The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 47

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082

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In the towns of Oakfield and Byron, kilns have been established that manufacture an excellent lime, some of which is shipped to the Chicago market ; being almost a pure dolomite, consisting of 54} per cent of carbonate of lime and 441 per cent of carbonate of magnesia, it makes a very strong cement. The greatest observed thickness of the Byron beds is about 110 feet. It outcrops in the towns of Oakfield, Byron, Eden, Empire, Taycheedah and Marshfield. The thicker beds furnish an excellent building stone, either rough dressed for ordinary masonry, or cut for the finer classes of work. In some instances a color as fine as statuary marble may be obtained.

Lower Coral Beds .- Next in order of succession comes the lower coral beds. The rock of this formation is a rough, heavy-bedded dolomite or magnesian limestone, not unlike the Mayville beds. The layers are something very massive, ten to twelve feet intervening between distinct bedding joints. In texture the rock is coarse, crystalline, granular and usually rather soft, which gives the weathered outlines a very rough, craggy, pitted exterior. The prevailing color is gray, verging toward white and yellow. Much of the rock is nearly pure dolomite well fitted to the manufacture of lime; but, like the Mayville beds, it requires much discrimination in selecting the best for that purpose. The lower coral beds are about fifty feet thick.

Upper Coral Beds .- This rock occupies the highest horizon of any rock in the county, being the most recent of our rock system. It underlies the soil in the towns of Auburn, Osceola, the east half of Ashford and east half or Forest. It is rather a thin-bedded dolomite, generally of a buff color, but in its unweathered condition often gray. It is usually fine grained, compact and hard. It shows a tendency to split into irregular, rudely, lenticular flakes. The stone is of little value for construction or for lime. Some layers make a tolerable flag. In Sections 2 and 11 in the town of Ashford, the North-Western Union Pacific Road cuts through it. There is also a quarry opened in it at the village of Elmore, in the same town, in Section 15, which exhibits a very heavy-bedded rock. The thickness of this formation may be estimated at fifty feet.

The Soil .- The latest geological formation is the soil. This is produced by the disintegra- tion of the drift and of the rock, where it approaches the surface. In Fond du Lac County,

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

where the sandstone comes to the surface, it forms small patches of sandy soil, remarkable for its warmth and fertility. The limestone gives the soil a loamy character observed on the higher prairies, where that rock approaches the surface. There is a deep and exhaustless red clay to be found in the timber land. As a whole, the soil of the county is not surpassed by any in Wisconsin for fertility. The soil of the marshes is a deep, black, vegetable mold.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

Fond du Lac County, lying as it does on the dividing line between the iminense forests of hardwood and pine which extend northward to Lake Superior, and the vast expanse of prairie that stretches away to the west and southwest until it meets the Rocky Mountains. happily unites within its own territory the principal characteristics and resources peculiar to both these districts. While in the north and east it enters those hardwood forests which have added so much to the prosperity and success of the manufacturing interests of Wisconsin, in the south and west it reaches out and embraces a portion of those prairies of inexhaustible agricultural resources, which are the pride of the Great Central West.

The general surface appearance of Fond du Lac County is attractive, being generally undu- lating enough to afford good draining, without being hilly. presenting a pleasing variety of groves of valuable timber and light openings, interspersed with stretches of prairie, marsh and meadow lands, beautifully undulated with gentle ascents and declivities, which swell away in the distance, forming many truly charming landscapes. But little, if any, is so uneven or hilly as to render it undesirable for agricultural purposes, and a large portion of the flat, marshy land which was originally considered worthless, has, at a trifling expense, been transformed into valuable meadow ; while there are some 3,000 acres of peat marsh, having an inexhaustible supply of peat of a good quality. varying from six to twenty fect in depth, which may, in the not distant future, become a source of wealth to its owners. The most notable of the physical features of the county are its lakes, rivers, ereeks, springs, " the ledge," and marshes.

Winnebago Lake, the largest body of fresh water wholly within a single State of the Union. is the most striking physical feature of Fond du Lac County. It has an elevation above Lake Michigan of 162 feet ; above the ocean of 751 fect. It is about thirty miles in length, north and south ; eight to fifteen miles in widthi, east and west. "It reelines its head in Fond du Lae County-the city lying as its crown." The number of scetions of land covered by its waters within the limits of the county are about thirty-four. Were the lake to be drained, the land reclaimed within the county would lie in Townships 15 and 16 north, of Range 17 cast, and in Townships 16 and 17 north, of Range 18 east. The northern boundary of the county crosses the lake from east to west as follows : From the southwest corner of Calumet County extending west on the south line of the county to a point in the lake "in the range line between Ranges 17 and 18 east; thence south on said range line to the range of the town- ship line between Townships 16 and 17 north ;" thence west to a point where the north line of the county of Fond du Lac leaves the lake. So much of the lake as lies south and east of these lines is within the county of Fond du Lac.

It is a matter of record that one imaginative person named J. E. Tuttle, of Fond du Lac. doubtless believing in some awful convulsion that would make the dry land appear where now is only water, and having faith that when the dry land should appear, Uncle Sam would at once send out surveyors and run the proper lines, did, on July 11, 1861, mortgage to Richard II. Tallman, of Ogle County, Ill., to secure the payment of $5,000, the cast half of Section 28 and the southwest quarter and nortlieast quarter of Section 27, in Township 17 north, of Range 18 east. all in Fond du Lac County ! When that mortgage is foreclosed, the purchaser will doubt- less discover that railway stocks are not the only things that are "watered "-that real-estate mortgages are liable to the same manipulations, in the hands of sharpers.

In earlier years, the quantities of fish, mostly suckers, bull-pouts, catfish and sturgeon, taken from Winnebago Lake would seem incredible at the present day, although these fish are still abundant in the spring. Pike, pickerel and bass are almost as abundant now as ever, but

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

are not taken in such quantities as the other varieties. In 1859, fish sold in the city of Fond du Lac for 10 cents per bushel, and suckers and bull-pouts were sold for 25 cents per sleigh load to the farmers who fed their swine upon this eminent brain food. At that time, all the streams flowing into the lake were crowded with fish in a manner that will never be witnessed again.

Lake Winnebago, being for the most part comparatively shallow, is not very cold in sum- mer, and freezes early and to a great depth in winter. It is not much more than 120 feet in depth in its deepest part, and the south end will not average over fifteen feet in depth.

It has no first-class harbors in Fond du Lac County, the only ones in use being at Pipe Village and the city of Fond du Lac. A moderate expenditure of Government money at either of these places would render them much more safe, and good enough for all the commerce done on the lake. They were nearly impassible during the summer of 1879, as the water in the lake was lower than at any period since 1848, when the dam at Neenah was erected, raising the water in the whole lake, and in all the streams emptying into it. A mention of Island Park, or Garlic Island, as it was called for years on account of the abundance of leeks or wild onions found upon it, may properly be made in connection with this article, although it is situated beyond the boundaries of Fond du Lac County. It is a high, dry, splendidly wooded island, nearly twenty- five miles from the city of Fond du Lac, surrounded by deep water and fine fishing grounds. It is owned by a company of individuals living in Oshkosh and Fond du Lac, by whom it has been beautified by the erection of several large summer-houses and clearing away all weeds and under- brush. It is the resort during the summer months of numbers of pleasure seekers, mostly from Fond du Lac and Oshkosh.

Other Lakes .- There are about twenty small lakes and numerous ponds wholly within the county of Fond du Lac, with Rush and Winnebago Lakes bordering it on the north. The most beautiful of all these lakes is De Neveu, situated in a valley entirely surrounded by forests, about three miles from the city of Fond du Lac. On the map it will be found in Sections 30 and 31. On all sides are bold shores, and its waters are deep, clear and cold. It is cool in summer and does not freeze over until late at winter, owing to the numerous springs on its shores and in its bed. It has several large summer cottages, numerous fine boats, and. in the summer, either shore is well lined with the white tents of campers. It abounds in pickerel, pike and rock, black, green and strawberry bass, which are caught liberally by the pleasure seekers. Pickerel weighing thirty pounds have been caught in this lake. As a dueking and excellent fishing place, Long Lake, in Sections 13, 24 and 25, of the town of Osceola, is of the most importance, although Duck Lake, in the town of Ashford, Muliet Lake, in the town of Forest, and Lake Fifteen, in the town of Auburn, are famous.

Rivers .- Fond du Lac County might well and properly be called the birthplace of rivers, for it has the honor of being the source of more rivers and creeks than any other in Wisconsin -- perhaps in the Union. And what may be considered still more remarkable, these streams actually flow in four contrary directions-east, west, north and south. All of these streams have their sources in springs or small spring lakes, and were, therefore, in an early day, abundantly stocked with excellent fish. In fact, the stories told by the early settlers of the quantities of suckers, mullet and red-horse taken from them seem almost incredible, although they are well supported as true.

Of the seven rivers having their source in Fond du Lac County, only two, the East and West Branches of the Fond du Lac River, belong wholly to the county. Of these, the West Branch is the larger. It has three principal sources-one on Section 14, town of Metomen ; one on Section 14, town of Ripon, and the other on Section 7, town of Rosendale. It is nowhere a navigable stream. It is dammed in the town of Eldorado, where it turns during a por- tion of the year the Scribner flouring-mill, and in the town of Fond du Lac, where it turns the John C. Bishop mill. It unites with the East Branch in the city of Fond du Lac, a half-mile from where it empties into Lake Winnebago.

The East Branch of the Fond du Lac River has its principal source in Sections 5 and 13, in the town of Oakfield, where it is called Seven Mile Creek. Its other sources are on Sections

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

20, in Byron (the camp-ground spring), and 16, in Lamartine. Near the village of Oakfield, this stream turns two flouring-mills during portions of the year, and a flouring-mill on Section 27, town of Fond du Lac. After its confluence with the West Branch in the city of Fond du Lac, the stream is navigable for a short distance, but is mostly used for rafting logs. A station- ary bridge at Scott street prevents boats from passing farther up. There was once talk of com- pelling the city to make swing bridges over the Fond du Lac River as far as it had been declared navigable water, but nothing definite was ever done.

Roek River, which is only a small stream in Fond du Lac County, rises in large springs in Sections 3, 16 and 19, in the town of Alto, and in Section 25, in the town of Metomen. The stream flows east past Waupun, where there is a small water-power. Although comparatively an unimportant stream in this county, Rock River is one of the important streams of the States of Wisconsin and Illinois.

Grand River has its source in springs in Sections 16 and 19, in the town of Metomen, and in Section 19, in the town of Alto. It flows westward through Green Lake County into the Fox River, turning four mills in the town of Metomen.

Milwaukee River has three branches-East, Middle and West-in Fond du Lac County. The head-waters of the East Branch are discharged from Long Lake, in Sections 13 and 14, town of Osceola. The Middle Branch has its source in Section 23, Osceola, and the West Branch mostly in Round Lake, in Section 27, Osceola, although large feeders come from springs in Sections 25, in Byron, and 12 and 17, Eden.

There are several mills turned in these towns by the three branches of the Milwaukee River, which flows south into Lake Michigan at Milwaukee.

Sheboygan River takes its rise mostly in the eastern portion of the town of Empire, and in Section 6, town of Osceola. It flows eastward into Lake Michigan at the city of Sheboygan.

Manitowoe River rises in the towns of Calumet and Forest. It is a favorite dueking and fishing stream, being deep and sluggish for the most part, and abounding in wild rice. It flows northeast into Lake Michigan at Manitowoc.

De Neveu Creek has its principal sources in Twin Lakes, in Sections 9 and 16, in the town of Eden, and in De Neveu Lake, in the town of Empire. Being the outlet of De Neveu Lake, on G. De Neveu's land, it was first called De Neveu's Creek, which soon grew into its present name. It is a small stream, very swift, and subject to damaging freshets. In the spring, it is full of fish which run up from Lake Winnebago, into which it flows, in the town of Fond du Lac. One of the branches turns the Empire Woolen Mills, and the old Conklin flouring-mill, east of the city of Fond du Lac.

Silver Creek has its source in a spring which is the largest in Fond du Lac County, situ- ated on the farm of Almon Osborn, in Seetion 2, in the town of Metomen, and in another very large spring on M. Hargraves' farm on Section 1, in the town of Metomen. It flows to the westward through the city of Ripon, where it makes a rapid descent and furnishes a strong, though limited, water-power, into Green Lake. It turns, during a large portion of the year Dellinger's and Bateman's flouring-mills, in the city of Ripon, and Strong's and Crawford's mills, in the town of Ripon.

The town of Metomen has the honor of being the source of Rock and Grand Rivers and Silver Creek. Rock River waters flow to the Gulf of Mexico, while the waters of the others, although flowing at first in different directions, empty in Lake Michigan through Green Bay. A few miles distant may be found the sources of the Fond du Lac and Milwaukee Rivers, which flow in exactly opposite directions, but finally reach Lake Michigan. The large number of springs in Fond du Lac County show precisely where the " water-shed " is located.

Springs .- The county of Fond du Lac, especially in the town of Metomen, and those in which the "Ledge " is situated, is remarkable for the number and size of its springs, and the cool- ness, deliciousness and purity of their waters. The most careful estimates place the number of springs in the county at 2,000, the most of which flow from the Ledge. The largest is on the farm of Almon Osborn, in Section 2, in the town of Metomen, it being the principal source

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of Silver Creek. In Section 1, in the town of Metomen, M. Hargraves is the owner of a very large spring. The springs in Sections 16 and 19, in the town of Metomen, make the Grand River, and in Sections 3, 16 and 19, of Alto, make the Rock River. In Section 20, in the town of Byron, at the camp-grounds, is a very large spring, and also on Fred M. Phelps' farm, in Section 28, in the town of Empire, and on the farm of David Giddings, in the same town. G. De Neveu has a large spring near De Neven Lake. This lake is fed by four springs of considerable size, one of great purity and beauty being on John S. McDonald's land on the east shore of the lake, not more than a dozen feet from the water's edge, nor more than twenty inches above its surface. In Section 5 of the town of Eden, Section 10 of Metomen, Section 4 of Osceola, and Sections 16 and 13 of Byron, are large springs which never run dry or dimin- ish their flow. The Ledge road and the Green Bay and Taycheedah plank road are crossed by water from hundreds of clear, cold springs, which, in some localities, occur every two or three yards.

The Ledge .- The Ledge, as it is popularly known, is an abrupt outeropping of the lime- stone crust, which extends from the northeast to the southwest across the county, through the towns of Calumet, Taycheedah, Empire, Byron and Oakfield. It consists of the elevated edge of a thick layer of limestone, well broken and thoroughly marked by the erosion of the glacial period, and varies from a small mound to a bold, perpendicular cliff two hundred feet in height. It is remarkable for the thousands of clear, cold springs which gush from its cleft face from base to summit. Large quantities of lime are burned from its loosened fragments, and stone for buildings, cellars and bridges is obtained in any amount desired. In some localities, this Ledge is shattered, and in others it is cracked into mighty blocks of stone, whose perpendicular seams and rents are wide enough for the passage of a person or a horse. At a place called Darlings' Gap, in the town of Oakfield, these features are particularly noticeable, many acres of land being strewn with blocks of stone which reach to the tops of the tallest trees, and frequently above them, and which in some instances stand out boldly and alone like the pyramids, as though dropped from the clouds. That portion of the Ledge which is not thus broken into fragments, is divided by innumerable but regular seams and pierced by fissures of large size. These seams and fissures, and the caves and hollows which abound along its entire length, were, when the country was first settled, the homes of foxes, lynxes, bears, wild-cats and gray wolves, as well as squirrels and snakes without number ; and such of these animals as are left in the country are still to be found in the Ledge where they are safe from all assaults. The fat, sluggish snakes known as the " prairie bulls," which infested the tall grass of the prairies before disturbed by the settlers in great numbers, still abound in the recesses of the Ledge.

Back of Allen's Mill, in the town of Taycheedah, iron ore was found about the year 1870 in paying quantities, but nothing was done with the discovery, owing to a lack of means. The iron is of the same quality as that found in large quantities at Iron Ridge, in Dodge County.

The Ledge is covered with butternut, hickory, basswood, three kinds of oak, a few beech trees, and in Oakfield with red cedar. It is a remarkable and interesting physical feature, both to the geologist, naturalist and pleasure seeker.

" The ledge, or hilly and elevated land east of the plain," says a writer in 1846, " is mostly owned by some of the first men in Wisconsin Territory, who have here some society of their own, although located at quite respectable distances apart. Among them are the Hon. N. P. Tallmadge, Gov. Doty, Henry Conklin, Mons. La Borde, a French gentleman, and several others. The hill rises by a gentle slope, about 100 feet, and extends north and south some twenty miles. All along its face are found, at short intervals, springs of the finest water, from which the brooks give abundant water to the plains below. On the same ground, too, are as handsome building sites as can be found anywhere, rivaling the best on the Hudson River, and commanding views extending over the country for thirty miles around, and the waters of the beautiful lake (Winnebago) as far as the eye can reach. Here are also plenty of splendid old oaks thick enough to grace a gentleman's park or lawn in a style that would require a lifetime to reach in the East. At the foot of the hill are some of the most beautiful ponds that I ever saw,

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the water almost as transparent as the air itself, and literally alive with as fine pickerel, trout and other fish, as ever an epicure laid his eyes on. I walked an entire forenoon, and rode most of the afternoon over these charming grounds, and as I gazed at times, while standing in the shade of majestic oaks, at the luxuriant grass, more than two feet high everywhere, the fine cultivated fields, and the tiny lakes on the farms of Mons. La Borde and John Thompson, Esq., of Pough- keepsie, it seemed as if a fairy land had actually been reached.

" At the east of the lands of the gentlemen named above, on the main road to Sheboygan, are some half-dozen more Dutchess County farmers, located on farms of choicest quality, proving what has often been proved before, that where farmers from Dutchess County settle, you can always depend upon finding a first-rate country. On the premises of Mr. Conklin is a large and well-cultivated garden, in which I saw onions that in size and quality would bring tears to the eyes of a Weathersfield Yankee, and his other vegetables came almost up to the extravagant Western stories we see in the papers now and then. Among other things, I was shown a mullein eight and one-half feet high."

Marshes .- In the popular sense of the term, the county contains but very few marshes. A marsh is really composed of low, wet land which is unfit for cultivation or use. Fond du Lac County contains no such, for all are used either as pastures or meadows. They consist of flat lands which are overflowed in spring and fall, but are generally dry enough in summer to admit of being worked upon with mowing machines, hay-tedders and wagons. The annual over- flow adds greatly to the productiveness of these marshes, and the bay crops taken from some of them are truly astonishing. Two crops a year are cut when the fall rains do not begin too early. The usual mode of procedure is to stack the hay in dry weather, on the highest por- tions of the marsh, and haul it off on the ice in winter. For pasturing horses and cattle, the hav marshes of Fond du Lac County are unsurpassed. But they are not usually adapted to the keeping of sheep, being too damp and cold, nor for dairy purposes, as the grass does not pro- duce as rich or abundant flow of milk as tame grasses. For horses and young stock, they are of pecullar value. as the latter grow sleek and thrifty upon it, while horses troubled with heaves or pulmonary diseases, are generally cured by grazing one or two seasons upon marsh grass.

These marshes are to be found in every town in the county, but they are usually small and more than one-half of them have been reclaimed by the drain and plow. The largest one of them is called the " Eldorado Marsh," and is mostly within the town of Eldorado. It is cut in twain by the West Branch of the Fond du Lac River, and is all in use as pasture or meadow land, mostly the latter. 'The next in size is the Lamartine Peat Marsh, situated in the town of Lamartine. It takes its name from large quantities of peat which underlie its surface. A company was formed in Fond du Lac for the manufacture-that is, digging and drying-of peat, but the enterprise was long since abandoned.

As the country grows older, these marshes are more and more encroached upon by the plow and seeder, and those which have been drained, as all will ultimately be, are very productive.

CHAPTER II.

ANCIENT EARTHI WORKS-INDIAN OCCUPANCY-EARLY FRENCH TRADERS-UNITED STATES LAND SURVEYS-UNITED STATES LAND DISTRICTS-FOND DU LAC COMPANY-ORIGIN OF THE NAME FOND DU LAC-AN EARLY TRIP TO THE HEAD OF WINNEBAGO LAKE-FIRST SETTLEMENT IN FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

ANCIENT EARTHWORKS.

Within the boundaries of Fond du Lac County are found many notable and interesting evi- dences of prehistoric occupation and existence. The geographical position of the county is such as to intimately associate it with some of the important chains or series of earthworks that are found extending along most of the favorable routes for primitive transportation between the great lakes and the Mississippi River.

The county in this regard seems to confirm the generally accepted theory that primitive man or the Mound-Builders, whoever they were, existed in greatest numbers along the borders of lakes and rivers ; and the more prominent these bodies of water and the position occupied appear, with relation to the great problems of transportation and subsistence, the more important and numerous are these ancient artificial works.

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The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 47

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1082

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082