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 75

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 75

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" I well remember an election held to elect three trus- tres for a public school, at which election. I filled the office of Clerk. The entire vote polled was nine, and two out of the three custodians of educational facilities could neither read nor write."

The Ashland Press of February 7, 1874, contained the following statements :

"The progress of 1854 amounted to a settlement of fifty families, two stores-Nettleton & Culver's and Alex- under Paul's; the hotel, kept by O. K. Hall, whose ' O. K.' was not only his initials, but meant all that Young Amer- ica attaches.

" During the Summer and Fall, the town was visited by Bishop Kemper and Rev. David Brooks, who in turn held the first Protestant worship, in Hall's' dining - room, at Superior.

" James A. Markland opened and kept the office of Reg- ister of Deeds. Dennis Dean was the first Justice of the Peace; Carlisle Doble, Sheriff's offices ; and Markland, George W. Perry, Hiram Hayes and Marcus W. McCrack- en, of counsel.

" The Fourth of July, 1854, was celebrated-the ladies taking upon themselves the preparations. Mrs. Col. Carl-

ton, of Fond du Lac Superieur, came with appropriate contributions from her dairy and garden. Mrs. Georg- C. Nettleton, Hall, Post, O. W. Rice, Misses Metcalf, Hall. Smith, Richmond, and numbers of the native ones, made up the bevy of merry faces. The lunch was of substantial viands, with coffee and lemonade. The orator, Hiram Hayes, gave us a historic and heroic view of Lake Superi- or's acquisitions, as mostly due to the diplomacy of Frank- lin-a peaceful victory.

" The Spring of 1855, Superior was stimulated by the free navigation of the Falls of the Ste. Marie, the lock and canal at that place being completed.

" The first boat through the head of the lake, the pro- peller "Manhattan," brought a full supply of provisions, im- migrants, laborers, mechanics, merchants, and the very life and soul for the new town-a press. Washington Ashton and John C. Wise, whose skill and experience were derived from services in Washington City, Baltimore and Richmond, were the editors and publishers of the Superior Chroni- cle. Their office was in Col. D. A. Robertson's dwelling, on Nemadji River, at the foot of Third street. Where it stood is now indicated by the tumulus of the chimney.

" The Superior Chronicle was a success in its beginning. Its first subscription list, paid up, was Soo, and its circula- tion extended to Boston, Portland, New York, Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, Saint Louis, Louisville, and numerous intermediate and ulterior cities. Its free list, 200, embraced as many hotels and reading rooms, selected where the sheet could do the most good. Its advertising squares and business directory, giving the names and num- bers of streets, embraced Superior House, by O. K. Hall, soon succeeded by J. Willard, from Washington; Stockton House, by A. C. Stockton ; George F. Holcomb & Co., whole- sale and retail provisions ; Nettleton & Culver, general mer- chandise ; Dr. Marcellus, physician and surgeon ; August Zachan, builder ; George W. Leicester, carpenter and joiner; William Conner, blacksmith; John M. Newton, hardware and stoves; William H. Newton, real estate office and agency for the proprietors of Superior; William George Cowell, lumber-yard ; William Mann, saw-mill, on Nemadji River ; 'Laborers wanted,' by Horace Saxton, in charge of improvements by O. W. Rice, contractor on Point Douglas road ; Bright & Hayes, M. W. McCracken, attorneys at law ; Saxton Lyon, Justice of the Peace; Ira F. Holt, saloon ; and each successive issue was looked for, to know who else had come to add to the list.

" Before midsummer, Superior became a fact, accepted, treated and valued as such by capitalists to the extent of their bank accounts, and by fortune- hunters to the elasticity of their credit's inflation.

"During the Summer, about 100 buildings of all sorts were fabricated, a commodious warehouse, two school-houses and a nine-pin alley.

" The Winter of 1855-6, at Superior, was a social success. The road to Saint Paul was so far opened that Dennis Dean, Postmaster, received and distributed a tri-weekly mail."

A pamphlet, published in 1859, makes statements for the same years (partly taken from "Information for Emigrants"), as follows :

"In June, 1855, the vessels engaged in the trade of Lake Superior seldom visited the head of the lake, and the set- tlers obtained their supplies at great cost and much trouble, occasionally bringing them from Ontonagon, Mich., in small boats exposed to the storms of the lake. In the Summer of 1854, the Superior Honse and Quebec Pier were com- menced, and in the absence of saw-mills, the lumber used in their construction was ripped out by hand. Mr. T. Ritchie erected a large and handsome addition to the Supe- rior House, in July, 1856. The improvements, prior to the

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HISTORY OF DOUGLAS COUNTY.

Spring of 1855, were under similar difficulties. The first weekly mail to Superior was commenced in 1854, between Taylor's Falls and Superior, and carried on foot by Indian packers.

"On the opening of navigation, in the Spring of 1855, the entire number of houses and cabins on the bay front- most of the former in an unfinished condition-did not ex- ceed thirty-five, and almost the entire town site was covered with a thick growth of timber. On the 20th of May, the first boat (the steamer "Sam Ward ") brought the printing office of the Superior Chronicle, the first number of which was issued on the 12th of June following. The first saw mill, erected on the Nemadji River by Mr. William Mann, commenced work the latter part of June, and about the same time the first kiln of brick, manufactured in the vicinity by Mr. John Shaw, was burned. On the 10th of June, the first sermon in the English language at Superior was preached by Rev. David Brooks, of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, in the present reading room of the Superior House, then used as a carpenter shop. On the 19th, the propeller " Manhattan " was the first steam craft to touch at Quebec Pier, though yet in an unfinished condition. Previous to this period, boats landed opposite to Minnesota Point, and passengers and freight were carried to Superior in small boats. On the following day, the " Manhattan " entered the Nemadji River, and ascended it to the bend above Third Street, without the slightest difficulty. On the 5th of July, the steamer " Superior," the pioneer of an im- portant trade with Chicago, entered our harbor for the first time, and the occasion was celebrated by appropriate fes- tivities. A second saw mill, erected on Conner's Point by Messrs. Woodbury, Bothwick & Shaylor, commenced work in August. In the Fall of 1855, the lands owned by the proprietors of Superior, east of the Nemadji, were platted, and recorded as Superior East, embracing an area about equal to the original site. About the Ist of June, 1855, the rapid advancement of Superior commenced. Houses were built as if by magic, streets and thoroughfares penetrating the surrounding country, were opened, railroads were pro- jected, and piers and sidewalks constructed. In January, 1856, Superior had 585 inhabitants ; dwellings, 105 ; stores, 17 ; shops, 14; offices, 15; boarding-houses, 6; hotels, I ;

blacksmith shops, 2; shoemaker shop, 1; saw mills, 2 : brick yards, 1; school houses, 1 ; churches in construction, 2; U. S Land Offices, 2 ; drug stores, 2."

Again, the Ashland Press says: " The apparent advan- tages and prospects of Superior had done their work. A United States Land Office and Indian Agency, and Cus- toms Office, have been located here. The population had augmented to about 2,000.

" The Bar had added to its roll J. W. Martin, Houser & Didlake, Beckwith & Hall, C. S. Treeborn, E. C. Becker, James Smith, and the frequent contests before George Hyer and E. B. Dean, at the Land Office, brought front Hudson and St. Paul, Judges Cooper, Brisban, Hollinshead, Meeker, Clapp, and at the Circuit terms, Justice Fuller or Weatherbe.

"The extensive real estate transactions were managed and conducted at the offices of E. W. Anderson, Jr., William H. Newton, W. R. & G. W. Perry, Bright. Moore & Hayes, John & Charles Coburn, William Cranwell, George R. Stuntz, Metcalf & Relf, and by the lawyers generally."

During the year of 1858, or by the close of the fourth year after the commencement, Superior had depopulated to scarcely over 500 inhabitants. From what may be called the ruins of 1857, a dozen men at Superior have maintained a trade and commerce at the head of the lake, averag- ing little if any less than a quarter of a million dollars an- nually.

The pursuits, as lumbering. fishing and mining, by James Edwards and J. O. Sargent, give to Superior a business character, and keep up a lake commerce and overland trade with the productive valleys of the Mississippi and St. Croix.

After the disorganization of the American Fur Company, the fur trade in the vicinity of Superior and northern Min- nesota was conducted entirely by private individuals. Among the persons engaged in this business was Alex. Paul, Esq., of Superior, who for a number of years carried it on quite extensively. In 1856, Mr. Paul had five different outfits in the region about Superior : one stationed at Sandy Lake ; one at Lake Winnibegashish, near Red Lake; one at Vermillion Lake ; one on the north shore of Lake Superior ; and one at Lake Couteras.

272

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

DUNN COUNTY.

LOCATION AND RESOURCES.

The county of Dunn was created by an act of the Legislature, in March, 1856, with Dunnville as the county seat.

Several parties, presuming on the growth of a shire town in a new county, at once invested in Dunnville property ; but its rival up the river. nearer the center of the county, had other views, and under legal provis- ions for a vote of the people, a large majority, in 1859, designated Menomonie, which had just been laid out, as the future head-quarters for the county.

The county has Barron on the north, Chippewa and Eau Claire on the east, Pepin on the south, and Pierce and St. Croix on the west.

It is six tiers of government townships in length, from north to south, and four wide, from east to west. The Chippewa River meanders across the southeast corner, forming the northern boundary of the towns of Peru and Rock Creek. The county is remarkably well watered, the Red Cedar coming into the county by two branches from the north, the west branch being the Hay River, and uniting in the town of Tainter, near the center of the county, finds its way in a southerly direction to the Chippewa. The Eau Galle runs across the southwestern corner of the county, through the towns of Weston and Eau Galle. The Chippewa is navigable for small steamers, the Red Cedar and Eau Galle for rafts only. These streams, with their numer- ous tributaries, furnish log-driving facilities and a large number of water-powers, many of which are still un- improved. Saw-mills, flouring mills and other manu- facturing establishments are, however, springing up all over the county, opening new fields for labor and capi- tal, and furnishing a permanent home market for the productions of forest, farm and garden.

Lumbering is yet, and must be for years, the lead- ing manufacturing interest. Every man able to work can find steady employment in the pineries, on the river, or at the mills. The immigrant who has at first to depend upon his hands, will find this a favorable place to locate, for his services will be in instant de- mand ; and the skilled mechanic and manufacturer will here have an opportunity to turn their attention to other industries, the development of which will prove remunerative.

The wealth stored up in the hard-wood forests of the western half of the county is almost untouched, and awaits energy and enterprise. In addition to the pine, there is oak, maple, ash, elm, basswood and but- ternut, of the best quality, and in great profusion, inviting the industrious mechanic with certain promise of rich rewards.

Stave mills, hub and spoke factories, manufacturers of furniture, agricultural implements, wagons, sleighs, etc., will here find material and never-failing water-

power. Woolen mills would find a home market for their products.

A streak of limestone runs through a part of the county. Clay banks, with brick-making qualities, are numerous, but little developed. Sandstone quarries abound, and, with the lumber, constitute building ma- terial at once cheap and accessible.

The Chicago, Saint Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway runs through the middle of the county, from east to west, with a branch down to Menomonie, so that a dozen hours ride takes one to Chicago, or a few hours to Saint Paul. Other roads are projected.

No more healthful climate can be found. The atmos- phere is clear and dry, and the general healthfulness most remarkable.

Fish and game abound in great variety. Pike, pickerel, bass and speckled trout are the most common fish. Bear, deer, squirrel, pheasant, prairie chicken, grouse, wild geese, ducks, and other desirable game, are here to tempt the hunter and sportsman ; and the trapper can secure the beaver, otter, mink, muskrat, and other fur-bearing animals.

Considering all the points, there is no place in the Northwest with more varied inducements to the home- seeker, than Dunn County. The county has twenty- four government townships, with a total area of 552,- 960 acres. The eastern portion is mostly prairie and light openings and some marsh land, which makes fine meadows. It is, as a rule, quite level, and has an easily-worked and productive soil. The western por- tion is more rolling and covered almost entirely with extensive forests, with excellent soil, producing splen- did crops. Winter wheat is a profitable cereal. produc- ing from twenty to forty bushels to the acre. Oats, rye, corn, and potatoes particularly, are fine.

To-day there is probably not 100,000 acres under cultivation, in the whole county. About 200,000 acres are owned by actual settlers, and the price of land in these farms is about $8 an acre.

There are still some sections in the northern part of the county subject to homestead entry. Considerable timber land, where it has been dennded of pine, has been suffered to lapse into the possession of the State, to prevent taxation. Thousands of acres are owned by the mammoth lumber firms, and what will be the final disposition of these lands will depend upon the character of the future owners of the property.

This county, like some of its neighbors, is not a very fruitful field for the student of geology. This is especially so in the department of palæontology, as the number of different fossils is very limited. This region lies near the southern border of the first continent which was lifted from the ocean's bed. It extended from Labrador southwest along the margin of the Saint Lawrence and the great lakes, and crossed into Mich-

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?73

HISTORY OF DUNN COUNTY.

igan and Wisconsin, and thence northwest to McKen- zie's River. As this land gradually neared the surface with an ever-advancing shore, it was subject to the action of the waves, the heat and cold, and all the vicissitudes of that tempestuous period, and the disin- tegration of the rock-bound coast followed, pulverizing the formation and forming numerous beds and drifts. In the process of time, these became cemented and indu- rated, and the rock produced we call Potsdam sand- stone, because it was first studied at the village of that name. That this rock was formed by the disintegration of an older rock, by aqueous action, is shown by the ripple marks every-where seen on this formation, and that it was comparatively early in the history of the rocks, is gathered from the fact that so few animal remains exist in it, and those of a simple form. The trilobites are quite numerous, and two varieties of lin- gula-only three fossils in the rocks found here. While the water over this section was comparatively shallow, innumerable icebergs, crowded into the ocean by glacial action, and holding in their frigid embrace the boulders and other material, called the drift, accumulated in a more northern region, deposited their debris, as they melted, which accounts for this forma- tion that is found so generally distributed here.

The county now is at an altitude of 1,000 feet above the level of the sea, in its highest part. All the indications show that, while what are called the coal measures were forming, all this region was above the sea, but long years afterwards it sunk to receive other deposits. Above the drift alluded to, the sandstone crops out wherever they have been denuded by water. At the various falls, so numerous in the county, the sandstone rock is visible, and the wearing action of the river is plainly seen. Ledges, thus exposed, are visible along the Chippewa, Red Cedar, Wilson's and Gilbert's creeks, as well as on other branches. The Niagara limestone, so extensive lower down in the State, runs through the southern part of the county only, in a narrow strip, appearing above the glacial drift in the towns of Sherman, Eau Galle and Lucas. No veins of copper or iron, or other metals, are found in the county, and prospecting for valuable metals or for coal will be a hopeless task ; for the conditions which must exist for a successful deposition of metallic treasure, were wanting here, and if stray fragments of copper, or gold, or silver, are found, they come from a distance, the result of glacial action, and no time or money should be expended in a local search for the mine. The most valuable treasures locked up in the soil of the county will be discovered by the agriculturist in the vegetable, and not in the mineral kingdom.

In the Summer of 1875, Mr. A. MacKnight, at his place near Hay River bridge, while digging a well, found, twenty feet below the surface, a white oak floor, five inches thick, and two feet lower down another sim- ilar floor, and under this was found, quite well preserved, four human skulls, four stone axes, a like number of spear-heads, stone pipes and earthen kettles. No solu- tion as to the problem of how these relics were depos- ited has been found, and what else might have been unearthed by further explorations, is unknown. Some- time in 1877, a small slab of sandstone was found near the village, inscribed as follows: "J. S. W., April 15,

1771." Of course, there is no way of determining whether this was a Pickwickian relic, or otherwise. Occasional metallic or other stray fragments of natural or artificial construction, are found ; but as a rule, Dunn County is not a fruitful field for antiquarian search.

SETTLEMENT AND GROWTH.

There will ever be some uncertainty as to when the magnificent pineries of the Red Cedar River were first visited by white people. It is highly probable that the lumber used for building the shanties occupied by the old French settlers at Prairie du Chien, called Fort Crawford afterwards, was obtained here a century or more ago ; for there were found several saw pits by the early settlers, where considerable lumber had evidently been sawed by hand.

It is certain that the American Fur Company, in 1820, sent sawyers into this part of the country to pro- cure lumber for the use of their trading posts down the Mississippi. In 1822, Hardin Perkins, from Kentucky, · began the construction of a mill on the Red Cedar, and when it was about completed, a freshet carried it down the river. The Indians made demonstrative threats concerning a renewal of the attempt, and so the under- taking was abandoned. Some time in 1827, James H. Lockwood, an Indian fur trader, visited the site of the mill in company with an expedition from Fort Crawford, and seeing the value of the timber and the natural facilities for its manufacture and conveyance to market he returned and obtained the co-operation of Gen. Street, of the United States Army. They obtained a permit from the great Sioux Chief, Wabashaw, and also from the chiefs of the Chippewas, who claimed the lands up the Red Cedar, to build a saw-mill, cut pine timber and occupy a certain amount of land, in consideration of so much merchandise, blankets, beads, whiskey and other specified articles, to be delivered-a part at what is now Winona for Wabashaw, and the rest at the mills for the Chippewas.

Government sanction to this arrangement was also obtained. This was in 1828, and an expedition was soon fitted out and propelled up the river from Prairie du Chien. A mill was erected on Wilson's Creek, a short distance from the Red Cedar which was too large a stream, and required too much capital to be handled by the limited means of that firm. This was the first mill put in operation in the valley of the Chippewa, and it has practically been running ever since. We can only realize how far these men were in the wilder- ness when we are reminded that at that time all the territory now comprising the States of Iowa, Minneso- ta, nearly all of Wisconsin and Michigan, the northern half of Illinois and parts of Indiana and Ohio, were claimed and held by various Indian tribes.

At that time there were military posts at Green Bay, Rock Island, Prairie du Chien and Chicago. As to the men who were employed in the construction of the mills, to boat the supplies, serve as operatives, and raft the lumber, they were composed of discharged soldiers to a great extent, with a certain number of French Canadians, who were river men, and were called voyageurs. They were a hardy race and mak- ing a virtue of necessity, in the absence of more con- genial companions - and sometimes following the

'74

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

example of their employers - took to themselves the unwashed and uncombed daughters of the forest, not unfrequently, however, setting them adrift when their pale-faced sisters dawned upon the scene. As these squaws would, of necessity, be compelled to some habits of cleanliness, and to learn housekeeping meth- ods unknown in the miserable wigwams of the unkempt native, they became in instant demand by the chiefs and braves, and the schooling thus received was most valuable to them, as well as to the families they sub- sequently entered.

The superintendent of the business of Street & Lockwood was George Wales, an ex-lieutenant of the regular army. As the business prospered, Mr. Wales built for the firm another mill on Gilbert's Creek, a mile or so further up the stream. After these mills were in operation, the American Government, having resolved to rebuild Fort Crawford, which had been oc- cupied by the British during the war of 1812, sent a Lieut. Davis, with others, up the Red Cedar for lum- ber. The story, as told by the old settlers is, that this was the redoubtable Jeff. Davis, which is probably true, as Davis was located at the fort.

The lumber for Fort Crawford was cut at the mill and sent down to the Chippewa in cribs, where it was united into a raft, with an experienced voyageur as pi- lot, who safely guided it past the quicksands and bars of the upper stream. When near the head of Beef Slough, the old Frenchman gave the order, " to ze right hard !" "Here, you sconndrel," said the dapper little West Pointer ; " you'll run this raft right to Hell. 1 tell you, to the left, where the main channel is !" The men obeyed the last order, and the channel being completely blocked there, the whole raft was lost in Beef Slough, and we can easily imagine that Davis, when he got back to the fort, wrote a book to attach the blame to somebody else.

The mills kept on running during the season, and a supply of logs would be put in during the Winter. They were, however, so convenient that logging opera- tions did not require the expense of camping equipage and long hauls, that each succeeding year made more imperative. The operations were unmolested by the Indians, who could dispose of their furs and berries for luxuries to them previously unknown. There were oc- casional scares, caused by some savage demonstrations or personal encounter; but misunderstandings were generally amicably arranged.

1844, Mr. Green purchased the upper mill. The mid- dle mill was sold to Samuel Gilbert & Son in 1846.

Meantime, Capt. George Wales built a mill on the Eau Galle, taking Capt. Dix, a millwright, into com- pany, with Thomas Savage. This was in 1838-9. As this mill went into operation, two enterprising young men, one from Canada and the other from New En- gland, William Carson and Henry Eaton, put in an ap- pearance on the lower Eau Galle, and began, in a small way, to shave shingles and get out square timber. By hard knocks and a rigid economy, the business was re- munerative. This firm, by using the finest timber and somewhat interfering with getting down lumber from the upper mills, seriously annoyed the Eau Galle Lum- ber Company, although that firm had no exclusive right to any thing, except their own mill property and improvements, and notwithstanding the pressure to in- duce them to leave, they kept on for several years. The company finally sold an interest in the mill to Carson & Eaton. The withdrawal of Savage and Dix soon afterward, left a strong firm in the name of Car- son, Eaton & Wales. Capt. Wales had his wife here, although he spent most of his time below, selling lum- ber, and is said to have involved the firm in financial embarrassment. At all events, there was considerable gossip connected with the affair, and he retired from the concern, while diverse opinions prevailed as to the merits of the case. About 1840, a Mr. Lamb, an old soldier who freely patronized his canteen, came to Dunnville, which was considered a valuable location, and built the first house there. It soon became a noted tavern. He married Margaret De Marie, at the Falls. His lack of business habits made a failure of his at- tempt to supply the wants of the public, and he sold his place to Arthur McCann, who had just married Rosalie De Marie. The three McCanns, Stephen, Ar- thur and Daniel, came upon the Chippewa in 1840. In 1843, Arthur, in company with J. C. Thomas, built the Blue Mill below the Falls. He was killed by a man named Sawyer, and his tavern was occupied by Philo Stone, while Rosalie went home and subse- quently married George P. Warren, the first Chairman of the Board of Supervisors at the Falls, and a Chip- pewa interpreter.

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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