The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc, Part 47

Author: Western Historical Co., pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1050

USA > Wisconsin > Waukesha County > The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc > Part 47

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

three more ponderous northern members that lie, like it, between the Mayville and Racine horizons."

This incongruity of names as well as of descriptions of the same or similar formations in different localities, makes it exceedingly difficult to clearly and properly describe, in general terms, the formations that appear at any given locality, so the untrained reader can understand them.

Following is a popular description of what is not the occult geology of Waukesha, written by the late Dr. Increase A. Lapham, when he was State Geologist, to C. C. Olin :

" In reply to your request for a statement of the geological features to be found at and around Waukesha, and of the character of the rocks out of which at least some of the numer- ous springs having medical virtues issue, I have to say that these rocks are limestones of the Niagara group (Upper Silurian), so called because they are of the same age or period as those over which the water falls at Niagara. No other rocks are found in their natural bed at Wau- kesha. They occur in two very distinct varieties ; the lower, compact and evenly bedded is very much used for building and as flagstones for sidewalks ; the upper, more irregularly bedded, is quarried chiefly for the manufacture of quicklime, and corresponds in many particulars with the limestone found at Racine. The first has been named Waukesha limestone, and is generally known under that name. The long, jointed fossil, so common at Waukesha, often seen in the flagging of the sidewalks, is not a petrified snake as many suppose, but a very old marine chambered shell, like the modern nautilus, except that it is straight instead of coiled.

"These, like all other limestones, are marine deposits, as is clearly evinced by the shells and corals so abundantly found in the quarries. Hence we come to the strange conclusion that Waukesha was in the old Silurian times the bottom of the sea. Limestones are formed by the deposition of soft calcareous mud upon the sea bottom, which cannot be free from the salts con- tained in the sea water. These salts have remained dormant until the present time, when they are gradually being re-dissolved and carried away by the ever-flowing springs. Visitors will find many curious relics of this old ocean by an occasional visit to the several stone quarries.

" The limestones at Waukesha contain a large proportion of magnesia; so large, that they may properly be called by their mineralogical name of dolomite, instead of limestone. Spring water, while percolating through the rocks, contains free carbonic acid, which seems to give it the power to soften and dissolve this dolomite; and to this source we must attribute the carbonates of lime and magnesia found in the Waukesha waters; and also the soft white grains found bubbling up from the bottom of the springs.

" An examination of any of the quarries will show that the limestones have been subjected to movements of elevation at some very remote time, causing numerous crevices, by which they are divided into large squares or irregular cubical blocks. These crevices afford passages through which rain water, falling upon the surface, penetrates to great depths, only to be returned in the form of springs, charged with the various mineral substances taken up during its passage through the rocks. The uniformity of temperature of the springs, winter and sum- mer, shows that their sources are deep in the ground, being below the level to which the changes of the seasons affect the temperature of the earth.

" Those who are even slightly posted in modern geological science will know that the Niagara limestones at Waukesha belong far down in the geological scale, and far back in the order of time. When they were deposited, no animal of the vertebrate branch had yet appeared upon the face of the earth, and no plants of higher organization than the humble seaweed; the . fishes of the Devonian, the tree-ferns of the coal period, the reptile of the middle ages, had not yet been brought into existence. There were then no Rocky Mountains, no Alleghanies, no Mississippi River.

"Such facts may give the numerous visitors to your springs some idea of the great age of the rocks around them, whose dissolution is now giving health and strength to their enfeebled constitutions.

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" Above the limestones around Waukesha, there is a layer of drift, either in its original condition as left by the old ' continental glaciers,' when our country had the climate of Green- land, or in a condition modified by subsequent causes. These glaciers left their marks upon the surface of the rocks precisely like the grooves and scratches of the glaciers of the Alps. The grooves show that the motion of the glaciers was toward the southwest, or down the valley of the river. In the beds of this drift are found pebbles and bowlders of nearly all the different kinds and qualities of rocks ; and we may suppose that they also, by their decay and solution, aid in supplying the mineral ingredients of the Waukesha Springs.

" Remains of coniferous wood have been found in digging wells near Waukesha at great depth below the surface ; and the discovery of a tooth of the fossil elephant (mammoth) has shown that at one time the woods and prairies around were enlivened by that uncouth animal.

"Next following the now long extinct mammoth and mastodon, were an ancient race of men, almost as strange, and about whom as little is known. The 'turtle mound' (now destroyed) left by them near the site of the court house, was one of the first of those strange animal-shaped earthworks to attract the attention of the curious. Implements of stone and cop- per with remains of pottery further attest the former existence of these people, and give but a faint knowledge of their habits.

" Accumulations of marl and peat are found under the larger marshes, which have been formed in modern times-indeed are still in process of formation.

"We have, then, at Waukesha, as matters of geological interest: 1st .- The Waukesha Limestone. 2d .- The Racine Limestone belonging to the Niagara Group of Silurian Age. 3d .- The Glacial Drift. 4th .- The Modified Drift. 5th .- The age of Mammoths and Masto- dons ; and, 6th .- The age of pre-historic man ; each a fruitful subject for study by the thought- ful-each affording opportunities for investigation and elucidation."

STONE QUARRIES AND LIMEKILNS.

The cheapness with which buildings have always been erected in Waukesha County, as well as their substantial character, is owing to the abundance and excellence of the stone which is quarried at almost every desirable point. The oldest structure of stone in the county-the old Prairieville Academy building-still retains its original clear, bluish color. When dressed, Wau- kesha stone, as it is. popularly termed, makes an exceedingly fine-appearing building. It is a close-textured, light-colored magnesian stone, of which many of the business blocks and private residences at the county seat are constructed. At the village of Waukesha there are three classes of limestone. The upper layers of the quarry near Carroll College consist of a soft, coarse dolomite, corresponding with the Racine limestone, under which are the hard, compact, and crystalline blocks of building stone of which the Fountain Spring House is constructed. West of the river and above the village is found a mottled stone of blue and white in addition to the two classes already mentioned. All the quarries at Waukesha, now being worked, belong to the Messrs. Hadfield.

The large group of buildings used for the workshops and accommodation of the Wisconsin Industrial School for Boys is built of Waukesha limestone ; and the balance of the best buildings in the county are of that material. The durability of this building stone, so far as experience has proven, will be almost infinite, and the supply is practically inexhaustible.

The principal quarries of these kinds of stone are Hinckley's in the town of Eagle, Hun- ter's in Ottawa, Audley & Graham's and Robert's in Delafield, Johnson's in Genesee, Ross & Cairncross' and Ormsby Brothers' in Pewaukee, Colville & Ormsby's, Gray's, Davidson's and Caldwell's in Lisbon, and Saunders' and Howard's in Menomonee.

The first stone quarry ever worked in Waukesha County was opened in the early spring of 1840 by Lyman Goodnow. The land in which the stone was noticed was leased by him from Morris D. Cutler, in the village of Waukesha, and the first stone taken out was used in building the old Prairieville Academy that same spring. The work was prosecuted in the top layers, but

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

the product of even that portion of the quarries proved so compact and hard that from that day the fame of Waukesha limestone was firmly established.

The first limekiln to burn lime for sale, in Waukesha County, was opened by Lyman Good- now, as soon as the snow left in 1840. At first the product was sold only in the immediate vicinity, but now Waukesha County lime is sold extensively in Chicago and in States west of Wisconsin, notwithstanding the cost of transportation, on account of the marked excellence of the article. There are kilns at almost every important stone quarry, and an analysis of their products shows that when properly burned, Waukesha lime is almost pure oxide of calcium. It is the whitest and strongest lime in the market.

RIVERS.

The watershed of Waukesha County is somewhat peculiar. Its streams flow into both the Mississippi and St. Lawrence basins. The sources of most of its rivers and streams being principally within its limits, they must necessarily be small. They are of great importance, however, furnishing, as they do, fish, admirable systems of drainage to lakes and marshes, an abundant supply of good water where there are no marshes and lakes, and water-powers of con- siderable value.

Fox River .- This is the principal stream of the county, in which the head-waters of its main branches take their rise. Originally it was called Pishtaka, a name erroneously supposed to have been given to the stream by " the Indians." This stream has branches in twelve of the sixteen towns in the county ; and although its general course is south and southeast to the Mississippi River, into which it empties, it flows in every conceivable direction before leaving the county, on Section 34, in the town of Vernon. It enters that town from the north; flows across and out of it in a southwesterly direction, enters again from the west and flows almost entirely across to Muskego in an easterly direction, and then flows out in a southwesterly direction, thus affording an opportunity for almost every resident of the town to have a farm or a house on its banks. The Fox is not a large river and is generally sluggish, affording but few water-powers, and those with but little fall. Its waters drive mills at Waukesha, Powaukee and Section 26, town of Pewaukee. One of its principal branches takes its rise in Pewaukee Lake; another in New Berlin, and another in Genesee. All the old settlers agree that the Fox River is but little more than half as large as it was in 1835. Its size then indicated the possibility of an unlimited water-power.

Poplar Creek .- This is a branch of the Fox River, which takes its rise on Section 21, town of New Berlin ; flows north into Brookfield ; southwest into Pewaukee, in which, on Sec- tion 21, it empties into the Fox. The stream is much smaller now than when the county was first settled. It is fed mostly by springs. The early settlers testify that when they first knew Poplar Creek, so named from the poplar trees along its banks, it contained trout; but this was probably a mistake. At least it contains no trout now.

Bark River .- The most remote head-waters of this stream have their source in Washing- ton County ; but by far the larger portion of its volume is furnished by the astonishing number, size and character of the lakes and springs in three of the northwest towns of the county, Merton, Delafield and Summit. Its bed lies in Lisbon, Merton, Delafield, Summit and Ottawa. On Section 6, of Ottawa, the Bark River crosses into Jefferson County, flowing west, in which it empties into Rock River, at Fort Atkinson. It affords several good water-powers, mostly by damming the outlets of the lakes through which it flows.

Oconomowoc River .- This stream averages next in size to the Fox River in Waukesha County. North Lake, in the town of Merton, is its principal source, though two streams-one of them large enough to drive a mill, flow into North Lake from the southern portion of Wash- ington County. This branch rises in Section 19, town of Polk, in Washington County. At the outlet of Okauchee Lake, and in the city of Oconomowoc, this stream furnishes good water- powers. Chas. B. Sheldon remembers that Oconomowoc River is not much more than one-half

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as large as it was forty years ago, and does not contain, with the lake through which it passes, one-half as many fish. The stream is fed by springs and spring lakes.

Mukwonago River .- This creek, more properly speaking, takes its rise partly in Wal- worth County, in the south, but mostly in the towns of Eagle and Mukwonago, the north branch rising near the line of Section 1, in the former, and Section 6, in the latter. The stream turns a mill in Section 36, of Eagle; furnishes good water-power at the village of Mukwonago, and empties into the Fox River on Section 30, in Vernon.

Menomonee River .- One branch of this stream takes its rise in Washington County and flows southeast through Menomonee, while another rises in Brookfield and Menomonee. The river flows nearly east, emptying into the Milwaukee River at Milwaukee. It is a small stream in Waukesha County. At Menomonee Falls the river has cut through high banks of limestone, where also it has a fall of fifty feet in a half-mile of distance, affording a good water-power.

Ashippun River .- This little creek, the outlet of a small lake of the same name, in the town of Oconomowoc, rises mostly in Dodge County. It crosses the northwest corner of the town just named and soon commingles with the Rock River, in Jefferson County.

Muskego Creek .- This is the outlet of Muskego Lake, in the town of the same name, though the lake has several feeders which rise in New Berlin. It is finally a confluent of the Fox, into which it empties at Rochester, Racine County.

Root River .- The head-waters of this river take their rise in New Berlin, but a few rods from those of Poplar Creek, and other branches of the Fox. The Root empties into Lake Michigan at Racine. One of its branches joins a creek which flows into Muskego Lake, and at one point it is difficult to tell which way its waters flow.

LAKES.

To the casual observer, no matter whether hc be hastening through the county on business, wandering in search of health, or roaming in quest of nature's rarest embellish- ment of earth, the most remarkable feature of Waukesha County is its wonderful lacustrine system. The number, character and beauty of her lakes astonish all. They are mostly, with- out doubt, the deep bowls formed by the glacial movements of bygone ages filled by numer- ous springs. Some of them have neither inlets nor outlets, except such springs as can be seen boiling np through their gravelly bottoms, and which keep the water at a certain depth, no matter how rapidly evaporation takes place. All of these quaternary lakelets abound in black, rock, green and strawberry bass, perch, sunfish, pickerel and other fish, as well as all the water-fowl common to Southern Wisconsin ; and a dozen or more of them have large summer hotels, costly residences and scores of summer cottages of numerous fantastic designs overlook- ing their clear depths.

There are sixty-three lakes in the county, the greater number of which belong to its north- west quarter-the towns of Oconomowoc, Delafield, Summit and Merton.

Muskego Lake .- This body of water is the largest in the county-contains a few more square rods than any other, though Pewaukee Lake has generally been supposed to be larger. It lies in the town of Muskego ; has fewer bays, more irregular shores than any other of the larger lakes, and has much the appearance of being, so far as its basin is concerned, the direct result of the glacial movement. It is about four miles in length, two miles in width and eleven in cir- cumference, and contains 3,165 acres-nearly five sections. Its outlet is Muskego Creek, which flows into the Fox River at Rochester, Racine Co., Wis.

Pewaukee Lake .- This is a noted as well as exceedingly beautiful sheet of water. As near as can be measured, one-half of it lies in the town of Pewaukee-the town taking its name from the lake-and the other half in the town of Delafield. It is nearly ten times as long as wide ; has high but not precipitous banks most beautifully wooded, and deep, clear, cool water. It was formerly called Snail Lake, but this slimy and common-place term was long since dropped. This was a ridiculous name, as the shells on the shore of the lake, whence the term arose, are

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not snail shells. The lake covers about three and one-half sections and has a coast-line of eleven and one-sixth miles. Before the erection of the dam for mill purposes at Pewaukee Village, the lake was a trifle less than four and one-half miles in length ; now it is a trifle more than that. Its depth is fifty feet ; its elevation above Lake Michigan is 263 feet, and its outlet discharges, on an average, 300 cubic feet of water per minute, which is supplied by springs. Dr. I. A. Lapham wrote in 1843: " Around this lake, at many places, as well as other lakes in Wiscon- sin, may be observed a singular wall of round stones or bowlders, laid up with such regularity as to suggest that it was the work of art. A little further observation, however, will show that these walls were made by the expansion of the ice during the winter, which has a tendency to push the bowlders up the shore. The sandy ridges around some of the lakes were formed in the same way."

La Belle Lake .- This, " the beautiful lake," is the lowest and largest of what is termed the Oconomowoc group of lakes. It is in the southwestern portion of the town of Oconomowoc; two and one-half miles in length ; occupies an area of about one thousand three hundred acres, and is six and one-fourth miles in circumference. The Rock River is only twenty-five feet below this lake and 500 rods west of it. Long Island, the largest in La Belle Lake, is a beautiful place. The lake is comparatively shallow ; 273 feet above Lake Michigan, and filled with springs. Some are small, but several are very large, and keep the water cool in summer, and so warm in winter that ice never forms over where they hoil up, during even the coldest weather. The shores of La Belle Lake probably have more summer residences than those of any other lake in the county.

Nagawicka Lake .- This is a beautiful sheet of water, 304 feet above Lake Michigan ; two and one-fourth miles in length ; five and one-fourth miles in circumference, and containing about seven hundred acres. Its outlet is Bark River, which also flows into it. A dam built at Dela- field for a grist-mill raised this lake several feet. It is the largest lake in Delafield, and con- tains a high and attractive island.

Okauchee Lake .- This irregular body of water is partly in Oconomowoc and partly in Merton ; contains 957 acres of surface ; is 52 miles in circumference and is fed and drained by Oconomowoc River. A dam, built for a water-power, raised the lake several feet.

Oconomowoc Lake .- This lake, lying in the town of Summit, near the north line, is 282 feet above Lake Michigan ; contains 750 acres, and has a circumference of 63 miles. It is not very deep and by some is considered an enlargement of Oconomowoc River, which flows through it.

Pine Lake .- Originally this was called Chenequa Lake, signifying pine, on account of the existence of a few pine-trees on the small island in it. The outlet of Beaver Lake empties into it, and thence flows into North Lake. Its area is nearly 700 acres, lying mostly in the south part of the town of Merton.

Twin Lakes .- The Indian name of these two hill-bound lakelets is Nee-sho-tah, now spelled Nashotah, or twins, which is still the proper term by which to designate them on the maps. They are situated in the east portion of the town of Summit, and have become famous as the seat of the Episcopal college, called Nashotah House, which was established at a very early day. Their shores are high, thickly wooded, and as beautiful as nature could make them.

Other Lakes .- Not all of the fifty-four other lakes in Waukesha County have been honored with names. There are, however, Denoon and Little Muskego in Muskego ; Mukwonago, lying mostly in the town of the same name; School Section and Pretty Lakes in Ottawa ; Mud, Golden, Silver, Duck, Egg, Genesee, Crooked and Nehmabin in Summit ; Ashippun and Fowler in Oconomowoc ; Mouse, Beaver, North, Mud and Keesns in Merton. This leaves forty-three lakelets scattered over the county, many of them with only an outlet, and some with neither outlet nor inlet, which have not been named; or, if they have been, their names have not become generally known, or cut upon the maps.

So far as known, no county in the United States of the same, or even larger size, has such a remarkable lake record as Waukesha.

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HISTORY OF WAUKESHA COUNTY.

In his article on the lacustrine system of Wisconsin, State Geologist Chamberlain said : " Muskego, Wind (in Racine County,) and several smaller lakes associated with them, bear evidence of having formerly constituted parts of a much more extended body of water, which leveled by erosion and deposition the original uneven surface in their vicinity, so that its primi- tive drift features disappeared, and with them the corresponding features of those lakes. They, therefore, do not now present those features common to the majority of the others. There are other evidences that the southeastern portion of the county was once covered, at a period com- paratively recent, with a fresh-water lake."

The "Oconomowoc chain " comprises the most remarkable group of lakes in Wisconsin. Their number is about forty, and their beds, together with the surrounding land, except perhaps a few bluffs which were islands, constituted the bed of a large lake immediately, and for ages, after the glacial epoch. To the action of their waters, no doubt, is due the level character of the country about Oconomowoc.

WATER .POWERS.

The close observer will conclude, from present indications, that water-powers in Waukesha County have more of a past than a future. Concerning volume of water in all her streams, from the spring's bubbling outlet to the Fox River, this is true. The marshes have been ditched and plowed; ponds drained, and various changes have been wrought by man during the last forty years, which have diminished the available flow of water-power streams. This is indeed unfor- tunate, not only for the producers of food and wood and wool, but for the cities and consumers of the county. There would have been no Waukesha Village (so those who first entered the land on which it stands, declare to-day), had there been no rapids in the Fox River at that point, out of which a water-power might be built. But Waukesha has been compelled to live and thrive independent of the aid which the original owners of the place calculated would be suffi- cient to build up a goodly city, and maintain it in prosperity ; for the Fox River at Waukesha drives one flouring-mill, and nothing else. There are no great water-powers in this county, but the shrewd Eastern mechanic can see that not 50 per cent of the moving force of those which do exist is utilized. This is true of the power at Delafield, which is backed by Nagawicka Lake as a reservoir ; at Oconomowoc, backed by Fowler Lake; at Menomonee Falls, when there is a fall of fifty feet, and at other places. There are not in Waukesha County the latest improved appliances for utilizing the moving force of water. This is not the fault of the locality, nor of the water-power, but of the manufacturers. The wealth of the West will begin to increase more rapidly, when these matters receive their proper attention. The inhabitants of Waukesha County produce vast quantities of crude material needing manufacture. This bulky and heavy matter they transport a thousand miles to be worked up, and their food products are sent the same thousand miles to feed those who manufacture the other material. They then bring back the manufactured article, murmuring at its expense. The situation is this: At one end of a thou- sand miles is a man and his tools ; at the other end is the heap of crude material he is to manu- facture, the bulky food he is to eat, and the market for his products ; and the problem is, "Shall the mountain go to Mohammed, or will Mohammed come to the mountain ? " What is needed is for capitalists to fully realize that the natural facilities for manufacturing in the interior must, in the immediate future, be utilized to their utmost capacity. Those who first turn their atten- tion to utilizing to their utmost capacity all the powers in Waukesha County, will reap the greatest benefits. A small water-power often yields as great a profit as a large steam-power, and requires only a little of the outlay to put it to use.

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The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc, Part 47

Author: Western Historical Co., pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1050

Author: Western Historical Co., pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1050