The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 63

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

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The irrepressible D. P. Mapes went to work to obtain subscriptions ; and, if any one thinks it is a small piece of work to sell two hundred shares of stock in an agricultural association, for $25 each, and get his money as he goes along, just let him try it; his efforts will probably result in taking a large share of conceit out of him. It was, indeed, a great amount of labor; but it was accomplished in the course of five or six weeks.

An organization was effected under the general law; a board of directors elected ; the money was paid into the hands of a treasurer; and, in point of fact, the victory was won. Then came the question of location, the size and shape of the grounds, length of the trotting-course- or whether there should be a trotting-course at all-fencing the grounds, making sheds, stalls and what not ; and, after a decision was reached on these innumerable questions, there was still an immense amount of actual work to be done to carry the decision into effect. It was, in fact, nothing short of a summer's work for the men engaged in it. But the end was at last reached, or "straining full in view," and then there arose another very important question -.. Can the work be finished up in time to hold a fair during the fall of 1866?" The majority of the Directors responded " doubtful ! " But two or three said there should be no doubt about it ; it must be done, and it was done. The fair was held very late-on the 11th, 12th and 13th days of Octo- ber, of that year. This was the first fair of the Ripon Agricultural Association, and it was a success.

The officers of the Association since its organization are as follows: 1866-President, A. M. Skeels; Secretary, E. P. Brockway ; Treasurer, H. M. Chapin. 1867-President, A. M. Skeels ; Secretary, E. P. Brockway ; Treasurer, C. F. Wheeler. 1868-President, A. M. Skeels; Secretary, E. P. Brockway ; Treasurer, C. F. Wheeler. 1869-President, A. M. Skeels; Secretary, E. P. Brockway ; Treasurer, C. F. Wheeler. 1870-President, A. M. Skeels ; Secretary, T. Marshall ; Treasurer, C. F. Wheeler. 1871-President, A. M. Skeels ; Secretary. T. Marshall; Treasurer, C. F. Wheeler. 1872-President, A. M. Skeels ; Secretary, T. Marshall; Treasurer, C. F. Wheeler. 1873-President, A. M. Skeels; Secretary, T. Mar- shall: Treasurer, C. F. Wheeler. 1874-President, H. S. Town; Secretary, T. Marshall ; Treasurer, C. F. Wheeler. 1875-President, H. S. Town; Secretary, T. Marshall ; Treasurer, C. F. Wheeler. 1876-President, H. S. Town: Secretary, W. B. Kingsbury; Treasurer, C. F. Wheeler. 1877-President, C. F. Hammond; Secretary, B. Kingsbury ; Treasurer, J. M. Little. 1878-President, C. F. Hammond; Secretary, H. W. Wolcott ; Treasurer, C. F. Wheeler. 1879-President, H. W. Wolcott; Secretary, W. B. Kingsbury; Treasurer, C. F. Wheeler. 1880-President, H. S. Town; Secretary, G. F. Horner; Treasurer, A. Osborn.

On the 9th of November, 1866, the Association purchased for their grounds seventeen acres, in the northeast part of the city, about a mile from the business portion of Ripon.

Fairs have been held each year since the organization of the Association with uniform suc- cess. The buildings upon the grounds are in excellent condition and well adapted for the purposes intended ; there is also a fine half-mile race-track. Other improvements are in good order; in short, the grounds are complete in all their arrangements.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

PLANK ROADS.

To secure firm and smooth thoroughfares for the transportation of their produce, the atten- tion of the people of Fond du Lac County was early called to the necessity of constructing plank roads. Companies were chartered and the work commenced. In 1852, a plank road was finished and brought into use from the city of Fond du Lac to the city of Sheboygan on Lake Michigan. In 1853, this road was continued northwesterly from Fond du Lac to Rosendale, and although contemplated to pass through the villages of Ripon and Ceresco to Fox River, it was never completed farther than the east line of the town of Rosendale. After being used a few years, it was suffered to fall to decay and was finally declared by the proper authority a free public highway and such it has since remained. "This road," wrote a citizen of Fond du Lac, in 1854, " is well graded and covered with solid oak plank, possesses firmness and promises dur- ability. It affords an easy transit to the traveller, altogether preferable to the hemlock-knot roads of the east."

That the citizens of Fond du Lac County may now fully appreciate the struggles and anxie- ties of a quarter of century ago-before the era of railways-to insure cheap transportation for produce and easy means of communication, the following account is reproduced from a pub- lication of that time relative to plank road projects :

"There is a company organized with a charter for the construction of a plank road from Mil- waukee to Green Bay. The work is already commenced, and some fifteen or twenty miles of the road now in use between Calumet and Green Bay. The line of this road runs through the entire width of Fond du Lac County, passing through the towns of Calumet, Taycheedalı, Fond du Lac. Empire, Eden, Ashford and Auburn. The plank road from Fond du Lac to Wanpun commenced the present season [1854], will pass through the intermediate towns of Lamartine and Oakfield. The line of the Sheboygan and Mayville plank road passes through Fond du Lac, and thence on the line between Byron and Oakfield into the county of Dodge. Omro and Waupun plank road will run through Rosendale and Springvale to Waupun. Port Washington and Fond du Lac plank road will pass through Osceola, Auburn, Eden and Empire, to Fond du Lac. Fond du Lac and Waukau plank road will run from Fond du Lac through Eldorado and Rosendale into the county of Winnebago. Oshkosh, Algoma and Ripon plank road will run through the north part of Rosendale to Ceresco. Plymouth and Waupun plank road will pass through Osceola, Eden, Byron and Oakfield to Waupun. Fond du Lac and Oshkosh plank road on the west shore of Lake Winnebago, will run through the town of Friendship. How soon and how many of the roads will be constructed is for the future to disclose ; yet one thing is certain, the will and the capacity to accomplish are adequate to supply all the real necessities of the community in respect to plank roads."

And. notwithstanding all these schemes and all this labor, there is not now a plank road in the county of Fond du Lac. The era of those roads was brief and spasmodic ; it soon gave way to more important railway enterprises.

RAILROADS.

As introductory to the sketch of the railways of Fond du Lac County, it will be profitable to copy from an article of a quarter of a century ago, an account of the improvements of the line then existing, bringing at once to the attention of the reader what had, at that early day, become a reality, and the numerous projects already agitating the public mind. The writer says: " While the people of Fond du Lac County have been active in securing the advantages derived from good plank roads through its various sections, they have not been indifferent to the more important enterprise of connecting the great producing portions of the county with the · port towns ' and principal markets, by the construction of railroads.

" The Rock River Valley Union Railroad is the only one which has been brought (1854) into nse in Fond du Lac County. This was completed in 1853, from Fond du Lac through Oakfield to near the village of Waupun, on the line of Dodge County. The length of the road

424

HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

now in use is about twenty miles. Two trains run daily each way. The Horicon & Berlin Railroad is now in process of construction, and will accommodate the western part of the county, passing through Waupun, Alto, Metomen and Ceresco [now Ripon]. There are also charters obtained and companies organized for the construction of the Milwaukee, Fond du Lac & Green Bay Railroad, the line of which runs through the towns of Auburn, Ashford, Eden, Fond du Lac and Friendship, in this county ; for the Port Washington & Fort Winnebago Railroad, running through Auburn, Ashford, Byron, Oakfield, Waupun and Alto; for the Sheboygan & Mississippi Railroad, passing the entire length of the county from east to west, running through the towns of Forest, Empire, Fond du Lac, Eldorado, Rosendale and Ceresco [now Ripon].

" These constitute the principal railroads now contemplated to pass through this county. Great interest is manifested and proportionate exertions made for the completion of some of these roads, and should the agricultural interests of the county continue to enjoy the prosperity which has attended them for the two past seasons, it will not be long before the county will possess sufficient wealth, without difficulty to construct all the roads that necessity demands. Some of these roads will probably never have but a chartered existence, while others are as sure of being brought into actual and profitable use as that common prosperity attends the exertions of the people."

Having thus presented a general view of the railway enterprise in Fond du Lac County, as it existed a quarter of a century ago, it is necessary to call the reader's attention to the rise and progress of each road actually constructed and now in operation within the limits of the county, and to such other facts as may tend to recall the interest attaching to them from the date of their inception to the present time.

The Chicago &. North- Western Railway .- Portions of what now constitute this line of rail- way were built before any work was done in Wisconsin, but the first work done on the Chicago & North-Western Railway line proper was in the city of Fond du Lac, in 1851. The year before, a line was built from Chicago to Elgin, Ill., but not by any of the builders of what is now the Chicago & North-Western Railway ; hence, Fond du Lac is really the birth-place of this mighty fan of railway lines.

The people of Fond du Lac County had thought but little about railways, most of their time, attention and spare money being devoted to plank roads. There were, however, a few far-seeing men who looked forward to a time when travelers, merchants, miners, lumbermen and manufact- urers would need something better than plank roads for their accommodation, and to them Fond du Lac was indebted for a line of railway at an early date. They worked with an enthusiasm and persistence truly remarkable, when it is known that little or no encouragement was received from the masses, whose heads had been turned by plank roads.

John B. Macy and T. L. Gillet, of Fond du Lac, and A. Hyatt Smith, of Janesville. were leading spirits in the formation of the Rock River Valley Union Railroad Company, as the road and corporation were first named.

They met with numerous obstacles, some almost insurmountable, as they had not sufficient means to build a railroad over the contemplated route, and the inhabitants, had they been able to subscribe for stock, seemed to have little interest in the success of the project. Of this feature, J. A. Watrons wrote in the Fond du Lac Appeal:

". As early as 1849, there was some talk of iron rails for Fond du Lac, but those who had any faith in the attempts were very few in number. The local papers held out no inducements, in which respect they differed radically from modern local papers. Columns of space were devoted to plank-roads in process of construction, and to giving proceedings of meetings called for the purpose of devising ways and means for starting new ones, while a short paragraph suf- ficed for the railroad enterprise. This seems almost unaccountable to people of the present day, in view of the decayed and almost forgotten plank-roads, their short lives and little service."

Discovering that nothing could be done in Fond du Lac without outside aid, John B. Macy went East several times, with maps and plans, and finally succeeded in getting Robert J. Walker, of Washington, interested in the enterprise. Late in 1850, a contract was let to Bradley & Co.,

425

HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

of Vermont, practical railroad builders of large experience, to construct a certain portion of the road. T. F. Strong, Sr., of the contractors, came West in 1850, and looked the route over, rid- ing the entire distance from Chicago to Fond du Lac on horseback. He then returned to his home in Burlington, Vt., but removed to Fond du Lac early in 1851. When the people saw him enter the village with 160 horses, followed soon after by loads of shovels, picks, wheelbarrows and other tools, they aroused from their lethargy. Then there was faith ; then there was enthu- siasm ; then there was railroad on the brain.

On the 19th of December, 1850, T. L. Gillet advertised that the stock-books of the new rail- road were open at his store. Five per cent of the stock was to be paid in advance, and the balance in 8-per-cent installments, quarterly. July 10, 1851, was fixed upon for breaking ground, and arrangements were made for celebrating the event in true Western style. People along the proposed line, from as far south as Sharon, were present. The State officials were to be present. Members of the bar and officials of the various counties through which the road was to run were to come. At an early hour the morning of the 10th, teams began to pour into the village from all directions. Walworth, Rock, Jefferson and Dodge Counties sent large dele- gations. Waupun's delegation came in many conveyances, with flags flying and band playing. Most of the State officers were present. The starting of the immense procession was announced

by the booming of the village cannon. A. Hyatt Smith, President of the Rock River Valley Union Railway, headed the procession. Then came the Directors and other officers of the Company, and the contractor, T. F. Strong, Sr., followed by the State, village, and county offi- cials, the judges, members of the bar from the various parts of the State, and the people generally, in large numbers. Peter V. Sang was Marshal of the Day, and William II. Ebbetts Robert Conklin and Isaac S. Tallmadge, Assistants. The oldest inhabitants speak of that memora- ble railroad celebrating procession as one of the largest and most enthusiastic ever seen in Fond du Lac County. Preceded by the bands, the procession marched to the spot where work was to begin-a few rods north of the passenger depot, on West Division street, and formed a hollow square. The President of the Day, M. C. Darling, opened the ceremonies with a brief but elegant address, and introduced A. Hyatt Smith, the President, to whom was handed the spade carried in the procession by Tim F. Strong, son of the contractor, and, as he ent the tough sod and tossed it into the air. a shout went up that made the earth tremble. When quiet was restored, Edward S. Bragg, toast-master, read the regular toasts, as follows :

Walworth County-Though last on the line of the road in Wisconsin, may she be first in her contributions for the great enterprise of the State.

Rock County -- Like the rock that Moses smote, it contains in its bosom a fountain that shall refresh a thirsty people.

Jefferson County-Not unlike the illustrious statesman after whom she was christened, she loves freedom and is bound to pursue it with an iron horse.

Dodge County-Her iron ore, the Valley road the magic wand that turns it into gold.

Fond du Lac County-She cannot wait to go East by water.

The toasts were appropriately responded to by parties from the various counties named. Brief speeches were made by Attorney General S. Park Coon and others. The procession was re-formed and marched back to the village, where it was dismissed, and as many as the Lewis House would hold gathered for a banquet which was an elaborate affair and participated in with much spirit. The speeches of prophecy made on that occasion were considered very extrava- gant, and only one or two had the faintest idea they would ever be verified.

John B. Macy, who had labored for years in behalf of the enterprise, and had given the whole subject much thought, assumed the garb of a prophet on that occasion in this toast :

The Rock River Valley Union Railroad-It will be the connecting of the great chain of rail- roads between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. The present generation will see this prediction fulfilled.

In 1872, when the North-Western's lines reached Ishpeming, Mich., John B. Macy's prophecy was fulfilled.

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

For various reasons work on the new road could not be pushed with any great degree of effectiveness. The grading was not difficult, but the almost impassable condition of the roads rendered it exceedingly difficult to get the iron, which came by the way of Green Bay, and a portion of it by teams and wagons as far as the north end of Lake Winnebago. This was a very costly mode of transportation, as the road, being broad gauge-six feet between rails-required heavy equipages.

The first engine came by water from Buffalo to Sheboygan and was hauled by teams to Fond du Lac, in 1852, requiring a fair-sized brigade of oxen and horses, and several weeks to accomplish the work. It was named the " Winnebago," in honor of the lake from which it drank It weighed fifteen tons. It was used for a long term of years on the road, and then as a switch-engine at Fond du Lac, after being changed to standard width. It is now in good con- dition and doing good service in the yards at Green Bay, under its original name. The second one came from Taunton, Mass., and landed at the same point-Sheboygan. To trans- port this engine to Fond du Lac, there were secured fourteen yokes of oxen and seven spans of horses, and it took six weeks to make the trip of forty-five miles. Some days it was not possible to haul it more than eighty rods between sun and sun.

It was purchased in 1853, by T. F. Strong, Sr., who had leased the road. It cost $10,000. It was a muddy piece of machinery when it reached Fond du Lac, having passed through more sloughs than any other locomotive which ever came to the State. It was named " The Fountain City," in honor of Fond du Lac, and is now owned by the Erie Railway.

When, in 1853, the track was laid a distance of fifteen miles out of Fond du Lac, and the grading nearly completed to Chester, in Dodge County, the corporation failed, largely in debt to the contractors among others. Mr. Strong leased the road, purchased strap-iron at Chicago, completed the line to Chester, added the engine just mentioned, and commenced operating the road. The travel became quite an item, as did the freight, but it was soon found that it would not warrant him in running, so he purchased a large quantity of pine and other logs, trans- ported them by car to Rock River, a few rods north of Chester station, and floated them down stream. They met with ready sale at the mills along the river, and not a few of them went as far as Janesville. Before the strap-iron was put down. the wooden sleepers upon which it was placed answered for a track a considerable length of time. In fact, the first logs ever trans- ported by rail in the State, or in the West, were hauled on cars which ran a portion of the dis- tance between Fond du Lac and the Rock River on wooden rails. For successful railroading purposes these would suffer materially by a comparison with the steel rails of the present time. The rate of speed made on them was very slow, the number of miles an hour hardly exceeding the number of times a day some portion of the train was off the track.

In 1855, the city of Fond du Lac voted $350,000 aid; the company was re-organized and the road pushed on to La Crosse (now Minnesota) Junction, in Dodge County, under the name of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railway. Hard times were not to be overcome by a change of name, and the road moved slowly. The same contractors and company, under an Illinois charter, had built a road as far as Janesville from Chicago,

Early in 1859, the Legislatures of Illinois and Wisconsin authorized a re-organization of the company, which then took the present name of Chicago & North- Western.

The road was rapidly built, that year, between Janesville and Minnesota Junction, thus opening a line of 177 miles, in a few months more than eight years from the time ground was broken at Fond du Lac.

Mr. Strong completed the road and ran trains to Oshkosh, in 1860; to Appleton, in the early part of 1861 ; to Green Bay, in 1862, which was the terminus until 1871, when the road was pushed on to Ishpeming, Mich., its present terminus, before the close of 1872, when it con- nected with lines running to Lake Superior.

Once upon John B. Macy's return from one of his New York trips in behalf of the Rock River Valley Union Railway, a number of his warm friends gave him a reception dinner. In his speech, he predicted that within twenty years the road would extend from the Indiana line to

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HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY.

Lake Superior. At this same dinner, an ardent Whig offered as a toast : A. Hyatt Smith, our next Governor ; John B. Macy, our next Congressman. Macy afterward went to Con- gress, but Smith (A. Hyatt) has not yet reached the executive chair.

In 1859, before the two divisions met, the track was reduced from " broad " to " standard " guage, that is, from six feet to four feet eight and one-half inches, and celebrating excursions were had in honor of the completion of the connecting link, ending, as elsewhere described, in the terrible "Belleville Disaster."

It may be truthfully said that the Chicago & North-Western Railway originated in Fond du Lac, and the corporation now owns more miles of railroad in Fond du Lac County than all the other railway corporations combined. The old line passes through the towns of Friendship, Fond du Lac, Oakfield, Byron and Waupun, and its lines in the county are nearly one hundred miles in length.

The Sheboygan & Fond du Lac Railroad .- This road is now a part of the Chicago & North-Western Railway, it having been purchased by that corporation early in 1879. In Fond du Lac County it is a modern railway, so far as road-bed and rolling-stock are concerned, but its originators were Fond du Lac County men. and the enterprise was one of the very earliest of its kind in the Territory of Wisconsin. Early in 1846, agitation of the matter of a railroad between the villages of Fond du Lac and Sheboygan was begun, resulting in a charter passing the Legis- lature in the winter of 1846-47. About the Ist of February, 1847, Dr. Mason C. Darling, N. P. Tallmadge, John A. Eastman and Moses S. Gibson, of Fond du Lac, and Messrs. Harri- man, Farnsworth, Conklin and Moore, of Sheboygan, were appointed Commissioners to take sub- scriptions, issue stock and organize the company. The capital stock was to be not over $500,000, divided into 10,000 shares of $50 each, work to be commenced when 200 shares had been taken. Those who subscribed for stock were to pay 10 per cent down, and the balance in installments when called for. On Thursday, March 11, 1847, a mass convention was held at the building called the Court House, in the village of Fond du Lac, which was largely attended by citizens of Sheboygan and Fond du Lac Counties. Nothing was done, except to make speeches, adopt resolutions and pledge faith. That was too early for the construction of a railroad from local resources, and no work was actually done at that time. Agitation of the subject never ceased. however, and March 8, 1852, the Legislature chartered the Sheboygan & Mississippi Railroad Company, with the privilege of building a road from Sheboygan to the Mississippi River.

In 1853, an act empowered the company to build a branch to the Fox River, and on April 5, of that year, the organization of the company was effected. There was a mutual understand- ing between the prominent citizens of Fond du Lac and Sheboygan Counties that if the city and county of Sheboygan, with such local aid as might be obtained along the route, would build the road to Glenbeulah, on the western line of the county, the city and county of Fond du La. would furnish means for its continuation. Therefore, the city and county of Sheboygan and the villages of Plymouth and Sheboygan Falls voted aid, and a contract to construct the line from Sheboygan to Glenbeulah was entered into by Edward Appleton and Theodore Atkinson, of Boston, and Van Epps Young, now of Grand Rapids, Mich., under the firm name of Edward Appleton & Co. Ground was broken under this contract at Sheboygan on June 4, 1856. Work was suspended in the fall of 1857, but resumed the following summer, and, with what skill was then known in railroad building. was pushed with such vigor as to have the cars run- ning to Sheboygan Falls January 17, and to Plymouth June 6, 1859-a total distance of fourteen miles. Work was then temporarily dropped on account of the refusal of the towns of Sheboy- gan Falls and Plymouth to grant the aid expected from them. An arrangement was made, soon after, however, with capitalists at the East, known as " The Loan Company," of Yarmouth, Mass., by which means enough money was obtained to complete the line to Glenbeulah, which was accomplished March 29, 1860. Here the road rested from further construction, and Edward Appleton, its first Superintendent, began to operate it, his line being twenty miles in length. All further efforts to secure the continuation of the road proved unavailing. as it had fallen mostly into the hands of Eastern capitalists, thus alienating its local friends. Therefore, on the

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The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 63

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