The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, Part 73

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 73

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486

HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

The La Crosse & Milwaukee Company was incorporated by an act of the Legislature approved April 2, 1852, and Timothy Burns, Samuel T. Smith, Benjamin Healey, of La Crosse County ; Moses M. Strong, of Iowa County ; Thomas J. Moorman, of Portage .County ; Henry Weil and Patrick Toland, of Washington County ; John Lowth, of Dodge County ; Hugh McFarlane, of Columbia County ; Patrick Rogan, of Jefferson County ; Henry Shears, of Waukesha County ; Leonard J. Farwell, of Dane County ; D. C. Reed, Edwin H. Good- rich, Levi Blossom and Garrett Vliet, of Milwaukee County, were appointed Commissioners to organize the company. At the first meeting of the stockholders, the following officers were elected : President, Byron Kilbourn ; Secretary, E. H. Goodrich ; Treasurer, Jacob L. Bean. Directors-Byron Kilbourn, Moses M. Strong, Edwin H. Goodrich, George W. Strong, Garrett Vliet, Timothy Burns, Jacob L. Bean. In 1854, stock subscriptions were procured, surveys were made, and the general line of the road established.

In 1851, an act of the Legislature had been passed incorporating the Milwaukee & Fond du Lac Railroad Company, and, in 1853, a company was chartered called the Milwaukee, Fond du Lac & Green Bay Railroad Company. By an act of the Legislature approved June 27, 1853, these two companies were authorized to consolidate with each other. This consolidation occurred, and the new company commenced the construction of a railroad toward Fond du Lac. In the mean time, the officers of the La Crosse & Milwaukee Company had held public meet- ings on the line of their proposed railroad, and had applied the system of farm mortgages to procure means for its construction. In 1854, the Milwaukee, Fond du Lac & Green Bay Rail- road Company consolidated with the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad Company, assuming the name of the latter, and proceeded with the construction of the railroad already commenced, but turned it in the direction of La Crosse.

The next election of Directors was held February 7, 1855, and the following were chosen : President, Stoddard Judd. Directors-Hiram Barber, .S. L. Rose, Byron Kilbourn, Moses Kneeland, James Ludington, William Dawes, E. D. Clinton, Moses M. Strong, Edwin H. Goodrich, Edwin Townsend, Samuel T. Smith, Hugh McFarlane, Russell S. Knecland, Chase A. Stephens. C. D. Cook elected in place of Dawes resigned.

At the special legislative session of 1836, the western portion of the land grant donated to the State by Congress to aid in railroad construction was conferred by the State on the La Crosse & Milwaukee Company. The road was completed to Fox Lake, sixty-eight miles from Milwaukee, November 1, and to Portage, ninety-eight miles from Milwaukee, and one-half the distance to La Crosse, March 14, 1857. In that year, the company suffered by the financial depression of the times, and there were repeated changes in its board of officers.

In August, 1857, the track was completed to Kilbourn City, and in November, to New Lisbon, forty-three miles west of Portage. At the close of the year 1857, the stock of the road amounted to $7,687,540.26 ; the mortgage and floating debt were $8,263,660.91. In the annual report of the company for that year, the melancholy story of the financial embarrass- ments are given, and among the rest, ample admission is made in guarded language, of the disastrous results to the company itself of the legislative and other official corruption by which the land grant was secured the previous year. The report says : "In referring to the causes that have produced the present embarrassments of the company, it cannot be disguised that the land grant itself, so eagerly sought. has, by the expense of the contest for its possession, con- tributed very largely to the result."

On the 27th of September, 1857, the road passed into the hands of Selah Chamberlain, as lessee, by whom, as ,contractor, a large portion of it had been built. He leased from the La Crosse & Milwaukee Company, and continued the construction of the road during the balance of 1857, and till October 1, 1858, when the whole line was opened to La Crosse. He continued to operate the road as such lessee till 1860, when he surrendered control to Bronson and Sutter, the trustees of the second mortgage bondholders. At that time, an order had been made in the United States District Court, appointing Hans Crocker receiver of the Western Division of the road from Portage to La Crosse. A motion was also pending

A. J. Lewis

GOVERNOR OF WISCONSIN. 1864-65. COLUMBUS.

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

for the appointment of a receiver of the Eastern Division of the road, which was granted a few days after, and the same receiver was appointed. As such receiver Col. Crocker took possession of the entire road at the close of business, June 11, 1860, and operated it till June 12, 1863, when, on an order of the court, he surrendered possession of the Western Division, from Portage to La Crosse, to the Milwaukee & St. Paul Company, as purchaser. By another order, he surrendered the Eastern Division to the same company, to operate under him as receiver. Col. Crocker continued to act as receiver of the Eastern Division till January 9, 1866, when he surrendered that road to the Milwaukee & Minnesota Railroad Company. That company continued to operate it till March 6, 1867, when they surrendered it to the Milwaukee & St. Paul Company, under a decree rendered on the so-called Cleveland judgment, in the Circuit Court of the United States.

The history of the Milwaukee & Minnesota Railroad Company is thus described : On the 21st day of June, 1858, what was called the Albany board of the La Crosse Company, made a mortgage to William Barnes, of Albany, commonly known as the third mortgage, as security for $2,000,000 of boods which they proposed to issue. Of this sum in bonds, $550,000 were set apart for delivery, and were delivered to Stoddard Judd, as trustee, to take up farm mort- gages, but were never used for that purpose. About $150,000 in bonds were used in paying the company's debts. Over $700,000 were hypothecated for the sum of $35,000 in cash, and were suffered to be sold at 5 cents on the dollar, and were bought in by some of the Directors, and by certain other Eastern parties acting in concert with them. These bonds bore interest from July 1, 1858. Default was made in the payment of interest January 1, 1859, and proceedings were at once begun to foreclose the mortgage, the trustees claiming that all the bonds had been dis- posed of. No suit for the foreclosure was prosecuted, but a sale was had under the power in the mortgage, and the property was bid off for the bondholders by the trustees, William Barnes, May 21, 1859. Immediately thereafter, he, with persons claiming to hold $1,400,000 of the bonds, formed articles of association as the Milwaukee & Minnesota Railroad Company. By the articles of association, Russell Sage, of New York ; Ludlow A. Battershall, of Troy, N. Y. ; William Gould, of Albany, N. Y .; William B. Gilbert, of Syracuse, N. Y .; Hans Crocker, Nor- man J. Emmons and Lemuel W. Weeks. of Milwaukee; William R. Sill, of La Crosse ; and William E. Smith, of Fox Lake ; were named as Directors. This organization never had con- trol of the road, and was a mere paper organization. Some time in 1862, a new board of directors was elected, and in 1866, they obtained possession of the road, holding it until March 9, 1867, as before described.

In 1863, Isaac Seymour, N. A. Cowdrey, Horace Galpen, David H. Hughes, William Gould, Frederick P. James and George Smith, all of New York, and Asahel Finch and William H. White, both of Milwaukee, associated themselves under articles of agreement, dated May 5, of that year, as the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company. They had purchased, at mort- gage sale, the Western Division of the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad, being that portion of the lines between Portage and La Crosse, and in their articles of agreement stipulated that they might purchase the Milwaukee & Western Railroad, commonly called the Watertown road, running from Milwaukee to Columbus, with a branch to Sun Prairie ; the Milwaukee & Horicon road, running from Horicon to Berlin, and the Eastern Division of the La Crosse & Milwaukee road, when practicable ; and these purchases were subsequently perfected. Other persons after- ward became associated with them, and the company operated, under orders of the United States Court, the Eastern Division of the La Crosse & Milwaukee road, accounting to the court for its use. The lines owned by the company, under the purchases made by them, were as follows : From Milwaukee to Columbus, via Watertown, 78 miles; from Portage to La Crosse, 98 miles ; from Watertown to Sun Prairie, 26 miles ; from Horicon to Berlin, 49 miles ; from Ripon to Omro, 10 miles. In order to own a through line from Milwaukee to La Crosse, the company constructed 28 miles of track, from Columbus to Portage, which was completed in September, 1864, when the through line was open to travel. All through trains previous to that time had run over the Eastern Division of the La Crosse road. The cost of the lines of road and entire

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

property purchased by the company, of which they entered into the possession June 13, 1863, was $8,144,138, for 261 miles of road, or $31,203 per mile.

In 1864, Russell Sage was elected President of the company in place of D. M. Hughes, and filled that office till July 1, 1865, when he was succeeded by Alexander Mitchell. During the balance of the year 1863, after the formation of the St. Paul Company, and during 1864, its organization was perfected, and the different interests represented by the capitalists composing the corporation were harmonized and consolidated.

During the year 1865, the struggle over the possession of the Eastern Division of the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad continued between the Milwaukee & St. Paul and the Milwaukee & Minnesota Companies. There was a vigorous but unsuccessful effort made in the Legislature of that year to procure legislation which would authorize the latter company to run through trains between Milwaukee and La Crosse over the track of the former company, west of Port- age ; and the failure of this project still further impaired the resources of the weaker company.

In April, 1856, a pooling arrangement was made between the Milwaukee & St. Paul Com- pany and the Milwaukee & Prairie du Chien Company. This experiment proved successful, and led to a still closer relation between the two companies, and a majority of the stock of the Prairie du Chien Company was transferred to the St. Paul Company's trustees. As a result, the Directors of the Prairie du Chien Company, elected in that year, were fully identified in interest with the St. Paul Company, and negotiations progressed favorably for a complete union of the two companies by the absorption of the property of the Prairie du Chien line in the St. Paul corporation. In fact, the arrangement progressed so far during the year that at its close, the reports of the two roads were consolidated so far as the miles of road in operation, and the total cost, indebtedness, revenues and expenses of the two companies were concerned. During this year, the litigation over the possession of the Eastern Division of the La Crosse & Milwau- kee road proceeded, but it was not completed, though close approaches were made to the right of possession in the St. Paul Company. The earnings of the company for 1866 were $2,538,- 799.96. The expenses were $1,604,696.49.

On the 1st of January, 1872, the Milwaukee & St. Paul Company formally effected tlie purchase of the Chicago & St. Paul Railroad, running 138 miles, from St. Paul to Winona and La Crescent, opposite to La Crosse. The purchase was made by giving the bonds of the St. Paul Company for £800,000, or about $4,000,000 in gold, payable in London in A. D. 1902, at 7 per cent. The line of the road between Milwaukee and Chicago, eighty-five miles, was also completed in the fall of 1872, but its formal transfer to the St. Paul Company was not effected till the fol- lowing year. This completed the route between Chicago and St. Paul, a distance of 410 miles.

In 1873, the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry became numerous and powerful in Wiscon- sin, and they cultivated a popular sentiment unfriendly to the existing system of railroad man- agement. The wheat crop of the Northwest was enormously productive, and the price ruled high. The railroad companies, not satisfied with the large profits they had been making, crop or no crop, advanced the rates of freight on all their lines. This step led to increased hos- tility from the Grange organizations.

The Legislature of Wisconsin, which met in January, 1874, enacted the law limiting thie rates to be charged by railroad companies for transporting passengers and freight, and also pro- viding for the appointment of a board of railroad commissioners. George H. Paul, John W. Hoyt and Joseph H. Osborn were appointed such commissioners, and the " Potter law," as the act in question was called, went into effect May 1. The railroad companies, regarding the law as unconstitutional, refused to acquiesce in the reduction of charges which the law established, and the State authorities enforced the requirements of the law by legal proceedings, resulting in final judgment in the Supreme Court, affirming the paramount control of the Legislature over all corporations created by law. This judgment became operative on the railroad companies October 1, 1874, and their subsequent charges conformed to the prices fixed by law. During this year, and the course of this litigation, public feeling ran high, and intense hostility existed in many localities of the State on the part of the people against the railroad companies. By an

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

act of the Legislature, in February, 1874, the name of this company was changed to " The Chi- cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company."

The Legislature of 1876 repealed the " Potter law " and enacted in its stead a law estab- lishing maximum prices for freights. By the terms of this law the maximum prices established were the rates fixed by the St. Paul Company in its schedule of freights, adopted in June, 1872.

The Columbus & Portage Line .- The Milwaukee & Watertown Railroad was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, approved March 11, 1851, and Edward D. Holton, Alexander Mitchell, Eliphalet Cramer, James Kneeland, Daniel Wells, Jr., Hans Crocker, John H. Tweedy, George H. Walker, Byron Kilbourn, Daniel H. Chandler, John W. Medberry, all of Milwaukee County, William M. Dennis, Daniel Jones, Benjamin F. Fay, Luther A. Cole, Simeon Ford, Peter Rogan, Peter V. Brown and Edward Gilman, of Jefferson County, were appointed Commissioners to form the company. This charter authorized the company to build a railroad from some point in the city of Milwaukee, or on the line of the Milwaukee & Missis- sippi Railroad in the county of Waukesha, to Watertown. By subsequent amendments, the company was authorized to extend its line to Columbus. A preliminary survey of the line of the road between Milwaukce and Watertown was made in the same month, and was extended to Fort Winnebago in the March following, and the construction of the road at Brookfield Junc- tion, thirteen miles from Milwaukee, was commenced. In 1854, the line was opened for traffic to Oconomowoc, and on the 1st day of October, 1855, the road was completed to Watertown. In the winter of 1856-57, the line reached Columbus. About this time, Congress donated to the State of Wisconsin an extensive land grant to aid in the construction of railroads, and one line of road provided for in the grant was to extend from Madison or Columbus to Portage City, and thence to Lake St. Croix, from there to the head of Lake Superior and to Bayfield. The Mil- waukee & Watertown Company, though owning but a short line of road pointing in the direction of the prescribed land-grant route, was, as will be seen, under the management of an association of the ablest business men in the State, and entered into vigorous competition with the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad Company as an applicant for the grant. A special session of the Legislature was held, commencing September 3, 1856, for the purpose of disposing of this grant. The struggle between the rival roads was animated, until September 20, when the antagonistic interests were compromised by the consolidation of Milwaukee & Watertown Company with the La Crosse & Milwaukee Company. The line in question is now a part of the great system under the control of Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Company.

The Madison &. Portage Line .- In 1856-57, the La Crosse & Milwaukee Company partly graded a track for a railroad between Madison and Portage, as a part of its land-grant line, but with the collapse of that company the work was abandoned. In 1869, a new company was formed, which procured the right of way and grade of the old company. Principally through the efforts of James Campbell and R. B. Sanderson, the track was completed and the road opened January 8, 1871, a large delegation of Portage citizens going to Madison by invitation on the first passenger train over the line. It was for a time operated by the St. Paul Company under a lease, and, in 1878, that company secured the ownership of the road, which now forms a part of its general lines.

Chicago & Northwestern .- A stretch of about seven and a half miles of this road passes through Columbia County. In 1870, the Baraboo Air Line Railroad Company was incorporated with authority to build a railroad from Columbus, Watertown, Madison, or any point intermediate, via the village of Lodi, Baraboo, Abelman's Mills and Reedsburg, to Tomah, La Crosse, or any point on the Mississippi River above La Crosse. In 1871, the Baraboo Air Line Company was consoli- dated with the Beloit and Madison Company, and both were then consolidated with the North- western Company, and the construction of the road northwest of Madison, or the Madison Extension, as it was called, was rapidly pushed forward toward Winona Junction, a distance of 129 miles. Aid was voted to the Air Line road previous to the consolidation, and was paid to aid its construction as follows : City of Madison, $25,000 cash ; Lodi, $25,000 bonds and $15,000 cash ;

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

West Point, $5,000; Baraboo, $70,000 bonds ; Excelsior, $12,500; Freedom, $7,500; Green- field, $5,000; Reedsburg, $25,000 : Winfield, $5,000 ; Sparta, $63,000; Ridgeville, $2,500. In this year the line was opened to Lodi ; in 1872, to Reedsburg; in 1873 it was completed to Elroy, and through trains from Chicago ran to St. Paul over the Northwestern and West Wis- consin Roads. In 1874, this line was completed to Winona Junction, and the whole is now operated as the Madison Division.

The Wisconsin Central .- By Chapter 80, Laws of Congress of 1864, there was granted to the State of Wisconsin every alternate section of public land, designated by odd numbers, for ten sections in width on each mile of said road, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of a railroad from Portage City, Berlin, Doty's Island, or Fond du Lac, as the State by its Legislature might determine, to Bayfield, thence to Superior. By joint resolution of the Legislature of the State, approved March 20, 1865, the grant was accepted " and the State of Wisconsin hereby consents to execute the said trust created, by the aforesaid act of Congress, pursuant in all things to the terms, limitations and conditions of said act." The Legislature of that year failed to agree upon a bill for the disposition of the land grant. The contest over it was renewed the next winter, and after a protracted struggle between the contesting interests, the grant was dis- posed of by fixing the city of Portage as the point of commencement and conferring the grant upon the Portage & Superior Company, with a joint ownership in it to the Winnebago & Lake Superior Company from Stevens Point to the lake. It was also provided that the road should be built via Ripon, provided Congress should give its assent to the change of route, which was given by joint resolution of Congress, adopted June 21, 1866. The first Directors of the Portage & Superior Company, were C. C. Washburn, John P. McGregor, George Esterly, E. W. Keyes, J. H. Rountree, W. W. Reed, H. S. Winsor, T. C. Pound, W. W. Corning, H. L. Palmer, John Nazro, E. H. Galloway, H. G. Webb, S. O. Raymond, W. H. Doe, Asaph Whit- tlesey and H. P. Strong. Mr. Washburn declining to accept a directorship, C. H. Upham succeeded him in the board. The board was organized at Portage, June 5, 1866, by the elec- tion of John P. McGregor, as President; H. L. Palmer, Vice President : Henry B. Munn, Secretary, and John Nazro, Treasurer. Mr. Munn shortly after resigned the secretaryship, and A. J. Turner was elected to succeed him. At this meeting of the board, a formal acceptance of the grant was made by a resolution presented by H. L. Palmer, in the following language :

Resolved, That the Portage & Superior Railroad Company accepts the trust lands granted for railroad purposes, conferred upon and granted to the said company by an act of the Legislature of the State of Wisconsin, approved April 9, 1866, * * * upon the terms and conditions prescribed in said act of the Legislature, and in the said act of Congress ; and that the President and Secretary of the company are hereby directed to file a notice of such acceptance in the name of the company in the office of the Secretary of State.

The first directory of the Winnebago & Superior Company was organized about the same time the organization of the Portage & Superior Company was made. It being at a time when railroad projects in this State were at a standstill, but little progress was made toward active work. Finding it inconvenient to operate separately, the two companies were consolidated as authorized by act of the Legislature, Chapter 257, Laws of 1869, under the name of the Port- age, Winnebago & Superior Railroad Company, and an organization of the two companies was effected at Oshkosh June 2, 1869, with George Reed as President ; John P. McGregor, Vice President; Julius S. Buck, Secretary ; Henry Hewitt, Treasurer; S. W. Budlong, Chief Engi- neer. On the 15th day of June, 1869, the first stake for the line of the road was set at Port- age, and a preliminary line was run through to Lake Superior, and the lands granted to the com- pany were withdrawn from the market.

Through the active efforts of Hon. George Reed, the President of the consolidated company, Eastern capitalists were enlisted in the enterprise, with Gardner Colby, of Boston, at the head, and sufficient local aid was secured to induce the com- pany to put a portion of the line under contract, commencing at Menasha in June, 1871, reach- ing Stevens Point in November of the same year. In 1871, the name of the company was changed to the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company. In the early stages of the organization of this company, the Winnebago & Superior Company was also consolidated with the Manitowoc

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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY.

& Minnesota Company, the last-named company having been empowered to build a road from Manitowoc on Lake Michigan, west through Menasha and Stevens Point to the Mississippi River, but the road had not been constructed. Its chartered rights, however, passed by consoli- dation into the Portage, Winnebago & Superior Company.

In 1870, the Portage, Stevens Point & Superior Railroad Company was incorporated, with W. W. Corning, S. A. Pease, A. J. Turner, Robert Cochran, G. L. Park, J. O. Raymond, Seth Reeves, George A. Neeves and Joseph Wood as Directors, with the purpose of building a road on a direct line from Portage to Stevens Point, to connect with the land-grant road. On the 3d of December, of the same year, at Montello, the company was consolidated with the Portage, Winnebago & Superior Company, and its line was adopted as the line of the land-grant road. The Legislature of 1876 gave its consent to the change of route, which was ratified by act of Congress in the same year.

The Wisconsin Central commenced to build its road from Menasha west, in the spring of 1871, and in spite of almost insurmountable obstacles, and during a time of severe panics in the money markets, it pressed the work of construction forward and laid its last rail in June, 1877, having constructed 330 miles of railroad, all in the State of Wisconsin. The cost of this road in cash was about $9,000,000. It has had so far a hard struggle to pay its expenses and the interest on its coupons, which were funded in July, 1875.

DARK DEEDS.

"State of Wisconsin vs. Edward Leahey." The defendant in this suit was an ex-Catholic priest, who married, emigrated from Ireland, and settled in the town of Scott, in the year 1850. He was a very passionate man, and exceedingly jealous of his wife. Bernard Mauley was a near neighbor, and, on his return from a lecturing tour, Leahey had him arrested on a charge of seducing his wife. An examination of Manley was had before a Justice, in the village of Par- deeville, on the 6th day of August, 1852, when he was acquitted. On leaving the court room, he was shot and instantly killed by Leahey, who was promptly arrested, committed to jail, and an indictment found against him by the grand jury, September 30, 1852. A continuance was granted at the September term of court, his trial taking place at the April term, 1853, the jury finding him guilty of murder in the first degree. Sentence was not passed upon him until the 7th day of October, 1853, when he was sentenced by Judge Charles H. Larrabee to the peni- tentiary for life, with twenty days' solitary confinement. On the 6th day of July, 1860, he was pardoned and restored to citizenship by Gov. Alexander W. Randall.

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The history of Columbia county, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, Part 73

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