Buffalo County, Wisconsin - The whole text, 1888 (part 7 of 13)

Alma in Township 21 (probably Range 13) and Townships 22, 23 and 24 all of Range 12, possibly meant to embrace all the land west to the Mississippi and Chippewa, though not so stated.

Edward Lees was elected chairman of the board. Nothing else seems to have been done than to make out a list of grand jurors, 19 from Buffalo, 9 from Belvidere and 8 ftom Waumandee,

It was resolved to lay out a county road from Fountain City to Alma; also one from Alma to Waumandee, the latter to be extended to an intersection with the Chippewa or Ridge Road.

A salamander safe for the treasurer was purchased for $200. The same sum was appropriated to Mr. Wesley Pierce for building a jail 16x16 feet floor apd 8 feet high,, whenever the work would be accepted. $8.00 were appropriated to Adam Klingel and Rich. Kiel for burying the body of an unknown person.

This meeting adjourned to the 2d Monday in March 1857, but the board had to hold a special meeting on the 2d day of Dec, 1856, because they had neglected to levy a county school tax, which they then did in the sura of $200.00.

Cold Springs, Township 21 Range 10 and so much of the sections 1 - 10 in Tshp. 20 of the same range, as was situated west of Trempealeau River.

July 20, 1857, principally for the purpose of making out a jury list. This list contains a number of familiar names. There were 19 for grand and 20 for petit jury. Mr. Orlando Brown was the new member, and for the first time in the county board of this county.

November 10, 1857, there was a petition for forming a town Monpelier which was to embrace all of Belvidere and part of Alma, but it was rejected.

" Fixing up " of towns was still a leading topic, and this time the town of Cross was established as follows: Tshp. 20 Range 10, except what belonged to Cold Spring, and the

What made my old friend Ed. Lees call his town Gross I couH never learn, but perhaps he " felt that way." Elk Greek: Tshp. 23 of Ranges 10 and 11, and East Half of Ralnge of the county of BufiFalp,. on motion of Mr. Michael Aaron of Bloomington or Bear Creek, (one or the other,") as Maxville was then caEed. Previous to that the delinquent tax list, the only thing that was to be published for the county, had been published in the "Trempealeau Times."

This county board put the first equalization of assessments on record. Mr. Lees filibustered in his own style about the creation, respectively organization of a town of '' Little Eagle " the whereabouts of which I would have duly noted, only it came to " nothing." A bounty for " wolves' scalps " was voted for, $4.00 for each individual of the game "lupus" that should be scalped, which would have to be done after killing, I suppose. There were some regulations of which I have hinted at the most important already. There was also some provision for paying that bounty, for it could not be supposed that the wolves would pay themselves for being scalped. We will find that two years later there was a surplus in the county treasury, of money designed to be used for wolf bounty, but not applied.

There was a motion to award the county printing to the lowest bidder, which resulting in a tie, was negatived by the chair. The town of Belvidere was represented by Fred Mager, Cold Springs by Henry Wuertemberger.

Among the proceedings we find that sections 4 to 10 of Township 19, Range 10, were detached from the Town of Buifalo, and attached to the town of Cross.

Also that the name of the Town of Milton was changed to Eagle Mills and that of Elk Creek to Gilmanton. It was deemed expeditious to vacate the road from Fred Binder's on the Sandprairie, to Jack Baumann on Buffalo City Prairie as a county road, a sage conclusion duly revoked a year after.

the assignment of tax certificates, of which there cannot have been a great many yet. The sum of $501.60 was appropriated on the construction of the bridge across Trempealeau River, the situation of which everybody seems to have known so well, that it was not particularly described in the proceedings.

Belvidere: Wm. Aehenbach. Alma: Gottlieb Kurtz. Waumandee: John Ochsner. Bloomington and Naples, not on Gilmanton: And. Gilman. record, nor Cross.

This was a board of equalization, but it is still remarkable, that not one of the last before mentioned representatives was present, although no new election had been held. The schedule of assessments made by the above board was tabulated and. entered upon record.

November 9th, 1858,' there were some entirely new representatives of towns, not enumerated in the two preceding lists. Mr. Doughty represented Bloomington, which name was changed to " Maxville " in this session. Nelson was represented by Wilson Crippin. The board found it advisable to have some talk about Beiner's Addition and Alteration to the village of Alma, but it does not appears that it was any of their business. For the rest nothing but routine work was done.

tioD of moving the county seat from Fountain City to Upper Fountain City commonly called Sand Prairie. This being negatived, John Buehler and other citizens offered to the county board a new building, intended and arranged as a Court house, the same, which now of course with needed alterations, is the Eagle Hotel at Fountain City. The county board, thereupon, established the county seat at Fountain City, as far as its authority availed.

At this session the county road, or that piece of the road from Fountain City to Alma, lying between the houses of Fred. Binder and Jack Baumanri was re-established as a county road.

This session, which had evidently bfeen called for the purpose of establishing the county seat for ever at Fountain City, had the effect to stir up the county seat question in general, and as the towns in the upper part of the county were growing more and more populous, they demanded that the village of Alma should be selected for the purpose, it bmng much nearer the center of the surface and of the population. Subsequent events justified the demand and the regular session held

November 15th, 1839, was the Idst session of the county board held at Fountain City. The first work of the board was to canvass the election held in November. The result was:

Among other, (current) accounts was also one of Newland and- Averill for printing; which had been before the "board previously, but was now settled.

A motion was made and carried, not to' allow the City of Buffalo any representation in the county boaird, uiitil it should poll 60 or more votes on any general election. As the city had become incorporated by an act of the legislature of 1859,' it was clearly beyond the power and jurisdiction of the board to exclude the members sent by the city, In fact this resolution finally ccrtigealed' into a petition to the state legislature to amend the charter of the city according to the resolution. Messrs. A Finkelnburg and J. D. Lewis were appointed a committee to attend to this matter.

The board also resolved to petition the legislature for the repeal of Ch9.pter 11 of Greneral Laws of 1858. I could not find out to what said law related, and as it is certainly of no consequence whatever now, and possibly was of but little at the time, I only mention it to show, that the county board of that time felt itself a very puissant body, if it is to be judged by its resolutions.

I have now to interrupt the relation of the proceedings of the county board and take up the narrative of that struggle which has visited almost every new county in the western states, and the seeds of which had been sown in the very act of the; organization of ours. The reader, if he will take the trouble to consult this act in the beginning of this chapter, will find that the "seat of justice" for Buffalo County was thereby located upon Section 1 Township 19 North Range 12 West. Those living in that neighborhood, may at one time have known something of the situation of that section, but those living near it could not tell me anything of the corners or lines when in 1883 in November I went there with R. HoUinshead, an engineer in the employ of the Winona & Alma Railroad Company, to find the northeast corner of it in order to locate the line of said road relative to government surveys. Mr. HoUinshead, who had studied the Atlas of Buffalo County, on this matter, insisted that the line must run somewhere south of F. Richter's house, which, however, I could easily prove to be wrong, as I had been familiar with the situation of the northern quarter sec^tion post of the adjoining section 6, ancj knew it to be located at the foot of the cliff, almost due east of the mill. Subsequent investigations proved that the corner we wanted to determine. was located in the mill pond, over a quarter of a mile north of Richter's house, and as I had learned the situation of the remaining stump of one of the bearing trees of the corner, the problem was satisfactorily solved afterwards. At the time when Mr. Marvin Pierce projected the description of Bufifalo County as found in the act of organization (1853,) there was, however, no pond in the place, and the said corner was in the bottom at the foot of the sandy slope, on the west side of Waumandee Creek, and, if government maps are approximately reliable, about sixty rods from it, probably approach- able, at times and still stancjing. The Abstract of Ehtries in the ofBce of the Register of Deeds shows, that Jaraes M. Pierce, a brother of Marvin's, Entered Lot 1 of Sect. 1 of Township 19 North of Range 12 West, containing 51.62 aCres on the 1st day of June, 1853, the very spot upon which the ftituire county seat was to be located, and the only part Of said' section not subject to the annual inundation by the high water of the Mississippi. At that time the place was bnly accessible by water on 'the westside, and, as the whole prairie was at high water a perfect islahd, and even at low water only accessible by crossing a narrow swamp at the north end on foot, it might have been called totally inaccessible. Mr. Finkdlnburg in his speech at the centennial celebration of the Independence of the United States in 1876, describes how the Pierces, by a windfall of fortune, were enabled to build a court house of lumber, which, to whomever it may have orice belonged, could hardly have bebn' their own. Old settlers remernber the shell, for such I found it to be, when years afterward I saw it on the hill fdcmg towards the mill, to where it had beed moved from its former situation, and one court, at least, I think' in spring 1859, had been held in it. But before the building of said court house as we find in the proceedings (if the county board in 1854, Gciehrke's house at Holmes' Landing had been designated ' as the court house, and that place, changed in the course of time to Fountain City, was regarded as the de-facto county seat of B'^fifalo County. Fountain City, as well as Alma, was laid out into a village principally in 1855, all of which will be related at lengtTi under the chapter of " Population." The location of the county seat upon a spot which had, practically, first to be made ' accessible, was very distasteful to the people of Holmes' Landing, but by the second act of the organization, changing the situation' entirely, and put- ' ting the centre of gravity, so to speak, into an entiMy different place, leaving Fountain City but seven or eight miles from the ttiost southern point of the boundary and in the narrowest part of the county, it might have become apparent to every one, that in due course of time the county seat would need to be located in some other situation. Nevertheless, if it had not been for the legal enactment in favor of the above described locality, it is fairly to be presumed^ that Fountain City would have at once set to work to furnisTi the necessary buildings, and thus have laid a.

firmer hold upon the possession of the much coveted boon. It is true,.it offered a court house, and the offer was accepted, but that was at a time when other places had already acquired some size, and when it w^s seriously questioned, whether the county, bpard had a legal authority to establish a county seat in any other place than the one designated by the legislature., Accordingly, instead of a law to deprive Buffalo, City of its. representation in the county board, a.law was^ passed in the legislature to enable the people of Buffalo County to decide upon the question whether the county seat should be established in the village of Alma. The vote was in favor of Alma, but some informalities or mistakes iri the returns emboldened the canvassers, all of whoin, as well as all of the county officers were either residents of or otherwise in the interest of Fountain City, to reject these defective. returns,, whereupon the case came up on a " Mandamus ',' before the Supreme Court of the state and yvas decided against Fountain City.

Accordiugly the offices were removed to Alma, and by a resolution of the coUinty board, established in the house owned at that time by F. S. Richards, originally built by ^ Capt, E. S. Herman, and after being vacated by the county owned by Dr. John Ehing, sold by him to the firm of Tester and Schilling, it having occupied the site of their hardware store and dwelling.

But Alma should not possess the dignity of being the capital of this county; without having to fight for it at the next town election, 1861, with the City of Buffalo. This young corporation, in which Mr. Mr. Charles Schaettle, sen-, was then the most prominent man and leading citizen, made strenuou.s efforts to wrench from Alma the Jiewly. acquired distinction.- At that time the owners of lots in the city, living mostly at Cincinn?iti apd other places south and east of this state, still entertained great expectations in regard to the future prosperity -of the place,- and were ready to make any reasonable sacrifice for its promotion, and, on the strength of this fact, the enterprise was imdertaken with the promise of furnishing free of cost, a suitable court-house, of which I furnished the plan and elevation, Mr. Schaettle and others doing the canvassing, showing the plan all round the county. The scheme, however, miscarried, and when afterwards, Mr. Schaettle and some of^his thein fellow-citizens went4o Alma). to possess themselves, vis at armis, figuratively, of the.ofllces and papers, they were prevented from accomplishing their design, ridiculed and threatened with violence and compelled to leave, at which retrograde movement they were serenaded by the old fiddler to the tune: " Wender nit bald heigo, ihr Chaiba " which translated from his native Swiss diiilect means: Won't you please decamp, you rascals! * C. H.

This is the story of the struggle for capital honors among the leading communities of Buffalo County. After a short time the animosities roused by it subsided, the heated imaginations cooled off, and harmony was again restored.

May 28th 1860, the first one in Alma. The county officers were ordered to hold their offices in the house of F. S. Richards previous to the building of a court house. $400.00 having accumulated from the funds destined to pay the so-called wolf-bounty, it was determined to divide this surplus among the towns and corporations. District Attorney Lees declared the proceedings illegal, because, as might be surmised from the record of the proceedings, some other person had voted in place of John Linse, who seems to have been chairman of the Town of Belvidere, but no notice seems to have been taken of the attorney's objection.

The regular meeting for the year was held Nmewher 9th, 1860, in the old schoolhouse at Alma. Nothing but routine business was transacted at this meeting.

Next meeting, a special one, was held July 8th, 1861, in the same place and in it the so-called Bates' house was accepted as a temporary court house. The campaign of Buffalo City against Alma on the county seat question had compelled the people of Alma to pledge themselves to do as much as its rival promised to do, that is,' to build a court house, but as this could not be done forthwith, a temporary abode for the officers was furnished. The house thus furnished was large, but scarcely more than a mere shell. A new court house was however at the time in course of

November 12th, 1861, there was an entirely new task before the board. The legislate're of that year had passed a law requiring counties of about the population which Buffalo County had at that time to be divided into three supervisor districts for each of which a supervisor had to be elected, to serve for two years. These three supervisors were to have the same powers and functions as the county board as it was originally constituted. I have never learned the reason for this change, and I know that from the beginning it met with considerable opposition. There is much to be said for and against the arrangement, and the most important objection whs always, that the districts could not be arranged to suit the various interests of the different towns. Of course, a member would have to be from one particular town, and the other towns belonging to the district might feel slighted and jealous, although they had nothing to say against the member elect personally. With regard to the business to be transacted, I think it was almost too much for three or even five men, but I have not heard that any serious complaints were made as to the administration of affairs, although there was always dissatisfaction for the reasons already mentioned. The division itself was made as follows:

The Town of Modena was established at this session and to consist of Township 23, Range 12 with the northern tier of sections of Township 22, Range 12.

The salary of the county superintendent of schools, of which the first one had been elected that year, and was to enter into office in January 1862, was stipulated at $400 per annum.

The numerous mistakes occurring in assessments, especially by assessing land not yet entered, could not be remedied until an abstract of entries was procured from the land office of the district, and it was ordered that iMs should be procured.

John Buehler was elected chairm,an for the year. Sections 4 and 5 of Township 19 Range 11 were detached from the town of Buffalo and annexed to that of Eagle Mills. The county court, F. Fetter, Judge, was permitted to be held at Fountain City, until the new court house would afford the necessary accommodation.

County Treasurer L. F. Binder having died, it had become necessary to appoint his successor, and Peter Polin was destined to fill the vacancy.

Section 36 of Township 21 Range 12 was detached from the town of Belvidere and annexed to that of Waumandee. It was ordered that the proceedings of the board should be published in the Alma " Journal " and the Buffalo County "Republikaner " at one half of legal rates.

In this- meeting it was resolved to petition the Governor of the state to cause all Indians to be removed. There were none in Buffalo County, and hardly a handful in any county within fifty miles from it, but at that time the outbreak of the Sioux in Minnesota took place and everybody was scared. Panics aie always unreasonable, for the Indians in our neighborhood, if any there were, had more reason to be scared than the white population, of whom there were perhaps many hundredfold n;ore, who on sirspicion might have made rough work with the poor redskins.

The treasurer was authorized to exchange tax certificates on village lots in his office for such certificates on land. It was resolved to vacate Bishop's Addition, the Lower Addition and Patterson's Addition to Fountain City. The salary of the county clerk was fixed at the sum of $800 annually. Up to that time he had his fees on redemption of tax certificates and other transactions. The County Judge was requested to move his official quarters to the court house.

March 24th 1863, in which Sections 6 and 5, and the West Half of Section 4 of Township 21, Range 12, were detached from the town of Belvidere and annexed to that of Alma.

Some discussion was held on the subject of altering the Fountain City and Alma road in such a manner as to avoid building a bridge at the mill dam in Eagle Mills.

There is something said in the proceedings of this session about a petition to the Attorney General of the State, or rather an inquiry, concerning a supposed mistake on the part of J. A. Tester, Deputy .County Treasurer in signing tax certificates without first signing the name of County Treasurer Polin. This was about the time when everything began to be scrutinized by the piercing eyes of our lawyers, and flaws, real or supposed, were made capital in the industry of politics, though this particular case did not afford Very much opportunity for that. I can not now remember how the matter terminated, which affordg me sufficient reason for supposing that the alleged mistake finally was no mistake at all, and at the worst only the omission of a customary but not essential formality.

It was resolved that the County Superintendent of Schools should receive a salary of $400 per annum, provided that he furnish from the teacher or teachers of every school district a certificate of having spent two whole days in the school. In case of such certificates not forthcoming the fourth quarter of said salary should be withheld and he should receive but $300.00. Did it not occur to the gentlemen: 1. That the law prescribed the duties of the superintendent, and gave them no authority whatever in the matter? 2. That they virtually made the superintendent dependent upon those, who by law were under his jurisdiction? 3. That a superintendent (.or any other officer) who needed such a whip to be driven to perform his duty, was not worth having under any circumstances ?

This was a most unwarranted and gratuitous insult to the superintendent elect, Mr. C. F. Kingsland, and the only excuse, such as it is, for this resolution might be, that it was only intended to give the people at large a favorable impression of the severity of the county board in official matters.

Adjourned to November 21st, probably to give the clerk and treasurer time to make up their reports. Why' they should have required so much extra time, does not appear. One matter, however which had been allowed to go on and to grow into -an accum- ulated nuisance may have beet) at the bottom of it. This was the issue of illegal tax certificates, a large per cent, of which were on la,nd upt entered at the time of assessing it, and anotlier large per cent, originating in the inexperience of those, who had to do the preliminary work, the balance being due to other accidental neglects or errors, which will happen under the most rigid system and scrutiny. The abstract of entries, of whioh tp every tpwp such a part was sent in copy, as contained all the origin^ descriptions of the entered land had bgen in. some degree applied to the correction of the increasing evil, and the inass of the certificates had to be separated and decisions made as to what shouM be done with the separate lots of them- The matter was, of course, very impertant, but whether it required all t|ie fups and feathers, in the way pf public notices and such things that was made about it, I am, at this distant day, inclined to doubt, There was a plain chance for somebody to show his superior knpwledge and consequent importtance, that could not very well pas^ unimproved,

It was resolved, that the certificates pn lots in the vacated town-plats should be sold at auction during an advertised period of four weeks, and afterwards at the option of the Cpunty Treasurer.

An apprppriatipn was m^de fpr the constrnction pf a bridge across Trempealeau River, provided that the town in wl?ich it was situated was to appropriate the same sum. The bridge was to be erected in Section 10, T. 20, R. 10, which, I think, i& abpu,t six miles ont of the way.

The jail built by the City of Buffalo wa,3 to be inspected with regard to its fitness foj a county jail- $150.00 were appropriated for extra work performed in the offipe of county treasurer, mpgt pr all of it with rega,rd to abstracts of entries, and illegal certificates, probably also for getting up the plat-books and making the entries in the same.

Board consibting of John Burgess, FefdiHand Huefner and John Ochsner. Mr. Burgess was elected chairman, possibly at the preceding meeting, and it may also be that John Ochsner was present at the same.

It was resolved that the road across or upon the mill dam in Eagle Mills should be surveyed, field-notes and p],at filed in the office of the county clerk, and fight of way secured. Specifications to be made, and contract advertised for the cohstruetion of the road.

$500.00 were appropriated for the road from Fountain City to La Crosse (via Trempealeau River bridge, I suppose). Might as well have been appropriated for a I'oad to the moon, although, if intelligently expended, it was a ptoper application of money.

The Treasurer was otdeted to advance the necessary money to defray expenses in the prosecution of the case of the State of Wisconsin against Christian Brucker, to be tried on a change of venue in Pepin County. The District Attorney to account for the proper use of the money advanced.

A proposition' wAs received of Fetdinahd Mehrmann to build the dam (for his own mill) and the bridges for crossing (mill stream and waste flues) for $1500.00. The clerk was empowered to make a contract, and the necessary sum was appropriated for the purpose.

November IBth, adpi/Sffied to' 16th, the salary of the County Clerk was fixed at $1000.00 and he Was required to give bonds in the sum of $5000,00.

License was granted to A. G. Remondino of Wabasha for a ferry across the Mississippi at that point and lo John Creese for one across Beef Slough at some connecting point.

September Uih, 1865, Mr. Remondino surrendered his ferry-charter, and the same was transferred to Levy Deetz and one McClarney at reduced rates for the time from May 1st to November 1st in each year, charges for other times according to old rates.

November 14th 1865, (^adjourned to 15th,) the salaries of the county officers were determined as follows: Treasurer S800.00, and to give a bond of 816,000.00; District Attorney $400.00, and County Superintendent $400.00. The county treasurer's office having been plundered some time before, the clerk was ordered to procure a burglar proof safe.

$25.00 were appropriated for the construction of an "icebreaker " on the Trempealeau River bridge, to which the county had contributed money.

At this adjourned meeting Sections 13 and 24 of Township 21, Range 12, were taken from the town of Belvidere and annexed to that of Waumandee. The petition for establishing the town of Elizabeth (now Canton) was laid over until next meeting.

The Register of Deeds (at that time Jacob Wirth) was requested to WEiTE plainly . To understand this, it must be remembered that the Register of Deeds for the past four years had been Otis F. Warren, considered to be the best penman in the county at that time. Jacob Wirth, the Register elect, was a one-armed veteran, who could, with his left hand write quite well and legibly, but could not be expected to handle the books of the registry, nor to write much into them as he would be tired out by the position he would have to assume for the purpose. He was also much addicted to hard drinking, and unreliable for the actual business of the office. It was a foregone conclusion, that he would have to employ a competent deputy, and the resolution above quoted was perhaps a strong hint to be careful in the selection. But there was still another notion in the injunction. Our lawyers, and other quibblers, had determined that, according to law, and the decisions of " ze Supreme Court," the Register of Deeds must actually "write " every word of an instrument to be placed on record, and should not, on pains of rendering the record "void" use any blanks, that is, no part of the record should be partly printed and partly written. Thus the emphasis of the sentence is to be put upon the verb "torite" and not upon the adverb "plainly.'' As this was the last meeting in which C. Moser, jr., was to act as County Clerk, the board passed resolutions of thanks for his able and courteous conduct in the office. Although in general such compliments are as hollow and meaningless as most other compliments, and as I am afraid that they who passed the vote did not exactly realize the situation, yet I must say, that Mr. Moser did generally speaking, deserve the compliment of having been a capable, attentive and courteous ofl&cer. The system he introduced into everything connected with the administration of county affairs, though perhaps not perfect, was certainly superior to previous ways, and in fact simple and comprehensible, and worked very well for a long time. Even at present time we see some effects of it, although they can not be traced out by every one.

The petition for establishing a town of Elizabeth was again postponed; also, an application of the City of Buffalo relating to the purchase of tax certificates upon lots in the place.

July 9th, 1866, probably on account of equalization of assessments which was duly performed. Other business was transacted as follows: Resolved to pay tax certificates to towns for such taxes returned unpaid as they were entitled to; Appropriation made for the Trempealeau bridge, and $23.05 for costs in the case of the State of Wisconsin ex relat. Gates, against Ferdinand Fetter.

A strip, one mile wide, being the northern tier of sections in the Township 23 of Ranges 13 and 14, was detached from the Town of Maxyille and annexed to that of Nelson.

The town of Page (now Canton) was set off containing Township 24. of Range 12, and elections ordered to be held at the schoolhouse at Walker's Corners in April.

The West Half of Section 33 and the East Half of Section 34 of Township 24, Range 13, were detached from the Town of Maxville and annexed to that of Nelson.

Resolved to publish, that at the annual meeting the Town of Eagle Mills would be divided, and petitions for the formation of the Towns of Altoona and Montana would be heard.

Resolved to charge the amount of illegal tax certificates against the town from which, by any mistake or neglect of officers of the same, it originated.

To the Town of Waumandee the northern half of Township 20, Range 11, and such parts of Sections 1, 12 and 13 of Township 20, Range 12, as had belonged to Eagle Mills.

Besides this division there was a general change of boundaries for the better accommodation of the occupants of the parts transferred from one town to another.

The Town of Montana consisting of Township 2?, Range 10, with the next adjacent two rows of Sections of Township 22, Range 11, was set off, the first election to be held at the schoolhouse in Dannuser's valley.

Specifications of jail-building settled, and advertisement' for bids to be pubhshed, the bids to be opened February 3d, 1868. Supervisor Kessinger was to act as the agent of the board in this matter.

March 16th, 1868, the proposals for the building of the jail were opened and accepted, and the work contracted with Messrs. O^niiing and Giesen, and Henry Roettiger of Fountain City.

It may be as well to say something here about the causes which led to the discontinuance of the political organization of this town, which new has so often been mentioned in these pages. There was at the time some dissatisfaction in regard to it, and even political reasons were asserted to have caused the action of the county board, but I think the 'following reasons were the leading ones in the action of the board :

I. The town was a small one, containing a. considerable amount of land that was not very productive in the way of taxes actually paid, hence whenever any improvements had become necessary of roads or bridges the inability of the town to effect them was the ever ready plea, for doing little or nothing in the matter. Especially the Milldam road, was a continual source of ^complaints and. of appeals to the county for help.

"2. The transportation of the towns of Waumandee and Montana to their customary market at Fountain City had of necessity to pass through this town, making it irhperative that something should be done for the improvements of roads, the town of Waumandee being willing to do the work, if it could get the control

3. The town of Buffalo, of which Fountain City was then a part, was also largely interested in the serviceable condition of the roads in Eagle Mills, and willing to take care of those in the ad-

4. A division of the town was legally impossible, would not have been ratified by the inhabitants, and would only have enfeebled the town so much more. There was, then, nothing else left but what was done. The subsequent establishment of the Town of Milton out of part of the former Town of Eagle Mills by the legislature in the act of incorporating the Village of Fountain City does not prove anything against the reasons alleged above, especially as most of the parts assigned to the Town of Waumandee were left in, and still constitute part of, that town, relieving the Town of Milton of the care of the most expensive roads.

There was only the routine business before the board, but an adjournment had to be taken in order to give County Treasurer Beely time to make up a new report, the first one having been found very deficient.

April 2d, 1869, and a rule established that in future any contemplated change in the boundary line of towns had to be duly published in the papers, at least six weeks previous to acting upon them in the county board.

The Beef River bridge above Alma having been carried out byjhe ice in spring, a ferry had become necessary in the place of it, and a charter for the purpose was granted to Thomas Lawrence.

May 25th, 1869, in which it was resolved to transfer the land on the west and north side of Beef River in Township 22 Range 13, which had hitherto belonged to the Town of Alma, to the Town of Nelson, as being contiguous to, and having the same interests, as the town to which it was annexed.

A set of abstracts of title, which had been begun by Moser and Hunner, was purchased of the firm for $1,100.00, to be carried up to time by them, and then continued by the Register of Deeds in future.

July 12th, 1869, in which the principal business was to divide the county into five supervisor districts, according to a law passed by the last legislature.

paid for a number of years, so as to keep them out of further assessment, and to insure the payment of taxes from the remaining lots, the county board ordered L. Kessinger to examine the certificates involved in the proposition^ and to report on the matter at the next meeting.

It was also agreed that L. Kessinger should make the entries of transfers, and of newly entered land and homesteads into the plat books from time to time.

The settlement with county-treasurer Beely, which was to be final, as he went out of ofiice, was found to be a very complicated affair and took considerable time, but was finally concluded, and everything straightened out, to turn over to his successor.

March 14th, 1870, no proceedings were had, as some lawyers insisted that according to a decision of the Supreme Court the board was not legally organized. The board adjourned pending an inquiry into the matter, but assembled again

The town of Buffalo was organized according to a provision in the charter of the Village of Fountain City, to consist of all the parts of Township 18, Ranges 10 and 11 situated within this county, and of Sections 13, 14, 23, 24, 25, 26, 35 and 36 of Township 19, Range 11, and all the part of Township 19, Range 10, situated in this county.

in which the Town of Milton was organized, pursuant to a provision of the charter of the Village of Fountain City, to consist of the West Half of Section 3, arid the North Half of Sections 4 and 5, of Township 19, Range 11, the South Half of Sections l6, 17 and 18, and all the sections from 19 to 33 of Township 20, Range 11 ; also all of the sections from 20 to 36 of Township 20, Range 12.

There seems to have been something in the rumor of a decision of the Supreme Court, adverse to the existence of the County Commissioner or District Supervisor - Systein, for in the special meeting

May 23d, 1870, the hoard met according to the old custom, each town represented by its chairman, Peter Polin representing the Village of Alma. Mr. Geo. Cowie of Glencoe was elected chairman. In this session Section 23 of Township 22 Range 13 was annexed to the town of Belvidere as in some former session Sections 24 and 25 of the same Township and Range had been annexed to the same town, which however, must be a blundei: in the number of the township, meaning 21 instead of 22, the respective sections of 2l lying contiguous to Belvidere below the corporate limits' of the village, now city of Alma.

November 15th, 1870, adjourned to the following day, in token of respect to Mr. Peter Polin, a member of the county board, who had suddenly died on the 6th day of November. R. R. Kempter had been chosen in his place, Resolutions of condolence were' passed.

The Town of Dover was established consisting of the entire Township 23 of Range 10, the town to organize at the ensuing townmeeting, to be held at the house of W. H. H. Amidon in Bennett Valley.

The salaries of the county officers were fixed as follows: County Clerk $1000, Treasurer $800, County Superientendent $4.00 per diem, limited to 200 days, but only $600 appropriated to the purpose.

May 30th, 1871, an appropriation was made to the Village of Alma, of $2,000, conditioned on $3,500 being expended by said village and the town of Nelson, to aid in the construction of a road and several bridges, across Beef River and the adjoining swamps toward the peninsula between the swamp and Beef Slough. Mr. Harvey Brown, chairman of the town of Naples, and the chairman of the towa of Nelson, together with some person appointed from the village of Alma to be a committee for the supervision of the expenditure.

Chapter 67, General Laws of 1871, required a dog-license to be levied. The county board determined on $1.00 each for male, $2.00 for female dogs. Mr. Lees was opposed to it, and Mr. Schaettle wanted $2 and $3 respectively.

The town of Lincoln was laid out in parts still belonging to Waumandee in Little Waumandee Valley, parts belonging to Belvidere and others to Montana. In this delineation the convenience of settlers as to roads and schools'was the great motive consideration.

November -1872, an appropriation was made to the Buffalo County Agricultural Society of $300 to enable it to make preparations for an exhibition the year following.

Mr. De Groff had held the office of clerk of the countyboard for a considerable period, and had distinguished himself in it by ability, courtesy and a spirit of accommodation very commendable.

November 1S74, the East Half of the Northeast Qnarter and of the Southeast Quarter of Section 27 Township 22 Range 11 was detached from the town of Lincoln and annexed to that of Montana.

November 1S7B, the boundaries of the village of Alma were extended across Beef River to include parts of Section 25 all of sections 26, 27 and 28 of Township 22 Range 13 which were detached from the town of Nelson. This was done to give the village the taxes of the sections in which it had made so expensive improvements which had to be maintained at considerable expense.

November 1876, Mr. Orlando Brown moved a memorial to the legislature to unite the towns of Naples, Canton and Maxville again with Assembly District consisting of Buffalo County in part.

$17o was appropriated to C. Moser, Jr., for work in the county judge's office which had accumulated during the last illness of Judge Fetter deceased.

District Attorney Finkelnburg informed the board that, by a decision of the Supreme Court, tax certificates on which a government stamp had been affixed according to the laws of the United States (now repealed) were illegal, and that tax-deeds issued upon such certificates, and also stamped in the same manner, were void. This was the post festum rumination upon a subject, for which there had been superabundant cause for about 12 years, but which had been allowed to go on without serious opposition until the mischief was done. Or was, perhaps, the decision itself the mis- Chief? I could not yet make up my mipd upon the matter.

Another tax had been, decided to be unconstitutional, by the same authority, that upop dogs. If anybody wants to learn the reason " why," let him ask a lawyer, if he is not one himself. But whether he will be much wiser by the answer, I could not say, probably, if he is not, it is his own fault. The annual meeting in

November 1879, witnessed some of those phanges of town boundaries, to which I have alluded at the introduction to the proceedings of the county board, as being the result of a denser settlement of the country, by which the inconvenience of belonging to a certain town, and not to the one next adjacent, is clearly demonstrated. The SW i of SW i of Section 7 Township 19 Range IQ, apd the South Half of SE } and SE i of SW i of Section 12 Township 19 Range 11 were detached from the town of Cross, and annexed to that of Buffalo. The NE i of Section l6 and the Sputh Half of SE i of Section 9 Township 20 Range 11 was detached from the town of Waumandee and annexed to that of Cross. Also the West Half of SE i of Section 4 Township 19 Range 11 from the town of Cross to that of Milton.

November 1881, the name of the town of Naples was changed to Mondovi, preparatory to a division of the same, so that its western half, Township 24, Range 11, should be organized into a tew town with the same name, while the eastern half, Township 24 Range 10 should a,t the ensuing town meeting become organized as a new or. separate town by the old name of Naples. Mr. S. D. Hubbard was the chair^

November 1882, the East Half of Section 34 and West H:ili of Section 35 were reunited with the town of Maxville, much to the gratification of the old settlers of that town.

The land of Henry Lorenz situated in the town of Alma was transferred to the town of Lincoln, and the land of A. J. Beisel situated in the town of Waumandee was also transferred to Lincoln.

November 1883, some land lying in the town of Lincoln was exchanged for some other land of the same extent, belonging to the town of Montana, the chairman of each of the two towns requesting the alteration. At the same meeting the so-called mile-strip which is described in Borne other place in these proceedings, was re-annexed to the town of Maxville from which it had been detached some fifteen or more years ago.

November 1885, there was considerable excitement on account of a road proposed tO' be laid out from the middle part of the Little Waumandee Valley towards the Beef River Valley. As far as the Town of Alraa was concerned, ,the road was already laid out to the boundary line of the town of Lincoln, but the latter town by its chairman, and by a petition , of numerous of its citizens protested against extending it to the main road in the valley, while other citizens of the town had made an application for its extension. The county board considered the road useful and necessarjr and requested the town board of Lincoln to lay it out, and determined to lay it out by a committee, if the supervisors would refuse or neglect to act in the

In the above I have given an abstract of such work of the administration and legislature of the county that was not of common occurrence in every meeting. Much of that even may only be interesting to a few readers, or only a few items may be worth looking at by one person, and some others by other persons.

It will be observed that from the beginning there were many special meetings, and towards the end there were none. The reason seems to be that it required much deliberation at first to set things right, to organize new towns and to change their limits according to circumstances, which were developed by experience. The time had to come when important changes would no longer be necessary, and when out of the unavoidable conflict of interests 6ome harmony would result, which though not entirely perfect, would be satisfactory to most of the citizens, and would, at least be given a fair trial.

In every well regulated community there must be persons empowered and commissioned to execute the laws. Such persons we call officers, and we have state officers, county officers and town officers, etc.

The ioUowing is a table of the incumbents of the different county offices, with the time when each person was elected for the first time, or as the case may be, for the only time:

Names. . Year Op Election

Henry Teckenburg served under appointment by the county board instead of Chas. Bipes, and Mr. Finkelnburg after the resignation of Thomas G. Hake. C. Moser, jr., was for more than a year the deputy of J. D. Lewis.

The regular term of this office is two years, but on account of changes in the time of election, there were two terms of three years each, which makes the years of service of some of the incumbents of odd numbers.

Name. Year Of Election

A closer examination of the above tables will disclose the fact, that a considerable number of our county officers have been reelected for the next term, or several consecutive terms, or, as in the case of sheriff, where a consecutive term is prohibited by law, after an interval of one or two terms. This shows that the men thus honored must have given satisfaction in the discharge of their official duty. It also shows, that the people appreciate a faithful servant and mean to express their sptisfaction. The county has been especially fortunate in never, during the 33 years of its administrative existence, having been compelled to go into litigation with any of its officers for any reason whatever. There are some doubts in my mind whether the number of votes in the earlier, elections might not be more properly discussed under the head of

In the election 1853 there were 18 votes, most of the candidates receiving all of them. The same number of votes was cast FOR prohibitory liquor law, a vote taken under Chapter 101 of the General Laws of 1853. This was not intended to be an amendment to the constitution of the state.

At the next election 120 votes, probably all, or nearly all of them, were polled for Coles Bashford as Governor. Two years later the vote amounted to 526, and in 1859, 690 votes, 790 in 1861, and 790 besides the votes of the soldiers in the different camps in 1863. In 1864 Moser received 803 votes, but I think there were more between Robert Lees and myself.

After that I did not find it very interesting to note all the combinations of votes cast at the different elections. There is always a greater number of votes at a spring, than at a fall election, which, among other instances, may account for the majority of about 960 Robert Lees carried off in his first contest for the county judgeship.

An essential part of a county organization is the description of every town in the usual way. These descriptions have been given incidentally in the proceedings of the county board of supervisors, but it can not be expected that every reader should take the trouble to combine the pieces detached from one or more towns annexed to one or another. For the purpose of giving an accurate idea of the extent and figure of each town, as now organized, the description will be prefixed to the separate history of each town, village or city, and it is also accurately delineated upon the accompanying map.

Transportation

We find in the chapter on Indians that the canoe was the first vehicle for the transportation of persons and of burdens. Its building, the materials necessary or customary for the purpose and its general utility are sufficiently described in the same place. Its cai^acity for commercial transportation was indeed very limited, yet not so much so as to prevent its general use. From the narratives of early explorers it clearly appears that a canoe of ordinary size was capable of carrying from two to five men with their arms and implements, and sometimes a considerable stock of provisions or merchandise also. La Salle carried a blacksmith's forge and the necessary iron along with him in canoes perhaps divided up, but still consisting of heavy material. It being clearly impossible to man very many canoes, as one man could not be expected to manage a very large weight with safety and dispatch, and an expedition of that kind requiring tools for building fortifications and houses, besides a heavy stock of goods for trading and presents, and a plentiful supply of arms and ammunition, we can form an estimate of the weight each of these canoes must have been capable of floating. There were, however, some limits to that capacity not dependent on size even in those primitive times, when the demands of commerce were as a grain of sand beside a mountain, compared with those of modern times. The first advance from the canoe, for the same purposes, and still with a view to propelling by the use of paddles, was the batteau or Mackinaw boat of the French traders and voyageurs. Its peculiar construction afforded some advantages over the canoe, especially greater capacity, deeper draught, steadier course, and perhaps greater strength, which were set off by a want of portability and the necessity of having boards for the construction of it. The canoe and the batteaux remained the craft for the coasting trade and private communication, as well as in fishing, until in quite recent times, and those living on Beef Slough will not fail to I'emember the fleet of batteaux brought down by the crews of tlje first log-drive in 1868. The skiff has superseded this ancient craft entirely at least on the Mississippi. On the Lakes, where there was more room for manoeuvering, sailing craft, with or without decks, 'Viih temporary or fixed masts and rigging soon became a necessity, but nevertheless increased very slowly, fast enough, perhaps, for the demands of commerce and the traffic of the past, but infinitely out off all proportion with present necessities or accommodations. On the rivers the capacious keel boat, or as we now would style it, the barge, intended to be propelled by poles stuck in the bottom of the river, the men leaning with the shoulder against the upper end, shoving the boat along by seemingly walking on the deck or on a plank, was used for the transportation of heavier goods, or larger quantities. These barges were, at least partially, provided with an upper deck, partly to walk upon, partly for the protection of the men and the cargo against rain or other inclemencies of the weather. Most of them were also provided with temporary masts and simple tackle and rigging for using the same when the wind and the water-space, or rather the width and comparative straightness of -the channel, presented a favorable opportunity. This poling or pushing of boats or barges against the current was not only a toilsome and tedious, but also a very unsatisfactory way of transportation. High water, required for boats of deep draught, could not be made available, as it was impossible to provide poles long enough to reach to the bottom, and still not too heavy for managing by the men. At the times of low water, sandbars and rapids were almost unconquerable obstructions. Days, and sometimes weeks were consumed in lightening these barges- and conveying part of the goods above the rapids by land on very rough roads, or by the use of scows on the water. This difnculty was overcome hy the building of flatboats, where it was not intended to proceed against the stream for long distances.

The application of steam power to the navigation of vessels which now is such a matter of everyday occurrence, that nobody takes much notice of it, had to contend, not only with the usual prejudices against new ideas in general, but also, quite naturally, with the obstacles created by the want of experience in the enterprise, and which could only be overcome by venturesome expeti- ments, requiring untold time and money. We know that the problem was solved, and if we should be surprised at anything we should be surprised by the rapidity by which the invention or its application spread to all the navigable waters from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. The first successful trip of the Clermont, having proved the feasibility and the advantages of the invention in 1807, we nevertheless find but little mention of its apphcation before or during the war of 1812, yet there must have been some progress. One of the great obstacles to navigation in general, and steam navigation in particular, on the western rivers, was that shifting of sand bars from one location to another, which made the progress of a boat or vessel extiemely hazardous, the more so the greater the force propelling the craft was. The model of a ship, or even a canal-boot, or anything drawing as much water as was considered indispensable for the rivers, and bays in the East, was clearly out of place on the western waters, and more especially upon the Upper Mississippi, which could not be reached without passing over the rapids of the Des Moines, and the still more intricate and shallow ones at Rock Island. The question was clearly, whether the boats used for the navigation of the Lower Mississippi could be used for that of the upper part of the same river, for never did it enter into th.e brain of any captain or pilot running upon the Mississippi at that time, that there would ever be, and not so very far off, either, a period, when it would not only be necessary and possible, but also very profitable, to construct boats for the express purpose of Upper River Navigation, and run regular lines of them, not merely to Keokuk near the Lower Rapids, but up to the Falls of St. Anthony. At all events it was the great surprise among river men, and not less among other sojourners upon the river, that in May 1823, the steamer Virginia,' drawing six feet of water, ascended to Mendota, Fort Snelling, below the junction of the Minnesota and the Mississippi, just as the fort is above it. She was freighted with provisions, ammunition and other stores, and perhaps, also, with a relief for the garrison of Fort Snelling. She was the first steamer of any kind, which ascended so far, but from that time steamboats in government employ came up every year, making however, seldom more than one trip, always of course, at high water. At first, I suppose, the crew went into the woods, where they were accessi- ble, to procure the necessary fuel. It did not, however, take many years, until wood-yards began to be established at convenient points along the river banks. Pioneers of different kinds, some of them bent on traffic with the Indians, others for the love of adventure in hunting and trapping, others again with a distant expectation of settling down for the remainder of their days in some plnce in this wilderness, that would suit their fancy or their means, began to Eitring themselves along the great natural highway, putting in a winter's work to take their rest in spring and summer, when they sold their wood to the boats and bought of them such provisions as they could not procure by hunting and fishing. It is not to be supposed, however, that this was done in a hurry, in one or two years, nor that the practice of poling keel-boats up the Mississippi in the manner described wUs, or could be immediately abandoned. Thus we find in 1827, at the time of the Winnebago outbreak, two such boats upon the river, returning from the very top and head of navigation, Fort Snelling. How slow, indeed, the progress of navigation must have been, when even as late as 1844, the first year, in which a count and record of steamboat arrivals was kept at Mendota, these arrivals did not exceed 41 in number. From 1844 - 47 the little steamers Otter, Rock River and Lynx were the principal boats in this trade. In 1847, July 8th, the Galena and Minnesota Packet Company was organized at Galena by the following persons. Capt. Orrin Smith, Henry Corwith, B. H. Campbell, Capt. M. W. Lodwick and Capt. R. Blakeley, all of Galena; Col. H. L. Dousman and B. W. Brisbois of Prairie du Chien; Gen. H. H. Sibley and Hon. H. M. Rice of St. Paul.

The first boat purchased by this company was the " Argo " of only sixt}' tons burthen, which was run in the St. Paul trade until October of the same year, when she ran against a snag, and sunk a little above Winona.

The next boat was the " Dr. Franklin," purchased in the winter 1847 - 48, and put into the trade in spring 1848. In 1849 the " Senator " was added to the line, but in the fall she was sold and replaced by the " Nominee " which was run by Capt. O. Smith, the late president of the company. She was not run as a Sunday boat, for Capt. Smith would, at 12 o'clock Saturday night tie her up to an island, or whatever place he was near, and remain until 12 o'clock Sunday night. If convenient and possible, he would have preaching on the "boat on Sunday forenoorj. The Nominee, however, suffered, the fate of its more unchristian brothers and was snagged and sunk in the fall of 1854, forty miles below La Crosse.

The " Ben Campbell " was built in the winter of 1851-52, and put in the trade in the spring, but drew too m itch water, and was sold in th«. fall 1852. During this season an opposition boat, called the " West Newton,," was put into the trade from Galena to - St. Paul, as an about'equal match, for the Nominee. The latter in May 1852, made the round trip, from Galena to St. Paul and back in tW:0 days, seven hours and forty-nine minutes, a distance both ways of eight hundred miles. In the fall of the same year the Harrises, to whom the West Newton belonged, were admitted into the Galena company andtheir boat afterwards run in the line. In the spring of 1854, the " War Eagle,". " Galena " and "Royal Arch " were added to the line, and in 1855, the " Golden Era," " Alhambra," " Lady Franklin," and "City Bell " were added. .

In June 1856, the opening of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad gave a great impetus tpthe business,' and, the .company added to their line of boats the " Northern Bell," " Ocean Wave," " Grasite State," " Greek Slave," and " Black Hawk."

Some boats besides the Nominee Vv^ere sunk during tKis timej;' namely, " West Newton " in the fall of 1853, near the place still called by the same name, but formerly "Yellow Banks," where since then a few houses were built -and inhabited, and in 1862 abandoned; " Dr. Franklin," seven rniles above Dubuque by col-i liding with the "Galena" in June 1854,. In 1856 the "Ga,lena"- was burned. .

Trade fell off considerably in 1858, and subsequently, but in 1861 the packet company increased its number of incorporators to . about one hundred, and its capital to $400,000,-and run the following boats in the upper trade: "War Eagle," "Alhambra," "City Bell," " Fanny Harris," " Northern Light," " Key City," " Northern Bell," " Golden Era," " Ocean Wave," " Flora," "Grey Eagle," -'Milwaukee," and "Itasea."- Some of these boats were." of the first class, and might well have been called " floating palaces."

The "Key City" was built at Cincinnati in 1867, was 250 feet long, 35 feet wide, 360 tons burthen, and 51 state rooms. The "War Eagle" and "Galena" were of a smaller class of boats, the former being but 296 tons burthen, with 46 state rooms. She was built in Cincinnati in the winter qf 1853-54, and was 219 feet long and 19 feet wide.

The Galena Packet Company finally reorganized in February' 1864, under the laws of the State of Iowa, with a cash capital of $400,000, under the name of the "Northwestern Packet Company," with general powers to run steamers, and do passenger and freight business between Dubuque and St. Paul. The company was bound by contract with the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien Railroad Company to carry freight and passengers for that company between the latter place and St. Paul.

In the fall of 1865 the Northwestern Company were running the following steamers in the trade: "Milwaukee," "Itasca," " Northern Light," " Key City," " War Eagle," all first class passenger steamers. They also run three light-draught boats for low water, and three additional steamers for freight and towing barges.

On the first day of October 1858 the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad was completed, and opened through to the Mississippi at La Cresse, and much of the business of the boats passed over this road.

In 1860 an independent, or opposition, line of steamboats was run from La Crosse to St. Paul by Mr. Davidson and others, which the Galena Packet Company made a spirited but unsuccessful ef- - fort to run off; failing in this they compromised, by forming with Davidson and others, a combination on the 17th of August 1861, which has since done a large business.

The combination of the steamboat interest proving unsatisfactory, the new Northwestern Packet Company and the La Crosse line, generally called "Davidson's Line," on the 1st of May, 1866, consolidated into a new company, under the general laws of the State of Iowa, at Dubuque, and organized a company which they called the "Northwestern Union Packet Company." The general office of the company was located at Dubuque, Iowa; and the company organized with a capital of $1,500,000, and put immediately into the trade thirty steamers and seventy -three barges.

As all the boats that reached St. Paul must have passed by Buffalo County, and through Lake Pepin, this table gives the opening and closing of the regular steamboat season for the years enumerated. But occasional trips were usually made, even by boats of regular lines, from 10 to 20 days earlier from points below as far as Reed's Landing, though perhaps never any later, as it is a peculiarity of the river to close about as early at La Crosse as at St, Paul, and much earlier than at Alma and Wabasha. At the latter place it has never been known to be reliably closed during a whole winter, so as to admit of crossing with teams, while it usually opens one or two weeks earlier at Alma, than at Fountain City, Winona and La Crosse, a fact ascribed partly to the influence of Chippewa River and partly to the water of the lake from below the ice coming to the surface and expending its latent heat in the distances named.

From the year 1867 the railroads in Minnesota began to come into active competition with the steamboats, and the latter grew fewer in number and smaller in tonnage from year to year, until at the present time, with the exception -of small stern- wheelers, but few boats are to be seenj and none at a low stage of water.

The following table will show the opening of navigation at Winona during the years from 1875 - 1882, according to the History! of Winona County:

Year. Fiest Boat. Date Of Arrival

1882 - Robert Harris. With the exception of the Dubuque and the Josie these early aa-rivals were all small boats, and from th-is we may safely conclude that navigation did not improve much in number or size of boats, an(} that especially early Ventures were considered superfluous.

In August, 1866 the Minnesota Valley Railroad reached West St. Paul; in 1869 the railroad bridge was built and the railroads crossed over; in 1872 the West Wisconsin road reached St, Paul from the east side and the trade of the steamboats passed to the railroads forever, with the exception of that on the eastern bank of the river. It did no longer pay to run so many boats. The passenger business was insignificant, especially after the river division of the Milwaukee & St. Paul road had been built. People of this county wanting to go up or down the river crossed to Winona or Wabasha, and the question had now become, how to reach these stations conveniently. There being, however, yet considerable freight to be forwarded to and froni points on the East side, the old lines still kept up a show of activity, and a new line of the "Diamond Joe Boats" started in. Joseph Reynolds, of St. Louis, a speculator in wheat on a large scale, found it convenient to transport his own wheat in his own boats, and. as the wheat went only one way, down the river, there was every inducement to transport other freight not only up, but also down the river. Passengers could also be accommodated.

'' Old Reliable Diamond Jo- Boats" for 1887 claims that boats of this line have been in operation for nineteen years between St. Louis and St. Paul. The line has its general ofnce in Dubuque, Iowa, and Mr. Jo Reynolds is its president. During the present season the following boats are run: Mary Morton. Libbie Conger.

In the paper referred to the distance between the two cities one forming the southern, the other the northern terminus of the line is given at 729 miles by thie rivei:.

In the mean time the other problem of regular communication with railroad stations across the river began to be solved by the employment of small steamers one from Alma to Wabasha and one from Fountain City to Winona that made daily trips during the season of open navigation, and one from Alma to LaCrosse making trips, one day down and up the next. The Steamer Lion, Captain Hiram Wilcox, began to run as a ferry-boat between Alma and Wabasha, in spring 1873 and continued in this line until the dose of navigation in 1886. Partly to encourage this enterprise, partly on account of some dissatisfaction with the management of the mail-service by land from Fountain City, the people of Alma petitioned Congress to transfer the mail-service with the exception of local connections to the Wabasha - Alma line, the mail to be carried by land in thewinter time, which arrangement continued from 1876 to spring 1887, when the mail-service was transferred to the Chicago, Burlington and Northern Railroad. As the Lion passed through Beef Slough as far up as the cut-off, it afforded to the conapany as well as the men many conveniences.

Remark I. The steamer Lion was preceded by the propeller "Cornet" belonging to Levy Dutz and run by him during the season of 1872; sold to Capt. H. C. Wilcox and displaced by the "Lion" in the following year.

Between Fountain City and Winona, Wm. Heck of Fountain City, and Capt. Peter Schneider of Winona ran the steamboat "Express" from 1876 to 1880, when they sold her to parties in Galena, where she was to run on Fever River; in her place the "Robert Harris" was put the same year, and run until now, 1887. Circumstances for the present favor her opposition with the Chicago, Burlington & Northern Railroad upon this distance.

The circumstances favoring the ''Robert Harris" in its opposition with the C. B. & N. R. R. in the local traffic between Fountain City and Winona are:

3. The acquaintance of the officers and owners of the boat with the business men of Winona as well as of Fountain City, which' enables them to carry out orders in each place without the need of long writing and explanation.

Similar advantages were enjoyed by Capt. Jacob Richtmann, who ran several boats partly from Fountain City to other points, partly in regular trips from Alma to La Crosse and back. But as with the longer di stance the chance for a sufficient time for business, and a return on the same day became impossible, the competition of the new railroad proved too strong for his enterprises.

The first of Captain Richtmann's boats was the " Penguin," which was followed by the " City of Alma," a very nice looking craft, but drawing too much water for this part of the Mississippi. She was sold below, and sunk. The last boat was the "Percy Swain." The " Belle of Bellevue " was occasionally engaged on the line in cases of accidents to the other boats, but usually as a tug.

We come now to the time when railroads began to be talked of in onr county. Especially in the northern part the people amused themselves persistently with schemes and projects, an occupation for which they yet find time and opportunity, since there is yet (1887) no railroad in that part of the county. The first road crossing a very small part of our county only, from Trempealeau River to Bluff Siding opposite Winona, was the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, which at that place crosses the Mississippi. - Some time previous there had been much speculation with regard to a railroad from the Mississippi to Green Bay, agitated more particularly by Gen. H. Sharpe of Wabasha. This must have been about 1867 - 68, for I remember he wanted me, (then county surveyor,) to accompany him in his expedition, to be undertaken during the winter up Beef River, and thence on until a party from the other direction was met somewhere. Mr. Sharpe, being very profuse of promises, and very unreliable regarding performances, did not succeed in getting my services, but I think he was accompanied by A. W. Miller of Durand, who was certainly better qualified than I was at that time for such work. The general, as we styled him, was very anxious to persuade everybody that the road was going to be built up the Beef River Valley, and that it would cross the Mississippi at Alma, or at least below the mouth of the Chippewa River. He tried his persuasions in Buffalo City and probably in other places, for instance in Wau'mandee, but people failed to see how a road could be built up Beef River and at the same time through Waumandee and other places, not in the valley of that river. The main party of his prophecies, however, became true, the Green Bay and Mississippi Railroad was, in course of time, built, but it did not come down, or go up Beef River Valley nor cross anywhere near Wabasha, for it struck the Mississippi in the neighborhood of the mouth of Trempealeau River and crossed on the. bridge belonging to the Northwestern line. There is but little of the road, and only one station on it, in Buffalo County, but it exerted, at first especially, considerable influence on the transportation of produce from certain parts of the county. Arcadia and Independence, already established, but languishing before, received the custopiary " boom " during the construction and the working of the new line. Everybody wanted to have a slice of the big fortunes to be realized by settling iuithese newly developed centres of trade, which, also, received their best support from adjacent parts of Buffalo County, especially the towns of Glencoe, Montana and Dover, with the upper parts of Waumandee and Lincoln. As long as, for the sake of attracting trade, prices were kept up at fair positions, the other advantages, the short haul in some cases even better roads, could not but be appreciated by the farmers. Merchants from everywhere became very anxious to establish themselves especially at Arcadia, where even old establlished business firms from Fountain City were eager to establish branch-stores. Fountain City was indeed deprived of much of its former territory of commercial contribution, but events have not justified or verified the great expectations once excited by the sitnation of Arcadia.

The next enterprise in railroad construction within our county was that of the Valley Division of the Milwaukee and Omaha Road, connecting JSau Claire with Wabasha, and running through the western part of the Chippewa bottom for over twelve miles within this county. By this the village of DuKand, which up to that time, had had but very unsatisfactury commercial connections, rose at once to the rank of a local trading center. This circumstance made itself felt in some degree in the trade especially that of wheat, at Alma. In former times Mondovi, for instance was about half-ways between Alma and Eau Claire, and especially before the latter had railroad connections, the former was the better place for shipping wheat, though for other produce, Eau Claire on account of its large floating population and manufactories and its intimate connection with the lumbering interests had been at all times a better market. But after the construction of the Chippewa Valley road this was changed at once, since Durand was much nearer than either Alma or Eau Claire, with almost level roads to it. Prices at Durand were booming up the place, and people from that neighborhood, who formerly had come with their wheat to Alma, naiturally went to Durand, which was so much nearer, and where they could not only sell wheat, but all other kinds of produce, and where most of them had their postoffice. The market in cattle and hogs, those on the hoof especially, also went largely to Durand, if not to Independence or Arcadia. Though the loss was less severelj'' felt, because the provision for the Beef Slough workmen required a large number of cattle during spring and summer, yet people who were thoughtful about such matters became anxious to be connected with, the outside world by that line of modern communication called a railroad. For something over six months every year, we had water communication and transportation, the latter cheaper than by railroad, but the advantage of cheaper transportation by the river was greatly diminished by the necessity for accumulating great quantities of staple articles during winter, and also merchandise for the same season. There was a prospect that this desire might be gratified some six years ago, when Mr. Stickney, a gentleman quite well known in railroad circles even then, put a corps of surveyors or engineers upon the eastern bank of the river, and promised that the road would be built within one and one-half year. Contracts were entered into, reading in the usual way, stipulating a time for commencing grading, and also for the actual opening and subsequent continuous operation of the road. All that was, of course, solemnly promised, but just as carefully avoided, so that, about three years afterwards all the contracts had expired, and nothing remained but a very natural distrust in the promises of railroad projectors of any kind. The Stickney concern had not acquired any right of way in this county by actual purchase, and when, some three years ago, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company sent an agent for purchasing, or contracting for, the right of way between Alma and Winona, under the Winona, Alma and Northern charter, in which Hon. A. Finkelnburg and Hon. R. R. Kempter figured as resident stockholders and incorporators, the work was comparatively easy, and progressed favorably and rapidly, in general, while in particular cases then, as usually, those came to the surface, who did not care to see the improvement proposed, but saw, nevertheless very clearly the personal advantage to be derived from the necessity of certain pieces of land having to be purchased of them by the Railroad Company. In this age and this country we are perhaps not warranted in criticising acts of selfishness, nor would it be prudent to do so, since by the selfish actions of some one else we might be thrown into a position, in which appearances might be decidedly such, that it would be impossible for us to clear ourselves from the imputation of egotistic motives for our own actions. It must also be remembered that railroad companies are not in the habit of building their lines for the sole and exclusive benefit of others, buirather of themselves. We cannot perhaps, deny, that unfair advantage appears, and has been claimed, to have been taken of individuals in procuring contracts for right of way,7and other privileges by the railroad company and its agents, but yet we must admit, that all agreements as fav far as money is concernedj have been honorably discharged as incurred, or if incurred even to the controlling of contractors and subcontractors in their payments for work and material, and also for boarding their workingmen. That some errors, or even worse than that, should have happened in spite of all precautions, may have been "unavoidable in the execution of a work of such magnitude.

Was the construction of this railroad line an undisputable, unqualified benefit to Buffalo County? We could fill a much larger book than the one before you with the arguments pro and con in answering this question, and it is doubtful whether after reading such a book, we would be much wiser than now. It may also be objected that we are not yet fully competent to answer the question, and that it is fair to wait and to see. One thing is sure, that the railroad is the great developer and civilizer of our modern time, and, whatever may be the result for individual persons and single localities, the benefit for the community at large can not be denied, though we may have to bide our time and to digest new propositions and possibilities, not heretofore presented. As a historical reminiscence we may recount the following facts :

First contracts or subcontracts for grading were given out forthwith, as soon as the line was established. Track-laying commenced in November 1884 at the Chippewa and finished to La Crosse about January 1st, 1885. This line was operated since and

The annexed time tables give an idea of the passenger trains and the 'regular freight trains but the number and extent of through freight trains can only be estimated, and must for the present and ever since the introduction of through-trains be admitted to have been a surprise to all.

Although the annexed time-table has been changed since writing the above, it may still stand here for a testimony of the enterprising spirit of the company.

Town Eoads

In the preceding pages we have treated Transportation from the commercial standpoint, a:nd as far as it is connected with export and import, and regulated b}' production of staple articles and the demand for such articles as can not be produced upon the spot, but are nevertheless wanted for use and consumption. Export and import select some central points, at which articles of the former are collected, and articles of the latter are distributed. These points in our county must be looked for on the bank of the Mississippi, as long as we were almost exclusively dependent upon that river for transportation. Accordingly we find Fountain City and Alma to be the earliest centers of trade in the county as they remain the most important up to the present time. The founding and further progress of these two places must be considered in another chapter, in this we have to relate how from them roads began to spead themselves in every direction, at first with a distinct intention of reaching other places, and directing the settlement of the adjacent country so as to connect with the starting points. Petitions to the legislature resulted in the appointment of commissions for laying out state roads. From Fountain City, then the " defacto " county-seat, a road was laid out in a general northern direction, keeping for about thirty miles upon the ridge of the bluffs, which divide the waters of the Trempealeau river from those of the Waumandee Creek, and descending into the valley of Elk Creek near the source of the south branch of the same, at the township line between townships twenty-two and twenty-three thence northwards in the valley to the westward turn of the creek thence about six miles in a western direction to near where Gilmanton is now situated, thence in a general northern direction to Mondovi and beyond to Eau Claire or Chippewa Falls. Prudence at that time demanded that crossings of streams should be avoided, since there was no immediate prospect for bridging them. This accounts for the persistant progress of the road uponthe " ridge," for which it still bears the name of the "Ridge Road." Another road was laid out from Fountain City to Alma, following the foot of the bluffs where the wide prairie did not invite a deviation for the purpose of straightening out the road. This same road was afterwards extended to Durand and Eau Claire. Another road intended to connect with the Fountain City Ridge Road at some place was laid from Alma to the Little Waamandee Valley, substantially where the present road on the Belvidere Bluff is situated. After crossing Little Waumandee Creek it kept on the east side of it and crossed the intervening ridge into the Loomis' Settlement near the line between Sections 35 and 36 of Township 23 North of Range ll West. These roads, although yet extant as far as general directions are concerned, have been materially altered in numerous places, as convenience, necessity and other causes have suggested. One- of the earliest roads required for intercommunication was the Beef River road. True to the notion or instinct that the crossing of a creek or river should, if possible, be avoided, the first road in that valley ran up and down the steepest grades, through ravines and finally also up into the Loomis' Settlement. The road from Fountain City to Waumandee Valley was also urgently called for. On the northern point of the sand prairie, towards the foot of the bluffs the state road turned in a western direction and from this point the Waumandee Valley road branched off in a direction almost opposite, then again, as the trend of the bluffs required, in a more parallel direction. This road, also, kept as nearly as possible along the bluffs, avoiding the crossing of swamps and streams. It must be evident to every one who even at the present time, after the labor of thirty years and large sums of money have been expended upon it, how difficult, and even hazardous the traveling on this road must have been at the start, since in spite of all improvements there are streetches in the road, disagreeable and dangerous to pass during the spring thaw, which in these places lasts a long time. The obvious advantage of running a road along the ridge of a series of hills is strongly counterbalanced by the difficulty of getting into the valleys, or out of them to the main trunk road. But in this county, as probably in all similar situations, the first settlements were made in valleys. The cultivation of the comparatively level places on the top of the hills or bluffs was for many years confined to lands situated near the centers of trade, or other favorable locations, that is such, where the wood cut down in the process of clearing could be conveniently disposed of at a remunerative price. These settlements in valleys necessitated the opening of roads to the bluffs and down the same. These roads were but too. often located into ravines, which seen from below appeared to ascend sufficiently in their narrow ends but such appearances are very often deceitful, not to say anything about the frequent accumulations of bowlders in the narrow ends of almost all of our ravines. Some, who came later into our country, or some of our young people, may be inclined to ridicule the earlier settlers for adopting such foolish roads, and perhaps some people more philosophical than practical may suggest, that it would have been wiser, to make roads and settle along of them, and to extend settlements in this manner gradually. But the necessity of earning a living, of procuring some shelter, of putting in a crop for the season and for next year, and to make fences, was Eo urgent with almost everyone, who arrived in those days, that it mattered little how many times they had to stumble in going to and from the towns, or visiting neighbors for business or otherwise. Every one admitted the necessity of better roads, and it must not be supposed that the people were unwilling to work on them, and to improve the old or build new ones, but everything could not be done at once. It was about ten years after the first considerable influx of settlers, that I became county surveyor, and as this was twenty years ago, and I have since traveled all over the county, I had as good a chance as any person to notice the actual condition of roads during this period.

To single out any particular road, or pretence of one, as an example of bad, or as worst, would now be considered as spiteful, but I may be allowed to cite someinslancesof early improvements, judiciously managed, though perhaps superseded by better structures, when time and means were at disposition for the purpose.

A very early attempt in this direction was the construction of the old bluff-road from Alma in the direction towards Waumandee. It was not by any means perfect, but then I remember, that the first travelers in that direction had to clamber over the huge boulders in the end of the ravine, that they had to carry their articles of furniture, of provisions etc. on their backs to the top of the ascent, and that it was only with the greatest exertions and considerable danger, that the empty wagons could be hauled up by the cattle, and that in som.e instance it was even necessary to take the wagons apart and haul up each half separately. As I do not remember the building of this road, I think it must have been done before my arrival, (in 1859.) In 1859 the Blufif Road from Buffalo City to Watimandee was finished with some pecuniary as- sistance from the Colonization Society, not by any means a very good road, but one much better than those formerly traveled in that direction. The first road laid out according to a uniform grade throughout, was the one. from Glencoe in the direction to Fountain City. It used to be known as the "Dug way" and was originally laid out, and some years subsequently improved, by Mr. David D. Davis, who had a deserved reputation as a surveyor and civil engineer. The old gentleman had an advantage over the younger class of the same profession by having in former times acquired a sound stock of information as to the probable cost of such undertakings. The town of Glencoe has probably the greatest comparative number of graded roads of any town in the county, all planned with excellent judgment. It came, after some time, to be understood generally, that graded roads were desirable in every respect, and though some of them might cost more than those laid out otherwise, to begin with, a much greater amount would be saved in the future repairs, not to speak of the saving on wagons and teams, and the greater comfort for every one who had to travel. A jiew impulse to the construction of graded roads was given by that of the road leading from the bluff east of Fountain City to the lower part of the town or village. This road was also laid out by Mr. Davis in 1871. One from the upper pftrt of the village followed 1872. In 1876 the village of Alma laid out a road of the same kind from Laue's house to the bluff, joining the old road at the boundary line between Alma and Belvidere.

The first regularly graded road in the town of Nelson was the one up Spring Creek ravine, by which a numerous population, on the bluffs between Trout Creek Valley and the Chippewa or Beef Slough Bottoms was accommodated. This was followed by the grading from Centre Creek Valley to the bluff in a general southern direction. Then came the grade up from the Norwegian church near the Southeast Corner of Sect. 12 in Township 23 North of Range 13 West, all of which was executed by myself, as well as sotne smaller operations, one of_which was the equalization of the grade on western decline of so-called Norwegian road.