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 84

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 84

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As already stated, the history of Eau Claire from 1850 to 1855 was not very eventful. Minnesota was rapidly filling up, and California claimed a prominent place in the emigrant's attention. The country was slowly increasing in population, and the mills at Eau Claire were turning out their products and solidifying their owners. Some changes in mill ownership occurred. Mr. Cady sold his interest to Mr. Swim, and Simon Randall sold out his interest to Mr. Pope, and bought out Capt. Dix in the mill on the lower dam. The two firms then here were Gage, Reed & Ran- dall, and Stone, Swim & Co.

At this time the raftsmen had to walk back up the river, after taking rafts down, over the steep hill-sides and along sandy plains. It was a tedious and foot-sore journey. Several determined efforts were made to procure some kind of transportation. A steamboat was finally built by a Mr. Harlow, from Pittsburgh, but it was a sad failure; it drew too much witer. The steamer " Dr. Franklin," from Gale- na, Cipt. Matt Harris, came up a few times; but she was also too deep. Finally, a stage line was started by Col. Ben Allen and a Mr. Colburn, of Dunnville. The stage went down one day and back the next, from Chippewa Falls to North Pepin. The fare was $3.

In 1852, the Methodist Episcopal Conference of Wis- consin sent a preacher to this valley. His mission was a failure ; one of his meetings was assailed by a boat's crew, and he withdrew for more promising fields. The freshet of 1855 did not affect the Eau Claire.

An act of the Legislature was passed, in 1853, creating the county of Chippewa. It embraced all the settlements in the valley along the Red Cedar. The Eighth Judicial District was created at the same time, and the new county formed a part of it. S. N. Fuller was elected Circuit

Judge. He opened Court in the Fall of 1854, at the Falls. Samuel Allison was appointed Clerk, but a sudden sickness carried him off before the close of the term. Blois Hurd, a millwright, was Sheriff.

It took nearly every man in the county to fill the panels for the grand and petit juries. Several criminal cases were on the docket, but few civil cases. The early history of the judiciary of the eighth district, if men who are now living can be relied upon, was a travesty upon justice ; per- sonal considerations often decided the case, regardless of law and evidence. A prominent lawyer in Eau Claire says, that he was brought to the verge of ruin by want of success in that Court, and in self defence, organized an opposition that elected L. P. Weatherbee Judge of the Eighth District, as Fuller's successor.

The Summer of 1855 was an exceptional one. The Spring opened earlier than usual, but in June there were three severe frosts, which killed the grass, the leaves on the trees, and the whole country looked like Autumn, while the fires on meadow and prairie swept away the withered vege- tation. This havoc extended over the whole northern part of the State, and the gloomy view might have had some effect in suppressing the spirit of speculation, with which the thousands who were then pouring into this region were afflicted ; but, if so, it was unobservable. A mania to be- come suddenly rich became epidemic. The Crimean War had carried up the price of wheat ; there was a wild system of free banking ; returns for the capital and labor invested in California had begun, and it was supposed that the gold would furnish an everlasting basis for the paper currency. Add to this the fact that Congress had just authorized the issue of land warrants to all those who had served in any war for the United States, and that these land warrants immediately fell into the hands of speculators, and at once absorbed large tracts of land, to be held by non-residents until adjoining improvements should render them valuable -and you have the factors that went to make up that era, and the cause of the widespread and depressing panic of 1857, which followed.

During the Winter following the crash of 1857, the set- tlers here had to mutually assist each other, dividing their rations until the last loaf was well nigh consumed.

The agents of the State, for locating the lands above mentioned in this vicinity, were W. H. Gleason and R. F. Wilson, who arrived in 1855. All the points on the river were critically examined with a view of locating a town site where the natural advantages indicated future growth. This place was selected, and a negotiation with J. J. Gage and James Reed for a purchase of one-half of the plat to be then surveyed was successful.

The village was recorded at Chippewa Falls, the county seat at that time, as Eau Claire.

Early that Summer Carson, Eaton & Downs, of Eau Galle, purchased the mill then run by Stone, Swim, George Randall & Hope, where the water-mill of the Eau Claire Lumber Company's water-mill now is, and refitted it with turbine wheels, new machinery, etc., and they also pur- chased heavily of the pine lands up the river and its branches.

Few accessions were made to the new village that year. Adin Randall came from Madison and began the erection of the Eau Claire House. Chapin M. Seeley commenced the erection of the first plastered house in the place.

Henry Huntington and E. E. Shaw opened a small store.

The following Winter, 1856, the county of Eau Claire was formed with this village as the county seat, and from that time there has been little interruption in its growth, as a reference to the census will show.

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HISTORY OF EAU CLAIRE COUNTY.

Many speculators in wild lands came to grief through the agency of unpaid taxes and the inevitable tax title, which often fell into the hands of the mill owner. To se- cure pine land many employés pre-empted choice tracts, which were for a greater or less consideration deeded to their employers.

Thus the evils of non-resident ownership were" miti- gated.

The first election held was in 1855, and embraced the notorious Barstow and Bashford gubernatorial contest. The bogus returns which figured so conspicuously in that case purported to have been from Bridge Creek in this county.

In 1856 the county was quite rapidly filling up. Mer- chants and mechanics began to arrive. The Eau Claire House was finished. The Bank of Eau Claire went into operation, W. H. Gleason, president; C. H. Gleason, cash- ier; C. M. Seeley was the chief manager. Chapman & Thorp arrived and bought the entire interest of Gage & Reed and one-half the village plat. The Presbyterian Church was commenced, the first in the whole valley.

Daniel Shaw & Co. located in the Fourth Ward. In- gram & Kennedy bought the site for their first mill, and began the race between the river and Half-Moon Lake.

These were the most prominent events in that year.

The year 1857 witnessed some changes. Two churches went up this year, the Congregationalist on the west side, and the Catholic on the north side, which latter place was laid out as a town by Dr. W. T. Galloway and Augustus Huysen. Another Bank was instituted by Hall & Brothers who were non-residents, but the bank was ably managed by D. R. Moore. Both these were banks of issue.

Congress had created a new land district; Dr. W. T. Galloway was appointed Register and N. B. Boyden, Re- ceiver. Chapman & Thorp bought the entire interest of Carson & Eaton in the Eau Claire Mill Water Power and pine lands for $125,000, and began the erection of the steam- mill just above Dewey street on the Eau Claire. A few hundred bushels of wheat were shipped that year. Other farm productions found a ready home market.

Congress had, in 1856, passed an act giving to the State of Wisconsin certain alternate sections of land for railroad purposes. One of the projected lines was to run from Por- tage via Tomah to St. Croix County. It was supposed this road would be built at once, a company was organized and millions of stock issued. The supposed possession of in- formation as to where it would cross the Chippewa, started the most wild and visionary schemes ever indulged in. Various routes were examined, raising local hopes, which ended in bitter disappointment, on account of the with- drawal of deposits by some of the heaviest men in town to invest in a new city site at Neill's Creek. The Eau Claire Bank became sickly, went into liquidation.

Among the settlers that year were Joseph E. Thorp and family, Alex. Meggett, W. P. Bartlett, George A. Buf- fington, Ingram and Kennedy, Jackson Brothers, Peter Wy- koff and Rev. A. Kidder and family.

A party of Sioux warriors about this time killed an old domesticated Indian near Frenchtown. A party of Chip- pewas were ambuscaded and shot near Dunnville, and in the same year the Chippewas secured two victims and car- ried their heads triumphantly to Rock Run and placed the ghastly spectacle on poles by the roadside.

The first school-house erected in the village was on the north side.

In 1857 there was a mission-school established on the west side called the Methodist Institute. For several years it was a useful school.

In 1859 a stage route was established between the vil- lage and Wabasha. H. Godfrey & Co. were proprietors.

EAU CLAIRE.

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

The period from this time to the opening of the war of 1861, was marked by a steady filling up of the surrounding country and a healthy growth of the village.

The dates of the inception of various industrial enter- prises will be found in the biographical sketches. Indeed much of the history of the city will be found in these ac- counts of the early settlers.

In 1859 the lands of the Fox River Improvement Com- pany, being in the market in a modified way, extensive dealings in these lands were carried on at the land office here. By the terms of the grant they could not be pre- empted by actual settlers, but could be covered by land warrants which were extensively uged. N. B. Borden was at that time Receiver. One night when the returns were about due in Washington, there was a safe explosion, and a robbery in the land office. It is believed the government was never able to recover the funds.

THE REBELLION.

All the space devoted to Eau Claire City and County might easily be filled with its war record and stirring events of that period. Its history is a counterpart of what trans- pired in every village of like size in the whole North. The record is one of self sacrifice, of patriotism, fortitude and courage, with a sublime confidence in the final success which often seemed so far off. Eau Claire furnished more than her quota of men, and there is no brighter page in the history of that struggle than that which records the deeds of the companies in the 8th, 16th, 25th, 30th, and 36th, and other regiments from this place.

The Eagle Company and Regiment has a world-wide reputation, and indeed the history of the Wisconsin men who assisted to save our imperilled Union is fully recorded in other works and the subject is here reluctantly left with this brief allusion.

Having thus reviewed the salient points in the early career of Eau Claire, the reader is respectfully referred to what follows for a knowledge of the city in its present condition, and a glimpse at many of the steps taken to reach its present altitude, which is viewed with a pardon- able pride by the old settlers, but which may be looked upon after the lapse of generations, as the day of small things for this young metropolis of the Chippewa Valley.

Eau Claire is six miles from the Mississippi and being at the junction of the Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers which drain a large region north, east and south, at the head of navigation and the very base of the immense pine- ries on the rivers above, has unparalleled lumbering facili- ties, and the general merchandise trade must extend in- definitely, as the lumber region becomes devoted to agri- culture and manufacturing as it certainly must. The confidence which has been reposed in the future of Eau Claire, will certainly not be disappointing, for the trade of these valleys and their countless tributaries naturally con- verges towards and centers at this point, and with proper railroad facilities there is no doubt as to the future.

The Chippewa, which is navigable to the falls, eleven miles above the city, enters the city from the north, after describing a well defined but reversed letter S. At the falls above the city, there is the Dells dam, with its log races and lock, which is used for lumber rafts, but seldom for boats. The river has a generally southwestern course, having its origin in the extreme northwestern part of Michigan.

The Eau Claire, a stream perhaps one-third its size, arises in the adjoining counties on the east, and, receiving numerous accessions north and south, enters the Chippewa at right angles, near the center of the town.

The Chippewa River was called by the first explorers, The Santeur.

The Eau Claire was named by the early French explorers or traders.

The lower dam on the Eau Claire has a fall of ten feet, and at low water exhibits 400 horse power.

The upper dam, at the water mill, has fourteen feet fall, and the minimum power is 700 horse.

Three miles above the city, on the Eau Claire, is a fall of sixteen feet, and nine miles further up a fall of forty feet. Other important water-power locations are found further up the river, and on its branches.

The Chippewa and tributary streams are well stocked with edible fish. The market at different seasons has stur- geon, muskalonge, pike, pickerel, catfish, black bass, rock bass, spotted bass, and others less important.

The citizens of Eau Claire, having procured a charter, held their first election under its provisions in the Spring of 1872. H. P. Graham was elected the first Mayor, and served until April, 1873 ; was succeeded by J. P. Nelson, who held the office one year. G. E. Porter was Mayor from April, 1874, until April, 1875, when G. A. Buffington was installed in that position. April, 1876, L. M. Vilas was elected. In 1877, W. F. Bailey was chosen; and in 1878, George W. Chapman, who was re-elected for 1879.

In 1880, J. F. Moore filled this position.

In 188r, at this writing, the Mayor is Dr. E. T. Farr.

C. E. Gleason was the first City Clerk, and was re-elected to that position, from year to year, until 1879, when John Hanner took his place, holding the office two years. April, 1881, George W. Churchill was elected to the office.

E. H. Playter was Treasurer from 1872 to 1878. For 1879, B. S. Phillips was chosen Treasurer, and still retains the place.

The following gentlemen have been elected President of the Council : 1872, Texas Angel; 1873, George W. Dem- ming ; 1874, Donald Kennedy; 1875, Frank McDonough ; 1876-77, F. W. Woodward ; 1878-79, G. W. Demming ; 1880, George B. Shaw ; 1881, W. P. Bartlett.

The City Attorneys have been: 1872, L. M. Vilas; 1873-4, W. R. Hoyt ; 1875, Alexander Meggett ; 1876, H. H. Hayden ; 1877, L. R. Larson ; 1878-80, M. Griffin ; 1881, Col. E. M. Bartlett.

Municipal Judge, L. E. Lattimer. 1872 to 1878; L. R. Larson from 1878.

William Weissenfelds has been City Surveyor since the city was organized.

Present city officers .- Mayor, E. J. Farr ; Clerk, George Churchill; Treasurer, B. S. Phillips ; City Attorney, Col. E. M. Bartlett.

Aldermen. - First Ward, Frank McDonough, Frank Pulle ; Second Ward, F. J. McGrath, W. T. Galloway ; Third Ward, W. P. Bartlett, N. C. Wilcox ; Fourth Ward, George B. Shaw, Noah Shaw ; Fifth Ward, G. A. Buffing- ton, G. W. Mason ; Sixth Ward, W. W. Downs, T. W. Thomas ; Seventh Ward, Henry Davis, Chris Carlson ; Eighth Ward, T. F. Frawley, A. S. Bostwick.

Police .- Thomas Donnelly, Chief; John Higgins, John Hancock, Lafayette Elliott, Robert Anderson, Charles Pelka.

Post-Office .- Located at the corner of Kelsey and River streets. Postmaster, James M. Brackett ; Assistant, Jay C. Bartlett. Branch office, west side, Station A; Col. E. M. Bartlett, Postmaster.

In June, 1878, when Mr. Brackett was appointed Post- master, the sale of stamps and envelopes did not exceed $1,700 per quarter. Now it averages $2,700 per quarter. The registered letters, per quarter, then numbered about 250 ; now more than 600. Money orders have increased at the same rate. It is now a second-class office. The post- office was remodeled and supplied with Yale lock-boxes

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HISTORY OF EAU CLAIRE COUNTY.

and modern appliances, and opened for business on Janu- ary 6, 1875. The growth of the city business has carried it far beyond the postal facilities then provided.

Deputy Collector Internal Revenue .- J. F. Moore ; office, No. 9 Kelsey street.

United States Land Office .- Located corner River and Kelsey streets. J. G. Callahan, Register ; V. W. Bayless, Receiver ; D. S. Thompson, Clerk.

Fire Department .- There are two steam fire engines in the city. No. I, on the west side; this was procured in 1871, before the city organization ; Eugene Bullard was the first Chief Engineer. No. 2, located under the City Hall, was procured in 1873. Wales H. Willard is Engineer, and F. Ferris, Driver, of No. 1. Charles Cutler is Engineer of No. 2 ; Frank Harmon, Foreman. Chief Engineer, J C. Churchill.

The second steam fire engine procured was in March, 1875. Charles Cutler was the Engineer. This was during Mr. Porter's administration as Mayor.

June 25, 1874, there was a firemen's parade, with the usual concomitants on such occasions. Three hundred fire- men from abroad participated in the tournament.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

A. O. U. W. Hall, Bailey's Hall, City Buildings, Court- House and County Jail, Germania Hall, Granger's Hall, Gymnasium Hall, west side; Masonic Hall, east side; Mu- sic Hall, Normanna Hall, Odd Fellows' Hall, Temple of Honor Hall.

NEWSPAPERS.

The Chippewa An eiger, weekly, established in 1873. T. Friedlander, editor and proprietor. It is printed in the Ger- man language. Independent.

The Ean Claire Free Press, a daily and weekly Republi- can paper. The oldest paper in the city ; was started in 1857, and, after a few months, being on the point of suspen- sion, it was purchased by Gilbert E. Porter, who took charge and successfully managed the concern until 1864. It then fell into the hands of J. B. and H. M. Stocking, who con- tinued the paper until January 1, 1870, when Mr. James M. Brackett became editor, and it was published under the firm name of Rodman & Brackett. January 1, 1873, Mr. Rod- man sold his interest to John Hunner, and the new firm started the daily. Mr. Brackett continued as editor until October, 1879, when failing health caused him to retire. A stock company was organized, with a capital of $15,000 ; J. M. Brackett, president ; W. A. Rust, vice-president ; John B. Stocking, treasurer; George A. Barry, managing editor ; Henry Slinguff, city editor; W. E. Fleming, book-keeper.

Eau Claire News .- This is a weekly Democratic paper ; was started by Flavins J. Mills, in the Fall of 1869. George Mills and R. H. Copeland afterwards owned the paper. It is now owned by a private company. Mr. S. S. Kepler is the managing editor.

The Leader .- This is a five-column daily, coming into existence as an independent candidate for public favor. It is published by the "Leader Company," on the west side ; W. H. Lamb, manager.

Several other papers have, from time to time, been pub- lished in the city, among them the Tribune and Argus. For one reason or another they have been discontinued.

BANKING.

The first bank was the Bank of Eau Claire, started in 1856. W. H. Gleason was president, and C. R. Gleason, a non-resident at that time, was cashier. C. M. Seeley, who, in October, 1858, removed to Meadville, Pa., did the busi- ness. Richard Wilson also had an interest in the bank. In October, 1858, Hall and Brother, non-residents, started their

bank. Mr. Moon was the manager. Both of these institu- tions were banks of issue.

C. C. Spofford began banking in 1861. The firm became Spofford & Clark in 1866, and so continued until January 1, 1873, when the business was transferred to Clark & In- gram, whose bank, on the corner of Kelsey and Barstow streets, is still a flourishing institution, with a heavy busi- ness.

Bank of Eau Claire .- The present bank came into ex- istence in 1872. W. A. Rust and F. W. Woodward were the proprietors. In 1873, it was organized as the First National Bank, with a capital of $60,000. F. W. Woodward was presi- dent, W. A. Rust vice-president, George T. Thompson cashier. Its circulation has since been surrendered, and it has been organized anew, under the laws of the State, with the same officers, and the following gentlemen added as directors : H. H. Hayden, George B. Shaw, B. J. Chur- chill. Capital, $30,000, with a surplus of $5,000. To show on which side the balance of exchange rests, it is stated that the bank received in currency alone by express, in one year, $500,000.

The Chippewa Valley Bank .- This bank was organized in June, 1876, with a capital of $50,000. Henry C. Put- nam is president, and V. W. Bayless, secretary. This bank, in addition to its other business, has large real estate trans- actions.

State Stock Bank .- This was one of the banks of issue at that time so common. It was owned by H. O. Perrin, of Marshall, Mich. The law regarding National Banks dis- posed of this institution.

Lumbermen's Bank .- There was also a bank purporting to be located at Court Ourielles, the proprietors lived here.

THE LUMBER INTEREST.

The Chippewa being a large river, with an immense log- driving capacity, and tributaries from the pine region, with abundant water-power, it has extensive lumbering estab- lishments, none of them more important than at Eau Claire. At this point, in addition to the booms on the Ean Claire River, there is a boom formed by Half Moon Lake, which has a connecting canal with the river. This lake was pos- sibly once the bed of the river, which has been changed by accumulating sands and worn banks. A company to ope- rate this property was formed in 1859, and re-organized in December, 1871.

It may be proper, in this connection, to mention the lowest and most extensive boom on the river, located near its month. This is owned by the Beef Slough Manufactur- ing, Booming, Log-Driving and Transportation Company. It was organized April 27, 1867, with a capital of $100,000. Its rates of toll are seventy-five cents per 1,000 feet for logs and timber, two cents for railroad ties, and one cent for fence posts. It has a capacity of 200,000,000 feet. So long ago as 1874, it delivered 133,000,000 feet.

At Eau Claire, a long and bitter legislative fight, con- tinuing ten years, was carried on with the capitalists on the river above. It was known as the "Dells' fight." It was finally terminated by authority granted to build a dam.

In 1842, H. S. Allen, Simon and George Randall, se- lected the lower Dalles, as it was then and now is called, as the proper and only place where lumber could be rescued from the current and successfully handled with security during all stages of water. As a logging stream, it is of the greatest importance, and for years to come the lumber busi- ness will be paramount, as it has been in the past. In 1873, an account which was authentic as far as it went, was pub- lished, showing the magnitude of the lumber business as it then existed. From it we learn that the Eau Claire Lum- ber Company had fifteen camps, four hundred men, one

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

hundred and fifty horse teams, and fifty yoke of oxen. They secured thirty million feet of lumber that season.

Smith & Buffington had three camps, one on the Chip- pewa and two on the Flambeau. Twelve horse teams, eleven yoke of oxen, and one hundred and twenty men, putting in six million feet on the Chippewa and five million on the Flambeau.

D. Swan & Co. had three camps of their own and nine of their " jobbers," making twelve in all; eight on the Chip- pewa, one on the Flambeau, two on the Thornapple and one on another branch. They employed two hundred men, thirty-one ox-teams, thirty-three horse teams, and put afloat twenty million feet of logs.

Ingham & Kennedy floated forty million feet.

The business of these firms here specified, represented about one-third of the logging interest at that time.

As the population has nearly or quite doubled since that time, in response to the increased business, it will be seen that the amount done then as compared with the present time, must have been correctly reported.

An account published in 1871, showed that there were one hundred and twelve camps on the upper Chippewa, and the aggregate lumber cut in Northern Wisconsin, for that year was as follows :

On the St. Croix 130,000,000

Chippewa .275.000,000

Black. 200,000,000

Wisconsin 70,000,000

Wolf

125,000,000

Oconto 60,000,000

.. Menomonee I30,000,000

Peshtigo 40 000,000

Total 1,030,000,000

Lumber cut on the Chippewa and its tributaries : 1873, 388,417,993 feet ; 1874, 298,098,096 feet; 1875, 250,747,- 936 feet.

Rafted at Beef Slough : 1873, 91,000,000 feet ; 1874, 133,000,000 feet ; 1875, 129,000,000 feet.

The log product for the Winter of 1875-6, 480,000,- ooo feet.

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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