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 210

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 210

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A few miles above Osceola we enter the Dalles. Its strangely wild and inimitable scenery must be seen

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

to be fully realized. For a distance of some three or four miles, the locality is peculiarly remarkable for its rugged character; huge piles of rock rising on each side to a height of nearly or quite two hundred feet- in some places, three hundred-whose jagged fronts frown upon you, inspiring the beholder with awe for the grand conceptions of the Great Architect. The foundation is mostly trap rock, thrown up by some mighty effort of nature in apparently confused masses. Yet in this seeming disorder the geologist detects the most perfect order, as it emanates from the unvarying hand of nature. He will also tell you that the strata is almost as perfect as when it occupied its normal po- sition ; that it has merely been heaved to the surface, a little displaced and filled with fissures, on an angle of some twenty or thirty degrees. To the casual observer, it looks as though it had required several earthquakes, with a sprinkling of two or three volca- noes, and centuries of glacial action, followed by an innumerable number of years of wear of water, to create the landscape. It is chaotic to an eminent de- gree, except where worn into perpendicular walls or deep wells by the water. These are wonderful curi- osities, that are worth months of examination and careful study, each examination developing some new and profound effort of nature. The walls of the wells are circular, with sides worn as smooth as a revolving stone can polish them-in places, like burnished glass -and vary in depth and diameter from a few inches to forty or fifty feet. The people have named many of the wells, and true to old traditions in such cases, have made the devil a very prominent feature in the chris- tening ; the " Devil's Kitchen " is frequently filled by guests, who take advantage of his satanic majesty's absence to cook their dinner and eat their lunch on the substantial and rocky table he has provided, and many a shout of laughter and of song rises from his dominion, which indicate little fear of the alleged owner.

The " Devil's Chair " is also a great curiosity, and is frequently visited by ambitious and adventurous youngsters, who do not seem to have much fear of its proprietor's return. There is considerable copper in the rock in this region, and whoever takes any interest in it can find the copper mines, which are now being worked to some extent. The rocky formation that begins at the foot of the Dalles, and forms the falls above, is the beginning of the copper-bearing formation that extends to Lake Superior, and there is little doubt that it will be found in the coming years a profitable mining distriet. St. Croix Falls has pleasant surround- ings, and the attractions of the falls and rapids, and of the brooks, which are filled with trout, and the good hotels, make it a favorite point for passing the Summer months. A great many invalids visit it for the benefit of the pines, which grow abundantly along the shores and rocky cliffs. The Dalles House, on the Taylor's Falls side, kept by H. Netterfield, has long been a popular resort, and there is a probability that a fine new hotel will be built soon, with him for proprietor, who is very successful as a landlord.

SETTLEMENT.

The country now called St. Croix County, was originally occupied by the Chippewa Indians. Two

hundred years ago, in 1681, Daniel Greysolon Du- Lhut, or Duluth, and five French Canadians, visited the territory, trading with the Indians. Father Louis Hennepin also visited the St. Croix during 1681, and for a long period, the region was famous as a fur-pro- ducing locality. Jonathan Carver, not only visited the valley in 1766, but he made a map thereof.

What must be called actual settlement, dates from July 30, 1837, at which time Franklin Steele, George W. Fitch, Col. Stambault, Emerson Maginnis, and three others, made claim to and " squatted " on land where St. Croix Falls now is. The claim antedated Government survey some eight years.

The treaty at Fort Snelling, between the United States and the Chippewas, was made July 29, 1837, whereby the latter ceded to the United States the upper valley of the St. Croix. In 1842, the Indians ceded their right to all lands, in this region, since which time no organized bands have had permanent foothold in the valley.

In 1838, a company known as the "St. Louis Company," composed of W. S. Hungerford, James Livingstone, Franklin Steele, Dr. George W. Fitch, James Libbey, B. F. Titcomb, and W. S. Holcombe, living at St Louis, Missouri, and near Alton, Illinois, was formed to carry on a general lumber, manufacturing and trading business. This company built a dam, large saw-mill, several stores and shops, about twenty dwell- ings, did a flourishing business for a few years, and then failed. The property soon came into the possession of James Pennington, an experienced lumberman from Maine. Returning from a journey East in 1847, he met Caleb Cushing on a steamer on Lake Superior. Mr. Cushing visited the Falls, was delighted with the location, invested largely, and formed a new company with a cash capital of $60,000. Many improvements were made, and business was prosperous for several years.

Prominent among the traders who were here about 1845, were M. M. Samuel, at Balsam Lake and St. Croix Falls ; J. D. Ludden, at Butternut Lake; Sylves- ter Partridge, at Round Lake ; and Anson Northrup, at St. Croix Falls, one-fourth of a mile east of the present village, on the northeast quarter of the north- east quarter of Section 30, Township 34, of Range 18.

From 1844 to 1848, William Kent, H. N. Setzer, Smith Ellison, J. L. Taylor, Daniel Mears, John Mower, William Nobles, Martin Mower, William J. Vincent, Harvey Walker, William Mahoney, Perkins, William R. Marshall, Philip Jewel, William S. Hungerford, John Weymouth, Harrison Schultz, Joseph Bowron, Robert Kent and Anson Northrup were among the prin- cipal leading men who settled here.

ORGANIZATION.

The county was named in honor of James K. Polk. Although the first election was held in this county in 1844, it was as a voting precinct. The county was not organized by act of Legislature until 1853. The county seat was located at St. Croix Falls. The first general election was held in November, 1853. There were then two voting precincts in the county-Leroy and St. Croix Falls. Sixty-four votes were cast. George DeAtley was one of the judges of election. The first county officers elected were Isaac Freeland,

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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.

Clerk of the Court; E. C. Treadwell, Sheriff; O. A. Clark, Surveyor ; Isaac Freeland, Register of Deeds ; William Kent, Treasurer ; Harman Crandall, Coroner ; Nelson McCarty, District Attorney ; Isaac Freeland, Clerk Board of Supervisors. The first meeting of the County Supervisors was held in Osceola, in a house built by R. Webb, in which building the county offices were located for many years. At the first general election, in the Fall of 1853, after the county was organized, there was a contest over the location of the county seat. A vote was taken to remove it to Osceola. The record shows forty-two votes in favor of the proposition and none against it. The county records were then moved to Osceola. One year after, at the general election, in 1854, another vote was taken to move it back to St. Croix Falls. The vote was forty-six in favor of returning it to St. Croix Falls and fifty-eight in favor of having it remain at Osceola, where it has since been located without contest. The first court was held at Osceola, Judge Wyram Knowlton presiding. There were grand and petit jurors in attendance. The sessions were held in the school-house, Isaac Freeland was the first attorney admitted to practice by the Court. Isaac W. Hale was the County Judge.

The first grist-mill was built at Osceola by the Kent Brothers, in 1848, and the first public hotel building, a large three-story structure, by Caleb Cushing's Com- pany, at St. Croix Falls, the same year. The first bridge was built across the St. Croix River, between St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, and Taylor's Falls, Minne- sota, in 1856. The first mail route was up the St. Croix River, from Stillwater to St. Croix Falls, carried in a bateau in the Summer and on the ice in the Win- ter, by Dr. Aldrich. It was a weekly mail, and the route was established in 1840. The first overland mail route was from Willow River, now Hudson, to St. Croix Falls, a weekly, established in 1847, carried by Dr. Aldrich through the woods. The first stage line was from Hudson to St. Croix Falls, commencing in 1855.

The first lawyer was Isaac Freeland ; first physician, Dr. Carli, of St. Croix Falls.

The first newspaper in the county was the St. Croixian, started at St. Croix Falls, by Reymert and Bartlett, December 1, 1860. One year afterward it was changed to the Polk County Press and moved to Osceola by Sam S. Fifield, who had the previous year bargained for the material of the office. Fifield was succeeded by Charles E. Mears, the present proprietor. The North Wisconsin News is published at Clear Lake, by E. O. Johnson.

There was considerable strife in 1854, when rail- roads began to be talked about, between speculators and actual settlers, in the entry of the public lands. One notable instance was in the town of Farmington. Several settlers had pre-empted some valuable land, but failing to make their final entry at the proper time, a wealthy speculator, named Ovid Pinney, entered their lands from them. This so enraged the settlers that they collected a band, seized the old gentleman, and, after carrying him several miles, held a council, and decided to drown him in the St. Croix River. Finally better judgment prevailed, and he was released.

The first pre-emption and entry of land was made in what is now the town of Farmington, in 1848, by Har- mon Crandall. The land at St. Croix Falls was claimed as mineral land for some years, and was held by the "squatter's right. The swamp, pine and mineral lands embraced an area of some 12,946 acres, and was dis- posed of to the State by grant of the General Govern- ment, and to lumbermen and settlers.

During the Sioux massacre in 1862 this county and the upper St. Croix Valley were threatened with an In- dian raid. The settlers armed and prepared to defend themselves, but were not molested.

The first railroad in the county, the Northern Wis- consin, was built in June, 1874. It extends across the southeast corner of the county, in the town of Black Brook, for a distance of twelve miles.

Apple River was thus denominated because of the great quantity of wild ground nuts, or roots, called by the Indians apples, that grew on its banks. Willow River received its name from the immense willow marshes near the stream. Clam River was thus called on account of the large quantity of fresh water clams found in its bed. Namekoggan is the Indian for swampy river.

OSCEOLA.

The county seat was founded in 1854, by the Kent Brothers. They built the first grist-mill in the county, and the second saw-mill, and enjoyed a well-earned prominence for many years. The place was named by James Living- stone, after Osceola, the Seminole chief, of Florida.

Immense deposits of Potsdam sandstone exist at Osceo- Ja. Many fossils are to be found there, prominent among them the trilobite. Large deposits of calcareous tufa are also found near the limestone beds south of Osceola.

Large numbers of ancient mounds exist in the town of Osceola, some of them being twenty-five feet high. Skele- tons of human beings have been taken from all these mounds that have been opened. Some of the bones are very large, which would indicate that a race of people larger than those who now live here were buried therein.

William Kent located his saw-mill and settled at Osceo- la in 1844, and with his brothers, was afterward the founder of Osceola. He was the first County Treasurer, and has long been a prominent steamboat-man on the St. Croix and Mississippi rivers. H. N. Setzer is now a well-established lawyer in Duluth. Daniel Mears came from Boston in 1848, as an agent of the mercantile house of Dexter, Harring- ton & Co., and first located at St. Croix Falls, afterward at Willow River Mills. He was State Senator in 1858 and 1859, and has been for many years a prominent lumberman and leading citizen. William R. Marshall afterward be- came Governor of the State of Minnesota. Joseph Bow- ron founded the town of Bowron's Mills, on Willow River, and was in the Assembly in 1849, representing the counties of La Pointe and St. Croix. William J. Vincent held many important civil offices, and was County Clerk for seven years. Robert Kent was County Judge for ten years.

The first organized religious society was at Osceola, in

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

1852, of the Methodist denomination, with preaching by Rev. Eddyvin ; afterward by Rev. George Hilton, in 1854. The first church building erected was by the Baptist society in Osceola, with Rev. S. T. Catlin as pastor.

The first steamboat built in the St. Croix Valley, or in Polk County, was built at Osceola, by Holmes & Cummings, in the Winter of 1854 and 1855.

The first school-house was built at Osceola in 1845, and in St. Croix Falls in 1861. The first school in Osceola was taught by W. A. Talboy, in the Fall of 1854.

ST. CROIX FALLS.

This village derives its name from the falls in the river opposite it. The village was platted in 1845; Flint's Addi- tion to the same, August 28, 1857 - the original survey be- ing made by Maine T. M. Chandler. Osceola was platted April 26, 1855, by F. G. Murray; Clam Falls, July 17, 1873, by John Ekwurtzell.

In 1857, R. C. Murphy and Col. Bodfish, of Maine, en- deavored to build up St. Croix Falls, but after one year's work failed. In 1870, the European and American Emi- gration Society was formed, Count Taub, of Sweden, repre- senting the European interests, and Caleb Cushing the American. The design of this company was to build a city at St. Croix Falls. They brought out many settlers, but after one year's work abandoned the enterprise.

St. Croix Falls is located on what was the Indian's and

trapper's trail, from St. Paul and Fort Snelling, on the Mis- sissippi, to La Pointe, on Lake Superior.

The first birth was that of Charles Northrup, in 1842, at St. Croix Falls; first marriage, Louis Barlow, by Rev. Mr. Boutwell. The first school was established at St. Croix Falls in 1848, and was taught by Mrs. Tainter.

The scarcity of provisions in the Spring of 1844, created what has been since known as the "starving time," when the trials of the Jamestown colonists, in Virginia, in 1609- 10, came near being re-enacted at St. Croix Falls. None died, but those who were able, cut a road through the wil- derness, fifty miles, to Fort Snelling, where they took shin- gles and traded them for condemned army pork. They also picked meat from the refuse and garbage that had been cast aside through the Winter. George W. Brownell, a geological surveyor, of the Government, passing through this vicinity at the time, gave the settlement all the pro- visions he had. Thus the starving pioneers lived for two months, when a steamer came from St. Louis, loaded with supplies.

The first religions services among the whites was held at St. Croix Falls in 1852, by Rev. Boutwell, from Pogema Lake, a Congregational missionary among the Indians.

Settlers came in slowly until 1866 and 1867. The first store was built at St. Croix Falls, also the first black- smith shop, first frame house, first hotel or boarding-house for mill hands-known as the "Planters' House," and "Soap Grease Exchange"-by the St. Louis Lumber com- pany.

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HISTORY OF PORTAGE COUNTY.

PORTAGE COUNTY.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

Portage County is geographically near the center of the State, and is composed of twenty-two Government townships, being five of these in length from north to south, and five between east and west for the two upper tiers of towns, and four for the other three. It is joined on the north by Marathon, on the east by Waupaca, south by Wanshara and Adams, and on the west by Wood County. It contains 892 square miles of territory.

The Wisconsin River enters the county in the town of Eau Pleine, in the northwestern part, and runs in a southeasterly direction about four miles below Stevens Point, leaving the village on the left bank. It then turns rather abruptly west, and leaves the county be- tween the towns of Plover and Linwood. Mile Creek starts in an easterly direction, in the town of Carson, and finally, going south, enters the Wisconsin. Mead- ow Creek arises in the counties above, runs southwest through the town of Hull to join the Wisconsin, three miles above the city of Stevens Point. The Wanpaca starts in Sharon, moves southeast through New Hope, Amherst, and leaves the town and county in Lanark. The Plover starts north of the county, runs south, and enters the Wisconsin below Stevens Point. The county is well watered, and, in the eastern part, are numerous lakes, not exceeding a mile in their largest diameter.

The Green Bay & Minnesota Railroad runs through the county near the center, nearly east and west. The Wisconsin Central Railroad comes into the county about six miles south of the northwest corner, runs in a generally southeast direction, and leaves the county eleven miles north of the southeast corner. The Portage division of this road is located from Stevens Point, south, leaving the county near the center of the south- ern boundary. The Wisconsin Valley road, now in the possession of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Com- pany, lies diagonally across the northwestern part of the county. A railroad is also building from Plover to Stevens Point.

The whole county is remarkably level, being slightly inclined to the south, without marked elevations or depressions. The altitude is about 200 feet above Lake Michigan, and is quite free from swamp land or barren places that can not be utilized.

The county was first visited and settled along the river, for the sake of the lumber, but the distance to haul provisions, and the trouble of bringing them so far up the river, called early attention to farming, and labor in this direction has not been disappointing. Up to the very time when the land was shown, by the crops raised upon it, that it was most valuable for agri- cultural purposes, it was reported and generally believed to be swampy, sandy and sterile. Indeed, the early geological reports characterized the whole region of

Northern Wisconsin as practically worthless after the removal of the pine lumber, which was supposed only to exist along the large streams.

That the idea of the poverty of the land was soon corrected, may be obvious from the fact that within four years after the land office was opened in Stevens Point, nearly one-half of the land was sold, although on its establishment there were grave doubts as to whether it would pay expenses. The title of most of the land went into the hands of actual settlers. As to the extent of the pine, it embraced originally but about one-eighteenth of the county, as the pine as a rule gradually diminished at a distance from the river, giv- ing place to hard timber. Beside, there were beautiful openings of prairie, extending the whole length of the county.

The geological formations to which the county be- longs are the Archaan and the Lower Silurian. The dividing line, running in an irregular way across the county, leaving the northeast corner and the north- west corner of the county, with a strip down each side of the Wisconsin River as the Archaan portion, and the lower part of the county and a tract coming near a point east of the center of the northern boundary of the county, as the Lower Silurian. It is quite likely that at no great depth throughout the whole county, the Archaan rocks will be found.

The rocks that crop out, near the various falls par- ticularly, are of a crystalline character, and make a su- perior building stone. And with skill in selecting and combining various tints and shades, beautiful architect- ural effects could be secured. At Conant's Rapids, a fine-grained, pinkish-gray gneiss is found, interlaid with white quartz and feldspathic granite layers. At Shaurette's Rapids, at Stevens Point, the rock is a moderately coarse, laminated brownish micalaceous gneiss. The rapids are in each case over schistose and gneissic beds, and where the river is embanked with sand, there is often near the bottom or at the water's edge, an outcrop of similar rocks.

The surface of the county is more or less undulat- ing, with broken bluffs and uneven ridges. The line of the glacial drift is across the lower part of the county. If there is limestone, it has not been uncov- ered. There should be some kaolin beds, which will some day prove valuable.

The brick made from the clay in the county ap- pears to be too sandy, but this may be due to improp- er or insufficient manipulation in the process of manu- facture.

South of Plover is a great marsh, where there is a vast bed of peat, covering about four townships. With the abundance of wood, this is not utilized for fuel ; this formation must belong to the Pliocene or the post-Pliocene accumulations.

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

The large marsh alluded to is in the towns of Plo- ver, Pine Grove, Buena Vista and Grant. Almost every town in the county has several marshes upon which cranberries are grown. These patches are usu- ally irregular in form, their outlines representing fan- tastic animals, birds and other familiar objects. Prop- erly handled, this soil is the most valuable of any in the county.

The elevation along the river varies from 450 to 550 feet above Lake Michigan. Back from the river it is much higher.

At the railroad station at Stevens Point the altitude is 484 feet above Lake Michigan, and 1,065 above the sea.

Most of the soil is inclined to be sandy, although it is not uniformly so ; but sand is the basis of all soil, and it is true here that with what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again.

The soil of the timber lands is unlike in many par- ticulars that of the prairie lands, which has been formed mostly by the decaying roots of grass and the ashes resulting from the periodical burning of the uncut hay.

The timber lands have not been burned over, only in exceptional cases, and the heavy coat of vegetable mold which everywhere covers the ground is made up of successive generations of decaying leaves and other vegetable forest growthis. In the marshy places there is a heavy black loam like the prairies of Illinois, of wonderful richness.

The finer varieties of hard-wood like the white oak, hickory and ash do not grow on sandy soil. So we find in portions of the county usually away from the streams, the soil is of a rich heavy black loam, underlaid by a heavy clay subsoil.

Practically, as soon as the timber and debris is re- moved, the crop can be at once scratched into the ground without plowing, and this can be repeated the second time, until the atmospheric action has complet- ed the decay of the rootlets near the surface, when it is ready for the plow.

As to the durability of the soil, there is as yet, after successive croppings since the first settlement, but lit- tle if any diminution of its ability to produce.

An analysis of the soil, gives about this average re- sult : Organic matter, 9.60 ; insoluble silicates, 80.36 ; alumina, 2.90 ; peroxide of iron, .90; carbonate of lime, 1.01 ; carbonate of magnesia, .86; water, 3.15. The capacities of such a soil is undoubted.

The climate of the county as exhibited by the tem- perature and humidity, the two principal factors in mak- ing it up, is not unlike that of the same latitude east and west, although the distance from large bodies of water and of immense treeless prairies prevents those sud- den changes which are so disastrous in so many ways.

Cold can be endured with little discomfort on ac- count of the dryness of the atmosphere.

The average annual temperature is probably about forty-seven degrees, that of the Winter being twenty. the Spring forty-six, the Autumn forty-eight and the Summer seventy-three.

As to the rain-fall, thirty-seven inches, including the melted snow, would approximate the truth.

There are no malarial diseases, and the county has

a remarkable small death rate, a large proportion of the deaths being from hereditary causes.

THE INDIANS.

Up to the year 1820, all the territory west of Lake Michigan was Indian country. It is true there were two small settlements which had been occupied by the British during the war of 1812, and still were trading- posts, but they were occupied by permission of the War Department, the only authority by which any white man could place his foot upon this soil.

John Bowyer was the energetic Indian Agent at Green Bay, and he succeeded in securing from the Menomonees a cession of forty miles square, with Fort Howard as the center. When the treaty came up for ratification in the United States Senate, it was opposed and defeated by the New York Senators, because they were interested in the removal of the Onondagas, Tusca- rawas, Stockbridges, Ma-nic-a-nicks and Oneidas, from New York to the Menomonee country, west of Lake Michigan, and these tribes had obtained permission to visit the Menomonees for the purpose of making an ar- rangement to that effect. In relation to the removal of the New York Indians, which was subsequently par- tially carried into effect, it may not be stepping aside too far to remark that this plan was first formally suggested to the Indians by Rev. Dr. Jedediah Morse, who was their friend and adviser. The plan was eager- ly caught up by Rev. Eleazer Williams, who saw vis- ions of a vast Indian empire in the West, and it was urged with all the skill and genius inspired by pecunia- ry interests, by the New York Land Company, composed of such men as Thomas L. Ogden, and in behalf of the Stockbridge Indians, the Presbyterian Board of Missions was enlisted to promote a consent to the removal. This land company had secured the pre- emption right of purchase of most of these Indian reser- vations, as well as the Senecas, near Buffalo.

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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