The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Part 35

Author: Wesern historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 899

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The act of congress for the admission of the state into the Union gave formal assent to the

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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

grant relative to the Fox and Wisconsin river improvement, and the lands reserved to the United States by said grant, and also the grant to the territory of Wisconsin, for the purpose of aiding in opening a canal to connect the waters of Lake Michigan with those of Rock river, were to be offered for sale at the same minimum price, and subject to the same rights of pre-emption as other public lands of the United States.

By the provisions of the state constitution, the secretary of state, the state treasurer and attorney-general, were constituted a board of commissioners for the sale of the school and university lands, and for the investment of the funds arising therefrom. In the year 1850 the commissioners put into market, for the first time, the school lands which had been donated to the state. The total quantity of lands offered was 148,021, 44-100 acres, which sold for the sum of $444,265.19.

By an act of congress, approved September 4, 1841, there were granted to the state 500,000 acres of land, which were, by act of the territorial legislature of 1849, appropriated to the school fund, and the unsold lands of the Milwaukee and Rock river canal company, amounting to about 140,000 acres, were to be included as a part of the above grant. These lands, and the sixteenth section of each township, make up the whole of the school lands of the state. The whole number of acres sold up to the year 1877 is 1,243,984 acres, and there remain unsold, subject to entry, 216,016 acres.

The state university land grant was made in 1838, and seventy-two sections set apart and reserved. The lands were selected in 1845 and 1846. On the 15th of December, 1854, an act of congress was approved, relinquishing to the state the lands reserved for the salt-springs, and seventy-two sections were granted in lieu thereof, in aid of the university of the state The number of acres amounts to 92,160, all of which have been sold except 4,407 acres, which are subject to entry. Under the re-organization and enlargement of the university, under provisions of chapter 114, of general laws of 1866, section thirteen provides, among other things, that the income of a fund to be derived from the sales of the two hundred and forty thousand acres, granted by congress by act approved July 2, 1862, entitled : " An act donating lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and mechanic arts," be devoted to the state university, and the funds arising therefrom to be known as the " agricultural college fund." All of the grant of lands have been sold except 51,635 acres. The quantity of lands donated by act of congress August 6, 1846, for the purpose of completing or erecting public buildings at the seat of government, known as "Capitol Lands," amounted to ten entire sections, or six thousand four hundred acres. A grant of lands was made to the state by act of congress, approved September 28, 1850, of all the swamp and overflowed lands within its limits. The total number of acres of this grant, as certified to the state from the government, to the year 1877, is 1,869,677.

A grant of land was made by congress, approved March 3, 1863, for the construction of a military road from Fort Wilkins, Michigan, to Fort Howard, Wisconsin, of every alternate section of public lands, designated by even numbers for three sections in width on each side of said road, and subject to the disposal of the legislature. In 1865 sales of land were made to the number of 85,961.89 acres, which realized the sum of $114,856.54.

An act of congress was approved June 25, 1864, granting lands to the state to build a military road from Wausau, Wisconsin, to Ontonagon, on Lake Superior, of every alternate section of land designated as odd sections, for three sections in width on each side of the road. The grant was accepted by the state by law, approved April 10, 1865.

An act was also passed by congress, approved April 10, 1866, granting to the state of Wis- consin a donation of public lands to aid in the construction of a breakwater and harbor and ship

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THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

canal at the head of Sturgeon bay, Wis., to connect the waters of Green bay with Lake Michigan. The grant was for 200,000 acres of land. The grant was accepted by the legislature of 1868. In 1874, the same body by resolution transferred to the Sturgeon bay and Lake Michigan ship canal and harbor company 32,342 acres, and the remaining portion was authorized to be sold for agri- cultural purposes by said company.

The first railroad grant in Wisconsin was by act of congress, approved June 3, 1856, by the first section of which there was granted to the state, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of a railroad from Madison or Columbus, by the way of Portage City, to the St. Croix river or lake, between townships twenty-five and thirty-one, and from thence to the west end of Lake Superior and to Bayfield ; and from Fond du Lac, on Lake Winnebago, northerly to the state line,. every alternate section of land designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width on each side: of said roads, respectively; the land to be applied exclusively in the construction of said roads,. and to no other purpose whatever, and subject to the disposal of the legislature, and the same. shall remain public highways for the use of the government, free from toll and other charges. upon the transportation of property or troops of the United States, with other conditions as to. the disposal of said lands.

The grant was accepted by the legislature by an act approved October 8, 1856, and on the IIth of the same month an act was approved granting a portion of the lands to the La Crosse & Mississippi railroad company, who were to carry out all the requirements of the original grant. A supplementary act was approved the same session, October 13, incorporating the Wisconsin & Superior railroad, which company was required to commence the construction of their road on. or before January 1, 1857, and to complete the same to Oshkosh before August 1, 1858. Of this land grant John W. Cary says: "That portion of the grant given to aid in the construction of a railroad northerly to the state line was conferred on the Wisconsin & Superior railroad company. This company was organized in the interest of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac railroad company, and that part of the grant was transferred to it. The road was, in 1859, extended to Oshkosh, and thence to Menasha, and finally to Green Bay. In the panic of 1857, the company failed to meet its obligations, but was afterward enabled to go on, and continued in possession until June 2, 1859, when its road was sold on the foreclosures of the mortgages given thereon ; and on the sixth of the same month the present Chicago & Northwestern railroad company was organized under the statute, by purchasers at said sale, and took possession."

A large portion of the original grant was given for the construction of a road from Madison Or Columbus to the St. Croix river, as before stated. The La Crosse company, during the years 1 857 and 1858, completed its main line to La Crosse; the Watertown line, from Watertown to Columbus, and partially graded the line from Madison to Portage City. Neither it nor its suc- Cessors ever received any part of the lands of the land grant.

In 1856 and 1857, the La Crosse & Milwaukee railroad graded most of the line from Madi- son to Portage. After the failure of the company, this line was abandoned, and so remaincd! Until 1870, when a new company was organized, under the name of the Madison & Portage City railroad company. In 1873, an act was passed chartering the Tomah & Lake St. Croix railroad Company, and repealing and annulling that portion of the land grant which bestowed the lands from Tomah to Lake St. Croix upon the La Crosse company, and bestowing the same upon the Company chartered by this act. This road is known as the West Wisconsin railroad.

An act of congress was approved May 5, 1864, granting lands to aid in the construction of Certain roads in the state. This was a re-enactment of the law of 1856, and divided the grant in three sections, one of which was for a road from a point on the St. Croix river or lake, between

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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

townships twenty-five and thirty-one, to the west end of Lake Superior, and from some point on the line of said road, to be selected by the state, to Bayfield - every alternate section designated by odd numbers, for ten sections in width on each side of said road, with an indemnity extending twenty miles on each side, was granted, under certain regulations ; another, for aiding in building a road from Tomah to the St. Croix river, between townships twenty-five and thirty-one - every alternate section by odd numbers, for ten sections in width on each side of the road; another for aiding and constructing a railroad from Portage City, Berlin, Doty's Island, or Fond du Lac, as the legislature may determine, in a northwestern direction, to Bayfield, on Lake Superior, and a grant of every alternate section designated by odd numbers, for ten sections in width on each side of said road, was donated.

The legislature of 1865 failed to agree upon a disposition of the grant. The succeeding legislature conferred the grant partly upon the "Winnebago & Lake Superior Railroad Company," and partly upon the " Portage & Superior Railroad Company," the former April 6, 1866, and the latter April 9, 1866. The two companies were consolidated, under the name of the "Portage, Winnebago & Superior Railroad," by act of the legislature, March 6, 1869, and by act of legis- lature approved February 4, 1871, the name was changed to the "Wisconsin Central Railroad."

HEALTH OF WISCONSIN. BY JOSEPH HOBBINS, M.D.

An article on state health, necessarily embracing the etiology, or causes of disease, involves the discussion of the geographical position of the state; its area, physical features; its elevations, depressions; water supply; drainage; its mean level above the sea; its geology; climatology; the nationality of its people; their occupations, habits, food, education; and, indeed, of all the physical, moral and mental influences which affect the public health.

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.

The geographical position of Wisconsin, considered in relation to health, conveys an imme- diate and favorable impression, which is at once confirmed by a reference to the statistical atlas of the United States. On its north it is bounded by Lake Superior, Minnesota, and the northern peninsula of Michigan; on the south by Illinois; on the east by Lake Michigan, and on the west by the Mississippi. It lies between 42° 30' and 46° 55' N. latitude, and between 87º and 92° 50' W. long .; is 285 miles long from north to south, and 255 in breadth from east to west, giving it an area of some 53,924 square miles, or 34,511,360 acres. Its natural surface divisions, or proportions, are 16 per cent. of prairie, 50 of timber, 19 of openings, 15 of marsh, mineral undefined. North of 45° the surface is nearly covered with vast forests of pine. The proportion of the state cultivated is nearly one-sixth.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

Among these, its lacustrine character is most conspicuous, so much so that it may not inaptly be called the state of a thousand lakes, its smaller ones being almost universal and innumerable.

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HEALTH OF WISCONSIN.

It has an almost artificially perfect arrangement of its larger rivers, both for supply and drainage, is rolling in its surface, having several dividing ridges or water sheds, and varies from 600 to 1,600 feet above the level of the sea, Blue Mounds being 1,729 feet above sea level. Its pine and thickly wooded lands are being rapidly denuded, and to some extent converted to agricultural purposes; its marshes in the north are being reclaimed for cranberry cultivation, and in the more thickly settled parts of the state for hay purposes. The surface of the state is beautifully diver- sified with stream, waterfall and rapids; richly wooded bluffs several hundred feet in height, assuming the most romantic and pleasing forms, and composed of sandstone, magnesian limestone, granite, trap, etc. The health and summer resorts of Wisconsin are illustrative of its beauty, and its numerous mineral springs have long since formed an important feature of its character for salubrity.

GEOLOGY.

The geology of Wisconsin does not require from us but a very general notice, as it is only from its relation to disease that we have to consider it. This relation is in a measure apparent in the fact that everywhere the topographical features are governed by the strata below them. The relationship will be seen still further in the chemical or sanitary influence of the geological structures. Through the greater part of the south half of the state limestone is found, the cliff prevailing in the mineral region, and the blue in the other parts; while in the north part of the state the primitive rocks, granite, slate, and sandstone prevail. South of the Wisconsin river sandstone in layers of limestone, forming the most picturesque bluffs, abounds. While west of Lake Michigan extends up to these rocks the limestone formation, being rich in timber or prairie land. Sandstone is found underneath the blue limestone. The general dip of the stratified rocks of the state is toward the south, about 8 feet to the mile.

Medical geology treats of geology so far only as it affects health. Thus, some diluvial soils and sands are known to be productive of malarial fevers; others, of a clayey character, retaining water, are productive of cold damp, and give rise to pulmonary and inflammatory diseases; while others still, being very porous, are promotive of a dry and equable atmosphere. In the Potsdam rocks arise our purest waters and best supply, while our magnesian limestone rocks- (a good quality of this kind of rock being composed of nearly equal parts of carbonate of lime: and carbonate of magnesia) affect the water to the extent of producing simple diarrhoea in those unaccustomed to drinking it, as is observed in southern visitors, and was especially noticeable. in the rebel prisoners at Camp Randall, though singularly enough do not seem to produce stone and gravel, as is alleged of the same kind of water in the north of England. Why this is- so-if so-is a question of some interest. Goitre and cretinism are both attributed to the use of the same magnesian limestone water. Goitre is by no means an uncommon affection here, but not common enough, perhaps, to warrant us in thinking its special cause is in the water. Boiling the water is a preventive of all injurious effects. There is still another objection - partic- ularly applicable to cities-to this kind of water, the carbonates of lime and magnesia which it contains, not simply making it hard, but giving it the power to promote the decomposition of organic matters, and thus where the soil is sandy or porous, endangering the purity of our well- water. Geology in general affects all our soils and their products; all our drainage; even our architecture, the material with which we build. Our building stone for half of the state is a magnesian limestone, a rather soft or poor quality of which will absorb one-third of its bulk of. water, or two and a half gallons to the cubic foot, while most kinds of sandstone are nearly as porous as loose sand, and in some of them the penetrability for air and water is the same. (A single brick of poor quality will absorb a pint of water). Such materials used in the construction

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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.

of our dwellings, without precautionary measures, give rise to rheumatism, other grave diseases, and loss of strength. Besides, this character of stone absorbs readily all kinds of liquid and gaseous impurities, and though hardening in dry air, decays soon when exposed to underground moisture. The material of which our roads are made, as well as the kind of fuel we use in our homes, have the same unquestionable relationship to geology and disease.

DRAINAGE.

The natural drainage of the state, bearing in mind that the mean elevation of its hydro- graphical axis is about 1,000 feet above the sea level, is as excellent as it is obvious. (A line running from Lake Michigan across the state to the Mississippi, shows an elevation of about 500 feet). North its drainage is by a few rapid but insignificant streams into Lake Superior, while .east it increases greatly and enters Lake Michigan by way of Green bay. The principal part of the supply and drainage, however, is from the extreme north to the southwest through the center of the state, by five large rivers, which empty themselves into the Mississippi at almost equal distances from each other.

CLIMATOLOGY.

The climatology of Wisconsin will be exhibited in the observations taken at different times, for longer or shorter periods, and at different points of the state. But it must be borne in mind that climate depends quite as much and very frequently more upon the physical surroundings, upon the presence of large bodies of water, like our lakes, upon large forests, like our pineries, like our heavy hard-woods, and of land elevations and depressions, upon isothermal lines, etc., as .it does upon latitude. Our historic period is of a character too brief for us to assume to speak of our climate, or of all the changing causes which influence it -in a positive manner, our horticultural writers, to make the difficulty still greater, affirming that it has several climates within itself ; still, sufficient data have been gathered from sufficiently reliable sources to enable us to form a tolerably accurate idea of the subject.

The great modifiers of our climate are our lakes. These, bounding as they do, the one, Lake Superior (600 feet above the level of the sea, 420 miles long and 160 broad), on the north side of the state, and the other, Lake Michigan (578 feet above the sea level, 320 miles long and 84 broad), on the east side of the state, serve to govern the range of the thermometer and the mean temperature of the seasons, as much as they are governed in New England by the ocean. Our climate is consequently very much like that of the New England sea-board. They both exhibit the same extremes and great extremes, have the same broadly marked continental features at some seasons, and decided tropical features at others. It is of special interest in this con- nection to know that the climate between the eastern coast and the lakes increases in rigor as one advances west until the lakes are reached, and again becomes still more rigorous as one advances into the interior west of the lakes, thus affording proof, if proof were wanting, of the modifying and agreeable influences of large bodies of water

During the winter the mean temperature of the east on the New England coast is 8.38 higher than the west (beyond the lakes); during the spring 3.53 lower ; during the summer 6.99 lower; and during the autumn 1.54 higher. In the mean temperature for the year there is but a fractional difference. That the winters are less rigorous and the summers more temperate on the Great Lakes is demonstrated to be owing not to elevation, but, as on the ocean, to the equal- izing agency of an expanse of water.

On the lakes the annual ratio of fair days is 117, and on the New England coast 215; the

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HEALTH OF WISCONSIN.

cloudy days are as 127 to 73; the rainy as 63 to 46 , and the snowy as 45 to 29 In the former the prevailing weather is cloudy, and in the latter it is fair. The immense forests on the upper lake shores of course exercise a considerable influence in the modification of our temperature, as well as in the adding to our rain-fall and cloudy days. A climate of this character, with its attendant rains, gives us that with which we are so abundantly supplied, great variety of food, both for man and beast, the choicest kinds of fruits and vegetables in the greatest profusion, and of the best quality, streams alive with fish, woods and prairies with game, the noblest trees, the most exquisite flowers, and the best breeds of domestic animals the world can boast of.

The semi-tropical character of our summer, and its resemblance to that of New England, is shown by the mean temperature - 70° - for three months at Salem, Massachusetts, at Albany, New York, at southern Wisconsin, Fort Snelling and Fort Benton on the Upper Missouri, being the same ; while at Baltimore, Cincinnati and St. Louis, it is 75", and around the gulf of Mexico it is 80º. Another feature of our climate is worthy the notice of invalids and of those who make the thermometer their guide for comfort. It is a well-ascertained fact that during the colder seasons the lake country is not only relatively, but positively, warmer than places far south of it. The thermometer, during the severe cold of January, 1856, did not fall so low at the coldest, by 10º to 15° at Lake Superior as at Chicago at the same time. This remark holds true of the changes of all periods of duration, even if continued over a month. The mean temperature at Fort Howard, Green Bay, Wisconsin, 600 feet above the level of the Atlantic, latitude 44º 40', longitude 87°, observations for nine years, is 44.93 ; and at Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, 580 feet above the level of the Atlantic, latitude 43º 3', longitude 90" 53', observa- tions for four years, is 45.65, giving a just idea of our mean temperature for the state. Under the head of distribution of heat in winter, it is found that the maximum winter range at Fort Winnebago, Wisconsin, for sixteen years, is 9.4.

HYETAL or RAIN CHARACTER.

Wisconsin is situated within what is termed the area of constant precipitation, neither affected ·by a rainy season, nor by a partial dry season. The annual quantity of rain on an average for three years at Fort Crawford, was 29.54 inches, and at Fort Howard the mean annual on an average of four years, was 38.83 inches. The annual quantity of rain, on an average of three years was 31.88 inches at Fort Winnebago, situate (opposite the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers) 80 miles west of Lake Michigan and 112 miles southwest of Green Bay. The rain-fall is less in the lake district than in the valley of the Mississippi in the same latitudes. One of the peculiarities of our winters is the almost periodical rain-fall of a few days in the middle of the winter (usually in the middle of January), which extends to the Atlantic coast, while north and northwest of us the dry cold continues without a break, winter being uniform and severe, characterized by aridity and steady low temperature. Another peculiarity of our climate is, the number of snowy and rainy days is increased disproportionately to the actual quantity - the large bodies of water on the boundaries of the state, contrary to the popular opinion, reduc- ing the annual quantity of rain in their immediate vicinity instead of adding to it, the heavier precipitation being carried further away. One of the most pleasing features of our climate is its frequent succession of showers in summer, tempering as it does our semi-tropical heat, increasing the fertility of the soil, and carpeting our prairies with a green as grateful to the eye as that of England.

The hygrometric condition of Wisconsin may be judged of with proximate accuracy by that given of Poultney, Iowa :

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HISTORY OF WISCONSIN

Day.

of Air. Temperature Temperature of Evaporat'n

Humidity, per cent.

Day.

Temperature Temperature of Air.

of Evaporat'n

Humidity, per cent.

10th

78°

19:h

94º

81º

II.

55 18

12.

21.

13.

29.

30.

3.4

The average depth of snow for three years, at Beloit, Wisconsin, was twenty-five inches while at Oxford county, Maine, the average for twelve years was ninety inches. The isohyetass lines of the mean precipitation of rain and melted snow, for the year 1872, show that of Wiscon sin to be thirty-two.

ISOTHERMS.

The mean temperature of spring is represented by the isotherm of 45º F. which enters Wiszas. consin from the west about forty miles south of Hudson, passing in a nearly southeast direction_1, and crosses the south line of the state near the west line of Walworth county. It then passes nearly around the head of Lake Michigan, then northeast until it reaches the latitude of Milwaukee whence it passes in a somewhat irregular course east through Ontario, New York, and Massa chusetts, entering the ocean in the vicinity of Boston. The summer mean isotherm of 70º F_ enters Wisconsin from the west but little farther north than the spring isotherm, and passes through the state nearly parallel with the course of that line, crossing the southern boundary near the east line of Walworth county ; passing through Chicago it goes in a direction a little south of east, and enters the Atlantic at New Haven. The mean isotherm of 47° F. for autumn, enters the state about twenty miles north of Prairie du Chien, passing in a direction a little north of east through Portage, and enters Lake Michigan near Manitowoc. The isotherm of 20º F. representing the mean temperature of winter, enters the state near Prairie du Chien, passes east and north and enters Lake Michigan at Sturgeon bay. The annual mean temperature is repre- sented by the isotherm of 45º F. which enters the state near Prairie du Chien, passes across the. state in a direction a little south of east, and enters Lake Michigan a little south of Milwaukee.

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The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Part 35

Author: Wesern historical company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co. Number of Pages: 899

Author: Wesern historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 899