The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, Part 65

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 65

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*The reason for taking each two boards was, that they would cover more surface on the weak ice.

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

whistles, denoting caution. We listened, and could hear our partners slowly approach. They got over safe.

I think there never were four human beings who tendered up to the throne of God more fervent prayers than we did, for our safe deliverance.

After we got across, we went as fast as we could, with nothing on our feet but stockings. The ground was frozen liard, and no snow on it. We. could hardly keep from freezing. We got, at last, to Walsworth's trading-house, nearly chilled to death. We got warm punch, drank of it, felt good, got something to eat and went to bed on the floor, with plenty of Indian blankets under and over us. We left for our home at Mineral Point, to get a new outfit.

We came back in a month with a team and sleigh, laden with stuff, and went to making rails and fencing. We lived in one of the unoccupied houses belonging to the American Fur Company. Some of the time, we boarded at the Indian-agency house, kept by Ubel- dine. We paid $3 a day for board, the currency we had being only worth 50 cents on the dollar.

My partner, Andrew Dunn, went into trade, keeping a general supply for lumbermen, up the river, and, at the same time, looked after our claim. I went back to the lead mines, to wind up our business there, and, in 1840, returned, with my wife and family, to Portage, and my partner and I bought out the Veeder Mills, on Mill Creek, I taking charge of the lumbering department, while Dunn staid at Portage, keeping a supply and trading store.

At this time, the opening of the pinery gave a new start to everything, as Portage was the general place of supply. Clark Whitney at this time settled at Portage, and occupied the old Whitney storehouse. He soon after got married. Richard F. Veeder was the next set- tler, and occupied a house of accommodation for travelers. Then Andrew Dunn and Henry Carpenter built a hotel where the United States Hotel now stands. Next came Charles Temple, a lawyer, who married one of Capt. Low's daughters. Then came Jacob Low, son of Capt. Gideon Low. With him arrived John Schoemburgh, a son-in-law of the last-named. The next arrival was John Smith.

X .- BY N. H. WOOD.

In 1848, I was a merchant in Little Falls, N. Y .; got the Western land fever, and, with a pocketful of land-warrants, attended the Free-Soil Convention held in Buffalo in August of that year, and left for a journey around the lakes to Milwaukee, which city was enjoying the first visit of a negro minstrel troupe ; left at once for Fond du Lac, where, procuring a horse and plats of Columbia County from John Bannister, I started for Fort Winnebago. There were three equestrians in the party. Judge Warren, of Kingston, was the leader. We took the old military track ; found but few settlers between Fond du Lac and Kingston, the community at Cresco being north of us. The Judge, who had avowed his intention of dining at the first cabin whose mistress had a clean apron, halted about north of what is now Dartford. The set- tler had a field of ripe oats, and gave bundles to our horses. The " checked apron, clean," cooked us pork, potatoes and biscuits. At that day, no one expected more at a hotel, unless sauce from black, over-ripe, unpeeled Jersey peaches, which was added to encourage dyspepsia.

At Green Lake, or Little Green, as it was called, we found Sat. Clark, a stanch Cass Democrat, trying to discourage his ill-advised neighbors, who had met to form a " Free-Soil Club," the news of the Buffalo Convention having reached them. This demonstration and a speech afterward at Fond du Lac by John Codding, the Free-Soiler and Abolitionist, was all I heard of " free-soil " in Wisconsin in 1848.

At Kingston, we found a hotel without paint, and a mill in progress of construction, per- haps a dozen houses and a store. At Fort Winnebago, I found Capt. Weir and the garrison building shining ; Henry Merrill, with a small stock denoting Indian trade, and a departed gar- rison ; Capt. Low in the old Franklin House near by ; Henry Carpenter in a long, one-story

Though In Tarlanc

ARLINGTON.

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

building where the United States Hotel was built in 1851. The Deans, of Madison, had a store near Carpenter's. "Dick " Veeder had removed from the bank of the Wisconsin River, and was keeping hotel near the present City Hotel. He was the only hotel-keeper within forty miles who sold any other liquor than whisky. Besides these, we remember Dunn, McFarlane, Clark, Whitney, Judge Walsworth, who had married Pauquette's widow, and kept the ferry, living where S. W. Borden now lives, or, rather, had his small office and a barrel of whisky, exactly where Borden's house stands. I remember the barrel distinctly, because I was running section lines on the Baraboo, and, as the expense of crossing and recrossing the river to Carpenter's was $1, I sometimes stopped with the Judge, and, as he had a few Indians for guests, and said Indians were partial to fleas, I explained to the Judge that I was only a moderate drinker, and would prefer the office. I was allowed to sleep on the floor.

There were at that time but few people in the county, among whom were Mr. Gay, of Belle Fontaine, James Bonney, Mr. Brice, who had a large family of girls, and, I believe, all " schoolmarms," for a short time only, as the matrimonial market was active, and shilling calico looked like silk. I asked Carpenter where I could get my linen "lilified." His reply was, " If you hear of a d-d homely woman, promise to marry her, and you may get it done." Doubting his authority, I made siege to Mrs. Carpenter and her girl, who were both remarka- bly good-looking, and the bundle came back washed; but, remember, I was then only twenty- eight years of age ; but the girl got married speedily, and, one Saturday, Carpenter and myself visited the Prairie. Perhaps it was in the town of Scott, or Randolph, but then known as Port- age Prairie, from Lake Emily to a great distance east and south. We found the girl and her terms, which, besides a good salary (which was expected), she stipulated a journey home by Carpenter's team each Saturday, and a return journey Monday ; and it being Saturday, we returned, Carpenter agreeing to send his team again Monday. Such was " modern hired help" in 1848.

In journeying to and fro, we only call to mind the Welsh settlement in Caledonia, " Daddy " Robinson at the mouth of the Baraboo, who was a genius in many respects, and who could impart more animation to a crowd of promiscuous people than any man I ever saw, except Henry Ward Beecher. Jamison kept a hotel at Poynette, where, in the basement of his log house, we could hear the best songs of Robert Burns executed in a masterly style. Dekorra had quite a huddle of buildings. Wilson had settled in Dekorra, Fred Curtis and Low in Lowville. Lots of Welsh were arriving, who first settled in groves, bordering upon the prairie, many of them without teams, and foot-paths were more observable across the prairies of the eastern portion of our county than wagon roads, as the Welsh never neglect the assembling of themselves together. The towns of Marcellon, Scott, Randolph-indeed the entire eastern or prairie portion of the county-had many settlers just arrived, among whom were a sprinkling from older States and England and Scotland.

In 1851, I again visited Portage and arranged to have my buildings put up in Pacific. Came this time by team. Stopped at Birdsey's Hotel, in Columbus, which, being the oldest and most populous town, had, up to this time, been the county seat; it had been removed to Wyocena, where it stayed a year, and was afterward removed to Fort- Winnebago, the records being kept in the barracks and the courts held there. A Wyocena farmer had brought a load of oats to Birdsey, who, having the stage horses to feed, was the only man in the county known to buy oats regularly for cash, which was hard to get in those days. Birdsey saw at a glance that a sale of his oats for cash was vitally important to the Wyocenean, and turning around to the farmer, his eye gleaming with mockery, said to him : "Why don't you sell your oats at the county seat ? " The man and his load returned. But what a change was here in Portage ! I found a young city on the Menomonee land, where the center of Portage now is, and all the adventurers in the State were here. The regular day's work in " Gougeville," as it was then called, was to punish a respectable amount of whisky, have several knock-downs and fights, jump at least six claims, and have as many lawsuits daily-a good school for young lawyers and pettifoggers. I found the canal partly dug. I found half of my big white-oak trees from the

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Baraboo alongside of the new locks then building, and McNeal, the contractor, and the Canal Commissioner, willing to pay for the same, but insisting that, as it was a State work, the State had a right to take its material where it could find it. Wonderful to tell, before I had fairly settled, railroads, which were hardly known west of Buffalo in 1850 (which reached Chicago, I believe, in 1851), "came as the winds come," impelled by a conviction among our farmers which amounted to an insane desire to mortgage their farms to build railroads and thereby obtain a permanent fortune. Of course, the population of Portage, adventurous from the first, continually changed, we losing many excellent men who have shone elsewhere, among whom we will name Chief Justice Dixon and Judge Pulling, also C. J. Pettibone, now of Fond du Lac, a merchant prince there and the hardest competitor the writer remembers. The first introduc- tion resulted in the mutual conviction that we two should fight for patronage.

I think the settlers of Columbia County generally were as good and as practical men as any in the State ; the best of these, however, chose the prairie, and, of course, those who set- tled in the sand had less means, and, perhaps, less merit. The result, however, has shown that Pacific and Lewiston farmers, where they invested in stock, dairy and corn-raising, have suc- ceeded remarkably upon small means, and a dealer in agricultural implements tells me that his promptest customers are in Pacific, Lewiston, Caledonia, Dekorra, Fort Winnebago and towns rated second-class, their crops and stock together seeming to insure success, with less disap- pointments than among more extensive wheat-growers.

XI .- BY WILLIAM T. WHIRRY.

From a retrospective point of view, it seems but yesterday that the stillness of centuries on prai- ries and openings was broken by the advent of the pioneers ; but a present view (1873) dispels that illusion, and discloses the fact that the writer is the oldest settler of the English-speaking popu- lation of the town, and very forcibly reminds us that our old settlers are rapidly passing away- some to their last long homes, and some to the new homes in the West, and with them much that would be interesting and instructive to posterity ; and it is also to be regretted that the history of the town was not written years ago, when the actors were all here and able to refresh each other's memories with the trials and incidents inseparably connected with a pioneer life, and which will never be heard of more ; yet it is well to save from oblivion what we can while we can ; a few years hence would be too late. A quarter of a century makes great changes in a new country, and those who reside here now know but little of the trials and privations con- nected with the early settlement, but something might be imagined from the fact that in those times there were no roads, no stores, no post offices, no mills, no schools-nothing but a vast extent of beautiful, boundless country, just as nature had fashioned it, and the first settler might have exclaimed, " I am monarch of all I survey."

The nearest post office [to the town of Randolph] was at Watertown; there they went for groceries,; to Watertown or Janesville to mill; to Columbus to vote, and to Fond du Lac to attend district conventions ; our Senate and Assembly Districts (then called Council and Repre- sentative), even as late as 1846, consisted of what was then the counties of Manitowoc, Sheboy- gan, Brown, Marquette, Fond du Lac, Portage, Calumet and Winnebago, nearly one-third of the State. Then, again, imagine the difference in living, for in those days wheat flour was a very scarce article, because but few could raise any wheat until they had been here two seasons, one to break up the land and rot it, and another to raise the crop in ; and, if a family got out of flour, there were no stores to go to in order to buy more, and but seldom any money ; nothing to do but borrow (unless, as was sometimes the case, all hands were out), until some lazy ox team arrived with all the grists of the neighborhood, after an absence of perhaps a week or more. Buckwheat and cornmeal was extensively used, the former sometimes ground in a coffee-mill and screened through a cloth and made into pancakes, and when they had flour they frequently had nothing to mix with it but water, and no meat, potatoes, butter or milk, to eat with it, and, after it was baked, it was as hard as a stone; but it had one redeeming quality, it would keep well,

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so that the getting-up of a meal was a simple operation after the bread was baked. The cook was not puzzled to know whether the meal would suit the taste of all or not ; there were no side glances cast around the board to see what delicacies were put on to tempt the appetite ; no one said " Not any, I thank you." Hard tack was all that they expected and hard tack they got, and they were satisfied, and believed that man's natural wants were but very few indeed. Again, all the schooling their children got, was what they were taught at home by some one of the family or by any female they could find who could read, write and cipher, and could be spared a few hours a day to instruct them, which was a rare thing, as they had all too much work to do; for as soon as a settler had selected a piece of land, the first thing to be done was to provide shelter for his family, which, with some of the earliest settlers, was done by setting some crotches in the ground and covering the tops with poles and wild hay, and the sides in the same manner, making a primitive shelter, impervious to wind and water ; and in some instances, if the family was large or they took in boarders-which was frequently the case in consequence of newcomers arriving-they would make bedrooms in the same manner but on a smaller scale, just high enough to creep into, and just long enough to lie at full length, and with the ground covered with hay ; and though they didn't exactly live in clover it was the next thing to it-they lived in hay and were comfortable and contented, and when night came they would creep into their nests and sleep soundly, while packs of cowardly, hungry wolves rent the air with their unearthly howl- ings, for the reader must bear in mind that, for a number of years, the large gray wolves were quite numerous, and that the smaller prairie wolves were very plenty, running in packs and howling all night long ; and also, as a matter of course, deer were very plenty, but when the deer left or were killed off, the wolves left also. But to return-a few who came late in the season, or were not able to build a house in time, and, dreading the cold winter, would dig a hole in the ground and cover the top with boards or hay, and in such a burrow or dungeon they passed their first long and dreary Wisconsin winter, and patiently, yet anxiously, awaited the approach of spring. How they passed their time must be left to the imagination of the reader, for even a log house must be a palace in comparison with a hole in the ground. To one of these subterranean dwellings a surveyor came one day in the spring, according to appointment, to sur- vey the land, but a heavy snowstorm had fallen during the night, and he found the place with difficulty, and only by shouting and waiting until those below had heard him and dug their way out through the heavy snowdrifts. But after these temporary shelters had been provided, the next thing to be done (and that was their highest ambition at that time), was to build a log house, which was done by cutting and hauling the logs, splitting out some oak shingles, or haul- ing some logs to a mill to be sawed into boards for floor, roof, etc., making it a bee, rolling up the logs and chinking and daubing the interstices with mud or clay. Every one helped cheer- fully, and it is pleasant to think how proud every one was to have such rude hovels to live in ; and many did live in them for years, quite comfortable and happy. Some of our well-to-do farmers, who now live in stately mansions, recollect with pleasure the many happy years spent in that old log house, with parlor, kitchen, bedroom and storeroom, all in one, with its pole lad- der to mount up into the chamber, which was another single room of low dimensions, perhaps divided off with quilts, blankets, etc., and it would puzzle many a good housewife now to stow away so many mortals as used to find accommodations in that old log house, for if travelers or emigrants came along they were welcomed in a spirit of hospitality seen nowhere at the present day. Taverns had been left behind, and it was considered a pleasure to divide what little they had with them, and to those who thought of settling there to assist them in looking up land, nearly all seeming to try who could do the most to help the stranger in a strange land ; and it cheered up many a one who was fatigued and discouraged with the trials they had undergone since leaving a comfortable and perhaps luxurious home elsewhere. These were times that tried men's souls, and bodies, too, for there was work to be done which money could not purchase if they had it; but money was a scarce article, so that all hands had to work, and they did work with a will. Fences had to be made, which required some hard work pounding to split the logs into rails, and before they could raise a crop the land had to be broken up, which required

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five yoke of oxen attached to a stout breaking plow ; and then, after they had raised a crop of wheat, it had to be hauled by teams all the way to Milwaukee, over roads which would now be called impassable, and only to get from 40 to 50 cents per bushel ; and many times it has taken the proceeds of a load to pay the expenses, as will be recollected to the sorrow of many an old settler. The writer remembers an instance of a man who stopped on his place while going to Milwaukee with a load of wheat, and stopped again on his return, about two weeks after, stating that he had spent the proceeds of his load, and had been compelled to borrow $5 in order to enable him to return home. After that, can any one wonder that the railroad swindlers and their agents succeeded so well in getting nearly all the farmers whose farms were unencumbered to mortgage them and be thus cheated.

It is hard to tell who were the first white persons who ever set foot on territory now con- stituting the town of Randolph; but there is not much doubt that they were hunters, for a Frenchman, who died about three years ago near Lake Emily, over one hundred years of age, was wont to relate to the writer that these prairies and the adjacent lakes and marshes used to be a favorite resort of Canadian hunters, of whom he was one, who used to come here annually, over fifty years ago, in quest of furs, etc., at which time deer and other game were very numer- ous ; and in 1846, in one of my rambles, I found on an island in the marsh, on Section 1, the bleached skull and about one-half of the bones of a human being scattered about in different directions ; they had probably lain there a number of years, as every particle of flesh and sinew was gone. I took the skull and jawbone, and kept them in the granary for a number of years, but they were finally stolen. All who saw the skull were of the opinion that it was the skull of a white man, but whether it was the remains of some early pioneer or hunter who had been killed by his companions in a quarrel, or had lost his way and perished, or whether brought there a captive by the Indians and killed by them and devoured by wolves, no one could tell ; it has remained a mystery, and, probably, always will. It is possible that, had he lived, he would have figured in this sketch as the first settler in this town, if a white man, of which there is not much doubt, as it is well known that the Indians take great care of their dead. About the time these bones were found, there was an Indian encampment near Lake Emily, and while there, one of their squaws died, and they bandaged her body up with matting, etc., and kept it up a tree for about two months while they remained there, and when they left they took it with them, so it may not be amiss to call him the first settler; at any rate, he was settled, and so we will leave him. To most persons, it may seem hard to be disposed of thus, but, as Byron says :

" What matters where we fall to fill the maws of worms ?"

Yet, we all wish to have our remains kept together and to be decently buried when we die; yet methinks that when Gabriel blows his trump at the last day, and the dead come forth from their graves, this poor fellow will have quite a job to get his bones together .*

Hamilton Stevens, who first located at Lake Emily, selected the first land in the town of Randolph, in 1843, on Section 24, afterward sold to A. B. Alden. Said Stevens had three daughters, named Emily, Maria and Sarah, and it is said the three lakes of those names were so named by him-the first in Dodge County, the second in Green Lake County, and the last in Randolph. He made a business, principally, of locating land, and would show new-comers Government land, make a bargain, settle them on it, and then post off to the land office to enter it. A good joke is told of him : A road had been recently laid out to Columbus, through the timber in what is now Courtland, and the trees had the usual mark of the letter H, signifying highway. The new-comers asked what H meant. Stevens replied, in his usual rough, bom- bastic way, " Hamilton Stevens, by G-d !" His companions were, of course, astonished at his great wealth, as they imagined, for in their travels they had seen that H so frequently that they concluded that Stevens had bought out Uncle Sam, or, at least, that portion of the United States which was situated in Wisconsin.

* Since the above was written, I have been informed of the following incident, which may be a solution of the mystery : In 1839, one of the soldiers of Fort Winnebago left on a drunken epree, und never returned. He was last seen by the mail-carrier, near Wyocena, in a nude state and insane. A search for him discovered only his clothes. He was never heard of more.

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

XII .- BY AMPLIUS CHAMBERLAIN.

In September, 1849, Mr. Levi Thomas, W. R. Clough, Mr. Bemus and myself, all of us from Elkhorn, Walworth Co., Wis., started with two yoke of oxen and a lumber wagon, taking along sufficient cooking utensils, blankets and provisions, preparatory to camping out. We started north by way of Whitewater, Fort Atkinson, Lake Mills, Waterloo and Columbus to Portage, or what was better known at that time as Fort Winnebago. Then there was but one store at Portage, and that was kept by Smith & Wilson, the former of whom died in Portage a few years ago. Wilson is now a resident of New Lisbon, Juneau County. That store and the old Veeder House, a part of the old City Hotel, constituted, I think, all the buildings at Port- age. Carpenter and Sylvester were keeping each a tavern one mile below, on the flat. The old Franklin House stood midway between the Wisconsin River and Fort Winnebago, and was kept as a hotel. Thomas Reynolds, since better known as Col. Tom Reynolds, of Madison, had just commenced work on the canal at the fort. We looked about Portage for a day or so ; then continued on our journey over what was then known as the " old pinery road," and at that time that was the only road leading north into the pinery. Claims had been taken along the line of that road, and settlers (a few of them) living on the claims.

Among the most prominent between Portage and Walsworth's place was E. F. Lewis, who is now living on the same place where he made his first claim. He lived for some time under the cover of his wagon-box for shelter, and, by the way, I retain a reminiscence of my first night's lodging at E. F. Lewis'. He had then moved into a part of his new log house ; had one room, where they cooked, ate and slept-all his guests, as well as his own family. Before going to bed that night, we kille'l three good-sized rattlesnakes between the sleepers of an unfinished addition he was building to his house. After this excitement was over, we all went to bed in one room, and I was contrasting in my mind the changed situation from my own home at Elk- horn and where we were there. As I was about going to sleep, I heard a wagon drive up full speed, several persons get out and walk into the unfinished part of the house, and open the door into where we all were. The first word spoken or sign given that I heard was, "Rise, Jupiter, and snuff the moon !" Lewis understood how it was, and struck a light, at the same time say- ing, " What's up now, Walsworth ?" It was Walsworth, whom all old settlers of this country will recollect. The first thing was a bottle of whisky, which Walsworth had possession of, and every one in that room had to rise up and take a drink, nationality or sex not being allowed as an excuse.

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The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, Part 65

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