The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 50

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

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From June 6, 1836, to March 11, 1837, Colwert Pier and his wife were the only residents in Fond du Lac County. On the day last mentioned, his brother, Edward Pier, arrived at " the Fond du Lac House," bringing a family consisting of his wife and two daughters, the youngest about four weeks old. These two families composed the entire population until June 1, when Norman Pier, from Middlebury, Vt., and Albert Kendall, from Rochester, in the same State, arrived. These young men were unmarried, and were added to the occupants of "the Fond du Lac House." On the 17th, Miss Harriet Pier (afterward Mrs. Alonzo Raymond) arrived at Fond du Lac. There were now three women in the county, but soon after, on the 3d of Sep- tember, the father (Calvin) and the mother (Esther) came on, bringing with them their son, Oliver W. Pier, a lad of fourteen years. The Piers and young Kendall were all the occupants of Fond du Lac County thenceforward to the beginning of March, 1838. On the first day ot that month, Mrs. Fanny Pier, wife of Colwert Picr, died, after a short illness. She was attended by Dr. David Ward, of Green Bay, he being the nearest resident physician. She, the pioneer woman in Fond du Lac County, was the first to go hence forever ! The funeral was held on the 3d of March, and was attended by the few pioneers, who were all mourners. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Cutting Marsh, missionary to the Stockbridge Indians. It was a sad and solemn occasion.

CHAPTER III.

" THE OLD MILITARY ROAD" AND OTHER EARLY HIGHWAYS-PIONEER LIFE-FOND DU LAC COUNTY BOUNDARIES ESTABLISHED-EARLY POLITICAL HISTORY-FOND DU LAC COUNTY ON EARLY MAPS-ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY-PIONEER REMINISCENCES.

" THE OLD MILITARY ROAD " AND OTHER EARLY IHIGHWAYS.

The first highway or road Fond du Lac County had was called the " military road," and was built at Government expense for the transportation of supplies from Green Bay, or Fort Howard, as the army " post " was then ealled, to Fort Winnebago, now Portage, and Fort Crawford, now Prairie du Chien. In the summer, provisions were transported in batteaux by water from Fort Howard to Forts Winnebago and Crawford, but in winter this could not be done. Therefore, early in 1835, Lewis Cass, then Secretary of War, sent out orders to open, lay out and bridge a road from Fort Howard to Fort Crawford, via Fond du Lac and Fort Winnebago. The soldiers at Fort Crawford were ordered to build and bridge the road to Fort Winnebago : those stationed at Fort Winnebago from their post to the Fond du Lac River and bridge that stream, and those at the " Bay," or Fort Howard, to open the road from their post to Fond du Lac. The soldiers at these three posts were under command of Brig. Gen. George Mercer Brooke, after whom Brooke street, the first in the city of Fond du Lac, was named, and com- posed the Fifth Regiment of the standing army. The road was laid out by Lieut. Centre and James Duane Doty. Mr. Doty was appointed because he knew the route better than almost any other man in the Territory. The road from Forts Crawford and Winnebago reached Fond du Lac in 1835, and the East Branch was bridged at that time where the Forest Street bridge now stands. The city had a bridge, therefore, for the use of Indians and wild beasts, before it had a white settler. The other end of the road was through dense hardwood forests, and to open it was a much more difficult and arduous undertaking. It did not reach the branch already finished to Fond du Lac until 1838. Its course through the city was straight from the tollgate at Luco, in the town of Fond du Lac, to where the Express Office now stands in the city. In the mean

time, the bridge built by the Fort Winnebago soldiers over the East Branch at Fond du Lac had been swept away, and, in 1837, Mr. Doty received permission to divert the course of the mili- tary road and build a bridge on Brooke street, where the railroad bridge now crosses the East Branch on that street, and, during the season, George McWilliams, with a company of men brought mostly from Stockbridge, built a bridge at the point mentioned, which served until the Chicago & North-Western Railway bridge was built. The abutments, stringers and covering were of logs which were eut within the present corporate limits of Fond du Lac, and floated to the desired location,

The military road was a crude affair. On the prairies stakes were driven as guides ; through the woods trees were felled, and the various streams were bridged with logs. Through the towns of Calumet and Tayeheedah the old military road, repaired since by public taxation, is still in use as a public highway. Military street, in the city of Fond du Lac, extends southwest toward Waupun and, merging into the " Waupun road," is on the site of the old military road as far as the first tollgate in the town of Fond du Lac. At that point it left the present " Waupun road." passing north of the Four Mile House, in the edge of Lamartine, to the Drury place, where it again was identical with the road-bed of the " Waupun road " as far as Schoolhouse No. 1 on Section 34, in Lamartine. It there extended more directly westward through the villages of Brandon and Fairwater, in Metomen, to Green Lake County. From Section 34, town of Lamar- tine, no traces of the original military road can be found, as it consisted of little more than oak

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

stakes driven into the soil as guides, which, as soon as the country became settled, the farmers removed, and all traces of what cost the Government a snug sum disappeared forever.

In 1837-38, there was a road opened to Fond du Lac County from Sheboygan. In the fall of the last-mentioned year, one was also opened and bridged to Fox Lake. This road had pre- viously been surveyed by Jacob P. Brower. In the winter of 1839, there was a road opened by way of Waupun to Madison, the capital of the State. The first road laid by county anthority was one from the village of Fond du Lac south toward Milwaukee, which was viewed in Novem- ber, 1840, by Seymour Wilcox, George White and M. Collins. This much it may be said of roads in Fond du Lac for many years : Through timbered land there were some definite marks to inform the traveler of the road's locality : through openings, prairies, and marshes he had a wide field for selecting his route, but must have a care to find the bridge over the next stream.

POINEER 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, partake 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 themselves homes in regions remote from civilization, and unexplored hitherto, save by wandering Indians and the beasts of the forests and prairies. 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 perse- verance.

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 appurte- nances 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, thou- sands, 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 colleges 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 the instruc- tion 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 poineer settler, upon his arrival in Fond du Lac County, was to build a house. Until this was done, some had to camp on the ground or live in their wagons-perhaps the only shelter they 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 the home entered very little into their thoughts-it was shelter they wanted, and protection 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 construc- tions of this kind were half-faced, or, as they were sometimes called, .cat-faced " sheds or " wike-ups," the Indian term for tent or house. It is true, a " claim " cabin was a little more in the shape of a human habitation, 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 sometimes with the sods of the prairie, 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

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

earth-frequently the latter only, when stone was not convenient-was made in the best practi- cable 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 fucl 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 the 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 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 on the inside with clay ; others-the more common. perhaps-were of the kind we occasionally see in use now, clay in 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 fireplace 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 purpose 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 re-hung : 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 one: A forked stake was driven into the ground diagonally from the corner of the room and at a 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 auger-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-placc. This was generally called a "prairie bedstead," and by some the " prairie rascal."

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 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

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

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 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 occa- sion 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 could 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 breadstuff's 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 settlers' 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 lavers were thrashed. the straw was carefully raked off and the wheat shoveled into a heap to be cleaned. This clean- ing 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 ever dreamed of. The distance to be traversed was as often as far as sixty to ninety miles. In dry weather. common sloughs and creeks offered but little impediment to teamsters ; but during floods and the breaking-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 destruc- tion 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 travel- ing.

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,

Chait Eldredge

FOND DU LAC.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

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 anxions 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 from three weeks to more than a month each, and were attended with an expense, in one way or another, that rendered the cost of 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 dur- ing the year.

Among other things calculated to annoy and distress the pioneer, was the prevalence of wild beasts of prey, the most numerous and troublesome of which was the wolf. While it was true, in a figurative sense, that it required the utmost care and exertion to "keep the wolf from the door," it was almost as true in a literal sense. There were two species of these animals- the large black timber wolf. and the smaller gray wolf that usually inhabited the prairie. At first, it was almost impossible for a settler to keep small stock of any kind that would serve as a prey to these ravenous beasts. Sheep were not deemed safe property until years after, when their enemies were supposed to be nearly exterminated. Large numbers of wolves were destroyed during the early years of settlement. When they were hungry, which was not uncommon, particularly during the winter, they were too indiscreet for their own safety, and would often approach within easy shot of the settlers' dwellings. At certain scasons, their wild plaintive yelp or bark could be heard in all directions at all hours of the night, creating intense excitement among the dogs, whose howling would add to the dismal melody. It has been found by experiment that but one of the canine species-the hound-has both the fleetness and cour- age to cope with his savage cousin, the wolf. Attempts were often made to capture him with the common cur, but this animal, as a rule, proved himself wholly unreliable for such service. So long as the wolf would run the cur would follow ; but the wolf, being apparently acquainted with the character of his pursuer, would either turn and place himself in a combative attitude. or else act upon the principle that "discretion is the better part of valor," and throw himself upon his back in token of surrender. This strategic performance would make instant peace between these two scions of the same house; and not infrequently dogs and wolves have been seen playing together like puppies. But the hound was never known to recognize a flag of truce; his baying scemed to signify "no quarter; " or, at least, so the terrified wolf under- stood it.

Smaller animals, such as panthers, lynxes, wildcats, catamounts and polecats, were also sufficiently numerous to be troublesome. And an exceeding source of annoyance were the swarms of mosquitoes which aggravated the trials of the settler in the most exasperating degree. Persons have been driven from the labors of the field by their unmerciful assaults.

The trials of the pioneer were innumerable, and the cases of actual suffering might fill a volume of no ordinary size. Timid women became brave through combats with real dangers, and patient mothers grew sick at heart with the sight of beloved children failing in health from lack of commonest necessaries of life. The struggle was not for ease or luxury, but was a constant one for the means of sustaining life itself.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

FOND DU LAC COUNTY BOUNDARIES ESTABLISHED.

An act of the Territorial Legislature, entitled " An Act to Divide the Counties of Brown and Milwaukee," approved December 7, 1836, provided, in part, as follows :

SECTION 9. That townships [thirteen ]* north, of ranges eighteen and nineteen east, and townships fourteen. fifteen and sixteen, of ranges fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen, and townships seventeen and eighteen, of ranges fourteen, fifteen and sixteen, shall be and hereby are constituted a separate county, and be called Fond du Lac; and the seat of justice of said county is hereby established at the town of Fond du Lac.

SEC. 10. That towns [townships] seventeen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty, of ranges seventeen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty, be and they are hereby constituted a separate county and called Calumet : and the seat of jus- tice of said county is hereby established at the town of Whitesboro. * * * * *

SEC. 12. That townships numbered fourteen and fifteen, of ranges nine and ten; townships fourteen, fifteen and sixteen, of range eleven ; townships fourteen, fifteen, sixteen and seventeen. of range twelve, and townships fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen, of ranges thirteen and fourteen east, * *

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The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 50

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