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 21

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 21

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In addition to the natural advantages which Brown County possesses in beauty and healthfulness of loca- tion and fertility of soil, there are others which she has acquired through the energy and the enterprise of prominent citizens.

Fox and Wisconsin Rivers Improvements .- Very early in the " thirties " the general attention of the pushing pioneers was called to the necessity of improving the navigation of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. In Oc- tober, 1829, the first convention met at Green Bay to discuss the improvement. The way was easy to a free communication with all of the lake ports, and as it was certain that railroads would not reach the country around Green Bay for years to come, there seemed only one way to open up the territory to the west and south -that being to cut the portage of a little over a mile which separated the head waters of the Fox and

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

Wisconsin rivers, and thus throw open the Missis- sippi Valley to Northern and Northeastern Wisconsin. So earnest became the plea for the prosecution of such an enterprise, that Governor Dodge in his first message to the Territorial Legislature (1836) recommended that a memorial be sent to Congress asking for the means to carry on the survey and improvement of the Fox River from its mouth to Fort Winnebago. In 1838 he also recommended that the Legislature memoralize Congress for a grant of land to aid in the improvement of both the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. The subject continued to be discussed and pushed practically until in September, 1845, Morgan L. Martin, one of the prime and most vigorous enthusiasts for the undertak- ing, was elected as a Delegate to Congress and a special champion of the proposed measure. In 1846 a bill was passed by which the lands were granted, the act to take effect when Wisconsin became a State. Two years later, therefore, the grant was accepted, and a Board of Public Works appointed, whose expenditures were confined (the State Constitution forbidding the creation of debt) to the proceeds of the land sales. This source of revenue being far from sufficient, after more than four hundred thousand dollars had been ex- pended upon the improvement, the work was abandoned. But the enterprise was not dead, and rose again under the hands of the Fox River Improvement Company in July 1853. This organization, of which Morgan L. Mar- tin, N. H. Peck, Edgar Conklin, Otto Tank, Jos. G. Law- ton, B. F. Moore and Mason C. Darling were directors. placed itself under two hundred thousand dollars bonds to complete the work in twenty years. On October 1, 1855, the first boat passed from Lake Win- nebago to Green Bay and on June 19. 1856, the "Aquila," a steamer purchased by Green Bay parties started from Pittsburgh, and came via the Ohio, Missis- sippi, Wisconsin and Fox rivers, to discharge its cargo at Green Bay. There was great rejoicing, the banks of the Fox between Depere, Green Bay and Fort How- ard being crowded by an excited people, celebrating the completion of an arduous undertaking. An act was next passed which conveyed the lands to three trustees appointed by the Governor. In 1866 the works were sold, the proceeds of which. with the receipts of the land yet remaining on their hands, paid up the in- debtedness and completed the improvements. The purchasers were incorporated in August of that year as the Green Bay & Mississippi Canal Company, dis- posing of the work, six years thereafter, to the United States Government which now has it in charge.

LAKE AND RIVER COMMUNICATION.

In 1850 the " Indiana," Captain Wm. O. Lyon, made the first trip of a regular steamer up the Fox River, a line having already been established between Green Bay and Buffalo, which has continued under different managements to this day. In 1854 a company was organized and a daily line of steamers established, Otto Tank, president. The present company running steamers between these points is called the Buffalo & Green Bay line. The Goodrich Transportation Com- pany (Captain Goodrich, that is) first commenced to run boats between this point and Chicago in 1855. The first boat was the steamer " Huron." In the Spring

of 1863 the "Arrow,"'of Detroit, was purchased and put on the Green Bay Transit Company's line. Other boats were built in Fort Howard. For some time there has been much dissatisfaction expressed at the rates of freight which a combination of the Goodrich Trans- portation Company and the Chicago & Northwestern Company had been able to force upon shippers. Finally an arrangement was made, in the Summer of 1881, by which the barges which landed their freight in Chicago from Sturgeon Bay should take as a return cargo goods consigned to this port, which were transferred at Stur- geon Bay on to the Bay Shore boats and shipped to Green Bay.

Bridges .- Fox and East rivers are bridged by a number of substantial structures. Three span the Fox River between Green Bay and Fort Howard - Main and Walnut street bridges, and that built by the Mil- waukee & Northern Railroad in 1873. Mason street bridge was so seriously damaged by collision with a boat in 1881, that travel was closed over it. There are also three bridges over East River. A long bridge connects the two Deperes, and there is a fine structure at Wrightstown.

Pioneer Bouts .- The pioneer steamer " Walk-in-the- Water" visited Mackinaw for the first time in the Summer of 1819, transporting troops and supplies there. During 1820 she made two similar trips. July 31, 1821, she left Detroit for Mackinaw and Green Bay, having two hundred passengers on board, among them Rev. Eleazer Williams, the "Lost Prince," and Major Charles Larrabee, father of Hon. C. H. Larra- bee, of Horicon. The date of her arrival at Green Bay is not given, but the Detroit Gazette, from which this information is taken, says that she made the round trip in thirteen days. In 1827 (or possibly 1826), an excursion of pleasure-seekers is said to have visited Green Bay by steamer. These excursions were made annually for several years. At an early day, Captain Oliver Newberry, of Detroit, commenced running ves- sels, and afterwards steamers, between that city and Green Bay. Morgan L. Martin arrived in Green Bay (1827) on one of his boats. In 1832 a steamer trans- ported General Scott's troops to Chicago, which was the first steam entry at that place. No steamer visited Green Bay in 1832. In 1833 two steamboats reached Chicago and one Green Bay. In 1834 three trips were made to Chicago and two to Green Bay. Such was the advent of steamers on Lake Michigan. In 18:4, John P. Arndt built the first schooner in Green Bay, and called it the " Wisconsin." The first steam pro- peller to navigate the Fox River was the " Black Hawk " (1841), Captain Peter Hotelling, master. She was drawn over the rapids at Depere by means of machinery and ox teams. She was originally an Erie boat, but was fitted up with a propeller wheel and an engine.

The Harbor Improvements .- Scarcely had the Fox and Wisconsin rivers improvements been carried through to a commendable state of success, when the county turned her attention more particularly to the condition of the harbor. In April, 1 66, petitions were sent to Congress, asking for a suitable appropri- ation -$30,500 - to improve the harbor at the mouth of the Fox River. According to the survey of 1853,

HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY.

the channel from the river into Green Bay varied in depth from nine to eleven feet, passing over a shoal and through a circuitous route of 2,100 yards before deeper water was reached off Grassy Point. It then crossed another bar four hundred yards wide. It thus made a swing of nearly three miles. The plan was to dredge a channel through Grass Island, at a point nearly on a line from the mouth of the river to the lighthouse, thus forming a straight cut. In May, 1867, work was commenced, and was pushed so successfully that in September the " Queen City " passed through. Since then various amounts have been expended in dredging, repairs to piers, docking, etc., until Green Bay has one of the best harbors on the lakes. To be more particular, the following amounts have been laid out :

1866

$30,500

1874

$10,000

1867

45,000

1875

10,000

1868 (allotted)

17.500

1876

8,000

1869 (allotted)

44.550

1878

5,000

1870.

17,500

1879

4.000

1871

17 500

18SO

6,000

1873

20,000

ISSI

5,000

Total

$240,550

Tail Point Light is situated five and one-half miles north northeast from the mouth of Fox River, and about four miles northeast from the mouth of Duck Creek. This light was established in 1848, the lantern surmounting a solid stone tower which, though dismantled in 1859 when the new lighthouse was built, still stands defying all the attacks of time, tide, storms and crowbars. The present light, crown- ing the tower surmounting the keeper's house, is a fixed white light of the fourth order, the focal plane sixty feet above the water, and has a visibility of about fifteen miles. The lighthouse is twenty-seven feet square, three stories high, the ground-sills from which the tower timbers rise resting upon iron piles, eight feet apart. Capt. George A. Gaylord, the present keeper, was appointed April 1, 1880. He is a native of Ohio, and has sailed the lakes for forty years, making his first voyage to Green Bay in 1861, to which place he removed his family in 1868. He is well- known all along the lakes, and as master both of steam and sailing vessels has loaded and discharged freight at every port from Green Bay to Buffalo.

The following figures, for the year ending Decem- ber 31, 1880, prepared by Dwight I. Follett, Deputy Collector of Customs for the port of Green Bay, give an idea of the extent of business at this point :

DESCRIPTION.

ARRIVALS.

DEPARTURES.

No.

Tonnage

Crews.

No.

Tonnage

Crews.

Steamers.

270

81,048

4,369

285

82,560

4,491

Sailing Vessels.

18,88S

545

105

19.349

570

Total

367

99 936

4.914

390,

101.909

5.061

Exports .- 525 cattle, 3,430 empty barrels, 20,500 pounds fish, 12,017 barrels flour, 1,702 tons general merchandise, 2,712,375 feet lumber, 10,628 tons pig- iron, 545 barrels salt, 9,224 M. shingles, 429,000 staves, 73,550 bushels wheat, 520 cords stone, 459 M. brick.

Imports .- 1,570 barrels apples, 3,876 barrels carbon oil, 37 barrels cement, 12,683 tons coal, 1,583 barrels fish, 4,420 tons general merchandise, 37,633 tons iron ore, 82 packages liquor, 82 barrels beef, 21,578 barrels pork.

ROADS AND RAILROADS.

Communication by land had in the meantime been industriously prosecuted. The first road in Brown County was one laid out from Devil Creek to the rapids at Depere in 1823. It followed the river un- der the bluff below what is now Green Bay. In 1827-28, by the co-operation of Stockbridge, a road was laid out which avoided ravines and many places requiring bridges near the river, but wound around the hills in the lowland. In 1830 Congress made an appropriation for establishing a military road from Green Bay (Fort Howard) to Prairie du Chien ( Fort Crawford). Judge Doty, one of the commissioners, superintended the work which was completed several years afterwards. In 1853 a plank road was built from Green Bay to Depere, and other roads connecting Brown County with adja- cent localities were constructed within the next dozen years. But the great and all-powerful means of com- munication with the outside world had yet to be placed in operation-the railroads. As early as November, 1849, Green Bay had telegraphie communication for a short time. The line, however, soon fell into disuse. Telegraphic communication with St. Paul was estab- lished August 5, 1862, and two months thereafter the iron horse snorted through the Lower Fox region for the first time.

The Chicago & Northwestern .- Having extended its line to Appleton this company in December, 1861, made a proposition to Brown County to exchange $49,500 of its stock for $49,500 of bonds, agreeing to equip a first- class road running from Fort Howard up the west side of the Fox River to the former city. The people voted in favor of the road on January 30, 1862, by a ma- jority of 731. On November 13, of the same year the road was formally opened to the public. Shortly after 12 M., a train of eight passenger cars and one baggage car arrived from Appleton, one hundred and fifty ladies and gentlemen, mostly from Chicago, being aboard. The Chicago Light Guard Band was in attend- ance. A dinner was served in Klaus's Hall, Green Bay. Senator T. O. Howe made an address, Col. C. D. Robin- son acting as toast-master. Senator Doolittle responded to "Our Guests," and Henry S. Baird, Mayor, to " The City of Green Bay." The occasion marked the com- mencement of the era of a new civilization in the his- tory of Brown County, and as such is given a promi- nent place. In December, 1872, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was brought into the chain of connections by the extension of the road to Escanaba-114 miles- where it joined the line which penetrates the rich iron region of Lake Superior at Marquette. This extension had a reviving effect, perceptibly so upon the iron manufacturers of Depere and Green Bay, as the supply thus became easy and cheap of access. The company's depots and grounds are in Fort Howard.

The Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul Railroad Com- pany .- The Green Bay & Lake Pepin Railroad Com- pany was organized July 2, 1866. President, Charles D. Robinson ; Vice-President, Andrew Reid. The survey from Green Bay to Waubasha, Minnesota, was made in 1867. The first five miles from Green Bay eastward were graded in the Fall of 1869, and work was then suspended. In the Spring of 1870. D. M. Kelly

102

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

was elected a director and also made vice-president. He resigned these positions July 20th of that year, and entered into a contract to construct the entire road from Green Bay to the Mississippi River. New Lon- don, 40 miles, was reached in December, 1871; Mer- rillan, 110 miles from New London, in December, 1872, the Mississippi River, 54 miles further, at a point oppo- site Winona, Minnesota, in December, 1873. The car- rying out of the contract was entirely successful. On September 5, 1873, the corporate name of the com- pany was changed from Green Bay & Lake Pepin to Green Bay & Mississippi Railroad Company. The rolling stock was put in operation, and traffic on the road extended as fast as the track was completed, the whole line, 194 miles, being in working order by Jan- uary 1, 1874. Henry Ketchum was then president. Upon the completion of the road D. M. Kelly was made its general manager and vice-president of the company, holding these offices until December, 1877, when he resigned and left the service of the company. In 1878 the road went into the hands of Timothy Case, as receiver. The sale under mortgage foreclosure, was made in the Spring of 1881, and the road bought in by the bond-holders, who re-organized, changing the cor- porate name of the company to Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul, its directors being : John I. Blair, New Jersey ; Samuel Sloan, Theo. Sturges, Wm. E. Dodge, Percy R. Pyne, E. F. Hatfield, and Benjamin G. Clark, New York ; W. C. Larned, Chicago ; W. J. Abrams. and Rufus B. Kellogg, Green Bay. The directors were chosen in May, and on June 7, the following officers were elected : President, Samuel Sloan, New York ; Vice-President, Timothy Case, Green Bay ; Secretary and Treasurer, Theo. Sturges, New York ; Assistant Secretary, W. J. Abrams, Green Bay; Assistant Treasurer, Timothy Case, Green Bay ; General Super- intendent, Timothy Case, Green Bay ; Assistant Su- perintendent, Theo. G. Case, Green Bay ; General So- licitors, E. C. and W. C. Larned, Chicago ; General Attorney, Theo. G. Case, Green Bay ; Executive Com- mittee, John I. Blair, of New Jersey ; P. R. Pyne, Benjamin G. Clark and E. F. Hatfield, Jr., of New York. The road will remain in the hands of Receiver Case until the old business is fully settled and he is discharged by the court. The line is the connecting link between the States west of the Mississippi, the immense coal and iron fields of Pennsylvania and the great and rich State of New York. It seems to meet the wants of the people of Brown County, and realize their expectations of an outlet and an inlet from the West, after which they so vigorously grasped in the matter of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers improvements. It is with reason that a great increase in the prosper- ity of the county is expected to come via the Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul Railroad Company. Its char- ter was obtained by W. J. Abrams, who at the time (1866) was a member of the Assembly, and who for years has been one of its most staunch, enthusiastic and use- ful friends and officials.

The company has in operation 221 miles of track, 19 engines, 8 passenger coaches, 375 box cars, 149 flat cars, 5 caboose cars, and 13 miscellaneous. Its build- ings and grounds are in Fort Howard.

The Milwaukee & Northern Railway Company was

incorporated in 1870. It completed its road to Menasha, 102 miles from Milwaukee, with a branch from Hilbert to Green Bay, 27 miles, in 1873, and in that year (No- vember) leased its line to the Wisconsin Central Rail- road Company, which is still operating it. The branch to Green Bay was completed June 19, 1873, and regular trains commenced running on the twenty-fifth. With this last and great addition to her railroad facilities, Brown County seems to have established a most propi- tious system of communication. The buildings and grounds of the company are in Green Bay.

The Chicago & Northwestern line enters the town of Wrightstown, passes in a northeasterly direction through the village of that name, the town of Law- rence, the village of West Depere, town of Waubenon, city of Fort Howard, and towns of Howard and Suam- ico. The Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul road enters the county through the Oneida Reservation, and has its terminus at Fort Howard. The Milwaukee & North- ern ( Wisconsin Central) enters the extreme southwest corner of the county, through the town of Holland, passing through Greenleaf, Ledgeville, etc., the towns of Wrightstown and Rockland, village and towns of Depere and Allouez to Green Bay.

Wisconsin & Michigan Railroad .- Although young in age, the line from Green Bay-an extension in real- ity of the Milwaukee & Northern-to the Lake Supe- rior region of Michigan, has assumed large proportions as an adjunct to the city's commercial growth. Build- ing was immediately commenced upon securing in the Winter of 1881 the land grant of $4,000,000 from the State of Michigan. The Ontonagon & Brule River Railroad which runs from Ontonagon to Green Bay, and received its charter from this State, will be con- solidated with the Wisconsin & Michigan at the State line. It is anticipated that the enterprise will do much toward developing both the mining and pine regions along the route of the road, and build up Green Bay as a shipping point.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION.

In 1818, when Illinois was admitted into the Union as a State and Wisconsin attached to the Territory of Michigan, Governor Cass issued a proclamation organ- izing Brown County. Its territory then extended as far south as the Illinois line, as far east as Lake Mich- igan, and as far west as the Wisconsin River and Fort Winnebago. It is needless to say that this is not the Brown County whose early history is to be given from 1836, where it has just been dropped. In that year eleven townships belonging to the southern tier were detached to form Milwaukee County, and the western boundary of Brown was extended to the Wisconsin River. When Wisconsin became a Territory in 1836, Brown County lost that portion of her original posses- sion north of the Menomonee River, and gained the remainder of the eastern peninsula. By Territorial act, December 7 of that year, Portage, Marquette, Calu- met, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, and portions of Washington and Dodge counties were set off. In 1837-38, four eastern townships were taken by Portage County. Iu 1849-50, Brown County contributed further to Portage, Marquette and Manitowoc. In 1851, Oconto, Outagamie, Door and Waupaca counties were

103

HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY.

organized from her original territory of 1834; in 1852, Kewannee ; in 1853, Ozankee and Shawano. It was not until the latter year that her present limits were reached, and it is with that portion of the Brown County of 1836, which finally dwindled to the Brown County of 1853, that is to be treated at this stage of the history. Prior to 1835 the township of Green Bay had been organized. Daniel Whitney had platted the village of Navarino (now a portion of Green Bay) in 1829. Gen. Wm. Dickinson and a few French fam- ilies occupied the present site of Depere ; the fur trade and traffic with the soldiers at Shanty Town were dying into nothing ; the lands east of the Fox River had been surveyed by A. G. Ellis-the old, rough, un- organized life was giving way to modern times. In 1835, the south ward of Green Bay was laid out by Astor, Crooks & Stewart, of the American Fur Com- pany. It was platted as the village of Astor, the land having been formerly owned by the Grignon family and Judge Lawe, and was taken finally to liquidate a debt incurred by the Green Bay Company. Under the energetic push of the proprietors of the village, John Jacob Astor, Ramsey Crooks and Robert Stewart, quite a rivalry soon sprang up with the village of Navarino. Depere, also, under the gnidance of General Dickinson, was becoming a flourishing point. In 1835, the Depere Hydraulic Company, which had just been organized, platted the village, and Messrs. Dickinson, Charles Tullar and John P. Arndt were authorized by Territo- rial sanction to build a dam, or in any way utilize the water-power near the Rapide Des Peres. Having been incorporated as the Fox River Hydraulic Company in the Summer of 1836, they, in conjunction with other energetic settlers commenced in earnest the improve- ment of the river at that point. An additional advan- tage, which Depere had gained by the early part of 1837, was the

LOCATION OF THE COUNTY SEAT.

In all new countries this matter has been considered a worthy subject of contention. For nearly twenty years the powers in authority had been endeavoring to bring the matter to a settlement. First, Governor Cass authorized the Justices of the County Court to locate the seat within six miles of the mouth of the Fox River. They neglected to act, and in 1824 the Terri- torial Council of Michigan passed the responsibility over to the County Commissioners. Neither would they decide, and the next year, arguing no doubt that in "union is strength," made the "committee on decision " to consist of the Justices of the Peace, the County Commissioners and the United States Judge, whereupon the seat of justice was " fixed at Menomo- neeville," a short distance above Green Bay, and a log building erected for the reception of the officials. Some time before, however, on October 4, 1824, the first term of the United States Circuit Court for the county of Brown had been held near Camp Smith (now Shanty Town), Hon. James Duane Doty present- ing his judicial commission, duly signed by James Monroe, President of the United States. It appointed him an additional Judge for the Territory of Michigan, in the counties of Michilimackinac for the term of four years, commencing February 1, 1824. Judge Doty

also presented papers from Lewis Cass, qualifying him for the office.

The court was opened by George Johnston, Sheriff, and Robert Irwin, Jr., acted as clerk. The Grand Jury was as follows : A. G. Irwin, Michael Dousman, Wm. Dickinson, James Clark, Augustin Grignon, Dominick Brunette, Bresque Hyatt, Amable Durosher. Pierre Carbonneau, Sr., Pierre Carbonneau, Jr., Lans Rouse, Louis Grignon, Daniel Curtis, Joseph Jourdan, Louis Gravell, Joseph Ducharme, Paul Grignon, Ama- ble Grignon, John Lawe, James Porlier, Sr., John Bap- tiste Langevin, Alexander Gardepies, John Baptiste Jommine, Daniel Curtis, foreman. At this session Henry S. Baird was admitted as an attorney. Court ad- journed to October, 1824, at which time the first case tried was United States vs. Henry B. Brevoort-indict- ment for assault and battery.

The county seat question had not been settled, however, for in April, 1837, in pursuance of an act of the Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin, it was sub- mitted to a popular vote. Depere carried the day, and the log court-house was moved from Menomonee- ville to Depere via Fox River ice.

The log house was outgrown, however, in a few years. It would contain all the business transacted and leave something to spare, but as soon as "we, the people," fairly decided that Depere was the county seat, the ideas in regard to a county building at once expanded far beyond the dimensions of that little log building. In 1838 a court-house was erected at a cost of $5,740. The contractor was Matthew Washburn, and the first term of court in it was held in 1839 by Judge A. G. Miller, who succeeded Judge W. C. Fraser. It was a wooden building, the upper story being used for the court room, and the lower for the jail and living rooms for the keeper's family. Just at this time, too (strange coincidence), when it seemed certain that no one would dispute with Depere the honors of the shire town, the rival villages, Navarino and Astor, united under the name of the Borongh of Green Bay, forming respectively its northern and its southern portions. Morgan L. Martin was president. The strife commenced anew, but notwithstanding the crushing blow to Green Bay of the great fire of 1840, by which much of its business property was destroyed, it steadily gained in population, until, in 1849, the town of Green Bay had 1,922, and the town of Depere 798. In 1849 the village of Fort Howard was platted, and in 1851 Tanktown (founded by Otto Tank, a Nor- wegian missionary ) was added to it. On the contrary, but three or four honses had as yet (1851) been built on the present site of West Depere. The Borough of Green Bay and its immediate vicinity so grew in im- portance, it at once became patent to the most unre- flecting that another move of the county seat was im- minent. And so it proved. By the Legislative enact- ment of February 27, 1854, Green Bay was incorporated as a city, and on April 4 a popular vote transferred the county seat from Depere. For a dozen years, however, until the erection of the new court-house, the old building in Depere was used as a county jail. In April, 1864, the County Commissioners purchased of Wm. D. Coburn three lots, corner of Jefferson and Cherry streets, as a site for a court-house and jail. The price

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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