Columbia County, Wisconsin - Chapter 9, 1880 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter 9

The Columbia County Pbess - Common Schools - County Board of Supervisors - Authors AND Artists - President Hayes and Party - Columbia County's War Record - Columbia County' of To-Day-.

Thirty years ago, John Delaney settled in Portage, and commenced practicing law. He had pursued the duties of his profession but a short time when he was induced to take advantage of an opportunity then offering to establish a newspaper in what, even at that early date, promised to be a leading city of the Badger State. Procuring a few cases of type and an ancient printing-press, he commenced business, having his brother James for a partner. "Delaney Brothers" was the style and title of the firm, and the first number of their paper bore date of July 4, 1850, being issued from a small wooden building which stood on the northwest side of the canal, in the vicinity of Lewis' lumber-yard. It was called the River Times, was a six-column folio. Democratic in politics, and thoroughly en rapport with the spirit of improvement then existing.

The editor, in his salutatory, said : " We this day publish the first number of the Fox and Wisconsin River Times. If it is not a curiosity now, it will be hereafter, as the first paper published in the city of Fort Winnebago." Truly, the transfer of a printing-office to Fort Winnebago (as Portage was then called) and the setting it in motion must have been no light task, and the first issue implies the exercise of much energy and enterprise. Evidently, the men who accomplished the work were not then deterred by trifles. " That government is best which governs least " was the motto of the River Times, and above the editorial columns appeared the unqualified assertion, " The world is governed too much."

The initial number was a well-printed, creditable sheet, full of vigor and vigilance for those days. Its contents were : A beautiful poetic selection from the Louisville Journal; " London at Night ; " "England and the United States;" " The Lady ; " " A New Orleans Mazzaroni " - a story wherein was told how a New Orleans burglar had stolen the jewelry of a young husband and wife, from beneath their pillow while they were asleep, and, with cool impudence, had kissed the bride on departing ; "Advice to Unmarried Ladies" is followed by a spirited and hopeful editorial on Northern Wisconsin, in which the writer cites the causes of immigration, and tells why it has hitherto settled chiefly in the eastern portion of the State. But he declares that the era for the opening-up of the prairies, the forests, the streams and the lakes of Northern and Western Wisconsin, is at hand. And succeeding years have told how truly he prophesied. Even then, he speaks of the feasibility of the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement - a direct inland water communication between New York and New Orleans, via Portage^ - as placed beyond question, with the means at hand for its completion. He declares that the short canal to connect the streams will be finished that summer, and states that the Wisconsin is traversed regularly by steamers throughout the whole route, and that the navigable portions of the Fox have each its steamboat, plying between towns and cities. He has much else to say in support of this scheme, and reprints, in its favor, large extracts from the Green Bay Advocate and Oshkosh Democrat.

But the advertisements of that number will give something of an idea of who were doing business in Portage that summer, thirty years ago. T. Dean & Co. continued to hold out inducements to the trading public, in dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, ready-made clothing, stoves and tin and hardware ; John Strong, of the Banner Store, was a wholesale and retail dealer much in the same line of goods. Keegan & Moore had the prices of these commodities at an enticingly low ebb, at Fort Winnebago, and handled also lumber, square timber and shingles, in Wauona, which was Gov. Doty's Indian for the Portage. Walter W. Kellogg was an attorney and counselor at law and Justice of the Peace. M. D. Ingraham did business also as an attorney, counselor and land and collecting agent, and was a Notary. William R. De Witt and J. A. Johnson, too, were attorneys and counselors and solicitors in chancery. L. Van Slyck was a Justice ; and G. T. Getty, as Postmaster, advertised an extensive list of unclaimed letters remaining in the post office at Fort Winnebago.

Editor Delaney, in a supplemental greeting to the public, apologizes for not describing the town and adjacent localities. He is willing, moreover, to receive advertising patronage. His establishment cost him $1,000, and current expenses were heavy ; but he hopes that he has not commenced prematurely, and that he will be reimbursed and do a good business, the newspaper having become necessary to civilization. He is not quite sure of his subscription list, however, and for the purpose of ascertaining who his patrons are, will postpone the ne.xt issue for three or four weeks. The next paper, in fact, was not published until August 5.

This initial number contains also some sharp comments on the action of the Legislature, the conduct of which is pronounced disgraceful to the State ; in this connection appears a long communication from Abrara Vanderpool in regard to a law on taxation, of which he is the reputed father. There is also a two-column editorial on general politics, and another long article on the balance of trade. Resolutions of the Legislature are printed, instructing the Senators and Representatives of Wisconsin to oppose the admission of any more Slave States, and to exert their influence against slavery and the slave trade in the District of Columbia. The editor says that the resolution against the admission of new Slave States would be an infamous violation of national faith, pledged to Texas on her annexation. He admires the truly national spirit of Webster, Clay, Cass and Dickenson, and prints a summary of the remarks of the former on the bill to admit California.

There was bad blood in these borders then concerning the action of the " Potters' Emigration Society," in England, of which various residents of this locality were members. A meeting was held here, June 3, 1850. to consider misrepresentations against certain individuals of the society. Walter Kellogg was Chairman, and L. A. Uliss, Secretary. Thomas Bliss, agent of the society, invited to attend and answer, did not appear. It was the sense of the meeting that the " Potters' Emigration Society" was a direct deception on the woi'king classes of the British empire ; and L. A. Bliss, John S. Campbell, James Henman and William Ward, were appointed to draft a memorial to Thomas Duncombe, Esq., member of Parliament for Marylebone, to obtain his influence to prevent the people of Great Britain from emigrating under the auspices of such society.

A communication from a spectator tells how a two-year old daughter of one Marion, an Irish laborer on the canal, fell into the Fox River near the bathing-house ; how Catherine Rolland leaped after the child into the water fourteen feet deep ; how the two were finally rescued by John Kennedy, and how Dr. Prentice restored the child in about twenty minutes. The editor that week received the Sauk County Standard, printed at Baraboo, by McFaden k McLaughlin ; a sheet firmly Whig, and full of epithet against Democracy.

There is other reading in this first issue of the River Times, among which is the full text of a treaty between the United States, by Commissioner William Medill, and the chiefs of the Menomonee Indians, made at Lake Powaw-hay-kon-nay, October 18, 1848, James K. Polk being President, and James Buchanan, Secretary of State.

Volume III, No. 21 (June 6, 1853), mourns with turned column rules the death of James Delaney, Jr., one of the proprietors of the River Times. The unfortunate journalist waa drowned in the Wisconsin River May 31. At the time of his death, he was City Clerk of Portage, and but twenty-seven years of age. The August following, John A. Brown became associated with Joseph Delaney, brother of John and James, in the publication of the paper. About the same time John Delaney 's name appears as associate editor. The office was removed to the second story of Moore & Gorman's Building, opposite the Pettibone Block, where the paper continued to be published under the new management until its suspension, as the River Times, September 17, 1853. This event was announced in an able editorial signed by John, Joseph and Arthur W. Delaney, closing as follows : " We have labored to maintain the Democratic party in its integrity, and to employ the best intellect of that party in the offices of the State and nation. In the result, so far. our highest hopes are realized, and we feel that we can with propriety leave the editorial field with others, having done our part in days of trial and depression. Gen. John A. Brown is now sole proprietor and editor of the River Times. In his capacity and integrity we have the fullest confidence. We ask the Democracy to sustain him as a man every way worthy." An idea of the growth of Portage and the prosperity of the Times is had in a comparison of the first number of the paper with the last. During its three years' existence the advertising patronage grew from half a column to ten columns, while the circulation was all that could be asked, and augured well for the intelligence of the people.

John Delaney, while living in Portage, was regarded as a man of unusual brilliancy. He served his apprenticeship in the office of the Green Bay Intelligencer, the first newspaper published in Wisconsin, setting his first type in 1834. He was the Nestor of the press in Columbia County.

The Badger State. - The termination of the existence of the River Times was not all that is implied by the use of the word suspension ; it was simply a change of name and owners. On the 1st of October, 1853, Mr. Brown commenced the publication of the Badger State, with the following modest announcement : " Under the new arrangement, we have taken a new name for the paper; not because we had any objection to that of the River Times, but we have a a decided partiality for our old name of Badger State.* It was endeared to us in earlier times - during the old constitution fight, when we joined to raise the chorus,

" The name is distinctive and apprapriate for a newspaper published at the geographical center, a point by natural laws destined to be the business center of the State, at no remote period. As the Badger State now shines as a bright particular star in the galaxy of the Union, it shall be our pride and ambition to make our paper worthy of that name in the journalistic firmament, associated as it is with liberality, intelligence, enterprise and the progressive spirit of the age."

There was no change in political principles or public patronage ; the Badger State opposed Whigs and Whiggery with the same earnestness and ability that had characterized the course of its predecessor, while its patronage showed no lack of confidence on the part of the citizens, as to the ability of the new management. Mr. Brown seemed to be not of the opinion that '' the world is governed too much," but he had lived long enough to discover that "power is always stealing from the many to the few;" at least such was the motto chosen for the Badger State, and, with the somewhat democratic idea that such a condition of things was diametrically opposed to the principles of the old Democratic party, the editor, with a trenchant pen, strove to prevent the concentration of political power - outside the Democratic party. Fortune seems to have smiled upon his efforts to make a good local paper, however, and at the close of the first volume the Badger State was enlarged to twenty-eight columns, though the circulation, it appears, was not all Mr. Brown had reason to expect, as will be inferred from the following characteristically modest item : " Those who from personal friendship, for love of the principles we advocate, or for their own general interest, may use their exertions to extend our circulation, will confer upon us a favor."

On the l-4th of April, 1855, Chauncey C. Britt took an equal partnership with Mr. Brown in the Badger State, the event being announced in an article reiterating the political convictions of the senior proprietor, which, of course, were in accord with the ideas of the new proprietary acquisition. Both gentlemen were practical printers of some twenty years' experience. " We are," continues the article, " the exclusive owners of all the materials of the office, as well as the consciences of the editors, and believe in and shall practice upon the principle that the amenities which obtain in social life should govern the editorial profession, and that a man should be held as strictly to account for what he publishes in his paper as for what he utters with his tongue. There is no more excuse for palliating official and public wrongs than for pandering to private vice and individual crimes. We love the old Democratic party, and will fight for it to the last extremity - provided the party bears itself as becomes a great national party. But the party must purge itself of the piratical crew led by the Pierces, the Douglases and some lesser lights nearer home, to make it worthy the hearts and hands of true men."

June 6, 1856, saw the enlargement of the Badger State to thirty-two columns, and other marked typographical changes, among them a new heading of patriotic design, the letters being dotted and streaked with stars and stripes. Power seems to have ceased to steal " from the many to the few," and the editors had arrived at the conclusion that " the world is governed too much " - the latter sentiment, in big letters, being substituted for the former motto. " The position of the Democratic i)arty " was the caption of what may be termed a " heavy editorial " in this enlarged number of the Badger. " It is very evident," the article begins, " that a union of the elements opposed to the Democratic party will take the field in the present campaign, without making any issue of general principles, but depending for success upon exciting a political phrenzy similar to the 'hard-cider' excitement of 1840." The "elements" referred to were the Know-Nothing and Republican parties. The national political issues at that time were concentrated in the destiny of that monstrosity, slavery ; the Missouri Compromise and Kansas Repeal were comcoraitant parts.

On the 15th of August, 1856, the Badger State office was removed to the new Badger Block, and the editors invited their friends to " call and make themselves comfortable in the prettiest printing office in the State." On the 27th of February, 1857, Chauncey C. Britt's name appears in the Badger State indicating that gentleman as the sole publisher. Mr. Britt conducted the paper until December 11, of the same year, when William K. McHugh &: Co. became the proprietors, and Joseph M. Doty, who had been editorially connected with the paper for a year previous, was announced as the responsible editor, with all the glory and emoluments of the position. Brother Britt's valedictory re-assures us that the Badger's Democracy had been preserved in all its original purity, and. in his usual graceful style, confidently hoped that it would remain untainted. Mr. Doty's name disappears from the editorial mast-head September 18, 1858, but his contributions did not cease. On the 4th of December, John A. Brown again became the proprietor, and the paper was reduced in size to twenty-eight columns. But, as had been evident for some time, " misfortuno was upon them." The frequent changes in the management of the paper, the reduction in size, and various other unhealthy signs, gave evidence of the early and inevitable dissolution that must soon follow. And when on the 10th of February, 185U, death stilled the throbbing heart of the proprietor of the Badger State, there was but little left to cling to. The paper survived the demise of its original publisher about ten months, the widow assuming the management. J. M. Doty was in editorial charge until the date of its suspension, December 10, 1859.

The Independent. - This paper was established in Portage in 1855, by John A. and Julius C. Chandler, the first number being issued the 3d day of February, of that year. It was the outgrowth of a political necessity, and is numbered among the thousand other newspapers that espoused the cause of the Republican party early in its remarkable history. The Independent took uncompromising ground against slavery, and advocated the enactment by the Legislature of a prohibitory liquor law, as the best means of educating the people to a moral sense of their social and political welfare. John A. Ciiandler's name appears at the head of the editorial column, indicating that gentleman as the responsible scribe, and across the title page appears the following inscription : " A weekly newspaper, devoted to literature, temperance, morality, news, general intelligence, and the dissemination of Republican principles.'' The first number contained, among other choice and readable things, a caustic criticism of the proceedings of the

United States oflBcials against Sherman M. Booth. One particularly pointed paragraph in the article reads : " There is not a slave trader in the land, or a slave pirate on the high seas, who would have any reason to find fault with the proceedings in Miller's court against Mr. Booth." There is also an article from the Vermont Freeman, giving the number of slaveholders in the United States at that date. It may be interesting to know that there were then 347,525 persons in the Union who subsisted, as individual owners, upon the bondage of the now emancipated blacks. The advertising patronage of the Independent, for the first few weeks, was conspicuous for its absence, but the necessary support from this direction was soon forthcoming, and the Independent is believed to have become a paying institution.

On the 22d of March, John A. Chandler's name disappears from the customary position indicating editorial responsibility, though, until February t, 1856, he retained a proprietary interest in the paper, and continued to furnish political pabulum for its columns. Julius CChandler then became sole proprietor, and it is noticeable that about this time the Independent's previous hostility to the extension of slavery grew into the most outspoken opposition to the existence of the "peculiar institution" in any part of the Union. The editor's arguments in this regard were clear, concise and convincing.

The Independent indorsed the nominations of the Philadelphia Convention in the following language: "We place this week* at the head of our columns the names of John C. Fremont, of California, and William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, and invite every freeman - all who love free institutions and equal rights - to unite in elevating these men, respectively, to the offices of President and Vice President of the United States. Never, since the first organization of the Government, has there been a Presidential election involving principles of such magnitude. * * * * On one side go forth Douglas, Pierce, Atchison, Stringfellow, Brooks and their followers, with Buchanan for a standard-bearer, champions for the extension of slavery ; on the other stands arrayed the hosts of freedom, with such leaders as Seward, Chase and the glorious, gallant John C. Fremont at the head, fighting manfully, earnestly, for the extension of liberty. Can freemen hesitate and doubt with which party to unite? Is not the path of duty, of interest, of patriotism perfectly plain ?

On the 14th of April, 1857, the Independent ceased to exist in name, but not in form, and Chandler bade adieu to his friends and patrons in a few well-chosen words, assuring them that his journalistic relations with them had been a source of pleasure as well as of profit to him. In his valedictory appears the following concerning the Republican party : " Only two years ago, the now great, mighty and glorious Republican party was in its infancy, scarcely organized, in sooth, in Columbia County. What advance has the party made? The 1,709 majority for Fremont and liberty answers the question. Proud, indeed, are we that have been an advocate of a righteous party whose principles of truth have so triumphed. Columbia has assumed the proudest political position of any county of the commonwealth."

Julius C. Chandler, more familiarly known as "Shanghai " Chandler, was a man of recognized ability. A vein of eccentric humor pervaded his writings, revealing his possession of a rare genius, in comparison with which the reputations of our greatest American humorists would not sufl'er. Soon after disposing of the Independent, Mr. Chandler purchased the material that had been used in the office of the Columbia County Reporter, a Democratic paper published by Carr Huntington, and, removing it to Adams County, established a paper at Friendship. He died a few years ago in Baraboo.

Portage City Record. - Upon the fortunes of the Independent was founded the Portage City Record, a newspaper more within the meaning of the term ; for the Independent was noted less for its local news than for its National and State political articles. The Record, however, was the recognized party organ, the official paper of the county. Republicanism being the accepted faith of its manager and proprietor, Robert B. Wentworth. The first number was issued April 29, 1857. The names of M. M. Davis and A. J. Turner appear as editors. Mr. Davis' editorial contributions had been attracting some attention from the readers of the Independent, and his acknowledged ability was a material aid in sustaining the enterprise. Mr. Turner was younger then than now by nearly a quarter of a century. He has grown some in stature, and become more generally known, having passed through the various grades of journalism and been honored, as all journalists should be, with office. "Perhaps it is hardly necessary," says Mr. Davis in his salutatory, " for us to say that while this paper is under our control, editorially, it will be untiring in its opposition to the nationalization of slavery. The General Government, being one of delegated powers only, we hold that all exercise of assumed powers, either by its executive, legislative or judicial departments, is a dangerous usurpation, and should not be peaceably acquiesced in by the States or the people, in whom all sovereignty lies. Since the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and more recently the decision of the Dred Scott case, the whole question of the legitimacy of the slave power in this nation is fairly open for full and free discussion, and, for one. we intend to write about it and talk about it at our will."

Mr. Wentworth, the proprietor of the Record, was an experienced journalist, in so far as the general management of a newspaper was concerned. He had formerly been associated with Charles Billinghurst, of the Dodge County Gazette, at Juneau. The first thirteen numbers of the Record were the same size (twenty-eight columns) of its predecessor, the Independent, but on the 29th of July it was enlarged, another column being added to each of its four pages. There were other marked and favorable changes. The Record, moreover, adopted a motto at this date : " Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God."

On the 11th of November, Mr. Davia severed his connection with the Record as editorial writer, leaving that duty to devolve upon bis associate, Mr. Turner, who remained but a short time in that capacity, going to Friendship, Adams County, with " Shanghai " Chandler, with whom he was engaged in the publication of a paper. Returning to Portage in March, 1859, he resumed his former relations with the Record, and was thereafter during the existence of the paper known as the " heavy man" of the institution. At the head of the editorial column of the first number of Volume III (April 27, 1859) appear the names of Messrs. Wentworth and Turner as editors, the former continuing as sole proprietor. The Record, at that date, was, perhaps, the most prosperous paper in Central Wisconsin. It was and had for some time been in the enjoyment of the Republican patronage of the county, with liberal profits to its publisher. This, of course, was in accordance with the "eternal fitness of things," for the county was largely Republican, and, there being no competing organ, the Record, as the successor of the first Republican paper in the county, was clearly entitled to consideration as the party organ. But many changes are wrought in the furnace of time. When the Record had attained its fourth year of prosperity, a difference of opinion arose among the Republican managers as to the propriety of sustaining it further. There was no fault to be found with its Republicanism ; that was sufficiently sound ; but the personal interest of a few of the party leaders seemed to demand a division of patronage, and on the ITth of April, 1861, the publisher announced the sale of the Record to A. J. Turner, one of the conditions being that the purchaser was to supply the paper to all subscribers who had paid to that date. In the same issue were announced the commencement of hostilities at Charleston, and the subsequent surrender of Fort Sumter. In retiring from journalism Mr. Wentworth bade an affectionate adieu to his readers, thanking them for their liberal patronage. As illustrating his characteristic candor, the following paragraph from his valedictory is given : " We have attended to the aftairs of the office very closely, so much so that our health is impaired ; and have succeeded pecuniarily, as well or better, perhaps, than the majority of publishers of country papers, and in that particular retire from the establishment perfectly satisfied with the result of our four years' labor.

The Wisconsin State Register. - Of the numerous journals founded in Portage at an early day, the Wisconsin State Register is now the only one in existence. It was established by Samuel S. Brannan on the 16th of March, 1861, nearly twenty years ago, upon the ruins of the Badger State ; the latter, as has already been shown, having supplanted the River Times, the first paper published in Columbia County. The material used in its publication was that from which the Badger State was formerly printed, and typographically, the Register closely resembled the defunct Democratic organ. The editor, in saluting his friends, said : " Having long been convinced of the necessity for a representative organ in this city, one which will fully and fairly reflect the views of the Republican party, and having received such assurances as will justify the enterprise, we have concluded to commence the publication of the Wisconsin State Register. * * * To enable us more fully to complete our arrangements for the publication of the paper, no sheet will be issued for the next week or two from this office. We shall, early in Api-il, enlarge and otherwise improve our paper."

Following this was an article announcing John T. Clark as the Republican nominee for County Judge. Mr. Clai'k's name also appeared in the "candidate's corner," almost in the identical place it is now to be seen as editor of the Register . In the same column was an article on the prospective evacuation of Fort Sumter. In it were reflected the war sentiments of the Register as follows : " The Government may see fit to occupy or evacuate any one of the fortresses of the country as a measure of strategy merely, and the people will be willing to submit to the judgment of the military commanders who direct the steps ; but they will not consent to the abandonment of the public property to traitors as a stroke of policy to placate them."

President Lincoln's inaugural address appears in full on the first page, and is reviewed at length editorially, receiving high indorsement and full approval. On the local page, among other interesting items, we find a notice of the Portage City Light Guards, giving an account of their organization, description of the uniforms, etc., and concluding as follows: "When civil war shall have been declared (we are getting chilly) and re-enforcements are wanted, and the Portage Light Guards are drafted and on their way to South Carolina (Bohag,* hand us that bottle). * * * J^or Sale - A very cheap, but somewhat flashy, suit of clothes, with brass buttons, designed for military service. The ownerf is seriously indisposed, and his physician recommends his immediate withdrawal from the army. This suit will probably last the purchaser as long as he lives. Apply at this oflice."

On the 27th of Api-il, soon after the suspension of the Record, the Register appeared enlarged from a seven to an eight column folio ; Brannan, Turner & Co., pi'oprietors ; Israel Holmes and A. J. Turner, editors, and S. S Brannan, local editor. The change is announced in the following brief card, signed by Mr. Turner : " In the last Portage Oitg Record, announcement was made of the fact that the oflice had been sold to the undersigned. This week, 'I have the further announcement to make that I have united my interest in the oflice with those of S. S. Brannan, of the State Register, and that henceforth both papers will be published unitedly, under the name of the Wisconsin State Register, by Brannan, Turner & Co., and will be conducted by I. Holmes and A. J. Turner as principal editors, and S. S. Brannan as local editor. No further number of the Record will be issued, except a small edition to close up some legal advertisements. Advertisers in the iJecorc?, residing out of the city, will have their contracts completed in the State Register. All accounts with the Record will be adjusted by R. B. Wentworth. All subscribers who overpaid for the Record will be furnished with the State Register to ihe close of their subscriptions."

Mr. Holmes, the leading editorial writer for the Register, was a lawyer by profession, and a very able man. His articles were thoroughly in accord with all the measures of the Republican party, save, perhaps, those which many other stanch Union men then regarded as extremely radical, but which have since been acknowledged to have been paramount in crushing the rebellion. In April, 1864, Mr. Holmes disposed of his interest in the Register to Messrs. Brannan & Turner, and retired from journalism. Mr. Turner then became the responsible writer, being ably assisted in his labors by his partner, Mr. Brannan. Both were practical men, having passed through the various grades of the newspaper business, and, this being true, it is not strange that the paper grew in influence and circulation.

In July, 1864, the price of the Register was increased from ^1.50 to $2 per year. The proprietors placed a large part of their profits from the business in improvements about the office, calculated to increase the value of their paper. Among other'mechanical accessories was a large power press, of the Taylor make, purchased in 1869. It is still in use, and is one of the largest and best of the kind in the Northwest. Messrs. Brannan & Turner continued the publication of the Register until the 23d day of February, 1878, when the establishment was sold to John T. Clark and B. F. Goodell, the present owners. In bidding farewell to their friends, the veteran publishers gave some very interesting reminiscences of their newspaporial careers in Portage. Extracts from the joint valedictory are herewith given : " In severing our connection with the paper, it seems fitting that we should indulge in a brief retrospect of our connection with the press of this city. On the 4th day of July, 1850, the River Times, the first paper ever published in this city, made its appearance. It was printed at the little hamlet over near the fort, and it was before the Portage of to-day had any existence. Engaged in the mechanical department as roller-boy, or ' devil ' in printing office nomenclature, was Mr. Brannan ; so his connection with the press of this city dates from its very incipiency, nearly twenty-eight years ago.

" In 1855," continues Mr. Turner, " we arrived in this city with a capital of just ten cents, without friends and a total stranger to nearly every person in the county. We found employment as compositor in the Independent office, of which ' Shanghai ' Chandler was the proprietor, and in the columns of this paper, in that year, appeared our first articles for the press. In 1856 and '57, we were employed in the composing room of the State Journal, at Madison, and for a few months served as legislative reporter and local editor of that paper. In the spring of 1857, we returned to Portage and were associated with Dr. M. M. Davis, as one of the editors of the Portage City Record, published by the Hon. R. B. Wentworth. Mr. Went worth had purchased the Independent office of Mr. Chandler, and given it the name above mentioned, and Mr. Brannan, who had about this time returned from California, held a case in the Badger State office, published by John A. Brown and C. C. Britt. In the spring of 1861, Mr. Brannan purchased the Badger State office and commenced the publication of the Wisco7isin State Register. About a month later, A. J. Turner purchased the Record office, and the papers were consolidated with I. Holmes as one of the partners. In April, 1864, Mr. Holmes disposed of his interest in the office to his partners, since which time the paper has been published continuously by Brannan k Turner. At the end of seventeen years, the whirligig of time has brought a new revolution, and henceforth the readers of the State Register will receive their news pabulum from other hands. * * * Wg have paid to our compositors, for paper bills and other incidental expenses of the office, more than ^60,000. We have, with unfailing regularity, paid our employes every Saturday. We have never suffered a paper bill or any other bill to go past due ; we have held tax receipt No. 1 for many years ; we generally stand recorded as No. 1 on the poll list at each election, and we have paid our pew rent promptly and cheerfully, and have most unselfishly permitted other people to occupy that pew more than we have ourselves, if we are not mistaken.''

Mr. Brannan, when the transfer of the Register was concluded, was absent in Colorado for his health, but the sale was made with his entire approval, he having left the matter in the hands of his partner. When he received information of the change, he wrote from Denver as follows : * * * "I trust I may be pardoned for a word of allusion to the services which I think we have rendered in graduating from our office so many young men who have taken high rank and honorable positions among their fellows. Robert Campbell, R. J. Flint, E. H. Weber, B. F. Goodell, W. R. Finch, F. 0. Wisner, Henry Marvin and Rody Keegan are but a few of the goodly number of good boys whose remembrances come to me now, who have gone forth rising men, due to good tuition, and, may I not say, the excellent example set before them. Poor Jimmy Dempsey, ever glorious and true, sleeps in Dixie's land, a martyr to the slaveholders' rebellion, while faithful and true-hearted W. F. Ward reposes in Silver Lake Cemetery, a victim of dise&se engendered in the tented "field. May green ever grow the graves on the little mounds which rise over them.

" In looking over the past, I do so without descrying here and there little paragraphs which I would gladly blot out, but I may truthfully say, never a line which has been written was ever inspired by malice toward a fellow mortal. * * *

The new proprietors of the State Register entered upon their duties with that spirit of determination which is generally rewarded with success. Mr. Clark took his position at the editorial helm, while Mr. Goodell assumed charge of the mechanical departments. The editor, in his salutatory, after briefly reviewing his pioneer experiences in Columbia County, says : " I have been a subscriber to this journal from the beginning, and feel the same attachment as such patron to it that you feel. It is one of the established institutions of Columbia County. Indeed, the county would hardly be itself without it. I do not propose to change the name, for the reason that it must still have a name, and I am satisfied with the old one. I do not propose to change its politics, for with them I have been generally in hearty accord. It will still advocate the principles of the Republican party, and endeavor to secure and maintain the supremacy of that party. At the same time it will be unsparing in its efforts to keep that [^arty pure and worthy of support. * * * Great inconvenience and losses result from changing one's business, but there are some compensations. You know how it is in your neighbor's calling when you have been there yourself. If you have been a lawyer, you know how to sympathize with them, how things appear from his standpoint. If you have been a lender of money, you know how to sympathize with him. If you have been obliged to be a borrower, paying high interest, you can feel for him. If you have been a farmer, working hard to compel Mother Earth to bring forth her increase, and just as you have been upon the point of securing it, some vile bug has snatched it from your hand, making all your labor vain, you can appreciate the condition of the farmer during these few past years. You have learned that when the orator at the fair says : ' Tickle Mother Earth with a hoe, and she will laugh with a harvest,' he is reciting poetry. * * * j cannot expect to agree on every subject which will be discussed in these columns with all my patrons, because I know too many of them are independent thinkers, and such can never entirely concur ; but I will endeavor to treat every topic introduced, candidly, and truly represent the position of the opposite side. t * * I fully realize that this paper has been a power in this county and State, and hope it will remain such. Encouraged by the large list of subscribers already on the Register's list, and hoping the old ones will stand by it still, the time has come when the 'I' must be exchanged for a 'we,' and ' we ' must take oif ' our ' coat and go at the work."

Just how far the efforts of the present publishers to make an acceptable newspaper have been seconded by the intelligent citizens of Columbia County is illustrated in the extent of patronage they have received ; and the measure of patronage is shown by the recent enlargement of the paper from thirty-two to thirty-six columns and the purchase of a handsome outfit of new type. The Register wore its new dress for the first time on the morning of the 10th of April, 1880. Most of the old material composing its former habiliments had been in use for a quarter of a century.

Politically, the Register still adheres to its original faith, and is as soundly Republican in all its teachings and aspirations as any organ of the party in the State. Locally, the Register is singularly complete and reliable. It also claims the somewhat unusual distinction of being a purely home-made paper, which means that both sides are printed at home.

Portage Democrat. - In March, 1877, at the solicitation of Democratic friends in Portage, Henry D. Bath, editor of the Columbus Democrat, and his brother, W. E. Bath,* established the Portage Democrat, a seven-column folio. " To-day," said the editors in their salutatory, " for the first time in almost twenty years, a Democratic newspaper in the English language is issued in this city. We are here for the establishment of a legitimate business, and to meet a need which has long and repeatedly been represented to us as existing in this community. We are not here to encroach upon the province of any other journal, but to do work in an open field. The Jtegister is an old and ably conducted newspaper, which has done very much to advance the material interests of Portage. Its editors are our personal friends, and we hope they will remain so, however divergent the line of our political operations may be. The Advance is not at all in our way, having its own great work to accomplish ; and the Weaker is our ally. We propose, in the interests of Reform-Democracy, and not in subserviency to any ring or clique of it, to make as good a newspaper as we can. To this end, we invoke the co-operation of every member of the party, and will devote our utmost endeavors to render it the most efficient aid within our power. But the political work of a local journal is, after all, but a small part of the labor which it has to do. It should be ever busy in furtherance of the business interests and social welfare of the community where it is published. It is a record of the life of the people in its vicinity; the chronicler of their joys and sorrows, their successes and reverses, and its general purpose is to do good to those within the circle of its influence, and to be of value to them in the accomplishment of worthy subjects. Such are the aims of the Portage De)iioc7-at."

in 1878, the health of W. E. Bath failing, Irving Bath, formerly a clerk in the Land Office at Madison, took an interest in the paper, and it is now conducted in his name. In March, 1878, at the close of the first volume, the size and form of the paper were changed to a six-column quarto. Early in April, the publisher purchased an improved Cottrell & Babcock press and a three-horse power Bookwalter engine, making it the only steam printing-office in the county. The Democrat has performed its part well toward giving accounts of local occurrences, and is being rewarded in the measure of its merit.

Columbia County Weaker was published by Gustavus A. Selbach, the first number being issued September 1, 1874. The Weaker is a German newspaper, the only one in Columbia County, and was established in Portage at the request of the leading German citizens. It was originally a seven-column folio, but was enlai'ged a year ago to eight columns. It has a circulation of 500 copies, but is jirobably read by from 2,000 to .5,000 people, owing to an economical custom among its patrons, by which a single copy is perused by several families. Mr. Selbach is a veteran journalist, having established a paper in Appleton. the Volksfreund, in February, 1870, and one at Mansfield, Ohio, the Mansfield Courier, in 1872. Politically, the Weaker is Democratic. The name, translated to English, means " wake up," and the editor loses no opportunity to disturb the mental lethargy of his readers.

The Northern Mepublic was a Whig paper, established in 1851, the first number being issued December 20, by W. W. Noyes, brother of Col. Noyes, of Baraboo. The Republic was well received by the River Times, the Democratic organ, and a period of nearly three full weeks elapsed before the rival editors " locked horns " on political questions. The Republic seems to have met with inferior patronage, as its suspension was soon announced, the material being taken to Baraboo, where it was used in the publication of the Baraboo Republic.

The Columbia County Reporter was established by Carr Huntington, in 1857, as a Democratic paper. Misfortune seems to have frowned upon the enterprise, as the paper suspended in the fall of 1857, tlie material being sold under Sheriff's execution, on a chattel mortgage. " Shanghai " Chandler purchased the entire outfit, and removed it to Friendship, in Adams County, where he established a paper. Mr. Huntington went to Beaver Dam, where, in 1858, he commenced the publication of the Beaver Dam Democrat, which is also defunct.

The Rara Avis was a literary and musical monthly, the first number of which was issued January 30, 1857, Horace Norton, editor and proprietor. The Rara Avis was a sixteen-page quarto, very creditable in appearance and very ably edited. Had it been establislied in a larger city, its success might have been permanent. A year or more of unprofitable labor taught Mr. Norton this, and, in July, 1858, he advertised the entire outfit for sale. A suspension soon followed.

Portage, City

The Columbus Reporter. - This was the name of the first paper published in Columbus, but diligent search and inquiry have failed us in ascertaining the date of the first number. From all that can be learned in regard to it, it is safe to say it did not exist prior to 1853. Gov. Lewis holds a receipt for subscription, dated June 20, 1854, signed by Carr Huntington, editor and proprietor of the Reporter, as follows: " Received of James T. Lewis four dollars in full for publishing notices, and in full for the Columbia Reporter, for the years A. D. 1853, 1854, and up to the 15th of June, 1855." The Reporter was of the Democratic persuasion in politics. The office of the Reporter was located on Broadway, near the present site of Erhart's harnessshop. The date of its suspension is also unknown. That it did suspend, however, before it had attained any great age or influence, is undoubted, for the editor betook himself to Portage early in 1857, and there re-established his paper, continuing to publish it until the latter part of that year, when the oflice was sold out under a sheriff's execution. Mr. Huntington is now inculcating Democracy at Blue Earth, Minn.

The Columbus Journal. - On the 22d day of January, 1855, Daniel Mallo, and his sonin-law, Delancy L. Thayer, issued the first number of the Columbus Weekly Journal, a sevencolumn folio, devoted to the interests of the then newly fledged Republican party. The editor promised, in his salutatory, to " studiously avoid at all times intentionally wounding the feelings of those who do not think as we do. It is a well-known fact," continues the editor, "that it is not in the scope of human nature to please everybody, and of the whole human race the conductor of a public journal has the hardest and most difficult task of all." On the 30th of December, 1856, Mr. Thayer retired from the Journal, leaving Mr. Mallo sole editor and proprietor. On the 10th of March, 1859, Marcus A. Mallo, a practical printer and a ready writer, became associated with the paper as junior editor, the firm becoming Mallo & Son. This copartnership was severed on the 4th day of February, 1860, through the death of the son, at the age of twenty-two years and four months. The elder Mallo continued the publication of the Journal until June 6, 1861, when D. H. Pulcifer and J. F. Hazelton, the latter as editor, took charge. In tiieir first issue they mourned the death of Stephen A. Douglas with turned column rules. In April, 1862, Mr. Pulcifer withdrew from the management, and a few months later, Mr. Hazelton did likewise, the old veteran, Daniel Mallo, again assuming charge, and continuing in the capa3- ity of editor until the 30th of October, 1864, when death put an end to his toils, his trials and his tribulations. Mr. Mallo was one of the oldest publishers in the Northwest. He was born in York, Penn., November 20, 1799, and commenced his career as a printer upon the York Gazette at the age of seventeen years, coming to Wisconsin in 1842, and taking a position on the Madison Gazette. But one number of the Journal was issued after the death of Mr. Mallo. In it was printed, among other things, the obituary of the deceased journalist, written by E. E. Chapin, whose contributions had enlivened the Journal throughout most of its existence. Henry D. Bath, editor of the Democrat, then a law student in Mr. Chapin's office, put the article in type.

The Columbus Transcript. - Some time in the winter of 1864-65, Valentine Baltuff, who, with his brother John, had been publishing the Lodi Weekly Herald, which suspended November 9, 1864, came to Columbus with the material of the defunct journal, and established the Columbus Transcript, unfolding the Republican banner, and pledging himself, beneath its folds, to support the great national party in all that was consistent with the wants of a large constituency. Mr. Baltuff possessed but little literary ability, but wielded a composing-stick with great fluency. There was sufficient local genius abroad, however, to supply the Transcript with editorial pabulum, and the paper flourished.

In August, 1868, in the heat of summer and a memorable political campaign, a somewhat sudden, but not altogether unexpected, change took place in the office of the Transcript. Mr. Baltuff disposed of the concern, and, soon afterward, went to Floyd County, Iowa, where he reestablished in the same line of business.

The Columbus Democrat. - Henry D. Bath was the purchaser of the effects of the Transcript, and, on the 10th of September, 1868, he ushered into the journalistic world a seven-column folio newspaper - the Columbus Democrat - with marked political inclinatioDS, strongly the reverse of those of its predecessor, as was indicated in the names of presidential preferences that floated from the mast-head, and their emphatic indorsement editorially. Mr. Bath, in his "To the Public," said:

" It is already known by many that the Columbus Transcript, which was formerly issued from this oflBce, has changed hands, and to-day, for the first time, we believe, in ten years, the colors of the Democratic party are hoisted by a newspaper in Columbia County."

The editor seems to have been conversant with the difficulties that usually beset interior publishers, and wide awake to the requirements of the important position he had chosen to occupy. " The progress of the times," he says, " has changed, to a great degree, the province of a paper published in the interior. The locomotive and the lightning now labor for men. The daily metropolitan newspapers are dropped in our midst with each revolution of the earth, and from them we learn what Europe was doing only yesterday. They tell us of the status of parties, and to a much greater extent than a country newspaper. But who chronicles our local events - those occurrences which most intimately concern us ? Who makes public the ravages of death and the inroads of matrimony in our midst ? Who speaks of our crops and our markets, our home improvements and questions relating to matters immediately surrounding us ? AVho tells us of the good fortune or disaster to our neighbors ? Who does all this and a hundred other services ? It is done through the agency of the local press ; and any town of the size and enterprise of Columbus, which does not possess a good local paper, loses a powerful auxiliary to its prosperity. We are here for this purpose, and here we propose to remain."

Considering the adverse political circumstances under which the Democrat was established, the editor and his friends have cause for congratulation in the growth and influence of the paper. There has been but one change in its management, and that was only temporary. From October, 1870, to March, 1871, the father of Mr. Bath was associated with the Democrat as publisher. In 1872, the form of the paper was changed to a six-column quarto.

Mr. Bath was, for two years prior to 1868, city editor of the Milwaukee News, resigning his position on account of ill health, and has, therefore, had some of the experience calculated to test one's journalistic qualifications. His views concerning the province of interior journals have been carried out to the extent of making the Democrat a valuable narrator of local happenings. Mr. Bath has been especially industrious in the work of perpetuating the early history of Columbus.

The Columbus Republican. - In the Presidential campaign of 1868, by an adroit maneuver of the Democracy, the material of the Transcripit changed hands, and with it a Democratic sheet was started. This was less than eight weeks before election, and the political cauldron was boiling fiercely. There was a strong Republican majority in town and county, and a Democratic paper would not go down, and set well on a Republican stomach. J. R. Decker was at the time publishing the Waupun Times, but such inducements were offered that he sold out that paper and came to Columbus, his route being by way of Chicago, where he bought an entire new printing office, including a job press, something novel in Columbus. The office was established on the second floor of Shaffer's Block, in the room that for many years has been Squire Farnham's Justice office. The room was soon found to be too small, and after various removals the office is now located on Ludington street, occupying a spacious first floor.

The first issue of the Republican was on October 7, 1868. It was a seven-column folio, ably edited and handsomely printed, several pithy local writers contributing, and giving the new paper a " boost " through the few weeks before election. In the first years of the Republican, Mr. Le Roy Irons, a young man recently arrived from the East, contributed liberally to its local and literary departments. In December of 1869, the local was printed on the first page, as the prominent feature of the paper, and commencing with January of 1870, Mr. Irons' name appears as one of the editors, an arrangement continuing three months. He was a vigorous writer of prose, and a poet of acknowledged merit, but physically he was weak, and he has since passed over the river. In December of 1871, the Republican yi&s enlarged to nine columns to a page, the increase of advertising patronage making a larger sheet necessary. These proportions were maintained until July of 1873, when an increase in the price of paper and a shrinkage in advertising brought down the paper to eight columns. In 1878, the style was changed to the popular six-column quarto. Finer type was adopted for city and county news, a corps of correspondents were secured throughout the county, and new vigor awakened in the paper. It now ranks among the best of the country papers in the West, especially in point of home news.

Mr. Decker, the editor and proprietoi-, is a thorough practical printer, having acquired the art when boys had to learn a trade. He has a reputation for fine work that extends throughout the West, and specimens of jobs done at the office have been solicited by artistic printers from as far East as New York, as far South as Georgia, and as far West as San Francisco.

Having received instructions in stereotyping in Chicago, and procured a fair outfit fordoing the work, this useful adjunct to a printing office is made to contribute to the completeness of the establishment. The Republican and the Republican job printing office, are institutions of which Columbia County is, and should be, proud.

The Lodi Flag, published quarterly, was first issued in July, 1856, by J. 0. & A. Eaton, a small quarto of three columns, only three numbers of which (for July and November of 1856, and for May, 1857) were issued.

- The Lodi Weekly Herald, established February 25, 1863, by Baltuff Bros.,* publishers and proprietors. " We commence," say the editors, in their salutatory, " the publication of a paper, under the above title, in this town ; and, believing the wants of the people to be more for a strictly local journal than a political one, we design the publication of an independent paper." It was a six-column paper, of a very respectable appearance. The first business cards were those of " Richard Lindsay, attorney and counselor at law ; " -' G. H. Irwin, M. D.," and "J. 0. Eaton, Notary Public." On the 2d of March, 1864. the copartnership in tlte establishment of the paper was dissolved, and Valentine Baltuif appears alone as editor and proprietor. This event occurred at the beginning of the second volume, but the paper was discontinued after the issuing of the thirty-fifth number, November 9, 1864, which was issued on a halfsheet only.

Tlie Lodi Journal. - In October, 1870, was issued the first number of the Lodi Journal,, by Charles H. Fullerton, editor and publisher. It was a five-column quarto, and was edited with ability until April 16, 1873, when the editor said " Good-bye," and the Journal ceased to exist.

The Lodi Valley News was established by Peter Richards, in the spring of 1874, the first issue being on the 22d of April of that year. It has had a circulation, since the close of its first year, of about four hundred copies weekly, and has been published regularly each week, without a single omission, from the start. In jts first issue, the announcement was made that the paper would be, in its political complexion, an Independent Republican paper, and it has been the aim of its proprietor to hold it to that character as closely as possible. Its circulation has been very uniform from the start, seldom varying in any two years more than half a quire. The News is well printed, and edited with ability.

TJie Wisconsin Mirror. - In the fall of 1855, the Wisconsin River Hydraulic Company decided upon founding a new village - Kilbourn City - upon Section 3, Township 13 north. Range 6 east. Alanson Holly, of Warsaw, N. Y., was then West looking for a location, and, visiting the site of the proposed village, he decided at once to settle. A dwelling was hastily erected for his family, and a small building for a printing office (the first houses in the prospective village), and, on the 1st day of January, 1856, the first issue of the Wisconsin Mirror was struck from the press. This issue was gotten up under difficulties. On the 22d day of December previous, the building was inclosed, and, while the plasterers were at work, the hands of the office unboxed the type and setup the press. It was so cold the compositors had to bathe their fingers in warm water every ten minutes to make them limber. As the paper was being made ready for the press, a number of friends gathered in the office, and it was proposed to sell the first copy ai auction, which was accordingly done, it bringing the handsome sum of $65. The second and third copies were also put up. bringing §10 and $5, respectively. Another instance of the kind is probably not on record. The question might naturally arise, where the patrons of the paper were to come from - a paper published in the woods, with owls, squirrels and rabbits for neighbors. The editor had faith in the future of the village, and, until it should become a large and prosperous village, it was expected to be printed at pecuniary loss, though many copies would be taken by parties interested in the welfare of the place, and sent away to those who were likely to be attracted thither. For many months, mails were only received once, twice or three times a week, at the village of Newport, two miles distant, and to this place the editor was compelled to go for his postal matter. Notwithstanding all these difficulties, the Mirror was always a readable paper. It continued to exist for nearly three years, when a suspension took place for a time, and it was then revived by H. A. Holly, with Alanson Holly as editor. In due course of time, it was sold to T. 0. Thompson, who in turn sold to Davis, Wright ct Davis, Mr. Wright remaining with it but a short time, when D. I*. & E. B. Davis became proprietors. In January, 1872. it passed into the hands of Frank 0. Wesner, who continued it until July, 1876. Mr. Wesner was in a measure successful, devoting attention principally to local matters. When he retired, W. M. Cole became proprietor, and continued to publish until October, 1876, when the office was destroyed by fire. No attempt was made to revive it.

The Kilhourn City Guard was issued by Wesley Moran, for the first time, November 15, 1876; it was continued with varying success until April 30, 187U, when it was suspended. The size was a seven-column folio ; price, $2 ; politics. Republican. It was edited with ability during its brief existence.

The Reporter. - On the 3d of June, 1875, F. A. Brown, a Columbia County pioneer, issued the first number of the Poynette Reporter, a six-column folio, neutral in politics. The " home side " was printed at the office of the Western Advance, a small temjierance weekly, published for a time at Portage by E. W. Stevens. The Reporter survived one year. Mr. Brown came to Columbia County in 1849, and lived here about twenty-seven years. He is now publishing the Monroe County Democrat, at Sparta, Wis.

Common Schools

Towns are generally divided into a number of school districts, in each of which the school affairs are in charge of a district school board, consisting of three members, each holding office for three years, one being elected at each annual school meeting. The officers of this board are Director, Treasurer and Clerk. The Clerk reports to the Town Clerk, and the Town Clerk to the County Superintendent. Some towns have what is called the township system, with one school board for the whole town.

The schools of the State are principally supported by local taxation, district and county. The remainder of their support, about one-thirteenth, comes from the income of the State school fund, which amounts at present to about 40 cents for each child of school age. Some of the high schools under certain regulations receive special aid from the State. '

From lack of normal schools, academies and colleges within her boundaries or near them, Columbia County has nt> reason to boast of her educational advantages, except such as are furnished by her high, graded and common schools. Of the latter she has good reason to be proud. The ample provision made by the State for common schools has been liberally supplemented bv the tax-payers of this county. The need of the influence and inspiration derived from institutions of higher culture is greatly felt, but the want is being rapidly outgrown by reason of the increased facilities for getting to and from places of higher learning.

The early schools of Columbia County were, like all others in a new country, small in their beginnings. Previous to 1850, Eliza Haight taught a private school at "the portage," as did also Delos Brown in the year just mentioned. The first district formed in the vicinity of Cambria was in 1848 ; a schoolhouse was built in the same year, and a public school taught by Miss Betsy Griffin. In 1852, Julia Landt taught in the town of Newport, near Kilbourn, for $1.25 per week, and "board around; " and Frances Howard taught the same school for $2.50 per week, and boarded herself

The first year of public schools reported was in 1849, when the average wages paid male teachers were $11.75 a month; female, $5.39. The average value of the schoolhouses for each town in the State was $575, which for the eleven towns reported of Columbia County, would give an aggregate of $6,223.25; and, if the forty-one districts in these towns that reported had each a schoolhouse, the average value would be about $150.

Just thirty years after this, in 1879, the county contained 146 " regular " school districts, with schoolhouses valued on the average at over $500 each. There were also seventy-three "parts" of districts, and forty "joint " districts. The average wages paid male teachers were $37.07 per month, and female teachers, $20.87. The whole number of children of school age in the county is 8,550, of whom 6,370 have attended school. Outside of school age, which is from four to twenty years, eighty-three have also attended public schools. To teach all these, 272 different teachers have been employed during the year 1879, only 163 of whom could be teaching during the same term. The total amount of money received by the county for school purposes, from all sources, was very nearly $46,000, of which there has been paid out for teachers' wages alone the sura of $32,167. The total expense of the common schools of Columbia County for 1879 was very nearly $58,000, or about $9 for each one of those attending school.

Through the agency of teachers' associations and institutes, the more advanced ideas and methods of modern teaching are disseminated throughout the county, and many good teachers are found in the common schools even at the present low rate of wages. This year (1880) is also witnessing an increased activity in the building of new schoolhouses, and the repairing of old ones, and the introducing of modern and improved styles of school furniture and apparatus.

Exclusive of the high schools in the cities of Portage and Columbus, there is a free high school at Lodi. This was established as a graded school in September, 1864, with A. J. Riley as Principal at a salary of $850. In 1869, a high-school building was built, and for five years Mr. Yocum was Principal. He was followed in 1874 by A. A. Miller, and subsequently, ih 1877, by W. E. Todd, who is still Principal and has done much to give the school its present excellent reputation. On the 29th of March, 1878, the building was burned down and a new one afterward erected at a cost of about $8,000. There are six departments, employing as many teachers, with an attendance of 275 pupils, seventy-five of whom are in the high-school department.

In the village of Kilbourn there is a graded school of five departments, employing six teachers, with an attendance of 384 pupils. The schoolhouse was built in 1869 at a cost of $16,000, and the annual running expenses for 1879 were about $2,750.

At Cambria, a school of two departments was organized in 1859, and enlarged to three departments in 1869. In 1867, the total enrollment of scholars was 311, and again in 1879 the number was 253. The total expense yearly of running the school is $1,125. In the list of Principals are the names of Henry Rust, J. J. Lloyd, Orson Kellogg, D. A. Strong, Kennedy Scott and Zed. Merrill. There is also a school of two departments and three teachers at Poynette, which was first organized in the fall of 1862, with Miles T. Alverson as Principal. The total expense that year was $400. The number of children enrolled in the district was 127, and the attendance in both departments 103. The total attendance in 1880 is about 140, and the annual expense of running the school over $1,000. To within a year two teachers only have been employed. Besides these there are schools of two departments at Wyocena, Pardeeville,

The supervision of schools was in the care of town Superintendents until the close of 1861, when the county superintendency was adopted. The first to fill the oflBce of County Superintendent of Schools of Columbia County was D. W. Rosenkrans, of Columbus, six years, 1862- 67 ; then Levi Bath, of Columbus, two years, 1868-69 ; J. J. Lloyd, of Cambria, two years, 1870-'71 ; L. J. Burlingame, of West Point, three years, 1872-74 ; Kennedy Scott, five years, 1875-79, and the incumbent, Henry Neill, of Caledonia, elected for the term of 1880-81.

County Board Of Supervisors

Board of Supervisors. - 184!t - A. A. Brayton, S. Brayton, 0. Kincaid, J. 0. Jones, W. T. Whirry, AV. K. Custar, L. Warner, J. Williams, W. W. Patton, Linus Blair, Edwin Sylvester, M. C. Bartholomew, Bishop Johnson - 13.

1876 - A. J. Turner, Alan Bogue, William Black, M. W. Patton, Matthew Lowth, J. R. Decker, A. Hasey, N. C. Bissell, John W. Lee, A. Hastie, Charles Sweany. 0. W. Field, John Derr, P. G. Stroud, W. C. Kleinert, Peter Tennison, James Wilson, A. Eaton, F. C. Curtis, 0.

was born in Boston on the 26th of January, 1842. She is the daughter of the Rev. Dudley Tyng, a Universalist divine, now deceased. At the age of eleven years she came with her parents to Wisconsin, and when fourteen years old began to attract attention as one marked with literary ability by her short stories and poems in the Madison State Journal. She also wrote for the Knickerbocker Magazine and the Home Journal, New York publications of note, and the Louisville Courier-Journal. In 1878, Mrs. Griswold collected many of her poems

*' These poems illustrate this fact, that a born singer must sing, no matter how or where ; no matter what coveted boons of culture fortune may withhold, or how niggardly fate may be of outward advantage. Mrs. Griswold is a student of nature and sings the emotions of common humanity. Hers is a healthful, hopeful, songful book for everybody who has soul enough to love a singing bird and sense to appreciate truth. The sun is called the sun, not Phoebus, in this book, and home here is home, and heart, simply heart. The author seems to love the unpretending household phrase of the land, and she knows no disdain for any soul of humanity, who is sincere and earnest and truth-seeking."

" I am sad for the songs that have burdened the brain Of the singer, but could not find birth : For the melodies struggling, and struggling in vain, To break on the world with their worth.

" 1 am sad for the work which has never been wrought By the hands which were pinioned and pent ; I lament that the deed could not equal the thought. Nor the action the spirit's intent.

" Alas ! for the deeds wliich have never been done, So heroic, and grand, and sublime ; Alas ! for the battles which have not been won, In this contest with life and with time.

" Alas I for the possible loves in the heart Of the man who loves never at all ; For the sadness and sorrow of lives set apart, Who might have found joy in love's thrall.

" Every life has two strands : the life that we see. And the other, that which might have been ; The being we are, and the one we might be - Who shall say where they end or begin ?

" And who, that there is not success in defeat, And a failure in every success ; That the battle-field held may not be a retreat, And the wrong that we suffer, redress ?"

An intelligent critic pronounced Mrs. Griswold's book one of rare merit. He says an undertone of sadness, a refrain of grief and pathos, runs through all her poems ; but their lesson is always of patience and resignation and hope, rather than despondency or despair. Their sadness is that of life and of a woman's heart, when it has known " a sorrow's crown of sorrows," such as is portrayed in

"One kiss was given in childhood s hour. By one who never gave another ; Through life and death, I still shall feel That last kiss of my mother.

" When lips have felt the dying kiss, And felt the kiss of burning love, And kissed the dead, tlien nevermore In kissing should they think to move."

One of this poet's gifted friends truly says of her : " She writes out of the fullness of a rich nature. She has thrilled at the heroism and self-sacrifice of Father Marquette, and has told tenderly a mother's sorrow over ' A little one quietly sleeping.' " " Apple Blossoms " has reached its second volume.

is the daughter of Wayne B. Dyer, and was born at Otsego, in Columbia County, in 1846. She commenced her literary career at the age of eighteen, writing for the local newspapers. She has written a number of poems of acknowledged merit, among them, "The Record of Company B," " The Legend of St. Freda "' and " Hector's Recompense. " As a regular prose contributor to the Toledo Blade she wrote over the nom de plume of " Floyd Bentley." Her superior talents as a musician have won for her a reputation reaching beyond local confines, and of late years she has turned her attention almost exclusively to the divine art of melody. The following is

" I gave my all, with a lavish hand, With a holy love, with a purpose grand ; I robbed my life of its rarest flowers, To brighten another's lonely hours.

" I crushed my pride with an iron will. To shield another from pain and ill; For I said, ' When the night of gloom shall cease, Above me shall dawn the morn of peace.' \

" In vain ! In vain ! The years roll on, And the joy of youth is forever gone ; And the happy bird on the wind-tossed tree Singeth no song of bliss for me.

" 0 mother earth, on thy bosom brown Let the child in painless rest lie down ; Hope's bark lies wrecked on the rocks of time. And the boon I crave shall never be mine. "

In his former home at Winfield, N. Y., the early days of Le Roy Irons were full of the brightest promise of a fine literary career. He was the life of society, the ready writer of prose or verse. But with failing health, commenced the struggle against fate. He came to Columbus about the year 1867. He contributed largely to the Republican, of that city, and, for about three months, had editorial control of the paper. He was, also, for a few months, local editor of the Duluth Morning Call. He at one time contributed largely to the columns of the New York Ledger, and was almost always writing for the local papers where he might be living.

Some of the best of his poems were collected in 1876, and published under the title of " Centennial Columbia." From this work is selected a short poem, as illustrative of his facility of versification, entitled

" Come, ilarling, fair darling, creep into the fold, The winters are long, and the frosts are cold, And the snows for your feet are many-fold.

"Come, darling, bright darling, the nest is so warm, And the world is so sorrowful under the storm ; Creep to thy nesting-place, happy and warm.

" And darling, oh 1 darling, sweet daisy of ours, Half life is toilsome, half golden with flowers. Half tempest and shadow, half sunshine and showers.

" Then come while you may, darling, unto your rest. The moon breaks the clouds, ragged edged, in the west. Creep in while you may to your warm, warm nest."

He was married, in the spring of 1872, to Miss Frank Langworthy, of Clarksville, N. Y. He died in April, 1877, leaving his wife and little daughter to mourn his loss.

The maiden name of Mrs. A. C. Kellogg was Harriet R. Aokerman. She was born in the town of Brownville, Jefferson Co., N. Y. When quite young, she was put in boardingschool (at Fairfield Seminary, Fairfield, Herkimer Co., N. Y.), where she remained several years. She evinced a decided taste for the study of nature. Her parents, thinking this merely a childish freak, compelled her to fill up her spare time with music, which she considered of minor value. Leaving this branch, she commenced the study of art, and soon drew and painted in a very creditable manner for the time and advantage she had in her course at Fairfield.

At the age of eighteen, she assumed the responsibilities of teacher of the art department in the same institution, which position she filled three years. She afterward taught nearly two years in Hungerford Collegiate Institute, until the building was destroyed by fire. While in these institutions, she did much for the cultivation of art. She then made preparations to continue the study of art in New York City and Philadelphia, when she was urged to accept the vocation of art teaching in the Wesleyan Female College at Wilmington, Del., where she remained two years, teaching a class of young ladies and zealously pursuing her art studies. She visited Philadelphia two and three times a week, having access to Mr. Earl's gallery, meanwhile receiving several complimentary notices through the press.

Miss Ackerman came to Wisconsin, in the summer of 1870, with the intention of returning when the fall term commenced at Hungerford Collegiate Institute, which was then rebuilt. Her health being delicate, she concluded to remain in this State. She has since instructed a large number of pupils in oil painting, and has done much for the cultivation of art in Portage.

" The Valley in Autumn," Wisconsin scenery, is a painting on which Mrs. Kellogg has lavished much wealth of coloring. Its title is suggestive ; a widespread and faithful landscape, with perspective handsomely displayed, and a general effect whose beauty is marred by no hasty finish of details. The water, transparent and yielding, reflects with soft luster what the bank presents. Still beyond the scenes already noted, there stretch away the Baraboo hill-tops, their summits tipped with the radiance of the sun. It possesses a freshness of color that charms, an atmosphere elastic, yet subdued and mellowed by the genial rays of an autumn sun.

"The Brook Trout" is a painting also worthy of special mention. It is much smaller than the one already spoken of. Its harmony of color is excellent, and the trout, that seem to have just been taken from the crystal brook, are very life-like.

President Hayes And Party

Tuesday, September 10, 1878, was a gala day in Portage. Attached to the regular 8 o'clock train from St. Paul, was a special car, containing President Hayes and party, consisting in all of forty-six gentlemen and ladies. The distinguished visitors were received at the depot by the Uuppey Guard, with the Schulze Band, and a large number of prominent citizens of Portage ; also by a committee of gentlemen - Horace Rublee, L. B. Caswell, George W. Burchard, Sat. Clark and H. M. Lewis - who came up from Madison the evening before to escort the party to the State capital. Amid the commingling of cheers and music, the guests were escorted to the dining-hall of the Fox House, where an excellent breakfast awaited them. After partaking of the morning repast, the President was introduced by Mr. Caswell. He expressed himself pleased to meet and become acquainted with people of the Northwest, spoke of his recent visit to Dakota and the Red River country, and said that what had been regarded in years past as the " Great American Desert" was in fact a region of almost unlimited agricultural and mineral resources. He said he had become a convert to the advice of Horace Greeley - " Go West, young man."

The President then introduced Attorney General Devens, who was pleased to meet everybody, especially those with whom he had been associated during the war. " The material evidences of the war are sinking out of sight every day ; the fortifications and entrenchments, which have been the scenes of conflict, are gradually vanishing from sight. So every other evidence of the war should sink out of sight except the grand result - freedom for all men."

Mrs. Hayes, being introduced, smiled pleasantly and bowed gracefully to the assemblage. The distinguished party then arose, and, escorted by the Guppey Guard, the Schulze Band and the committee from Madison as escort, boarded the train and took their departure.

Treason, always despicable, even unto the eyes of traitors, never became more intensely odious than in 18G1, when the climax of a conspiracyj long brewing, was reached, and the best government under the sun found itself face to face with an unholy and unrighteous civil war. The object of the South in attempting a separation of the Union was the erection of a great slave empire, encircling the Mexican Gulf; the duty of the North was clearly to prevent the success of a scheme so monstrous and inhuman. The fii'st movements of the Confederates were made under very favorable circumstances. They were in possession of many of the chief national offices, and they very largely controlled the army and the navy. Their military plan embraced three principal objects - ^the seizure of the forts and coast defenses, the capture of the national capital and the possession of the Mississippi River. The South was, nevertheless, thrown upon the defensive from the beginning of the struggle, and very soon effectually beleaguered. It was the unfaltering aim of the North to bring the war to a close, with as little bloodshed as possible, by the capture of Richmond, the rebel capital ; but the first forward movement terminated almost disastrously at Bull Run on the 21st of July, 1861. This battle, however, was without military significance, since it did not secure the seizure of Washington by the rebels. It taught the North the real nature of the terrific struggle in which they were engaged. On the day after the battle. Congress voted $500,000,000 and called for 500,000 volunteers. From that moment the rebellion was doomed. This act of President Lincoln and his patriotic Congress increased the nation's confidence in them to deal the righteous blow, and, at the same time, struck terror to the hearts of the Secessionists.

The responses to the call were immediate and of the most encoui-aging character. Already a previous call for three-months' volunteers had been filled. No State in the Union was more prompt in sending forward volunteers than was Wisconsin, and no part of Wisconsin responded with greater vigor than did Columbia County. When the first call for troops was made, the Portage Light Guard immediately offered its services to the Governor. Simultaneous action on the part of other military organizations 'throughout the State, more favorably situated, for a time delayed the Governor's acceptance, and the Light Guard was compelled to take a place as Company G in the Second Regiment of Infantry, being mustered in at Camp Randall, on the 11th of June, 1861. With it went the heartfelt sympathies of the citizens of Columbia County for the integrity of the Government. It was the substantial result of their first patriotic efforts toward maintaining that Government. But they did not pause. Volunteers continued to go forward until the serpent-twined palmetto had ceased to wave, and the " peculiar institution," slavery, was entombed, never again to exist in a free and enlightened country.

From the descriptive book of Company G, now in the possession of Capt. C. C. Dow, of Portage, the following correct list of the names of those who joined its ranks is obtained. It is an authentic roll of Columbia County's first contribution to the grand army that preserved the Union :

A brief account of the wonderful experience of Company G is herewith given : The Second Regiment was originally enrolled under the President's call for 75,000 three-months volunteers. Under orders to rendezvous at Camp Randall, the various companies were organised early in May, 1861. Meanwhile, the General Government had decided to accept no more troops for this short term of service, and accordingly, on the 16th of May, the regiment was called upon to re-enlist "for three years or during the war." With the exception of one company, the entire regiment complied enthusiastically. On the 11th of June, the Second Regiment, thus organized, was mustered into the United States service, being the first Wisconsin organization so mustered. On the 20th of the same month, the regiment left for Washington, and was the first body of three-years men to appear at the capital. On the 2d of July, tliey were ordered to Fort Corcoran, on the Fairfax road, where they were brigaded with three New York regiments, under

Col. (now Gen.), Sherman, and, on the 16th, when the movement on Manassas was made, were attached to Gen. Tyler's Division, by whom the enemy was engaged at Blackburn's Ford, on Bull Run. On the 21st, the Second Regiment was ordered to assault one of the enemy's batteries. They moved up, under a terrific enfilading fire of shell and canister from other batteries, formed in line at the foot of a hill and charged up, driving back the rebel infantry which had emerged from cover in pursuit of a body of our troops just repulsed in a similar assault. Here they fought against enormous odds for over an hour, but, the enemy being reinforced, were compelled to fall back, having suffered a loss of 30 killed, 105 wounded and 60 prisoners.

On the 23d, the regiment went into camp near Fort Corcoran, where they remained until August 27, when they were transferred from Col. Sherman's command to that of Brig. Gen. Rufus King, which then consisted of the Fifth and Sixth Wisconsin and the Nineteenth Indiana, composing what afterward became known as the " Iron Brigade." Thus organized, they crossed the Potomac on the 5th of September, and, after assisting in the construction of Fort Marcy, recrossed the river, and, October 5, went into winter quarters at Fort Tillinghast, on Arlington Heights, Va. Here they remained until March 10, 1862, when they took part in the advance upon Manassas. Nothing of startling importance occurred until the forenoon of the 28th of August. The brigade having been assigned a position in the advance line of the Army of Virginia, they proceeded slowly on the left of the ai-my, via Gainesville, to Groveton, where they turned to the right on the Bethlehem Church road, and lay under arms until 5 in the afternoon, when they returned to the Warrenton pike, marching toward Centerville. While moving by the flank, the Second Regiment was attacked by a battery posted on a wooded eminence to the left. The regiment promptly advanced upon the battery, and soon encountered the enemy's infantry. While awaiting the arrival of the rest of the brigade, this regiment sustained and checked for nearly twenty minutes the onset of " Stonewall " Jackson's entire division, under a murderous concentric fire of musketry. When the brigade arrived, the battle was continued until 9 in the evening, when the enemy was repulsed.

August 30, the Second, having been temporarily consolidated with the Seventh Wisconsin, moved with the brigade in the second line of battle, to assault the enemy's left, posted in a thick wood. While engaged in assaulting this position, the success of the rebel attack upon the left flank of our army made it necessary to fall back. The " Iron Brigade " formed in line of battle, retained the position until the entire army had passed on the road to Centerville.

The Second Regiment also participated in the movements of the army under the command of Gen. McClellan, and, on the 14th of September, with the rest of the brigade, was assigned the duty of storming Turner's Pass, of South Mountain, where the rebels were strongly posted in a gorge. The enemy was routed and driven from the pass with heavy loss. This movement led them to take a prominent part in the battle of Antietam, and afterward in the memorable battle of Fredericksburg, December 13. During that winter, the Second engaged in several very profitable expeditions in Virginia, under Col. Fairchild, and, in April following, under command of Gen. Hooker, forced a passage of the Rappahannock at Fitz Hugh's Crossing, driving the rebels from their rifle-pits, and capturing several hundred prisoners.

June 1, they found themselves near Gettysburg, and the Second, having that day the lead of the marching column, first met the enemy, under an order to support Gen. Buford's cavalry. The regiment came into line, on the double-quick, behind a slight elevation, and, without waiting for the rest of the brigade to form, advanced over the crest, and received a volley which cut down over 30 per cent of the rank and file. But they dashed upon the enemy's center and crushed it, thus checking the rebel advance. At that date, the loss of the Second Regiment since its re-enlistment, in killed, wounded and missing, amounted to 652.

In December, 1863, forty members of the Second Regiment re-enlisted, and, on the 28th of January, 1864, arrived at Madison, received their furloughs and dispersed to their homes to enjoy a short respite from duty. During the absence of the re-enlisted men, the remainder of the Second, with the non-veterans of the brigade, participated in a reconnaissance to the Rapidan River. About the 1st of March, the veterans returned to the front, and their regiment was soon after assigned to position in the First Brigade, Fourth Division, Fifth Army Corps. Accompanying the grand forward movement of the Army of the Potomac, under Gens. Grant and Meade, the Iron Brigade participated in the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court House, after which, the Second Regiment, having been reduced to less than one hundred men present for duty, and having lost both field officers, was detailed as provost guard to the Foui'th Division, Fifth Army Corps, thus severing its connection with the " Iron Brigade." The battle-scarred members of the regiment followed the destinies of that division in the grand movement to the left, arriving June 6 at Bottom's Bridge, on the Chickahominy, where they remained until the expiration of their term of service. Those absent on detached duty were recalled, and on June 11 the remnant of the regiment took its departure for home, arriving in Madison on the 18th, being enthusiastically welcomed.

By order of the division commander, those who had joined the regiment at various times after its original organization were formed into an independent battalion of two companies under Capt. D. B. Dailey, and assigned to duty as provost guard of the Fourth Division, Fifth Army Corps. Crossing the James River, on the 16th of June, they took part in the battle before Petersburg. They participated in various unimportant engagements until November 30, when thev were transferred, as Companies G, and H, to the Sixth Wisconsin, with which they were thereafter connected until mustered out. The names of those of the original Company G who were killed in battle, or died from the effects of wounds or disease, are as follows :

Capt. Mansfield was made a Major in February, 1863. He is now Lieutenant Governor of California. Lieut. Hill was wounded at the first Bull Run, and also at Antietam ; was promoted to captaincy in March, 1863 : discharged in July of the same year. Second Lieut. Vaughan resigned in September, 1861. Sergt. Dow was wounded in the neck at Gainesville, August 28, 1862 ; made a Second Lieutenant in September, 1862 ; promoted to First Lieutenant in March, 1863, and to a captaincy in August following. The Second Regiment was under fire the first time at Blackburn's Ford, July 18, 1861. Company G went into the battle of Gainesville (the second Bull Run) with 54 men and lost in killed and wounded 43 - 13 being killed outright.

Anson Linscott, now a resident of Portage, went out with Company G as a musician at the age of fifteen years, and afterward became drum major of the regiment. After the battle of Gainesville, young Linscott penned the following brief but graphic letter to his parents in

Camp near Munson Hii.l, Va., Sept. 3, 1862. Dtar FiithtT and Mother: I thought I would write you a few lines about the awful battles we have had. We have been under heavy cannon and musket tire and in bittles for the last two weeks. Our regiment is about all gone, killed and wounded. There are only about ten men left in our company. The last battle we fought was on the old Bull Run battle-field, where we were engaged more than a year ago. I will try and give you a list of the killed. *.\rcha was shot through the neck. I was in the rear of the regiment, with the ambulances, taking care of the wounded, and saw him fall, but we could not save him : he died in a few minutes. Poor brother, it is hard, but it is true. Snyder, Billy Dean, Staley, Kent, Owen Davis, Plumbstead and some others fell dead, and a great many of our company are wounded. The regiment has about two hundred and fifty men left. I suppose they will put us in some place to stay awhile and recruit ; if they do, I will have a better chance to write to you. I have a poor chance now to write. We are marcbing and fighting all the time. I got out all safe, but I had many narrow escapes. All of our musicians had to go with the ambulances right up into the fight. I tell you, the bombshells and bullets whistled for miles around. Several shells hit close to me. Every time I could hear them coming I would drop fiat on the grass. It was awful Our regiment stood up and fought like tigers. Some New York troops threw down their arms and ran like sheep. Poor Archa was shot through the windpipe and lived only a few minutes. Ii is hard, father, but it cannot be helped. Archa took care of me when I was sick. There have been a great many men killed in these battles. I will write to you again in a few days and give you more particulars.