USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > Rock County, Wisconsin; a new history of its cities, villages, towns, citizens and varied interests, from the earliest times, up to date, Vol. I > Part 2
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CHAPTER XXIV. .493-513
A. O. Wilson.
List of 56 publications: The "Gazette, '' 496. The "Free Press,"' 499. Short lived papers. Norwegian weekly. Wisconsin Journal of Education, 503. The Signal, Veeder. Rock County Recorder, 504. The Daily Recorder, 505. Religious Press. High School papers. Recollections of the writer. Janesville Journal (Ger- man). Danton's Spirit of the Turf. Wisconsin Tobacco Leaf Heddles, 510. Druggist's Exchange. Wisconsin Medical Re- corder. Remarks.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXV. POLITICAL HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY. . . 514-520
Whigs: E. V. Whiton, leader. The Gazette. Beloit Journal. The Republican party, 1854. L. P. Harvey. Members, Assembly,
1854 to 1879. The Democratie party. Leading Democrats in early days.
CHAPTER XXVI. HISTORY OF JANESVILLE. .521-611
Charles L. Fifield.
Location. South side. Plan of history. Beginnings, 1835. John Inman. First cabin. Samuel St. John. 1836, First child, Seth St. John. Henry F. Janes. First election. The Holmes family. Dixon, Brown, Bailey, Dr. Heath. 1837, First ferry. Postoffice. The Spauldings. E. V. Whiton. Stevens. Atwood. First religious service. 1838, Janesville stage house. 1839, Rock county formed. First store, Lappin's. 1840, The county seat. First publie school. 1841, Stebbins' select school. 1842, Court house, jail, first bridge. A. Hyatt Smith. 1843, First M. E. Church. Population, 333. First lumber yard. E. G. Fifield. 1844, First briek block, Main street. Steamboat to Jefferson. Dam on Rock river. American House. Trinity Episcopal Church, 'T'. Ruger. First Baptist. 1845, First Congregational. First pub- lic school house, brick. First teacher, Guernsey. The little red school house. Brick making. Upper dam finished. The big mill. Saw mill. The Janesville Gazette. Population, 817. 1846, Stage line. Stone academy, T. J. Ruger. Rock County Demoerat. 1847, Big mill begins grinding. Three-story briek block, Main street. Project for a railroad. State constitution adopted. First secret society. R. C. Church, St. Patrick's. 1848, The Stevens House. Sutherland's book store. Masonie lodge. First large fire. Wisconsin a state. E. V. Whiton. Farmers' mill. Trin- ity Church. 1849, Madison and Beloit Railway. Population, 1812. Woolen mill. Monterey bridge begun. Blind asylum se- cured. J. F. Willard. Daily Mail. Nine mail routes by stage. 1850, Excelsior mills burned. Population, 3100. First R. C. pastor. Masonic Chapter, 5. 1851, Oak Hill Cemetery. North- western Railway, Fond du Lac and Chicago. Three-story block on Main street. Ogden House, E. Mil. street. Tallman block, west end of bridge. Old Baptist Church. First State Fair. 1852, Mil. and Mississippi Railway. Mt. Olivet R. C. ceme- tery. 1853, Janesville a city, A. Hyatt Smith, mayor. Alder- men. Stevens House burned. First locomotive, engineer, John C. Fox; here yet. Third newspaper. McKey block, 548. U. S. Grant and team at the American Hotel. 1854, Fire companies. Old postoffice and Y. M. C. A. building. First daily. Alex. T. Gray. J. B. Doe, mayor. 1855, Graded public schools. Hand fire engines, Dolson, first engineer. Saek Company, No. 1. Al- ger murder. Lynching of Mayberry, page 550. First National. Roek County Bank. Second Masonic lodge. Four-story block by Lappin. Five-story block on E. Milwaukee. Presbyterian Church. E. L. Dimoek, mayor. 1856, Monterey bridge rebuilt. The lower bridge. Gas company. First Northwestern passenger train. Hook and ladder company. W. B. Britton. Second Odd Fellows' lodge. Commandery K. T. 1857, New wards, Fifth and Sixth. Daily Gazette. Second state fair, Spring Brook. New High School begun. Hyatt House completed. Gov. Bar- stow. A. Hyatt Smith, mayor. 1858, Y. M. C. A. organized.
8
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
Josiah T. Wright. Railway to Monroe. First High School class. Northwestern Mutual Life begins business. 1859, Whiton buried. Courthouse burned. High school finished. Oct. 1, A. Lincoln's speech here. Christ Episcopal Church. Population about 7,000. Myers House being built. Mills and factories. Fine residences. Stores, page 558. 1860-1864, Camps Cameron and Treadway. 1861, Co. D, Second Regt .; Co. E., Fifth; G, Eighth, Capt. Britton. Wm. H. Sargent, page 559. 13th Regt., Co. E, 3d Wis Cavalry. 1862, Lieut. Harlow, 12th Wis. Battery; Co. E, 3d Wis. Vol. Infantry, Capt. Miltimore. Gov. Harvey. 1863, First draft. 1864, Co. A, 40th Regt. Peter Myers. St. Patrick's Church, convent, school. Christ Church, 1861. Gen. Sheridan, Gen. Sherman, 562. 1865-1869, Many fires. Main street blocks. 1867, Hyatt House. One life lost. Furni- ture factory. Mills burned. 1868, American House. Fredondall block burned. Steam fire engines. Murder trials. Fourth State Fair. W. T. Sherman, 563. 1869, Rock County Recorder. First Congregational Church building, 1865-6. St. Paul German Luth- 1867, Baptist Church, brick. 1870-1874, New court house. 1874, Big mill burned. State Blind Asylum burned. Cotton manufactory. F. S. Eldred, treasurer. The Smith block, Main and Milwaukee. Myers Opera House. Woolen mills. G. C. McLean, p. 566. Burr Robbins circus. 1875-1879, Congregational Church burned. Merchants' and Mechanics' Savings Bank. Grand Hotel. Daily Recorder. 1879, The Mack murder, Baum- gartner. 1877, Thoroughgood & Stevens box factory. 1875, Janes- ville Shoe Company. 1880-1884, Ex-President U. S. Grant in Janesville, p. 569, p. 570. Leaf tobacco industry. History, p. 411. Firms, acreage, 1879. Barnes, Heddles & Co. Two million dollars in 1906 for tobacco. 1880, Electric light company. Badger State Warp Mills. 1880, Telephone Co. 1881, Janes- ville Machine Company. 1880, Railway, Janesville and Afton, Northwestern. Janesville to Beloit, St. Paul line. Clydesdale horses, A. Galbraith. Trotting horses. 1884, Norcross block, S. River street. 1881, Municipal court established, Judges Pat- ten, Patterson, Phelps; Fifield in 1899. 1885, Roller skating rink. Street railway. Evansville cut-off. 1887, E. F. Carpenter builds on the bridge. Later building city water works. Flowing arte- sian well, p. 577. Gamwell fire alarm telegraph. 1889, Myers House burned. 1890, The Carringtons, Boomer, Hamilton. 1891, Parker Pen Company. Williamson Pen Company. New Pres- byterian edifice, p. 580. 1892, Murder trials. 1893, Poor farm, buildings. 1895, Y. M. C. A. building. New High School. 1896, Twilight Club. Sinnisippi Golf Club. Steamboats. Shooting club. 1895, Bower City Bank. 1899, Hayes' office building. Jackman building. 1900, Street paving. New county jail. 1901, The soldier's monument. Public library. City Hall. U. S. Postoffice. Milwaukee & St. Paul short line to Chicago. The Interurban, p. 590. 1902, St. Mary's R. C. new building. North- western depot, 1898. St. Paul R. R. depot, 1902. 1904, Death of Marshall Hogan. Beet sugar factory. Hohenadel Pickling Company. Canning corn, peas. 1904, Sewerage system. Bak- ing industry. 1905, Advancement Association. 1907, Park and pleasure drive. Publie hospital. Chautauqua Association. 1906, Cargill M. E. Church. 1907, Bassett & Echlin Co. new factory. Janesville Clothing Company. Hiawatha Springs Co. 1906, Northwestern tract, S. Janesville. 1907, Sidings and round house, $500,000. New R. R. bridge. Valuation of Janesville. Fords, ferries and bridges, 597. Cemeteries, Oak Hill, St. Pat- rick 's.
9
CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXVII. EARLY JANESVILLE MANUFACTURERS. ..... .599-605
Stephens' saw mill, 1845. A. K. Morris & Co., 1856. Morton & Ford. The big mill. 1876. O. B. Ford & Sons. 1864, Barnes & Hodson mill. The Farmers' Mill, 1848. John Clark. The Stone mill, Monterey, 1852. 1845, Shaw & May, agricultural in- plements. 1859, Farm implements. 1868, Harris, Fifield & Co., now Harris Manufacturing Co., C. S. Cobb, Supt. 1849, Whit- taker's woolen mill. Wheeler woolen factory, 1859. 1846, Al- den's brick yard. Frask, furniture factory. 1863, Hanson. 1864, Britton, Kimball, Ashcraft factory. Lumber, Hume, Booth & Co. Harness, H. S. Woodruff. Brewery, Wm. Hudson, 1848. John Buob, 1853. Cold Spring brewery, 1872. 1852, Janesville Iron works, J. H. Budd. 1855, Broom making, Jerry Bates. 1874, Pickling works. Cotton Manufacturing Co. Gas works, 1856.
CHAPTER XXVIII. THE MANUFACTURING INTERESTS OF JANESVILLE. 606-611 By Alexander Matheson.
Causes for prominence in manufacturing. Two dams. Diversity of institutions an element of safety. Forty prominent manu- factories, the largest, the Janesville Machine Company. J. Har- ris. The five larger firms. The next largest ten. Janesville faci- lities for growth, 609. George Sutherland's list of ninety com- panies. Clinton, 646. Evansville, 664.
CHAPTER XXIX. THE LAST QUARTER OF BELOIT'S MANUFACTURING INTERESTS By J. B. Dow. .612-633
Business depression in 1886. Business Men's Association formed by eleven men. "Beautiful Beloit" folder. Names of the founders. Berlin Machine Works, 614. Fairbanks-Morse Com- pany, 615. Beloit Iron Works, 617. J. Thompson & Sons. Charles H. Besly & Co. Gardner Machine Company. Gesley Manufacturing Co. R. J. Dowd Knife Works, p. 620. John Foster Company. Warner Instrument Company. Lipman Manu- facturing Co. H. Rosenblatt & Sons. Rosenblatt-Gowing Com- pany. Racine Fect Knitting Company. Beloit Box Board Co. Pierce Specialty. Pierce Plating Co. C. Mattison Machine Works. N. B. Gaston & Sons Company, 625. Nathan B. Gas- ton, biography. List of lesser institutions, 627. The Inter- urban power house. Beloit Traction Company. Water, Gas & Electric Company. History of franchises surrendered June 30, 1908, 629. Electricity. Gas. Water.
CHAPTER XXX. THE PRESS OF BELOIT. 634-638
The Editor.
The Beloit Messenger, 1846. Beloit Journal, 1848. J. R. Briggs, editor. 1856, B. E. Hale, editor, Republican. 1857, a weekly Democratic paper, the Herald. De Lorma Brooks. Beloit Times, Republican, N. O. Perkins. The Beloit Courier. 1860, Perkins and Smith, publishers. In 1859 B. E. Hale & Co. sold to Hale & Pratt Journal and Courier, consolidated in 1860; Perkins editor. Bound file April 5, 1860, to March 27, 1862; preserved 1863, Published by Barret H. Smith. 1864, A. Pain, the Beloit Journal. 1866, Beloit Free Press started by Charles Ingersoll, Journal absorbed. 1869, M. Frank restores the name "Journal."
10
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
T. O. Thompson and J. B. Dow. E. D. Coe. 1870, The Free Press, C. Ingersoll, N. O. Perkins. 1871, Again absorbs the Jour- nal; N. O. Perkins editor until 1873. Henry F. Hobart, editor with Ingersoll. 1878, Hobart, sole proprietor. 1878, Evening paper, Daily Herald, Albert Ayer. 1879, First Daily Free Press, by Henry F. Hobart. 1882, C. Ingersoll again owner of Free Press; A. Ayer, city editor. 1903, M. C. Hanna, partner. 1907, Free Press Publishing Company. Semi-weekly Register, 1870. The Graphic, Democratic weekly, 1877. O. H. Brand. 1879, Julius A. Trensdell on the Free Press. 1883, The Outlook, F. F. Livermore, editor and owner. 1886, The Daily Citizen, Rev. F. A. Marsh, editor. Later, the Daily News, management by D. B. Worthington, 1897. At first independent in politics, Republican since 1900. T. C. Hendley, 1906, Daily News Pub- lishing Company. 1907, The new building on Fourth street. The Beloit College Monthly, 1853. 1875, The Round Table and College Monthly. 1877, Round Table, weekly, by Archæan So- ciety.
CHAPTER XXXI. SMALLER CITIES, VILLAGES AND TOWNS. 639-711
Clinton, 1837. Early settlers. Churches. Cong. Bap. M. E. Ger. Lutheran. R. C. Ev. Luth. Norwegian. Secret societies. A. F. and A. M. I. O. O. F. Grange, and other fraternities. Postoffice, Clinton, Bergen. Norwegians. Newspaper, 645. The village incorporated. Manufactures, 599, 612, 664. Banking, 647. Schools.
Edgerton, 648. Churches. Societies. Banks, 649. Tobacco market, 650, 411. Pioneers of Edgerton, 651-660.
Evansville (The Editor.) First settlement and settlers. Stores, hotels, banks. A. S. Baker. Manufacturing, 662. Churches. Schools. Fraternal orders. Eager Library. Baker Profit Shar- ing Company, 664-668.
Villages. Afton, 668. Avalon, Avon Center, Cooksville, Emerald Grove, Footville, Fulton, Hanover, Indian Ford, Johns- town, J. Center, Koshkonong, Lima Center, Magnolia, M. Sta- tion, Milton, 673. Milton Junction, Orford, Rock Prairie, Spring Valley, Stebbinsville, Shopiere. 678. Union, Avon, 679. Beloit, Bradford Center, Clinton, Fulton, Harmony, Janesville, Johns- town, La Prairie, Lima, Magnolia, Milton, 693-700. Newark, Plymouth, Porter, Rock, 704. Spring Valley, Turtle, by Mary S. Porter, 707-710. Union. Tobacco and beets in the county. R. F. D. Good roads commission.
CHAPTER XXXII. COURTS AND LEGAL PROFESSION
.712
1839, Second District, Justice Irwin. Rock County Circuit Court, Judge E. V. Whiton. First District, Judge Doolittle. Keep, Noggle, Lyon, Conger, John R. Bennett, 715. Dunwiddie, Grimm, County Court, Dr. White, 1839. Israel Cheeney, Bailey, Thompkins, Jordan, Daniels. First county judge, James Arm- strong, 1849. Pritchard, Sale. Court house, 716.
Bench and Bar. Biographical sketches. Irwin, Whiton, 718. Spooner, Doolittle, Baker, Keep, 722. Noggle, Lyon, Conger, Bennett, 730. Dunwiddie, Grimm, A. P. Prichard, Matt. Car- penter, 735-738. I. C. Sloan, Patterson, Todd, 740. Pease, Eld- redge, 745-748. C. G. Williams, Hyzer, Moses Prichard, A. Hyatt Smith, Sutherland, Malcolm Jeffris, William Ruger, Burpee, Rhoda Goodell, Fethers, Winans, 758. Woodle, Hudson, G. R.
11
CONTENTS
Peck, W. M. Tallman, J. B. Cassoday, 764-767. Tompkins, Sale, Whitehead, 769. B. M. Palmer, A. M. Fisher, H. MeElroy, 772. Hendricks, Cleland, C. D. Rosa, T. S. Nolan, Angis King, M. O. Mouatt, William Smith, A. E. Matheson, 780. C. L. Fifield, J. De Witt Rexford, 782. MeGowan, 783.
CHAPTER XXXIII. SOME INVENTIONS AND INVENTORS OF ROCK COUNTY The Editor.
Appleby's twine binder. Miller's car coupler and buffer. War- ner's auto meter. Wheeler's self-regulating wind mill. Merrill's building paper. Houston's turbine wheel. Olmstead's drive well point. Felt adding machine. Fox's inventions. Gesley's plow. Appleby's cotton picker. Lipman's oiler. Holcomb's engine. The Dann gate. Woodruff's tongueless buekle. The Parker pen. Withington wire knot. Harris' wire binder.
.789-792
CHAPTER XXXIV. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. (See Index.) . . . 793
HISTORY
OF
ROCK COUNTY
I.
ROCK COUNTY GEOLOGY.
(Condensed by permission from an article by Dr. T. C. Chamber- lin, now of Chicago University. Revised by Prof. Collie, of Beloit College.)
The history of Rock county properly begins with that of the earth beneath us, for the kind of a country that is ours by nature has largely determined its later growth and prosperity. It was eagerly sought by a superior class of settlers and promptly de- veloped growing communities partly because it was, as one pioneer said, "a natural paradise."
The surface of Wisconsin is an open book to those who can read the signs of nature and the various kinds and layers of rock, laid slantingly one over another from south to north, tell the story of the earth's changes at this region as plainly as if the record had been printed in letters. Our state is not mountainous nor monotonously level but intermediate between these two ex- tremes. Situated between three notable depressions, Lake Supe- rior on the north, Lake Michigan on the east and the Mississippi valley on the west, it slopes generally from north to south and slightly to the east and west from a central swell of land. The
13
14
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
surface is that of a low dome, the highest point, about 1,800 feet above the sea, being near the line of northern Michigan between the headwaters of the Montreal and Brulé rivers; the southeast and southwest sides showing a gentle decline towards the south side or base, where our county is situated and is, at the state line, about 600 feet above sea level. The physical history of Wis- consin, as recorded in its various layers of rock, shows that in some remote period when even the Rocky Mountains had not emerged from the ocean, this part of the continent also was be- neath its surface. For unknown ages our territory was a shallow arm of the sea, which by constant washing against shores farther north and with the help of other forms of erosion, deposited be- neath its waters great masses of sediment thousands of feet in thickness. These deposits were nearly horizontal and became hardened into sandstone, shale and other forms of sedimentary rock.
At the next stage of time and apparently because the cooling of the earth's crust caused contraction and a wrinkled surface, some tremendous pressure from beneath, accompanied by the escape of heat, swelled up these deposits, crumpling them, solidi- fying and crystallizing them and, raising them above the sur- face of the ocean, produced here an island, the first appearance of Wisconsin. That island was largely composed of granite, gneiss, syenite and other hard crystalline rocks and, from the ex- tent of those rocks as exposed, seems to have occupied what is now the north central part of our state and a part of upper Michigan, extending also into Minnesota. All the rest of the state as well as most of the United States was still under water but slowly rising. That island must originally have been higher than the present surface, because the ten or eleven different lay- ers of rock in Wisconsin, as now exposed, stand highly inclined from north to south and we see only their edges, the tops of the folds of which they were once a part having been worn off. Through untold ages there had to be successive periods of the wearing away and depositing of material on the bed of this shal- low sea, and successive stages of slow elevation and solidifying of this sea bottom before the complicated stone foundations of our state and county were laid. The carbonaceous matter in some of the rocks shows that there was early marine vegetation, and the successive strata of limestone evidently resulted from
15
ROCK COUNTY GEOLOGY
shell fish, extracting lime from the sea water and building that lime into their shells, which would ultimately be deposited in the mud of the sea bottom. The accumulation from these sources through unknown ages gave rise to a series of shales, sandstones and limestones whose combined thickness is several thousand feet.
A period of special upheaval and earth heat changed the shales to slates or schists and the carbonaceous matter in part to graphite and associated with these deposits extensive beds of iron ore. The strata were much twisted and folded (as appears most plainly at Negaunee and Ishpeming in upper Michigan), and our Wisconsin island with its adjacent ocean beds was fur- ther elevated and its extent enlarged. The Penokee iron range in Ashland county belongs to that most ancient time and its up- turned edge, forming a bold rampart for sixty miles across the country, is our nearest approach to a mountain range. Still far- ther north through openings in the earth's crust melted rock seems to have been poured out in many different eruptions, which spread over an area about 300 miles east and west by 100 miles north and south. Between some of these tremendous out- bursts there were such long intervals of time that the ocean waves then wore down this new rock into sand, granite and clay, which became hardened into sandstone and conglomerate beds, the whole series of which is several miles in thickness. This is the rock of the copper regions. The native copper and silver there was not thrown up suddenly in a melted form, as once sup- posed, but was deposited in veins or deeply reaching cracks in the solid rock by chemical action.
After that Archæan or very old age came another long period, in which the sea wore down the rock again. At the north side of this Wisconsin island, on the margin of what is now Lake Superior, but which seems then to have been a part of the prime- val ocean, the water, acting on copper and iron bearing rocks, produced a red sand, which became the red standstone of that region. On the south shore of our island the wave action, spent mainly on quartzites and granites, produced a light colored sand and sandstone. This deposit, at least a thousand feet thick, occupies a broad, irregular belt, extending east and west across the state, being widest in the central part and bordering the original island area on the south like a rude crescent. It slopes
16
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
gently south from the original core of the state, underlies all the later formations and may be reached at any point in southern Wisconsin by boring to a depth which can easily be calculated because of the regular dip of that stratum. The water from the northern half of the state continually soaking into this porous rock makes it a water-bearing formation, an unfailing source for artesian wells and pure water. The artesian well on the old fair grounds just east of Janesville secured a full supply of water from this roek. The flowing well in the valley from which the city of Janesville gets its present water supply draws from the same formation at a depth of 1,060 feet. (That well, on the fair grounds, was sunk to the depth of 1,033 feet, of which 350 feet is drift material and the lower part, 683 feet, is Potsdam sandstone. The water did not rise to the surface, but required pumping.) The interbedded layers of limestone and shale, by supplying strata impervious to water, make this rock also a source of many springs.
The accumulation of this layer of Potsdam sandstone was fol- lowed without marked disturbance by a long continued deposit of magnesian limestone roek, varying from fifty to 250 feet in thickness on account of changes of level in the upper surface. Then after yet other ages the wash of that ancient ocean formed and laid down silicious sand, which hardened into rock, filling up the valleys in the under limestone and leveling the whole sur- face. This formation also is water-bearing and supplies several artesian fountains.
Some unknown change in ocean conditions then led to the de- posit of a layer about 120 feet thick of limestone, alternating with elay, which became shale. This Trenton limestone, so called, contains many of the most aneient fossils, and also, in southwest Wisconsin, zinc and lead. The deposit of limestone continued with some changed conditions, which built on that yel- lowish Trenton limestone a bed, 250 feet thick, of a light gray, somewhat crystalline stone called Gelena because it contains much galena or sulphide of lead. This deposit occupied the southwest- ern part of the area of our state and a broad north and south belt in east central Wisconsin.
By this time our geologie island had considerably increased in size and the southern part of Wisconsin, including our county, was now above the ocean, for a time.
17
ROCK COUNTY GEOLOGY
Then followed a slow deposit of clay with some shell material, resulting in various colored beds of clay and shale, in some places 200 feet thick. The fossils in this shale show that it was formed ages before the coal measures. A knowledge of this fact would have saved the costly labors of some who have dug into this shale in the hope of finding coal, which, it may be remarked, does not occur in any Wisconsin rock. One promoter, indeed, once reported that he had found coal within the bounds of Rock county, but the coal came from his shaft in assorted sizes, indi- cating a mine that was too good to be true.
The next age was that of the deposit of iron ore in fine par- ticles like flax seed, in various basins, notably along what is called Iron ridge, where the deposit is twenty feet thick, also at Hartford and Depere and Black River Falls. This age was fol- lowed by our island's greatest era of limestone formation, in which were laid down beds nearly 800 feet thick. For the accu- mulation of such a deposit from the shells and secretions of marine life long ages of time must have been required, beyond our comprehension. Much of this Niagara limestone (so called because the same formation is found at Niagara falls) was built up with the skeletons of the minute coral, with mollusks like oyster shells and with those stone lilies, called Crinoids, really sea animals, which left a limestone skeleton that was like a water lily on its stem. The very ancient three lobed crustaceans called Trilobites, also abounded, and the formation was like that of reefs near the surface of the ocean. This we know because the coral does not live very many feet below the surface. This lime- stone occupies a broad belt next to and west of Lake Michigan. Near Milwaukee on Mud creek and near Waubeka in Ozaukee county is found a thin-bedded slaty limestone, which is supposed to represent that somewhat later age, called Lower Helderberg. This closed the Silurian age of the earth, so called because these formations were first observed near the home of those ancient Britons, the Silures, in Wales. During this age there had been no great disturbance of the earth's surface here. Our Wisconsin island was gradually emerging from the ocean and increasing its size by concentric belts of limestone, sandstone and shale. This region of the earth's crust slowly bulged up enough to bring about all of the territory of our state above the ocean. Then at
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