The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, Part 55

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899, [from old catalog] ed; Western historical company, chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Wisconsin > Columbia County > The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement > Part 55

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" The next day, John Quincy Adams started with the returns of the election to carry them to Plover, the county seat. He went with the Major as far as Wyocena, the latter being on foot, and Mr. Adams mounted on a pony. This was Mr. Adams' first experience of the pioneer mode of traveling-' ride and tie,' as it was called. One rode a couple of miles or more, tied his horse to a blazed tree and walked on along the trail until he was overtaken and passed, and afterward came up with the horse, tied and waiting for him. This was not a sociable fashion of journeying, and often the party overtaken would trot along beside his mounted friend, to get a few minutes' chat. Adams broke bread that afternoon at the Major's cabin, reached Fort Winnebago at nightfall and stopped at the old Franklin House, with Capt. Low. The present site of Portage was merely an Indian camping-ground, and the only settlement was at Fort Winnebago.

"One day on the trail satisfied Mr. Adams that it was hardly worth while for him to make a pilgrimage of 100 miles more to carry the returns of 50 votes, and he handed over his papers to Charles Temple, who was going with the returns of the Winnebago Precinct. Some idea of the distance to the county seat at Plover may be formed from Esquire Top- liff's experiences. He, with two other residents of Columbus, were drawn as jurors, and it took them, as the country was, four days to go and four days to return, and they did duty as jurors exactly two days.

COLUMBIA COUNTY ON EARLY MAPS.

As early as the year 1632, Samuel Champlain, then at Quebec, drew a map of the Valley of the St. Lawrence and of the region of the Upper Lakes-the first attempt of the kind. His delineations of the country to the westward and northwestward of Lake Huron, were wholly from Indian reports. Upon this map, Fox River is placed to the north of Lake Superior and the Wisconsin is rudely given as leading into a northern sea. There is a narrow space between the two rivers and possibly it had been described to him by the savages.

But the first map of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers and the portage, made with any degree of accuracy, was by Father James Marquette, who accompanied Louis Jolliet up the first-men- tioned stream and down the last, in 1673. The portage is distinctly traced and the general course of the two rivers given. Other maps were published at subsequent periods down to 1768 when the one by J. Carver appeared attached to his " Travels." This one is, considering the circumstances under which it was made, exceedingly creditable. It locates the "carrying place"-the portage-and has a representation of Swan Lake, besides a pretty accurate delin- ation of the Baraboo River. On the south side of Lake Puckaway is the Winnebago Upper Town and on Sauk Prairie, down the Wisconsin is located the " Saukies Chief Town." The portage, then, in 1766, was about the boundary line between the Sacs upon the Wisconsin and the Winnebagoes upon the Fox River. But, in the course of a few years, the latter tribe took the place of the former as already mentioned.

In 1830, John Farmer, of Detroit, published a " Map of the Territories of Michigan and Ouisconsin." Fort Winnebago appears as if situated between the Fox and Wisconsin, while

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" Roi's" (Le Roy's) house occupies the site where the fort was, in fact, located-that is, on the east side of the Fox. Pauquette's place is designated farther down the last-mentioned stream, but on the west side. The Baraboo River is noted as " Bonibau's Creek," while Duck Creek appears by its proper name, but in French-" Riviere aux Canards." Neenah Creek is put down as " The Fork "-of the Fox. Winnebago villages are represented down the Fox and the Wisconsin, and upon the Baraboo, but none so near the " Portage of the Quisconsin " as to bring them within what are now the boundaries of Columbia County. About fifteen miles south of the carrying place, between the Fox and Wisconsin, another portage is noted between a creek flowing into the last-mentioned river and one flowing into Lake Mendota (Fourth Lake). This portage is put down as being only 200 yards across.

Farmer's revised map of 1836 correctly puts the territory now constituting Columbia County, in the four counties of Crawford, Iowa, Brown and Milwaukee-the latter printed " Milwalky." Fort Winnebago appears in its correct position on the east side of the Fox River, and there is but one road represented as leading from it-the old military road.

The first " Map of Wiskonsin Territory, Compiled from Public Surveys," contains a repre- sentation of so much of the present Columbia County as lies east of Fox and Wisconsin Rivers-then a part of Portage County. Fort Winnebago is correctly located on the east side of the Fox River, and the Grignon tract, properly delineated, occupies the space between the two rivers ; but the proposed canal runs from the outlet of Swan Lake to the point on Duck Creek where the stream is crossed by the main road leading south from Fort Winnebago. This road continues on to " Pauquette," afterward called Poynette, then in a southwesterly direc- tion toward the Blue Mounds. Duck Creek appears as " Wauonah River "; Rock Run, as " Tay- nah River ; " and Spring Creek as " Ockee River." " Pauquette " is a small village ; a larger one is " Ida," on the north side of Swan Lake ; and a still larger one is " Dekorra," on the Wisconsin. A road leads out of " Dekorra " due east, and then branches-one branch continues the same direction to " Hochimgra " (Winnebago), now Horicon, Dodge County. The other branch takes a northeasterly direction to the south side of Fox Lake, where was then the village of " Waushara." and thence on to Fond du Lac. A revised map by the same compiler restores the name Duck Creek and omits any names for what are now Rocky Run and Spring Creek. As both these maps have the county of Portage marked upon them, they must have been published after the " setting off" of that county by the Territorial Legislature.

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

CHAPTER IV.

FIRST SETTLER IN THE COUNTY-PIONEER LIFE-ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY-ESTABLISHING THE COUNTY SEAT-FIRST AND SECOND CENSUS-EARLY HIGHWAYS-TERRITORIAL DIS- TRICT COURT AND STATE CIRCUIT COURT -TERRITORIAL, STATE AND CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATION-PHOTOGRAPHIING THE PIONEERS.

FIRST SETTLER IN THE COUNTY.

The first settler in what is now Columbia County was Wallace Rowan. On the 6th day of June, 1836, he entered, at the Green Bay Land Office, the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 34, Township 11 north, of Range 9 east, in what is now the town of Dekorra, adjoining the village of Poynette. This was the first land entered in the county, but it was then Brown County, in Michigan Territory ; afterward Brown County, Wisconsin Territory : subsequently Portage County, Wisconsin Territory ; then Columbia County. Wisconsin Terri- tory ; finally, Columbia County, State of Wisconsin, and so it remains. He moved from Dane County to his forty acres in what is now Columbia County. "I was at his house," says Moses M. Strong, "on the 19th day of February, 1837, and there was no appearance of his having just arrived there." He was living in a log house, built by himself, on his own land, and he went there to stay. There was no other settler (as the term " settler " is usually understood), within the limits of what is now Columbia County, so early as Rowan.

Rowan's house was a double log tenement, built for the purpose of trafficking with the Indians, and as a house of entertainment for travelers. It was on the military road that ran from Prairie du Chien by the way of Fort Winnebago, to Fort Howard. On this highway, there was considerable travel for a number of years. Rowan's tavern was a little south of what is now Dole's mill, near a large spring. Rowan was a kind-hearted man, perfectly honest, one in whom you would at first sight be persuaded you could put confidence. His wife, though not so refined as her husband, was equal to him in kindness to travelers and friends. Rowan was a man of medium height, rather thin in flesh and of a somewhat dark complexion. He had great conversational powers, was very social, and took great pains to make everybody who stopped with him as comfortable as his situation would permit. He carried on a small farm at the same time, raising corn, potatoes, oats, and the very best kinds of vegetables. He had a large family of children. His oldest daughter Mr. Rowan always called " Ducky." She was a splendid girl- handsome, smart and well-behaved. IIis second daughter was called " Pop." Rowan also kept a trading-house at Portage City, in 1838. In 1840, with a man by the name of Wood, he made a claim on the Baraboo River. They built a saw-mill just at the upper end of Baraboo Village.

They supplied the lumber that was used in building up the village, and rafted lumber down the river, which was so crooked that it caused them a good deal of trouble to reach the Wiscon- sin. In 1842, Rowan left Columbia County and took his family with him to Baraboo. He soon after died. His beautiful daughter quickly followed her father to the grave, and then the mother.

Rowan and his wife were from the State of Indiana, as is understood by a remark made by Mrs. Rowan, who, when asked to what tribe she belonged, answered, "Gol darn it, I don't belong to no tribe ; I am from Indianer."

There have been many stories told of Rowan's Hotel. An old settler relates this one : " I arrived there in 1837, at about 11 o'clock P. M., on horseback. The hostler, a French- man, was yet up, making fires to keep those comfortable who were sleeping on the floor. After taking care of my horse, I went into the house. There was a good fire, and the floor was cov- ered with men, sleeping. I asked the French hostler for something to eat ; so he went into the

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kitchen and brought me a whole duck and two potatoes. He said that was all he could find cooked. After eating, I felt like lying down. He pointed to a place between two men. I took my blanket and crowded myself into it. Next morning, the teamsters got up to feed their teams. and, in taking out their corn, they scattered some inside and outside the house. James Duane Doty (afterward Governor) was lying next to the door, in his robes; I was next to him, in my blanket. A lean, long old sow found the corn that the teamsters had scattered outside the door. This encouraged her to follow up the corn that was scattered inside. Finding some amongst Doty's robes, she put her nose under him and rolled him over, when he exclaimed : . Landlord ! Landlord ! you must postpone my breakfast for some time, as I have not yet got rested.' Instead of the landlord disturbing him, it was the old sow. Then I heard some curious noise outside, which kept me awake; so I got up, and found that the noise was created by a modern grist-mill, erected in front of the door, for grinding corn into meal. A pestle hung to the end of a spring-pole ; there was a mortar made by burning out a hollow in the top of a stump. We all of us had the first mess made out of this mill, and you could compare it to nothing but the fine siftings of stonecoal, such as you find in a blacksmith-shop. We had good coffee and plenty of honey. We all made a hearty breakfast, and were thankful for it."

PIONEER LIFE.

Records of the olden time are interesting, and they are not without their lessons of instruc- tion. By the light of the past we follow in the footprints of the adventurous and enterprising pioneer. We see him, as it were, amid the labors and struggles necessary to convert the wilder- ness into a fruitful field. We sit by his cabin fire, partaking of his homely and cheerfully granted fare, and listen to the accounts which he is pleased to give us of frontier life, and of the dangers, trials, hardships and sufferings of himself and others in their efforts to make for them- selves homes in regions remote from civilization, and unexplored hitherto, save by wandering Indians and wild beasts. Through these ancient records we make our way along to the present. From small beginnings, we come to the mighty achievements of industry, the complex results of daring enterprise, subduing and creative energy, and untiring perseverance.

Following on in the path of progress and improvement, we see once waste places rejoicing under the kindly care of the husbandman ; beautiful farms, with all the fixtures and appurten- ances necessary to make the tillers of the soil and their families contented and happy, are spread out before us ; villages and cities have arisen as if by magic, and by hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands human souls are congregated within their precincts ; the mart of trade and traffic. and the workshop of the artisan are thronged ; common schools, academies and col- leges have sprung up; young and ardent minds-children of the rich and poor-may press forward together in the acquisition of science; churches are built, and a Christian ministry is sustained for the inculcation of religious sentiments and the promotion of piety, virtue and moral goodness ; the press is established, whence floods of light and glory may emanate for tlie instruction and benefit of all; railroads are built to bring the products of every clime and the people from afar to our doors ; and the telegraph, "upon the lightning's wing," carries messages far and near. Let the records of the olden time be preserved ; in after years our children, and our children's children, will look over them with pleasure and profit.

The first important business of the pioncer settler, upon his arrival in Columbia County, was to build a house. Until this was done, he had to camp on the ground or live in his wagon- perhaps the only shelter he had known for weeks. So the prospect for a house, which was also to be a home, was one that gave courage to the rough toil, and added a zest to the heavy labors. The style of a home entered very little into his thoughts-it was shelter he wanted, and protec- tion from stress of weather and wearing exposures. The poor settler had neither the money nor the mechanical appliances for building himself a house. He was content, in most instances, to have a mere cabin or hut. Some of the most primitive constructions of this kind were half- faced, or, as they were sometimes called, " cat-faced," sheds or "wike-ups," the Indian term for

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house or tent. It is true, a " claim" cabin was a little more in the shape of a human habita- tion, made, as it was, of round logs, light enough for two or three men to lay up, about fourteen feet square-perhaps a little larger or smaller-roofed with bark or clapboards, and floored with puncheons (logs split once in two, and the flat side laid up), or with earth. For a fire-place, a wall of stones and earth-frequently the latter only, whien stone was not convenient-was made, in the best practicable shape for the purpose, in an opening in one end of the building, extending outward, and planked on the outside by bolts of wood notched together to stay it. Frequently, a fire-place of this kind was made so capacious as to occupy nearly the whole width of the house. In cold weather, when a great deal of fuel was needed to keep the atmosphere above freezing point-for this wide-mouth fire-place was a huge ventilator-large logs were piled into this yawning space. To protect the crumbling back-wall against the effects of fire, two back-logs were placed against it, one upon the other. Sometimes these were so large that they could not be got in in any other way than to hitch a horse to them. The animal was driven in at the door, when the log was unfastened before the fire-place. It was afterward put in proper position. The horse would be driven out at another door.

For a chimney, any contrivance that would convey the smoke out of the building would do. Some were made of sods, plastered upon the inside with clay ; others-the more common, perhaps-were of the kind we occasionally see in use now, clay and sticks, or "cat in clay," as they were sometimes called. Imagine, of a winter's night, when the storm was having its own wild way over this almost uninhabited land, and when the wind was roaring like a cataract of cold over the broad wilderness. and the settler had to do his best to keep warm, what a royal fire this double back-log and well-filled fire-place would hold ! It was a cozy place to smoke, pro- vided the settler had any tobacco ; or for the wife to sit knitting before, provided she had any needles and yarn. At any rate, it gave something of cheer to the conversation, which, very likely, was upon the home and friends they had left behind when they started out on this bold venture of seeking fortunes in a new land.

For doors and windows, the most simple contrivances that would serve the purposes were brought into requisition. The door was not always immediately provided with a shutter, and a blanket often did duty in guarding the entrance. But, as soon as convenient, some boards were split and put together, hung upon wooden hinges and held shut by a wooden pin inserted in an auger-hole. As a substitute for window-glass, greased paper, pasted over sticks crossed in the shape of sash, was sometimes used. This admitted the light and excluded the air, but, of course, lacked transparency.

In regard to the furniture of such a cabin, it varied in proportion to the ingenuity of the occupants, unless it was where settlers brought with them their old household supply, which, owing to the distance most of them had come, was very seldom. It was easy enough to impro- vise tables and chairs ; the former could be made of split logs-and there were instances where the door would be taken from its hinges and used at meals, after which it would be rehung; the the latter were designed after the three-legged stool pattern, or benches served their purposes. A bedstead was a very important item in the domestic comfort of the family, and this was the fashion of improvising them : A forked stick was driven into the ground diagonally from the corner of the room, and at proper distance, upon which poles reaching from each were laid. The wall ends of the pole either rested in the openings between the logs or were driven into augur-holes. Barks or boards were used as a substitute for cords. Upon this the tidy house- wife spread her straw tick, and, if she had a home-made feather bed, she piled it up into a lux- urious mound, and covered it with her whitest drapery. Some sheets hung behind it for tapestry added to the coziness of the resting-place.

The house thus far along, it was left to the deft devices of the wife to complete its comforts. and the father of the family was free to superintend out-of-door affairs. If it was in season, his first important duty was to prepare some ground for planting, and to plant what he could.

The first year's farming consisted mainly of a " truck patch," planted in corn, potatoes, turnips and other vegetables. Generally, the first year's crop fell far short of supplying even

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

the most rigid economy of food. Many of the settlers brought with them small stores of such things as seemed indispensable to frugal living, such as flour, bacon, coffee and tea. But these supplies were not inexhaustible, and once used were not easily replaced. A long winter must come and go before another crop could be raised. If game was plentiful, it helped to eke out their limited supplies.

But even when corn was plentiful, the preparation of it was the next difficulty in the way. The mills for grinding it were usually at such long distances that every other device was resorted to for reducing it to meal. Some grated it on an implement made by punching small holes through a piece of tin or sheet-iron, and fastening it upon a board in concave shape with the rough side out. Upon this the ear was rubbed to produce the meal. But grating could not be done when the corn became so dry as to shell off when rubbed. Some used a coffee-mill for grinding it ; and a very common substitute for bread was hominy-a palatable and wholesome diet-made by boiling corn in a weak lye till the hull or bran peeled off, after which it was well washed to cleanse it of the lye. It was then boiled again to soften it, when it was ready for use, as occasion required, by frying and seasoning it to the taste. Another mode of preparing hominy was by pestling. A mortar was made by burning a bowl-shaped cavity in the end of an upright block of wood. After thoroughly cleaning it of the charcoal, the corn would be put in, hot water turned upon it, when it was subjected to a severe pestling by a club of sufficient length and thickness, in the large end of which was inserted an iron wedge, banded to keep it there. The hot water would soften the corn and loosen the hull, while the pestle would crush it.

When breadstuffs were needed, they had to be obtained from long distances. Owing to the lack of proper means for thrashing and cleaning wheat, it was more or less mixed with foreign substances, such as smut, dirt and oats. And as the time when the settler's methods of thrash- ing and cleaning may be forgotten, it may be well to preserve a brief account of them here. The plan was to clean off a space of ground of sufficient size, and, if the earth was dry, to dampen it, and beat it to render it somewhat compact. Then the sheaves were unbound and spread in a circle, so that the heads would be uppermost, leaving room in the center for the per- son whose business it was to turn and stir the straw in the process of thrashing. Then, as many horses or oxen were brought as could conveniently swing around the circle, and these were kept moving until the wheat was well trodden out. After several " floorings " or layers were thrashed, the straw was carefully raked off and the wheat shoveled into a heap to be cleaned. This cleaning was sometimes done by waving a sheet up and down to fan out the chaff as the grain was dropped before it ; but this trouble was frequently obviated when the strong winds of autumn were all that was needed to blow out the chaff from the grain. This mode of preparing the grain for flouring was so imperfect that it is not to be wondered at that a considerable amount of black soil got mixed with it, and unavoidably got into the bread. This, with an addition of smut, often rendered it so dark as to have less the appearance of bread than mud ; yet upon such diet the people were compelled to subsist for want of a better.

Not the least among the pioneers' tribulations, during the first few years of the settlement, was the going to mill. The slow mode of travel by ox teams was made still slower by the almost total absence of roads and bridges, while such a thing as a ferry was hardly even dreamed of. The distance to be traversed was often as far as sixty or ninety miles. In dry weather, common sloughs and creeks offered little impediment to the teamsters ; but during floods and the break- ing-up of winter, they proved exceedingly troublesome and dangerous. To get stuck in a slough, and thus be delayed for many hours, was no uncommon occurrence, and that, too, when time was an item of grave import to the comfort and sometimes even to the lives of the settlers' families. Often a swollen stream would blockade the way, seeming to threaten destruction to whoever would attempt to ford it.

With regard to roads, there was nothing of the kind worthy of the name. Indian trails were common, but they were unfit to travel on with vehicles. They were mere paths about two feet wide-all that was required to accommodate the single-file manner of Indian traveling.

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When the early settlers were compelled to make these long and difficult trips to mill, if the country was prairie over which they passed, they found it comparatively easy to do in summer when grass was plentiful. By traveling until night, and then camping out to feed the teams, they got along without much difficulty. But in winter such a journey was attended with no little danger. The utmost economy of time was, of course, necessary. When the goal was reached, after a week or more of toilsome travel, with many exposures and risks, and the poor man was impatient to immediately return with the desired staff of life, he was often shocked and disheartened with the information that his turn would come in a week. Then he must look about for some means to pay expenses, and he was lucky who could find employment by the day or job. Then, when his turn came, he had to be on hand to bolt his own flour, as in those days the bolting machine was not an attached part of the other mill machinery. This done, the anxious soul was ready to endure the trials of a return trip, his heart more or less concerned about the affairs of home.

Those milling trips often occupied several weeks, and were attended with an expense, in one way or another, that rendered the cost of the breadstuffs extremely high. If made in the winter, when more or less grain-feed was required for the team, the load would be found to be so considerably reduced on reaching home that the cost of what was left, adding other expenses, would make their grain reach the high cash figure of from $3 to $5 per bushel. And these trips could not always be made at the most favorable season for traveling. In spring and summer, so much time could hardly be spared from other essential labor; yet, for a large family, it was almost impossible to avoid making three or four trips during the year.

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The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, Part 55

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899, [from old catalog] ed; Western historical company, chicago, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899, [from old catalog] ed; Western historical company, chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1104