USA > Wisconsin > Washington County > Washington County, Wisconsin : past and present > Part 12
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Kewaskum .- An incorporated village of 625 inhabitants, situated on both banks of the Milwaukee river, on the North-Western Ry., eight miles north of West Bend. Good markets for farm products. The village has electric light, a large malt house owned by the L. Rosenheimer Malt & Grain Co., and a bank, the Bank of Kewaskum.
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A public graded school, a high school, and a Catholic parochial school, attend to the education of the young. The Catholics, Lutherans, and Evangelicals have churches. An English weekly, "The Kewaskum Statesman," promulgates the local news.
Barton .- A village situated on the Milwaukee river, one mile north of West Bend on the North-Western Line. It has a public school, and a Catholic church and school. At the lakes of the vicinity are extensive ice-houses of the Wisconsin Lakes Ice Co. A mill, the Barton Roller Mills, is doing a lively business. A mile east of the village is the factory of the Hydraulic Brick & Stone Co.
Jackson .- An incorporated village on the North-Western Line, eight miles south of West Bend. It offers good markets for farm produce. A bank, the Jackson State Bank, is handling the money business. A public school with high school classes educates the young. The Reformed creed has a church. There are several creameries and cheese factories in and around the village.
Fillmore .- A village in the northwestern part of the county. It has a public school with high school classes. Two denominations, the Evangelical and the Reformed, have churches. There also exists a German turners' society, the Farmington Turnverein, who possess their own hall. In the vicinity are a goodly number of cheese factories.
Newburg .- A village situated eight miles east of West Bend on the Milwaukee river. A public school with high school classes and a Catholic parochial school are the institutions of education. The Catholics and the Lutherans have churches, that of the former is one of the finest in the county. The Newburg State Bank handles the money business.
Rockfield .- A village in the southern part of the county on the North-Western Line. The cropping out of the silurian lime stone at this place gave rise to quite a large lime kiln plant, operated by the Mace Lime Co.
South Germantown .- A village on the C. M. & St. P. Ry. The industries are: The quarries and kilns of the Cream City Lime Co .; the condensed milk factory of John B. Gehl; and the brewery of the Vogl Independent Brewing Co. The Germantown Farmers' Mutual Insurance Co., the oldest and most prosperous fire insurance company in the county, owns a fine office building.
Allenton .- A village on the Wisconsin Central Ry., and on the Rock river. Good markets for farm products. A bank, the Allenton
HACKER'S SHORE, BIG CEDAR LAKE
ELEVATORS AND DEPOT, ALLENTOWN
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State Bank, tends to the money affairs. Frank Weis & Son run a sawmill.
Richfield .- A village on the C. M. & St. P. Ry. The Catholics and Evangelicals have churches. The dairy industry is represented by a creamery and a cheese factory. The Richfield State Bank tends to money matters. Good markets for farm products. A sawmill is operated by Charles Mayer.
Other villages of the county are: Kohlsville, with a planing mill, and a saw and gristmill; Boltonville; Mayfield; Cedar creek; Myra, with a small Bohemian settlement in the neighborhood; Salters; Keowns; Ackerville; Thompson; St. Hubertus; St. Augustine; St. Lawrence; Wayne; Aurora; St. Anthony; Nenno; and Kirchhayn, with one of the oldest Lutheran churches in the state.
A LAKELET IN THE COURSE OF SILVER CREEK, LUCAS' RESORT, WEST BEND
CHAPTER XIX
HUSBANDRY
Farming has always been the foundation of civilization, whether primitive or complex, past or present. If the man with the hoe does not exactly rule the world, he is at any rate the governor of the social machines, of whatever make they may be. He keeps them steady. When the roaming tribes at last settled down to till the soil, they did make the first step to build up a social order, a state, a com- monwealth. These truths applied to Washington county mean that the part it plays in our national life is a most important one, for nine-tenths of the population are engaged in agriculture or pursuits closely allied to it.
Most of the settlers came with the intention to do farming. There was little demand for others, unless they had to offer services or things which the settlers needed. In the sawmills which arose on every creek or river they had their logs sawed into lumber, and in the gristmills they had their wheat turned into flour. In the first years they did their farm work with oxen, and could dispense with horse- shoers. Buggies and carriages were not yet in use. Everybody relied on his legs, and to walk thirty miles to the next city was nothing uncommon. Letter carriers did such feats regularly several times a week. The doctors alone rode on horseback to their patients, their few medicines and instruments in the saddle bag. The grain and hay were cut with the scythe and the cradle, and agriculture in general was carried on without the machines that lighten its burdens now- adays.
The principal crops raised after the land had been cleared were wheat and rye. Old newspapers tell marvelous stories of the virgin soil's production. "Mr. Reynolds of the town of Jackson," a local item of 1860 reads, "counted the stalks of rye that grew from one kernel this year, and found 57 stalks with heads on. Just think of it-probably a half a glass of 'Old Rye' from one kernel." Wheat growing in this and the neighboring counties was so extensively car-
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ried on that in 1860 southeastern Wisconsin was the center of wheat production in the West, while today dairying is the principal source of income on many farms, and wheat is rarely grown. The grain region has since shifted to the northwestern part of the state.
Where wheat once grew, now barley and corn and oats, especially the former, grow, or the luxuriant sward of pastures spreads. The county now ranks first among the barley-raising counties of the state. The College of Agriculture in Madison makes efforts to im- prove the type of seed grain, and numerous barley centers have been created in the county to which small amounts of well bred barley seed have been sent for growth and distribution to the farmers. The col- lege for this purpose has organized the Wisconsin Experiment Asso- ciation. Membership in this organization entitles the holder to receive a small assignment of the selected and pedigreed grains that have been developed at the college. These are grown in increase plots for the first year, and by the second season, the grower is in a position to market his selected seed at good prices. The introduction of this seed improvement work has markedly affected the types of seed used. Mixed and scrub varieties are now being displaced by these selected and pedigreed stocks.
Just now, the Agronomy Department of the college is taking the initial steps to improve the seed corn used by the farmers throughout the county. They have been invited to bring a number of kernels, to be planted separately on a plot of the Asylum farm. The harvest from these seeds will be examined by Prof. Norgord with a view of dropping the poor kinds and selecting the varieties best suited to certain locations, and also instructing farmers in corn raising gen- erally.
Of late years, sugar beet raising has been carried on successfully in the southern part of the county in the proximity of the beet sugar factory of Menomonee Falls. Around Hartford pea culture has been taken up on a large scale. The peas are delivered to the cannery at Hartford, and this enterprise is evidently a marked success.
Horticulture has been fostered ever since housewives took pride in a good garden. Not only is there hardly a farm without such a department, but also the dwellers in the villages and cities have as a rule gardens which often are splendid sights. Fruit raising has always been a strong point of the county. Especially the apple crop is in some years enormous. They are raising varieties of apples that cannot be beaten anywhere, and with a little more extra care this
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division of husbandry should pay very well. Other fruit does also well, with proper care, and at places vineyards even are thriving.
During the last few years poultry raising grew into enormous proportions. There are many chicken fanciers who swear to the superiority of their respective breed, pigeon fanciers, goose and duck fanciers, etc. Some have taken up hog breeding as their specialty, while the raising of hogs for the market nets good profits. Of the sheep raising mention has been made in a former chapter.
It has been said before that dairying is one of the main resources of the county. It does its share to make Wisconsin the greatest dairy state in the Union. In the state the number of dairy cows has from 1900 to 1910 increased nearly 50 per cent, while butter production has increased 70 per cent and cheese 86 per cent. Wisconsin now has nearly half of all the cheese factories and about one-sixth of all the creameries of the United States. In the production of cheese, Wis- consin passed New York some two or three years ago, and is now easily in the lead as the greatest cheese producing state of the Union. It is worthy of note that the dairy products of this state made each year exceed in value by several millions of dollars the entire gold and silver output of the combined states of California, Colorado, Nevada and 'Alaska. The mines yield but once their supply of precious metals, while the streams of dairy gold in Wisconsin flow perpetually and in ever-increasing volume. In proportion all of this holds good with Washington county.
To make dairying profitable, it is necessary to have good cows, and good cows mean purebred cows. For many years the breeding of high-grade cattle has with more or less zeal been carried on in the county. Several breeds enjoy popularity, dainty Jerseys in the shades of a well-smoked meerschaum pipe, red Guernseys, and black and white Holstein-Friesians. However, it was a member of the latter race that was to call the attention of the world to the great achievements of the county in the cattle breeding line. In May, 1910, the Holstein; Friesian heifer Cedar Lawn De Kol Johanna 113565, owned by C. A. Schroeder & Son in the town of West Bend, broke the world's record in the butter production of two-year-old heifers. She was born February 3, 1908, and dropped her first calf April 23, 1910. In the month of May following it was when she established a new world's record for her class by producing 88.802 pounds of butter fat in 30 days, in the Wisconsin dairy cow competition. She produced 20.697 pounds of butterfat at an official test held May 6-13, which equals 25.8 pounds of butter in seven days. After eight months of con-
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tinuous milking she made another official record of 10.182 pounds of butterfat in seven days. During the ninth month after calving she produced 42.775 pounds of butterfat. From May 1, 1910, to March I, 19II, she gave 14,329.9 pounds of milk, or 717.94 pounds of butter in the full year. The brilliant result was not easily won. It took Mr. Schroeder half a human life time to breed that cow. Over thirty years ago he bought two purebred Holstein cows, and soon afterwards made a churn test of their milk. It showed that the milk from one cow produced more butter than the same amount of milk from the other cow. The poorer cow was sold, while the other cow, Netherland Bessie No. 35997, became the foundation of his herd. At present every cow in his herd has some of the better cow's blood in her veins. Gradually, and in spite of the misgivings of his neigh- bors, Mr. Schroeder kept on improving his herd. During the past twelve years Sir Johanna De Kol 25467 has been at the head of it. This great sire of Cedar Lawn De Kol Johanna is the sire of 28 A. R. O. daughters, six of which, raised by Mr. Schroeder, have produced from 16 to 20 pounds of butterfat in seven days as two-year-old heifers. His success he attributes in a great measure to the careful study and solution of the feeding and breeding problem offered by his herd, good judgment and the courage of his conviction and persistent endeavor in the face of discouragement. The fame of De Kol Johanna cast an aureola around the dairy industry of the county. Heifers of the herd have been sent as far as Japan. In March, 1912, the pride of Cedar Lawn Farm died of blood poisoning which set in after calving.
The county is dotted with over fifty cheese factories and cream- eries which collect the milk, or the cream, from the farmers to turn them into salubrious and nourishing dairy products. If there ever was a land where milk and money flows- to make the biblical metaphor correct, it should read "honey," but although considerable honey is also produced, we will neglect that item-, here it is. A continuous stream of milk flows into the dairies, and a continuous stream of money flows out of them in the shape of yellow checks.
Aside from the dairy industry, the malting industry should be spoken of, as it also is intimately connected with agriculture. There are large malt houses in Hartford, Kewaskum, West Bend, etc., in which vast quantities of barley are annually converted into malt. Some of these establishments, like the one in West Bend, use the latest and most approved methods in malting. The demand for barley gives the farmers a good home market.
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Although in point of horse breeding the county does not appear in the foremost ranks, it makes a fair showing. There were in 1911 thirteen licensed full blood stallions in the county, and twelve grade stallions. Besides these, a number of scrubs are still used for breed- ing purposes. The tendency seems to be to gradually discard the latter and use only full blood stallions, or if they cannot be had, grade stallions.
From the first chapter which treats of "The Genesis of the Soil" the reader will probably have gained some idea of the soil conditions of the county. Outside of the morainic gravel ridges, and in the valleys between them, the soil is a clay loam, more or less mixed with sand. In some parts the soil is decidedly sandy, as in the towns of Barton and Farmington. The sand hills near Barton have caused the location of a sand brick factory, while the clay on the other side of the ridges gave rise to the clay brick industry, like that at Schleisinger- ville. The underlying rock is the silurian limestone which is quarried at Rockfield and South Germantown, mostly for lime. The reader perhaps will also remember that the last lines of the retreating glaciers are marked by a number of marshes on both sides of the morainic ridges.
The ice sheets passing over the region during the last glacial period ground up large quantities of the limestone rock and mixed it with the surface soil previously existing there, producing a clay subsoil highly charged with ground limestone. The marshes and shallow lakes left after the melting of the glacial ice are slowly filling up, partly with the remains of the plants growing in them, and partly with the ground washed in from the surroundings, as has already been said. In this way the ground limestone is dissolved and carried into the marsh lands by the surface waters and underground seepage, so as to largely neutralize the tendency of marsh soils to become acid on account of the decomposition of large amounts of organic matter. The marsh soils, therefore, are generally not found to be acid. Owing to the "sweet" character of these soils, due to the presence of lime carbonates, there is no difficulty in securing the necessary decom- position of the soil to supply an abundance of nitrogen where good drainage is developed.
Drainage of marshy soils is becoming of greater importance as the agricultural possibilities are developed. The lands first occupied were those readily broken and with good drainage. The marshy lands have so far been used only as pastures or for cutting wild hay when they became sufficiently dry. But the more agriculture advances, the
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more a thorough control of all soil conditions is aimed at. The high price of farm lands in the county and the rapid progress of agricul- ture will soon make it desirable to develop the marsh lands to the greatest possible extent. In the northern part of the county and reaching into Fond du Lac and Sheboygan counties, a drainage project has been started, with the aid of the Soils Department of the Wisconsin Experiment Station, which is followed with great interest. Gradually the desire to drain the swamps is gaining strength with the farmers who have such lands. The drainage service of the Ex- periment Station is giving all possible aid to those who contemplate drainage.
Roads do not come under any subdivision of agriculture, yet they have been so far the work and the problem of the farmer. Gradually the conviction spreads that good roads are of vast advantage for everybody who uses them, and the county falls in line with the good- roads movement. The county board in their last session elected a county highway commissioner in order to have the county partici- pate in the benefits of the state highway fund of $350,000 set aside annually, according to a law passed by the Legislature in 1911, who also created a state highway commission and provided for a system of prospective state highways. Many towns in the last election have voted for funds to be expended on the improvement of roads and bridges, which entitles them to a share of the state's aid. A system of macadamized county highways has been planned, which connects with the prospective state highways, and work on them has begun under the direction of the county highway commissioner. Bridges built of concrete are replacing the old wooden structures.
Annually, during the winter season, one or two Farmers' Insti- tutes are held in the county. Their value cannot be overrated. They bring the latest achievements in the various branches of agri- culture to the very doors of the farmers. Papers are read by able men, followed by discussions. Even the betterment of domestic and social conditions on the farm is drawn within the sphere of the Institute.
To plant the love of country life and of everything that grows and nourishes man or beast into the hearts of the young generation, a Boys' Agricultural Club has been organized, and the Agricultural Society as well as the College of Agriculture in Madison offer prizes for the best exhibits of the members at the county fair.
In September of every year the county fair is held on a tract of land about 25 acres in size, in the northeastern part of the city of
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West Bend. The grounds are elevated and fairly level, and enclosed by a high board fence. The entrance is on the south side. The buildings are on the eastern half of the grounds. They consist of an art gallery, and of buildings for agriculture and horticulture, for poultry, and for hogs and sheep. The middle of the grounds is reserved for the open air exhibition of farm machinery, vehicles of all sorts, etc. Along the south fence, and the west fence almost up to the grand stand, open sheds are running in which the horses and cattle are exhibited. In the northern part is the baseball dia- mond with another grand stand. A dining hall is near the gate. The fine race track is just now being extended. The fair lasts for three days and is visited by close to ten thousand people. Premiums to the amount of about sixteen hundred dollars are awarded. The county fair is interesting and instructive as well as entertaining, and the management always provides for a number of special attractions, like aeronauts, acrobats, etc. The best way to measure the agricul- tural progress of the county is to compare the first county fair with the fairs of the present day. An account of the first fair held in the county appears in the chapter on "Organizations." Here is what I published on the fair of 1911 (it may be an item of curiosity for the generation fifty years hence) :
"It was the county fair again. Finer weather was unthinkable. From the northwest a cool wind blew and frustrated all efforts of Mr. Sun to make it hot for people. White clouds sailed in the sky, and lights and shadows played on the distant hills painted with the gaudy colors of fall.
"Soon after dinner began the exodus to the fair grounds. The automobile made it possible that the farmers and villagers now can dine leisurely at home and still get to the fair in time. On the street automobiles and dust clouds rolled on in unbroken chains.
"The enormous place was soon filled with people, typical figures of farmers, homely farmer women, pretty country girls in the latest Parisian fashions, and young gentleman in faultless dress suits. Even the link between the two types-that with turned-up pants and glossy celluloid collar-was not missing.
"The noise of the fair, too, reigned supreme again. The owners of puppet tents, the venders, and the other knights of the side-show barked, the band played, the grind organ whimpered, and the endless medley of voices flooded the ear.
"In the exhibition buildings the visitors jammed and shoved. In the art gallery femininity prevailed, also in the exhibits. Here a man
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feels like an intruder. Well represented were the embroidered, crocheted, and sewed handiworks, often revealing a high sense of art. A crocheted waste basket made us feel almost like "at home." It was treated with some chemical fluid which made it as rigid and durable as a wicker basket. It looked dainty with its pink ribbons. The regular art exhibits consisted of drawings, water color and oil paint- ings-some real good work among them-photographs, and other works of art. A seven-year-old boy's samples of cabinet work were touching indeed.
"The poultry show was extensive and complete, from little pigeons to Embden and Toulouse geese and bronze-colored turkeys. For the first time we saw white turkeys, and ducks with crests on their heads. The most interesting fowls, however, were a pair of African geese. They were white and big and well built, except the bill which was black and ugly, with a hump at the root, perhaps to fit to rhinos and caffres. And then they let out such weird shrieks. Opposite stood a cage with Chinese geese. We looked whether they were slant-eyed, but found that they were exactly like their African sisters.
"The horticultural exhibition was good. Grain, seeds, flowers in bouquets and pots, gigantic cucumbers and pumpkins were a wonted sight. For a longer period our eyes rested on the beautifully curled leaves of a glossy sea green of a mangel-wurzel. With their graceful lines they looked like the prototyppe of a Gothic capital. The exhibition of apples was great, there were green apples, yellow apples, red cheeked apples, all inviting to a bite. We were just con- sidering in which tunes we could best sing the praise of such splendid fruit, when somebody behind our back remarked: 'Oh, it's no trick to have nice apples this year!' Well, we did no longer consider our blarney. In a lean-to the Boys' Agricultural Club had their exhibits which were quite respectable and promising.
"Leaves the pigs, the cows and calves, the sheep, and the horses. But these exhibitions were as good as in former years and can be passed.
"The horse races, the acrobats, the balloon ascension, the baseball game added their shares to the entertainment, the merry-making, and the excitement of the visitors."
Agriculture will most likely always stay the chief resource of the county. So much the better for it; so much more happiness for the population. Wise men of all ages have said that. "Civilization is agriculture," says L. H. Kerrick: "agriculture is civilization; civil- ization and agriculture are one. There is nothing before, nothing
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higher, nothing beyond agriculture. Agriculture is the original, natural, necessary, single and universal business of mankind. Every other art, trade, profession or calling whatsoever is secondary and dependent and useful only when and in such degree as it may con- tribute to the one great and useful business, agriculture. We must teach agriculture; it is the social, political and economic salvation of the nations."
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CHAPTER XX
IN ROMANTIC TERRITORY
In the town of Erin, in the southwestern quadrangle of the check- ered county map, lies Holy Hill, a place of pilgrimage famous among Catholics in this and the neighboring states. With the legend of the place the reader has become familiar in a preceding chapter. It is now intended to give a description of it as it appears today, for it would look like a serious omission to let it go at what has so far been said about it. Besides it is interesting in other ways. It lies in the most romantic region of the county, and it affords a bird's-eye view of much of the ground on which this history was made, A clever and vivid description of a visit to Holy Hill was written two or three years ago by Adalbert Schaller, the late local editor of the "Mil- waukee Herold," and published anonymously in that German daily. It appealed to me so much that I have translated it into the best English I was able to. It follows:
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