USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > The history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, containing an account of settlement, growth, development and resources biographical sketches the whole preceded by a history of Wisconsin > Part 31
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qualities. The crop of 1872 was of good quality, and the market opened at forty to fifty-five cents as the selling price, and fell fifteen to twenty cents before the close of the year. A much larger 'quantity was raised than the year previous. In 1873 and 1874, the crop was fair and prices ruled from thirty-three to forty-five cents, with increased production. About 18,000 bales were reported as being shipped from the different railway stations of the state. Prices were extremely irregular during 1875, and, after the new crop reached market, fell to a point that would not pay the cost of production. In 1876, prices ruled low at the opening of the year, and advanced from five to ten cents in January to twenty-eight to thirty in November. Over 17,000 bales were received at Milwaukee, over 10,000 bales being of the crop of the previous year. Over 13,000 bales were shipped out of the state.
TOBACCO.
Tobacco raising is comparatively a new industry in Wisconsin, but is rapidly growing in importance and magnitude. It sells readily for from four to ten cents per pound, and the plant is easily raised. It is not regarded as of superior quality. It first appears as a commodity of transportation in the railway reports for the year 1871, when the Prairie du Chien division of the St. Paul road moved eastward 1,373,650 pounds. During the four years ending with 1876, there were shipped from Milwaukee an average of 5,118,530 pounds annually, the : axi- mum being in 1874, 6,982,175 pounds; the minimum in 1875, 2,743,854 pounds. The crop of 1876 escaped the early frosts, and netted the producer from five to seven cents per pound. The greater part of it was shipped to Baltimore and Philadelphia. Comparatively little of the leaf raised in the state is used here or by western manufacturers. The crop of the present year, 1877, is a large one, and has been secured in good order. It is being contracted for at from four to six cents per pound.
CRANBERRIES.
The cranberry trade is yet in its infancy, But little, comparatively, has been done in devel- oping the capabilities of the extensive bodies of marsh and swamp lands interspersed throughout the northern part of the state. Increased attention is being paid to the culture of the fruit ; yet, the demand will probably keep ahead of the supply for many years to come. In 1851, less than 1,500 barrels were sent out of the state. In 1872, the year of greatest production, over 37,000 barrels were exported, and, in 1876, about 17,000 barrels. The price has varied in different years, and taken a range from eight to fifteen dollars a barrel.
SPIRITUOUS AND MALT LIQUORS.
The production of liquors, both spirituous and malt, has kept pace with the growth of population and with the other industries of the state. There were in Wisconsin, in 1872, two hundred and ninety-two breweries and ten distilleries. In 1876, there were two hundred and ninety-three of the former and ten of the latter, and most of them were kept running to their full capacity. Milwaukee alone produced, in 1876, 321,611 barrels of lager beer and 43,175 barrels of high wines. In 1865, it furnished 65,666 barrels of beer, and in 1870, 108,845 barrels. In 1865, it furnished 3,046 barrels of high wines ; in 1870, 22,867 barrels; and in 1875, 39,005. A large quantity of the beer made was shipped to eastern and southern cities. The beer made in 1876 sold at the rate of ten dollars per barrel, the wholesale price of the brewers bringing the sum of $3,216,110. . The fame of Milwaukee lager beer is widely extended. This city has furnished since 1870, 1,520,308 barrels which, at the wholesale price, brought $15,203,170. The total production of beer by all the two hundred and ninety-three breweries of the state for 1876, . was 450,508 barrels.
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In 1876, Milwaukee produced 43,175 barrels of high wines, or distilled spirits, and the state of Wisconsin 51,959 barrels. In 1870, the former produced 108,845 barrels of beer and 22,867 barrels of distilled spirits, and in the same year the state of Wisconsin produced 189,664 barrels of beer and 36,145 barrels of distilled spirits.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Porcelain clay, or kaolin, is found in numerous places in Wood and Marathon counties. The · mineral is found in but few places in the United States in quantities sufficient to justify the investment of capital necessary to manufacture it. In the counties mentioned, the deposits are found in extensive beds, and only capital and enterprise are needed to make their development profitable. Clay of superior quality for making brick and of fair quality for pottery, is found in numerous localities. The famous " Milwaukee brick," remarkable for their beautiful cream color, is made from a fine clay which is abundant near Milwaukee, and is found in exten- sive beds at Watertown, Whitewater, Edgerton, Stoughton, and several places on the lake shore north of Milwaukee. At Whitewater and some other places the clay is used with success for the making of pottery ware. Water-lime, or hydraulic cement, occurs in numerous places throughout the state. An extensive bed covering between one and two hundred acres, and of an indefinite depth, exists on the banks of the Milwaukee river, and not over one and a half miles from the city limits of Milwaukee. The cement made from the rock of this deposit is first-class in quality, and between twenty and thirty thousand barrels were made and sold last year. The capacity of the works for reducing the rock to cement has been increased to 500 barrels per day. Stones suita- ble for building purposes are widely distributed throughout the state, and nearly every town has its available quarry. Many of these quarries furnish stone of fine quality for substantial and permanent edifices. The quarry at Prairie du Chien furnished the stone for the capital building at Madison, which equals in beauty that of any state in the Union. At Milwaukee, Waukesha, Madison, La Crosse, and many other places are found quarries of superior building stone. Granite is found in extensive beds in Marathon and Wood counties, and dressed specimens exhibited at the " Centennial " last year, attracted attention for their fine polish. Marble's of various kinds are likewise found in the state. Some of them are beginning to attract attention and are likely to prove valuable. The report of Messrs. Foster & Whitney, United States geol- ogists, speaks of quarries on the Menomonee and Michigamig rivers as affording beautiful varie- ties and susceptible of a high polish. Richland county contains marble, but its quality is gen- erally considered inferior.
WATER POWERS.
Wisconsin is fast becoming a manufacturing state. Its forests of pine, oak, walnut, maple,. ash, and other valuable woods used for lumber, are well-nigh inexhaustible. Its water-power for driving the wheels of machinery is not equaled by that of any state in the northwest. The Lower Fox river between Lake Winnebago and Green Bay, a distance of thirty-five miles, furnishes some of the best facilities for manufacturing enterprise in the whole country. Lake Winnebago as a reservoir gives it a great and special advantage, in freedom from liability to freshets and droughts. The stream never varies but a few feet from its highest to its lowest stage, yet gives a steady flow. The Green Bay and Mississippi canal company has, during the last twenty-five years, constructed numerous dams, canals and locks, constituting very valuable improvements. All the property of that company has been transferred to the United States government, which has entered upon a system to render the Fox and Wisconsin rivers navigable to the Mississippi. The fall between the lake and Depere is one hundred and fifty feet, and the water can be utilized
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in propelling machinery at Neenah, Menasha, Appleton, Cedar, Little Chute, Kaukauna, Rapid Croche, Little Kaukauna and Depere. The water-power at Appleton in its natural advantages is pronounced by Hon. Hiram Barney, of New York, superior to those at Lowell, Paterson and Rochester, combined. The water-power of the Fox has been improved to a considerable extent, but its full capacity has hardly been touched. Attention has been drawn to it, how- ever, and no doubt is entertained that in a few years the hum of machinery to be propelled by it, will be heard the entire length of the thirty-five miles. The facilities presented by its nearness to timber, iron, and a rich and productive agricultural region, give it an advantage over any of the eastern manufacturing points.
. The Wisconsin river rises in the extreme northern part of the state, and has its source in a great number of small lakes. The upper portion abounds in valuable water privileges, only a few of which are improved. There are a large number of saw-mills running upon the power of this river. Other machinery, to a limited extent, is in operation.
The " Big Bull " falls, at Wausau, are improved, and a power of twenty-two feet fall is obtained. At Little Bull falls, below Wausau, there is a fall of eighteen feet, partially improved. There are many other water-powers in Marathon county, some of which are used in propelling flouring- mills and saw-mills. At Grand Rapids, there is a descent of thirty feet to the mile, and the water can be used many times. Each time, 5,000 horse-power is obtained. At Kilbourn City a large amount of power can be obtained for manufacturing purposes.
Chippewa river has its origin in small streams in the north part of the state. Explorers tell us that there are a large number of water powers on all the upper branches, but as the country is yet unsettled, none of them have been improved, and very few even located on our maps. Brunette falls and Ameger falls, above Chippewa Falls city, must furnish considerable water- power, but its extent is not known At Chippewa Falls is an excellent water-power, only partially improved. The river descends twenty-six feet in three-fourths of a mile. At Duncan creek at the same place, there is a good fall, improved to run a large flouring mill. At Eagle Rapids, five miles above Chippewa Falls, $120,000 has been expended in improving the fall of the Chippewa river. The city of Eau Claire is situated at the confluence of the Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers, and possesses in its immediate vicinity water-powers almost unrivaled. Some of them are improved. The citizens of Eau Claire have, for several years, striven to obtain legislative authority to dam the Chippewa river, so as to improve the water-power of the Dells, and a lively contest, known as the " Dells fight," has been carried on with the capitalists along the river above that town. There are immense water-powers in Dunn county, on the Red Cedar, Chippewa and Eau Galle rivers, on which there are many lumbering establishments. In Pepin county also there are good powers. The Black river and its branches, the La Crosse, Buffalo, Trempealeau, Beaver, and Tamaso, furnish many valuable powers. The St. Croix river is not excelled in the value of its water privileges by any stream in the state, except the Lower Fox river. At St. Croix Falls, the water of the river makes a descent of eighty-five feet in a distance of five miles, and the vol- ume of water is sufficient to move the machinery for an immense manufacturing business, and the banks present good facilities for building dams, and the river is not subject to freshets. The Kinnekinnick has a large number of falls, some of them partially improved. Within twenty-five miles of its entrance into Lake St. Croix, it has a fall of two hundred feet, and the volume of water averages about three thousand cubic feet per minute. Rock river affords valuable water- privileges at Watertown (with twenty-four feet fall), and largely improved ; . at Jefferson, Indian Ford and Janesville, all of which are improved. Beloit also has an excellent water-power, and it is largely improved. Scattered throughout the state are many other water-powers, not alluded
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to in the foregoing. There are several in Manitowoc county ; in Marquette county, also. In Washington county, at West Bend, Berlin, and Cedar Creek, there are good water-powers, partly utilized. At Whitewater, in Walworth county, is a good power. In Dane county, there is a water-power at Madison, at the outlet of Lake Mendota; also, a good one at Stoughton, below the first, or Lake Kegonsa ; also at Paoli, Bellville, Albany and Brodhead, on the Sugar river. In Grant county there are not less than twenty good powers, most of them well-developed. In Racine county, three powers of fine capacity at Waterford, Rochester and Burlington, all of which are improved. The Oconto, Peshtigo and Menomonee rivers furnish a large number of splendid water- powers of large capacity. The Upper Wolf river has scores of water-powers on its main stream and numerous branches; but most of the country is still a wilderness, though containing resources which, when developed, will make it rich and prosperous. There are numerous other streams of less consequence than those named, but of great importance to the localities they severally drain, that have had their powers improved, and their waterfalls are singing the songs of commerce. On the rivers emptying into Lake Superior, there are numerous and valuable water-powers. The Montreal river falls one thousand feet in a distance of thirty miles.
MANUFACTURES.
The mechanical and manufacturing industries of Wisconsin demonstrate that the people do not rely wholly upon agricultural pursuits, or lumbering, for subsistence, but aim to diversify their labors as much as possible, and to give encouragement to the skill and ingenuity of their mechanics and artisans. All our cities, and most of our villages, support establishments that furnish wares and implements in common use among the people. We gather from the census report for 1870 a few facts that will give us an adequate idea of what was done in a single year, remembering that the data furnished is six years old, and that great advancement has been made since the statistics were gathered. In 1870, there were eighty-two establishments engaged in making agricultural implements, employing 1,387 hands, and turning out products valued at $2,393,400. There were one hundred and eighty-eight furniture establishments, employing 1,844 men, and making $1,542,300 worth of goods. For making carriages and wagons there were four hundred and eighty-five establishments, employing 2, 184 men, and their product was valued at $2,596,534; for clothing, two hundred and sixty-three establishments, and value of product $2,340,400 ; sash, doors and blinds, eighty-one shops, and value of product $1,852,370 ; leather, eighty-five tanneries, employing 577 men, and value of products $2,013,000 ; malt liquors, one hundred and seventy-six breweries, 835 men, and their products valued at $1,790,273.
At many points the business of manufacturing is carried on more or less extensively ; indeed, there is hardly a village in the state where capital is not invested in some kind of mechanical industry or manufacturing enterprise, and making satisfactory returns ; but for details in this respect, the reader is referred to the department of local history.
The principal commodities only, which Wisconsin contributes to trade and commerce, have been considered. There remains quite a number of minor articles from which the citizens of the state derive some revenue, such as flax and maple sugar, which can not be separately considered in this paper.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
Statistics are usually dry reading, but, to one desiring to change his location and seeking information regarding a new country and its capabilities, they become intensely interesting and of great value. The farmer wishes to know about the lands, their value and the productiveness of the soil ; the mechanic about the workshops, the price of labor, and the demand for such wares
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as he is accustomed to make; the capitalist, concerning all matters that pertain to resources, advantages, and the opportunities for investing his money. Our own people want all the infor- mation that can be gained by the collection of all obtainable facts. The sources of such infor- mation are now various, and the knowledge they impart fragmentary in its character.
Provision should be made by law, for the collection and publication of reliable statistics relating to our farming, manufacturing, mining, lumbering, commercial and educational interests. Several of the states of the Union have established a " Bureau of Statistics," and no more valua- ble reports emanate from any of their state departments than those that exhibit a condensed view of the material results accomplished each year. Most of the European states foster these agencies with as much solicitude as any department of their government. Indeed, they have become a social as well as a material necessity, for social science extends its inquiries to the physical laws of man as a social being; to the resources of the country; its productions ; the growth of society, and to all those facts or conditions which may increase or diminish the strengthi, growth or happiness of a people. Statistics are the foundation and corner-stone of social science, which is the highest and noblest of all the sciences.
A writer has said that, " If God had designed Wisconsin to be chiefly a manufacturing state, instead of agricultural, which she claims to be, and is, it is difficult to see more than one partic- ular in which He could have endowed her more richly for that purpose." She has all the mate- rial for the construction of articles of use and luxury, the means of motive power to propel the machinery, to turn and fashion, weave, forge, and grind the natural elements that abound in such rich profusion. She has also the men whose enterprise and skill have accomplished most sur- prising results, in not only building up a name for themselves, but in placing the state in a proud position of independence.
It is impossible to predict what will be the future growth and development of Wisconsin. From its commercial and manufacturing advantages, we may reasonably anticipate that she will in a few years lead in the front rank of the states of the Union in all that constitutes real great- ness. "Her educational system is one of the best. With her richly endowed State University, her colleges and high schools, and the people's colleges, the common schools, she has laid a broad and deep foundation for a great and noble commonwealth. It was early seen what were the capabilities of this their newly explored domain. The northwestern explorer, Jonathan Carver, in 1766, one hundred and thirteen years ago, after traversing Wisconsin and viewing its lakes of crystal purity, its rivers of matchless utility, its forests of exhaustless wealth, its prairies of won- derful fertility, its mines of buried treasure, recorded this remarkable prediction of which we see the fulfillment : "To what power or authority this new world will become dependent after it has arisen from its present uncultivated state, time alone can discover. But as the seat of empire from time immemorial has been gradually progressive toward the west, there is no doubt but that at some future period mighty kingdoms will emerge from these wildernesses, and stately palaces and solemn temples with gilded spires reaching to the skies supplant the Indian huts, whose only decorations are the barbarous trophies of their vanquished enemies."
" Westward the course of empire takes its way ; The four first acts already passed,
A fifth shall close the drama with the day ; Time's noblest offspring is the last."
THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
BY D. S. DURRIE.
In the early part of the seventeenth century, all the territory north of the Ohio river, including the present state of Wisconsin, was an undiscovered region. As far as now known, it was never visited by white men until the year 1634, when Jean Nicolet came to the Green bay country as an ambassador from the French to the Winnebagoes. The Jesuit fathers in 1660 visited the south shore of Lake Superior; and, soon after, missions were established at various points in the northwest.
The French government appreciating the importance of possessing dominion over this sec- tion, M. Talon, intendant of Canada, took steps to carry out this purpose, and availed himself of the good feelings entertained toward the French by a number of the Indian tribes, to establish the authority of the French crown over this remote quarter. A small party of men led by Daumont de St. Lusson, with Nicolas Perrot as interpreter, set out from Quebec on this mission, in 1670, and St. Lusson sent to the tribes occupying a circuit of a hundred leagues, inviting the nations, among them the Wisconsin tribes inhabiting the Green bay country, by their chiefs and ambassadors, to meet him at the Sault Sainte Marie the following spring.
In the month of May, 1671, fourteen tribes, by their representatives, including the Miamis, Sacs, Winnebagoes, Menomonees, and Pottawattamies, arrived at the place designated. On the morning of the fourteenth of June, "St. Lusson led his followers to the top of the hill, all fully equipped and under arms. Here, too, in the vestments of their priestly office were four Jesuits : Claude Dablon, superior of the mission on the lakes, Gabriel Druillettes, Claude Allouez, and André. All around, the great throng of Indians stood, or crouched, or reclined at length with eyes and ears intent. A large cross of wood had been made ready. Dablon, in solemn form, pronounced his blessing on it; and then it was reared and planted in the ground, while the Frenchmen, uncovered, sang the Vexilla Regis. Then a post of cedar was planted beside it, with a metal plate attached, engraven with the royal arms ; while St. Lusson's followers sang the exaudiat, and one of the priests uttered a prayer for the king. St. Lusson now advanced, and, holding his sword in one hand, and raising with the other a sod of earth, proclaimed in a loud voice " that he took possession of all the country occupied by the tribes, and placed them under the king's protection.
This act, however, was not regarded as sufficiently definite, and on the eighth of May, 1689, Perrot, who was then commanding for the king at the post of Nadouesioux, near Lake Pepin on the west side of the Mississippi, commissioned by the Marquis de Denonville to manage the interests of commerce west of Green bay took possession, in the name of the king, with appropriate ceremonies, of the countries west of Lake Michigan as far as the river St. Peter. The papers were signed by Perrot and others.
By these solemn acts, the present limits of Wisconsin with much contiguous territory, came under the dominion of the French government, the possession of which continued until October, 1761 -a period of ninety years from the gathering of the chiefs at the Sault Ste. Marie in 1671.
From the commencement of French occupancy up to the time when the British took posses- sion, the district of country embraced within the present limits of this state had but few white inhabitants besides the roaming Indian traders ; and of these few, the locations were separated by a distance of more than two hundred miles in a direct line, and nearly double that distance by
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THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
the usual water courses. There was no settlement of agriculturists; there were no missionary establishments ; no fortified posts at other points, except at Depere and Green bay on Fox river, and perhaps at Prairie du Chien, near the junction of the Wisconsin and the Mississippi.
The French government made no grant of lands; gave no attention to settlers or agricu .- turists, and the occupation of the country was strictly military. There were, indeed, a few grants of lands made by the French governors and commanders, previous to 1750, to favored indi- viduals, six of which were afterward confirmed by the king of France. There were also others which did-not require confirmation, being made by Cardillac, commanding at Detroit, under special authority of the king; of this latter kind, one for a small piece of thirty acres bears with it, says a writer, "so many conditions, reservations, prohibitions of sale, and a whole cavalcade of feudal duties to be performed by the grantee, that in itself, it would be a host in opposition to the agricultural settlement of any country."
The grants just referred to, relate to that part of the French possessions outside the limits of the present state of Wisconsin. Within its limits there was a grant of an extensive territory including the fort at the head of Green bay, with the exclusive right to trade, and other valuable privileges, from the Marquis de Vaudreuil, in October, 1759, to M. Rigaud. It was sold by the latter to William Gould and Madame Vaudreuil, to whom it was confirmed by the king of France in January, 1760, at a very critical period, when Quebec had been taken by the British, and Montreal was only wanting to complete the conquest of Canada. This grant was evidently intended as a perquisite to entrap some unwary persons to give a valuable consideration for it, as it would be highly impolitic for the government to make such a grant, if they continued mas- ters of the country, since it would surely alienate the affections of the Indians. The whole country had already been virtually conquered by Great Britain, and the grant of course was not confirmed by the English government.
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