tell the ex- act number of persons who perished in this region, but the number can not be less than three hundred.

It was now about 9 o'clock on that Sunday night. As is usual with the atmosphere in advance of a tor- nado, the air was oppressive and heavy around Pesh- tigo. Fires in the woods had raged around for weeks, and this particular Sunday night was no exception. The smoke from burning and smoldering forests just

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HISTORY OF MARINETTE COUNTY.

dimmed a faint illumination, which was beginning to spread up from the south western horizon. The churches were dismissed ; a breeze which had been briskly blow- ing in the afternoon, had died away into a pretentious calm ; faint hearts beat fast, and strong ones were op- pressed, and some restlessly walked the streets, to be taken, if need be, at their best. By 10 o'clock, many had " retired to rest ; " little they knew how long a one. There had come a great change. A hot wind was blowing strongly from the southwest, the whole sky in that direction was ablaze; a distant roar swept toward the village, the flames could now be plainly seen galloping and surging over the tree-tops, then the air was afire, and the earth and Peshtigo was doomed. Men, women, children, cattle, horses, every thing, every body, were borne along toward the river and plunged in. Crowds rushed for the bridge, but found it in flames. Many rushed upon it, notwithstanding, to escape the flames pursuing them, and when it fell, were drowned. Debris from the burning town was cast upon the mass of strugglers in the water, and some even who were not drowned or burned, were killed by shooting timber and bricks. Burning logs hissed as they floated flaming down the river. Roofs of buildings were lifted almost entire and cast along like sheets of paper. Some seventy persons, who con- sidered themselves fortunate at the time, rushed for the Peshtigo Company's boarding-house, and there sheltered themselves from the fury of the fiery storm. In a few minutes the hurricane had reached them there, passed on and left their charred bodies there. In less than one hour Peshtigo and 800 people were annihilated. The only building which escaped in a measure was one unfinished dwelling house on the east side of the river. When Monday morning came, this stood alone, as if in mockery, while the victims of the fire, and the ruins of the fire, were heaped together, oftentimes in inseparable confusion. It is unnecessary to picture the shriveled and blackened bodies of the dead, in detail, or draw the scenes of suffering in dis- tinct lines. Every one is content to forget all this, and will be satisfied with obtaining a general view, which is much more difficult of successful and correct execu- tion. In addition to the loss of 800 lives, the loss of property in the village was large. At the time of her calamity, Peshtigo contained a population of 1,500, and was one of the most brisk places for business on the bay. Among the principal losers were the Peshtigo Company, whose immense factory of wooden ware (the largest in the United States ), lumber mill, machine shop, sash, door and blind factory, grist mill, boarding house, and a large number of tenant houses, were de- stroyed. Judge F. J. Bartels, Harter & Horvath, Charles Johnson, McDonald & Murray, P. J. Marshall, Williams Brothers, who mostly carried on general stores ; Nicholas Cavoit, a small saw-mill ; David Lis- ter, foundry and machine shop; Edward Kittner, wagon and blacksmith shop ; and the Congregational and Roman Catholic societies, which lost fine churches. It has been estimated that a quarter of a million of dol- lars were lost in Peshtigo and vicinity, of which the Company suffered to the extent of one-half. Peshtigo, and half her people, many of them strangers who had fled to her for protection, was as completely destroyed

as if by an earthquake, and in taking a sad leave of her and following the path of the destroyer, it would be inexcusable not to pay tribute to the useless yet heroic endeavors of such men as William A. Ellis, general manager of the Peshtigo Company, and Judge F. J. Bartels, with many mill hands and private citi- zens, less well known, and who afterward, when the worst had been accomplished, labored so earnestly in the noble work of relief.

The fire, after leaving Peshtigo, swerved a little in its course to the eastward, and sweeping along toward Marinette and Menominee, half a dozen miles distant, was broken in its course by the " sand hills," mounds formed of that material which lie midway between the Peshtigo and Menominee rivers. This was all that saved Marinette. The main tornado of wind, fire, gas, sand, and burning debris, passed along to the west of the village, taking with it the planing mill of Messrs. Bagley & Curry, and saw-mill of McCartney & Co., and the Catholic church. The branch caused by the divide enveloped and destroyed the village of Mene- kaune, and then made a grand leap of nearly a quarter of a mile at the business life of Menominee across the river. From the large saw-mill of Spalding, Houghtel- ing & Johnson, now the Menominee River Lumber Company, leaped the river and soon leveled to the ground the "Gilmore mill," owned by R. Stephenson & Co. The fire then swept out over Green Bay, but as the shipping there narrowly escaped, its destruction was checked at this point. The body of the divided fire, which scorched Marinette, passed on to the west of the village and following the Menominee River for fourteen miles, swept away thousands of acres of val- uable timber, making a dreary and barren waste of the entire tract.

The total loss in property which had been caused along the west shore of Green Bay by that fierce sweep of fire, of only a few hours duration, has been placed at $5,000,000. The heaviest loss at Meuekau- ne was sustained by Spalding, Houghteling & John- son-$116,000. Besides their fine saw-mill, a large boarding-house and ten tenement houses were con- sumed. Two saw-mills, thirty-five dwellings, three stores, one planing-mill, sash, door and blind factory, two hotels, a number of scows, nearly 1,000,000 feet of lumber, the bridge to Philbrook's Island, warehouse and dock at the steamboat landing, Philbrook's ship- yard and shops and the Catholic church were de- stroyed. So far as known, no lives were lost directly by the fire, though several deaths undoubtedly oc- curred from fright and exhaustion. Had it not been, however, for the excellent management of some of the prominent citizens of Marinette, Menominee and Me- nekaune, it is doubtful if either of the first two places could have escaped the fate of the latter. When Me- nekaunee was given up as lost, Messrs. Isaac Stephen- son, A. C. Brown, A. C. Merryman, D. C. Prescott, Fred. Carney and other mill owners marshaled their men, put them to work hauling water, digging trenches, wetting down buildings and putting blankets upon them for protection from the falling cinders and flying debris, etc. They and their co-laborers did all that human strength could accomplish, and carried the day. Both Marinette and Menominee were saved.

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

The men worked with greater coolness and effect from the fact that they knew their wives and children were safe, as they had seen the dear ones on board the steamer " Union," and pass between the fires of Mene- kaune and Menominee to a place of refuge below. What a contrast between the fates of Menekaune and Peshtigo !

But the flames were not yet satisfied. Birch Creek, to the northeast of Marinette, about a dozen of miles, received the visitation before midnight of that October Sunday. It was a farming settlement, of 100 people. Its property was swept away, and nineteen persons perished. Here the tornado seems to have exhausted itself and rested, after thus desecrating the Sabbath with its wicked work. In four hours, the fire had cut a path forty miles in length by ten in width, destroy- ing millions of dollars worth of property, and twelve hundred human lives.

Having followed the course of the fire up the west- ern shore of Green Bay, its track and destruction should be traced along its eastern shore. The settle- ments here were fewer and less populous, and for that very reason, those whose property was destroyed, and who escaped only with their lives, suffered more than those who were burned out in the western counties. Relief was longer in coming to them. The destruction at New Franken and Robinsonville, in Brown County, northeast of Green Bay, have been described in the history of that county, with the progress of the flames through that region. The fire continued, with about the same rapidity, up the eastern shore as it did along the western shore, the tornado moving it northeast. Passing out of Brown County, it swept over fully half of Kewaunee County, the loss being particularly heavy in the towns of Casco, Red River, Lincoln and Alınapee. The villages escaped. One hundred houses were burned, the loss to property being estimated at $250,000. School-houses were burned - every thing perishable in the path of the tempestuous fire disap- peared. Hundreds of families were made homeless, and many deaths occurred through fright, as well as by actual burning. The fire sped up the peninsula into Door County, and clearing the timbered land and scattering houses and barns, and human and brute be- ings, before it, approached Williamsonville. This was a small settlement of about eighty persons, six miles south of Little Sturgeon, which had been built up by the Williamsons, father and sons, who were operating a flourishing shingle mill. Connected with it was a store, boarding-house and a number of dwelling houses. The other buildings were such as would go to make up a growing and hopeful little village. The family of eleven, and the mill hands, had, for two weeks previous to the great fire, been fighting the flames in the woods, all around the settlement, and had appar- ently subdued them. A clearing of ten aeres had been made, and around this the fire continued to burn in spots, but with no appearance of concerted action. On Sunday afternoon, it entered what was called the potato-patch, but was extinguished without trouble. Water was hauled to the mill, as a measure of precau- tion, but the general opinion was that the worst of the danger had been met. Late at night, after the same hush which preceded the death-blow at Peshtigo,

heavy puffs of wind commenced to surge up from the southwest. Next the fire balls appeared in advance of the tornado-and to this phenomena nearly every sur- vivor bears witness ; then the rumbling and the roar was heard, and the huge body of the fire came rolling through the woods and over the trees. The woods fell and crackled, and the Williamsons, and the whole village of men, women and children, were either busy changing their clothing for woolen goods, wetting down the buildings and covering them with blankets, or huddling together in the clearing. The women and children had at first all gathered in the boarding-house, but were led to the potato-patch clearing, when it be- came evident that the fire was advancing rapidly toward the settlement. It reached the village, and the scenes of Peshtigo were repeated, only on a smaller scale. Men and women fell on their faces, and attempted to get a breath of air not charged with blinding fire and smoke and stifling vapors ; others rushed wildly on, and when they saw the race was useless, attempted to dash out their brains against stumps or trees ; some perished in their houses ; groans and screams of agony pierced even the roar of the tempest; horses galloped and snorted, in speechless terror, through the whirling flames; oxen bellowed. But the fury of the tornado passed quickly on, and out of four score, only seven- teen escaped. Of the Williamson family, only Mrs. Williamson and her son, Thomas, remained. They saved themselves by wrapping wet blankets around their bodies. Thirty-five of the dead lay together in one heap. in the center of the clearing. A few feet off sat Mrs. Williamson, badly burned, but alive, with the charred head of a dead woman resting upon her blan- ket. Of seven persons who jumped into a well, five came out alive. These fortunate cases were excep- tions. Williamsonville was nothing but a name. The town of Nasewaupee suffered severely. Gardner, Union, Brussels, Forestville and Clay Banks were swept, and hundreds of narrow escapes are recorded. Green Bay and the drenching rain of Monday night, October 9, stayed the further progress to the north of this awful devastation.

AFTER THE FIRE-RELIEF.

Monday morning dawned over a scene of waste and death. The dead lay in every conceivable posture of agony throughout the Sugar Bush district, and in what were, the day before, the streets of Peshtigo. Surviv- ors flocked into Oconto, Marinette and Menominee, hun- gry, blistered, some with limbs hanging useless, blind and heartbroken. The first news of the Peshtigo ca- lamity reached Marinette through John Mulligan, who walked to the latter place, and at once conveyed the soul-sickening news to Isaac Stephenson and A. C. Brown, of the N. Ludington Company. Teams loaded with provisions were soon on their way to the cold and hungry people of Peshtigo. Some on foot, and others maimed and helpless were already on their way to the settlement at Peshtigo Harbor or Marinette. The Dun- lap House, its proprietor then being J. M. Belanger, was transformed into a hospital. The local physicians volunteered their services free, private houses even were thrown open, and the village was soon engaged in one grand effort to alleviate the suffering of the stricken

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HISTORY OF MARINETTE COUNTY.

survivors. At Menominee, also, the same generosity prevailed. No one could be too open with his purse. Tables were spread for the famished at the Kirby House and other hotels, business houses loaded them with food, physicians, without hope of reward, were en- gaged in allaying other bodily suffering, and generosity reigned supreme. At this point, special mention is made of the untiring labors of Dr. G. L. Brunschweiler, of Appleton, who happened to be in Menominee, and Dr. Jones, of Marinette. As tales of suffering and pathet- ic evidences in the persons of the victims themselves continued to pour into the two villages, it became evi- dent that the calamity was even more fearful than at first supposed. Through the suggestion of Isaac Stephen- son, the Mayors of Green Bay, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac and Milwaukee, and Governor Fairchild, were tele- graphed to for assistance, as the needs of the stricken counties were greater than the places which escaped the fire could satisfy. Gov. Fairchild was not in Madi- son when the message reached the city, but his noble- hearted wife, seeing the terrible urgency of the situa- tion, through her own individual efforts, had clothes and food on the way to Marinette in an almost incredi- ble short space of time.

When tidings reached the Governor, he established a hospital at the latter place, and put it in charge of Dr. B. T. Phillips, of Fond du Lac. He himself visited Peshtigo, at once, and proved that he possessed the same kind and humane spirit which had animated his wife. When news of the calamity reached Chicago, William B. Ogden, the father and business life of Peshtigo, took the first train for the desolated village, and soon was upon the ground and in Marinette, to en- courage, cheer and assist the sufferers. The relief com- mittee, which was organized in Marinette, consisted of D. Clint. Prescott, chairman, A. C. Brown and A. C. Merryman, and what effective work they did not do for the next few days after the fire, would be beyond the power of strength and executive force to perform. They had more than 1,200 people under their care, and not only distributed clothing, food, etc., but lumber and building material to replace farm houses and barns which had been so ruthlessly destroyed. But even after the central committees of relief had been formed in Green Bay and Milwaukee, and money, clothing and food poured from all over this country and Europe, it seemed almost impossible to replace in any marked de- gree the loss which had been sustained by the bay coun- ties. The bodies maimed and burned, and the hearts made to ache could never be replaced or healed. The work of relief continued for months, by private effort, State and national aid. Capt. A. J. Langworthy, who acted as general agent for the burned districts, has the praise which earnest labor merits.

Up to March 1, 1872, the total cash receipts at Green Bay and Milwaukee are estimated at $350,000. Large sums were also sent direct to local relief committees, and private charities, which will only see the light of heaven, were unbounded. The one compensation which Providence holds out for the raging of such calamities as the Chicago and Northern Wisconsin fires, is that men's hearts are softened and expanded thereby. The particular work of relief carried on at Green Bay, one of the central depots, is set forth in detail in the histo-

ry of Brown County ; also the progress of the fire through the northern sections of that county, and its near approach to Green Bay and Fort Howard. Its grand and irresistible sweep of October 8, 1871, has been sketched as a continuous narrative, however, to preserve its grandeur and present a general, yet it is hoped a forcible and truthful, account of its ravages.

MARINETTE.

Menekaune, which is considered a part of Marinette, was laid out by the New York Lumber Company in February, 1856. Additions were afterward made by T. Stephenson & Co., N. Ludington Co., Menominee River Lumber Co., etc. The latter platted all below N. Ludington Co. addition in 1874. Theoriginal plat of Marinette was laid out and re- corded'by John B. Jacobs, the son of Marinette, in April, 1858. He had come into possession of the site of the old Chap- pieu trading post and erected a dwelling house in 1846. Additions have since been made, principally by the differ- ent lumbering companies. The original plat made by Mr. Jacobs embraces the land between John and Wisconsin and Third and Maine.

In the Fall of 1857 the families depending upon the Kimball and Brown mill made an earnest plea for school accommodations of some kind, and, through the exertions of Dr. J. J. Sherman, a class was opened in the upper story of Burleigh Perkin's old building. During the next Summer the New York Lumber Company, operating at Menekaune, built a small school-house on the site of the building erected for the same purpose in 1879. The school districts were consolidated in 1863, and the union school erected. This is soon to be displaced by a fine structure costing $16,000. The Ella court-school-house was erected in 1875, at a cost, with site, of $6,500. The three buildings have accommodations for 980 pupils. Marinette and Menekaune are in District No. 1, which comprises the Weisnaar, Winesville, Rawnsville, Cook, Flor- ence and Commonwealth districts. The Florence build- ing accommodates 120 scholars.

The Marinette Fire Department was organized in December, 1871. It is composed of two companies-one engine company and one hook and ladder-with a strength of 16 members. A new engine house on Main street is about to be erected, which will cost $8,000.

THE PRESS.

The Marinette and Peshtigo Eagle was established at Mar- inette in June, 1871, the first number being issued June 5 of that year. It was first published as an eight-column, four-page, folio sheet-four pages. It was a successful ven- ture from the start, and received a liberal support. In June, 1875, Luthier B. Noyes, its founder and owner, sold the paper to Henry Harris, who afterward changed the form to a five-column quarto. In January, 1880, Mr. Noyes, the former owner, repurchased the office and again assumed proprietorship, enlarging the Eagle the following Summer to a six-column quarto and adding about $3,000 to the presses and material in the office. The Eagle has a very

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

large circulation for a local weekly paper, is as neatly print- erty being $3,500. Rev. William Dafter, present pastor, ed as any paper in the West and is rated among the best took charge in 1879. The membership of the Church is 60. local journals in Wisconsin. One feature of its present The First Baptist Church, organized in 1878, by Rev. H. W. Stearns, State Sunday School Missionary, and Dr. Hanshaw, of Fort Howard. In September, 1880, Rev. A. C. Blackman, present pastor, was put in charge. The mem- bership is forty-five and increasing. The congregation worships in Temple of Honor Hall, but money is being raised for the erection of a church building. management is particularly noticeable, and that is its free- dom from foreign humbug advertisements. It is Repub- lican in politics, but makes a specialty of the local transac- tions of Marinette, Peshtigo and the surrounding country. From an insignificant affair in 1871 it has grown into a large, well edited and influential paper, and is worked off by steam weekly. Its enterprise has always fully kept pace with the wonderful development of the locality where it is published and it is justly held in great esteem by all of the old_settlers and substantial citizens.

The North Star was established October 21, 1880, by Russell & Murphy. The firm continued to publish the paper until June 1, 1881, when Mr. Russell sold out to Jerre C. Murphy, present editor and proprietor. It is a five-column quarto, issued weekly, on Friday, is crisp and readable, and Democratic in politics.

CHURCHES.

St. Mary's (Catholic) .- In the Summer of 1868, the Catholics commenced the erection of a church edifice, which was completed the next year. In 1870, a priest's house and school building was erected, but the fire of 1871 swept everything away. Rev. Father Pernin was then in charge of the Church, and at once went to St. Louis for the purpose of raising money to put it on its feet again, so successful was he, that in the Spring of 1872, the present fine edifice was commenced and completed, ready for occupancy in 1874. In the meantime the Sisters' House or convent, was used as a church. The foundation of the church was laid by Bishop Melcher, in the Spring of 1873. The entire property, in- cluding the priest's residence, which was erected later, is valued at $25,000. Father A. T. Shuttlehoefer, is the pas- tor of the congregation, which numbers 300 families. Con- nected with the Church is a Total Abstinence Society, which is growing in numbers and influence.

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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