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 75

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 840

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 75

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Prairie du Sac. The Colonel's competitor led off; so he thought he would take all the wind out of the Colonel's sails. He started in, deprecating their condition, being shut out from com- munication with the beautiful valley of the Baraboo, and having to pass over such a miserable, dangerous road. If he should be elected, he would put a bill through the Legislature appropri- ating a sum toward macadamizing the bluffs. At that time, Prairie du Sac was smarting under the removal of the county seat, and hoped to get it back again ; hence, anything that would con- tribute to the advancement of Baraboo, Prairie du Sac was decidedly opposed to. The Colonel rejoined ; " Fellow citizens : I am astonished at the diabolical proposition made by the gentleman. What is that he proposes ? Why, that you shall be taxed to build up a town in a barren, worth- less, rocky, stone-bound region, where there is no town, nor never ought to be one ! When I look upon your beautiful, rich prairie, your magnificent river, the trade and business which must necessarily center here, I think with indignation of the proposition made by my opponent, that you should be taxed to help build up a competing town, where neither God nor sensible man ever intended there should be one." The Colonel was overwhelmingly elected. He car- ried both sides of the bluffs.

The following year, George Hiles built a rough building, directly west of the Baraboo House, for a store. He procured some whisky and a few groceries. Soon after, William Hoxie came from McHenry County, Ill. He brought with him a remnant of an old stock of goods, and went into partnership with Hiles. In a short time Samuel Hiles came. Mr. Hoxie was elected Justice of the Peace. W. H. Clarke, known as "Mayor Clarke," also as the " Lion of Sauk," at that time resided at Sauk City, but soon after removed to Baraboo. He was considered the best counselor at law the county afforded. Among the first cases which were tried before Esquire Hoxie, a motion was made to dismiss. It was argued pro and con. The court seemed perplexed-hesitated. Samuel Hiles was present ; he watched earnestly the countenance of the Justice. His sympathies evidently prompted him to assist the court. At lengthi he exclaimed : "Sqaush the d -- d thing, Bill ; squash it!"

In 1849, Rev. Warren Cochran came. He was a man of very decided, positive character. He thought his mission demanded that everything should move under his dictation, and yet, I presume, he was sincere. He was opposed to every kind of amusement. He had great powers of invective. I remember once hearing him preach, in which he denounced and ridiculed dan- cing. "Some," said he, "hold that it teaches them to be graceful in their movements, and really teaches them gentility. " Well," said he, "in this locality, they have a quadruped to

teach them manners." James Badger was the fiddler. On the day following this sermon, William Dunlap, who was then Sheriff of the county, met Badger and told him that Cochran had outrageously abused him. " Why, he called you the worst name that could possibly be applied to any one, a quadruped !" "What is that?" says Badger. "Why, it is the worst name that could be given any person. I would prosecute him !. Right out before the whole congre- gation he called you a quadruped." Neither Dunlap nor Badger knew what the term meant, and Badger was for some days in dead earnest in his threats to prosecute Cochran for slander.

Judge Camp came, I think, in 1848-it may have been 1849. There were several from Litchfield County, Conn., who came about the same time, among whom were Mr. Tuttle, now in the nursery business, and who was for a time partner with David Munson in the mercantile business ; Deacon Clark and family and others ; Lodge Brier came from Indiana, but was a brother-in-law of Judge Clark and also of James Maxwell Brier, was a millwright and built the mills known as the Maxwell Mills.

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.

Warren Cochran sought to make Baraboo just what a quiet New England village was, not considering that our population was cosmopolitan, and could not all be alike. But such was his organization that every one must submit to what he deemed right. However, he saw the neces- sity of combining as many of the religious elements in one body as possible. Being himself a Congregationalist, he sought to unite the Presbyterian element with the Congregational. For a time it seemed to progress favorably, but there was Deacon Lodge Brier, a Hoosier possessed of all the rigid prejudices of the old Scotch-Irish character ; Judge Camp and Deacon Clark also, who had come from Litchfield County, Conn. Then, there was Dr. Cowles, who taught the choir. The discordant elements, of course, could not long remain united. Disagreement and difference of views sprang up. Elder Cochran would not yield a hair's breadth. Judge Camp was the leader of the opposition ; Deacon Brier sided with the Judge ; Deacon Marvin Blake stood in the breach, trying to conciliate both sides. They had a very angry discussion at a church meeting held on a certain Saturday afternoon. Dr. Cowles, laughing in his sleeve at the whole performance, sided with the Elder. Elder Cochran preached the next day, and took for his subject " Prejudice." He eloquently portrayed the various manifestations of prejudice, and finally exclaimed : " There are those in the congregation who, if they were transferred to heaven in their present condition, would walk the gold-beaten streets of the New Jerusalem, and gaze on its pearly walls-yes, they would walk up to those walls and pick those pearls, and deliberately turn around and say : ' We have got as good an article as these in Litchfield !'" That was the hair that broke the camel's back. No more union of Presbyterians and Congre- gationalists in Baraboo. The Elder next attacked secret societies, Masonry and Odd Fellowship. Well, we had neither then at Baraboo, but the boys had a society known as the "One Thousand and Ones." It was a burlesque on all secret organizations. But the Elder, in his sermon, after denouncing Masonry and Odd Fellowship, said : " I don't know what that order is, but I believe it consists of one thousand rascals to one decent man.

We organized a lyceum and debating club, and invited some of the ablest lecturers of the times, among whom was Ichabod Codding. Mr. Codding was pleased with the liberal sentiment of Baraboo. He did much to elevate the standard of free thought, and divested orthodoxy of some of its more odious features. The result of his labors was the organization of the Unitarian or Liberal Christian Church, and the erection of their meeting house. But there was still a more liberal element prevailing in that community-a class who demanded the reasons, the why and where- fore, of every doctrine. But the war commenced and absorbed every consideration. Hardly a regiment left the State for the seat of war that had not a representative of Sauk County in its ranks. Sauk County was patriotic.

THE BARABOO CLAIMANTS' ASSOCIATION.

Great excitement existed in the Baraboo Valley at the time of the Government land sale, and for some time afterward, regarding the claims of early settlers. The people, unable to hold their lands by law, banded together for mutual support until such a time as they could get the money to make their payments. The Baraboo Claimants' Association was organized September 7, 1846, as a means of protection of the rights of first settlers, Alexander Crawford being appointed chairman of the meeting held at that time. An extract from the constitution will show the purpose of the organization.

" Whereas, Congress has from time to time passed pre-emption laws for the purpose of encouraging the settlement of the public domains and securing to settlers the benefit of their improvements, and, whereas, under a full belief in the protection afforded by these laws, many enterprising, industrious and worthy citizens have embarked their all, and been induced to settle on Government land in this section of the country, thereby spending labor and means, and . undergoing all the privations incident to the settlement of a new country ; and whereas, Govern- ment has recently proclaimed these lands for sale on the 20th of November next, without giving the usual notice of six months, as has always been done, thereby depriving the settlers of timely notice, and placing it out of their power to procure means to purchase their lands at the public

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.

sale; therefore, for the purpose of securing to ourselves our just rights, and to protect our improvements, it is unanimously resolved that we will be in readiness to protect each other in our respective claims to the utmost of our power; and that a claim shall consist of not more than 320 acres, in two legal subdivisions, for the purpose of farms or settlement only, and not for speculation."

The officers of the Association were : Harvey Canfield, President; Abe Wood, Vice Presi- dent, and John B. Crawford, Secretary. The resolutions were signed by fifty-six persons, resi- dents of the precinct of Baraboo. The following were within the limits of what is now the town of Baraboo, and will show who some of the early settlers were : Harvey Canfield, Ralph Cowles, Andrew Garrison, Andrew Washburn, Job Barstow, Jr., Nathan Dennison, Hiram Webster, J. T. Clements, G. Willard, Andrew Paulson, Chester Matson, E. G. Williams, James Christie, Alexander Crawford, John B. Crawford, Dr. C. Cowles, Luther Peck, A. F. Washburn, Marvin Blake, J. H. Jackson, Job Barstow, Chauncey Brown, J. Lamar, W. B. Clement, Edward Johnson, W. H. Canfield, Erastus Gilson, James Waddle, Levi Moore, Abe Wood and H. P. Van Valkenburgh.

Notwithstanding the organization of this society, the lands were in some cases entered from under the settlers. From the Madison Express, of August 24, 1847, something more respecting the society and its work is learned : "Previously, Eben Peck had started for California, and had probably been massacred by the Indians, as nothing was ever heard of him afterward, and nearly all of his party are known to have suffered such a fate. This left Mrs. Peck to fight her battles alone, and to support herself and her two little children. A meeting of the Claimant Society was held August 10, 1847, with James Waddle in the chair. Count Haraszthy, an Hungarian, addressed the meeting, and pictured out their wrongs in glowing terms. A committee of five was then appointed to draft new resolutions, the substance of which was as follows :

"' Whereas, certain persons not residing in the county, unjustly and in defiance of the rights of early settlers of the county, have entered the claims of those, who, from unseen and unfortunate circumstances, have been unable to protect themselves, and as Chauncey Brown has chosen to seize upon, and enter lands, embracing all the improvements of Widow Peck ; it is resolved that we will defend and protect each other; that we will prevent any and all persons from taking possession of the lands thus entered by Chauncey Brown, Jr., one Esterbrook and Simeon Crandall, and use our best endeavors to punish any person or agent of such person who shall attempt to take possession of or improve such claims.'"

The fourth of July had been celebrated for the first time that year, and the table was still standing in the grove. After the resolutions had been drafted, a meeting was held at that place, and it was resolved that Simeon Crandall should listen to the reading thereof. He refusing to come peaceably, they carried him to the spot and laid him out on the table. But as soon as an opportunity occurred he made an attempt to escape, and would have done so had not an enthusi- astic dog, that had the rights of old settlers at heart, seized and detained him until his captors could again get possession of him. He was therefore obliged to listen to the reading of the resolutions; and he afterward made a satisfactory settlement with the claimants of the land. But Chauncey Brown, Jr., held on to his newly acquired property, refusing even to sell it. The enraged settlers followed him finally to Sauk, where he had taken refuge, taking him from his bed one stormy night, and forcing him to begin with them, on foot, a return journey to Baraboo. On the way, after repeated threats of hanging, they rolled him in a mud-puddle, and that brought him to terms. He agreed for a certain amount of money to deed the land to Mrs. Peck. To con- summate this all parties went back to Sauk, where the deed was made out and the money paid into his hands. The money he gave for safe-keeping to the official by whom the business was transacted. But the matter did not end here. The deed, having been obtained by force, would not stand in law, and by taking the matter into the courts Brown won the case. The land suit was in law five years, and cost Mrs. Peck several hundreds of dollars. Besides all this, not being able to prove her husband's death, she did not have the same advantages in entering lands

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as the others had. In order to secure herself a home, she borrowed money at 50 per cent interest, and purchased an 80-acre piece, upon a part of which she now resides.

There were other similar cases in which the association participated as the defenders of old settlers' rights ; the foregoing, however, will suffice to show the character of them.

SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENTS.

The growth of Baraboo has been of the cautious character, and what it is to-day is the result of mere necessity. This speaks well for the frugality and bank accounts of its citizens, though in the past five or six years there has been a more general unloosing of purse-strings. Let us. review the various stages of its growth. In April, 1856, a local correspondent wrote : " The village and vicinity are rapidly increasing in population. In the village there are six churches organized; three of them have good houses built, and stated preaching. Baraboo has a popula- tion of about 2,000, and is the most healthy, as it is the most beautiful, village in the State. We have a first-class female seminary, and it is in a very prosperous condition. Baraboo has a water-power superior to any within a hundred miles of her. On what is known as the Baraboo Rapids, within a distance of less than two miles, four dams have been built, and there is a chance for another. At the lower mills, known as Manchester, there is a large flouring-mill, a saw-mill, and a carding and cloth-dressing establishment. At the next dam above, which is situated centrally in the village of Baraboo, there is a large grist-mill-built the past season-a saw-mill, a lath, picket and shingle machine, an extensive cabinet and planing establishment, and other machinery. At the next dam above is a saw-mill ; and at the next above that is another saw- mill, doing the best business of any mill on the river ; also an extensive machine and cabinet- ware establishment, which gives employment to a large number of hands."

A year later, the editor of one of the local papers set forth the advantages of the place in the following terms : "We have one bank, one banking-house, eight dry-goods stores, five grocery stores, three hardware and stove stores, three drug stores, two flouring-mills, three saw-mills, one carding-mill, one tannery, two furniture factories, one sash factory, one pottery, one jewelry store, one book store, five hotels, a livery stable and two markets. We have besides half a dozen physicians, as many lawyers, the same number of clergymen, two dentists, two daguerreans, five or six painters, as many shoemakers, half a dozen blacksmiths, five cabinet and wagon makers, two gunsmiths, and as many harness-makers."

In 1862, the institutions were thus reckoned up: One bank, three boot and shoe stores, one bakery and confectionery, six blacksmith-shops, two cabinet warerooms, three cooper-shops, five dry-goods stores, two drug stores, two dentists' rooms, one daguerrean gallery, two flouring-mills, three grocery stores, one gunsmith shop, two hardware stores, four hotels, one harness-shop, one hub-factory, one jewelry store, one millinery and book store, one music store, two meat markets, one mill for grinding corn, one pump factory, one sash and blind factory, three. saw-mills, two. tailor-shops, three wagon-shops, one woolen-factory, one college and one female seminary.

" It is a perfect New England town," says a writer of 1863, " transplanted to a new coun- try, with its wide streets, shaded by beech, locust, elm and maple trees, its clean, fresh-looking white-painted homes, embowered in shrubbery, roses and trailing vines ; its gardens, fruit orchards, pleasant walks and that general air of refinement denoting a population intelligent, cultivated and independent. Baraboo, although the shire town of Sauk, one of the oldest and richest farming counties in the State, is more especially noted for its manufactures, to the devel- opment of which it has brought a genuine Yankee skill and perseverance. The beautiful Bar- aboo River, gracefully winding through the valley about a stone's throw from the court house square, is the archimedean lever that turns numberless mill-wheels, and offers a cheap, immense and inexhaustible motive power to future mills and factories that must sooner or later arise upon its banks. The beauty of the scenery in the vicinity, differing from that of other parts of the State in its larger variety, is the universal remark of travelers and tourists. The residents themselves pay but little attention to it and frequently go abroad for "a change of scenery." The somewhat renowned Baraboo Bluffs lie but two miles distant, in view of nearly every part

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of the village ; and the steep declivities of the " lake gorge " are likewise visible. Overhang- ing the north side, is a beautiful hill known as Mount Mercy. The village itself is adorned with many fine oaks of open forest growth, and the surrounding knolls and valley-dimpled plains are covered with handsome groves and shrubbery."

THE RAILROAD AND ITS BENEFICENT RESULTS.

When the Chicago & North-Western Railroad had been completed to Baraboo, the company very wisely selected this place as the grand central distribution point for what is known as the Madison Division, and temporary workshops, roundhouses, etc., were erected with all the speed consistent with the uninterrupted progress of the road westward. The effect upon the business interests of Baraboo was immediately perceptible. There was a general revival in trade, and a noticeable activity in real estate. South Baraboo, especially, became the scene of renewed enter- prise. There seems to have been an awakening of the progressive spirit that predominated in pioneer days, when mills and dwellings, schoolhouses and churches, were completed in a fort- night. Building lots were in greater demand at advanced prices ; likewise, brick, lumber and stone. Mechanics and common laborers were less plentiful than formerly ; there was no longer any excuse for idleness. Handsome brick stores and hotels and neatly finished dwellings was the result. Baraboo long since took on the airs of a city, and the gradual and substantial increase in population during the past ten years entitles her to recognition as such.

In 1879, the railroad company enlarged their shops and increased the capacity of their roundhouse to twenty-five stalls. The total amount expended in improvements of this character was from $40,000 to $50,000. A large portion of this was paid to residents of Baraboo for material and labor. The average number of men employed in connection with the company's shops at this point is about one hundred. The estimated disbursements on the division will reach nearly $60,000 per month, or $720,000 per annum. Of course, this amount is not all dis- bursed in Baraboo. For instance, the aggregate of the monthly salaries paid to agents, tele- graph operators and clerks distributed along the line of the division will reach about $4,000. It is estimated that $12,000 per month is paid out to " train men " (conductors and brakemen), $4,500 to section men, and at least, $10,000 for extra men employed in connection with the con- struction department. The monthly salaries of engineers and firemen approximate $8,000; $5,000 per month, is considered a fair estimate of the average amount expended in the con- struction and the repair of bridges, and a like amount is disbursed every month among the employes of the company who are stationed permanently in Baraboo. Supplies and ordinary repairs cost $10,000 per month on an average. Here we have nearly three-quarters of a million dollars for operating expenses alone, expended annually on the division running from Belvidere to Winona, a distance of 219 miles. Baraboo, being located midway between the two points, and being the division headquarters, necessarily reaps vast benefits from the road, other than the advantages arising from its favorable situation. It is claimed that about $200,000 of this amount is expended in Baraboo. This may be a slight exaggeration ; it is considered, however, a very fair estimate, speaking in round numbers.

There is no denying the fact that the permanent location of the division headquarters at this point, combined with the ordinary advantages of the road, has placed Baraboo in the front rank of interior cities in Wisconsin. A few years ago, the place was scarcely known outside a radius of fifty miles ; now it has become renowned, wherever civilization has penetrated the Western Hemisphere. This very desirable condition of things has been brought about chiefly through the energy of its own citizens in striving to secure an outlet by rail. A great many earnest efforts were made in this direction at an early day, but the citizens were deceived in the promises made them by the managers of Milwaukee's railway interests. It was not until they " put their own shoulders to the wheel " that outside capital saw a safe investment in the construction of a road through the Baraboo Valley. The road completed, Baraboo's advantages as a business place, as a permanent home, and as a summer resort, became known.

BARABOO.

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HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY.

THE BUSY BARABOO.

The hum of a thousand wheels now greets the ear, where, forty years ago, no sound of progress was heard. The Baraboo River has been made the patient servant of commerce, and the torrent, subdued to man's service to drive the complicated machinery invented by his in- genuity, has been taught to leap forth in the morning to its toil, and to glide away at evening to its rest. The bark canoe of the savage no longer ruffles its glassy surface; the voice of the savage has been hushed, and his canoe turned adrift. Civilization now casts its resplendent rays athwart this ancient stream. Science and industry have measured and utilized its powers. Let us see to what extent and to what purpose.

The Middle or Island Woolen-Mill Power .- In the fall of 1839, Abram Wood and Wallace Rowan, while penetrating the wild Baraboo Valley from the east, in search of a water site, made a claim of the land on the river where now is situated the Island Woolen-Mill. Rowan soon returned to his home, near the present site of Poynette, in Columbia County, where he kept a hotel. Wood remained and engaged in making improvements, building a dam -the first on the Baraboo River-and getting out mill timbers. The erection of the mill was commenced the following spring, but very little progress was made that year. The next fall, Levi Moore came to the place and made a claim of half a section of land near Skillet Falls. The Captain, as he is generally called, built himself a hewn-log house on his claim, and when this was finished he was employed by Wood & Rowan to work upon their mill, he being a mechanic and the possessor of a kit of edged tools. The mill was soon finished and put in working order. In 1843, Capt. Moore purchased the half-interest of Rowan, Wood selling about the same time to Henry Perry and Moses Nuff. In the spring of 1844, the dam and mill were swept away by a freshet. This calamity was as unexpected as it was serious. It had been the intention of the hardy pioneers to manufacture a large amount of lumber that year. Numerous rafts of pine logs lay above the dam, awaiting the sharp tooth of the saw ; but now

all was lost. The torrents had carried almost every vestige of the results of the millmen's labors. The misfortune bore so heavily upon Perry and Nuff that they relinquished all interest in the claim. But the Captain, though disheartened, went bravely to work, and Abe Wood having come into possession of one-half of it, through the action of Perry and Nuff, joined him in the herculean task of putting up another building not far from the site of the one that had been carried away. A four-foot dam was constructed across the west arm of " the ox-bow," and a race about five hundred feet long cut through the narrow neck of land, thus securing to them a good fall of water. The mill was soon finished, and the rattle of the old "up-and-down saw " was again heard in the land. It is worthy of remark that, though Wood was acknowl- edged to be a fair specimen of the genus belonging to the family of "hard cases," the Captain avers that such a thing as a harsh word never passed between them during their six years' part- nership. In 1848 or 1849, Wood, becoming involved, was succeeded in the business by J. B. Clement. In 1851, the mill was closed, and it remained idle until 1858, when M. J. Drown became the owner of a half-interest in it. The other half was soon afterward purchased by George H. Stewart, of Beaver Dam. The purpose of this partnership was the building of an extensive woolen-mill. But before the project was entered upon, Mr. Stewart disposed of his interest to Mr. Drown, who immediately set about carrying out the original design. Work was commenced early in 1863, and, in just one hundred and ten days from the date of the ham- mer's first stroke, the machinery was in operation. In 1865, Mr. Drown disposed of an interest . to William Andrews and D. S. Vittum, and soon afterward Messrs. Drown & Vittum bought Andrews out. They ran it until 1867, when it was turned into a joint-stock company, the stockholders being Messrs. Vittum, Drown, Andrews and Henry Rich. Two or three years later, Andrews' stock was purchased by Alfred Avery, who, in 1873, together with Mr. Drown, sold out to Messrs. Rich & Vittum. The concern then ceased to be a stock company. On the 10th of May, 1875, J. A. McFetridge, an experienced manufacturer of Beaver Dam, purchased of Mr. Vittum a one-fourth interest in the establishment, and in January, 1876, Mr.

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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 75

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 840

Author: Western historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 840